Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
then open in external browser
and click "Open in External Browser" 
“What’s Something Obvious Within Your Profession That The General Public Is Unaware Of?” (40 Answers)
There are tons of misunderstandings about what professionals actually do at their jobs. For one, a lot of people have a lot of these wildly incorrect assumptions due to the media they consume. But when you take a peek behind the curtain, you realize that the reality of any position can be incredibly different from what you think you know.
Some seasoned job veterans shared the (not so) obvious truth about their work in an interesting discussion on AskReddit. In it, they opened up about the most common things that the general public gets wrong about their professions. We’ve collected their most intriguing insights to share with you. Keep scrolling to check them out.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
When you're food shopping and you change your mind about a chilled/frozen product, but you put it back into an *ambient* product shelf, it will go straight into the waste when a member of staff finds it. Please don't do that.
We can't leave chilled foods out of the chillers for longer than 20 minutes due to food safety laws(in the UK, ymmv), and we have no idea how long that steak or chicken has been sitting with those cans of soup, so it gets binned.
F**k food waste. Ask a member of staff to put it back for you.
RELATED:
#2
You may not remember me, but I hold your hand while you are being intubated before surgery. You are not alone. OR RN.
#3
Librarian aka information professional here.
The scholarly publishing industry is a massively profitable industry (check out Elsevier’s profit margins).
They are holding academic research hostage with paywalls.
We are trying to push for a sustainable model of open access publishing where everyone can access the information they need.
Information is important and shouldn’t be hid behind paywalls especially when these companies are not the ones securing the grant money, doing the research and writing the d**n paper.
The truth is that the media and entertainment you consume can have a major impact on how you perceive the world.
Pop culture—movies, shows, books, music, etc.—shapes how you see certain things. For instance, if you watch a lot of medical or crime investigation TV shows, you might make assumptions about the jobs of doctors, police officers, and other experts without even realizing it.
Even the shows that get most of the technical details right have to take some liberties to make the narrative more dramatic and engaging.
#4
IT professional here. As dumb as it sounds and as much as everyone hates hearing it, "turn it off and turn it back on again" works roughly 65% of the time. MOST computer problems (including phones!) are caused by a temporary glitch or memory error. Restarting eliminates most common problems. Seriously, before you panic that something is broken, always try this first. 😁.
#5
Diamonds are a complete, idiotic f*****g waste of money. They're not rare, valuable, or traditional. Diamonds being associated with marriage comes from a 30's ad campaign
That 2000 dollar rock you bought could have started your kids college fund, could have done literally any good in this world.
#6
UTIs in seniors cause dementia like symptoms.
Green Tree 1 month ago
Seniors tend towards UTIs and dehydration partially because they are simply less mobile so getting up to fill the cup and getting up to go to the bathroom become ordeals, so they drink less water. It doesn't sound like much but can turn into a horrible cycle.
According to US News, vet technicians, construction workers, dental hygienists, carpenters, and medical assistants have the top five most stressful jobs.
Other majorly stressful professions include being diagnostic medical sonographers, solar photovoltaic installers, bakers, electricians, and pilots, followed by flight attendants, nurse practitioners, delivery truck drivers, registered nurses, and medical records technicians.
#7
The Oxford Comma is literally never optional.
#8
CPR and resuscitation is a lot less effective and a lot more violent than medical movies and TV shows depict. You usually break ribs.
And if you do get a person to "come back" they don't sit up in the bed coughing, gasping and thanking you...they're usually still unconscious. You just see through machines that they have a stable heart rhythm.
You then intubate them, move them to an ICU and hope that you didn't give them brain damage.
#9
L&D nurse here. While I could go with the obvious "labor is nothing like the movies" I'm gonna switch it up. Pregnant women need to drink an ungodly amount of water. Think 16 16 oz glasses. Crampy? Drink some f*****g water. Baby not moving? Go drink that water. Contractions? Before you rush to the hospital chug a bunch of water and see if they stop. Literally half of my triage patients are just dehydrated.
Meanwhile, Business News Daily argues that the most stressful professions involve working as military personnel, police officers, firefighters, social workers, broadcasters, newspaper reporters, emergency dispatchers, mental health counselors, anesthesiologists, and emergency room nurses.
On the flip side, some of the most zen and least stressful jobs include people working as massage therapists, hairstylists, librarians, landscapers, orthodontists, art directors, occupational therapists, medical records technicians, web developers, and data entry specialists.
#10
Many/most teachers get to a point in their careers where they no longer like kids.
Huddo's sister 1 month ago (edited)
Not necessarily disliking kids, but being burnt out and sick of the parents and lack of support, definitely! There are always some kids in the class that you love and often that is what keeps you turning up.
#12
I work for local government. yes, taxpayers pay my salary (which also means i’m contributing to my own salary), but that doesn’t justify why i should give a person extra attention or service. people who come to my office and say “i pay your salary” right after asking for something completely ridiculous have no respect for me and assume i do nothing all day.
Barbara Burns 1 month ago
As a retired government worker, this is right on. But unfortunately there is also a large percentage of government workers who are astoundingly lazy and inefficient and nearly impossible to fire.
What are some of the wrongest assumptions you’ve ever had about someone else’s jobs, dear Pandas? On the other hand, what do people tend to usually get wrong about your own profession? How stressful is your work? What do you see as the ideal job for you personally? We’d love to hear your thoughts!
#13
Don’t yell or be rude at the person who anwsers the phone for the company you are calling. It will not make us help you better or faster. It will do exactly the opposite.
Geoffrey Scott 1 month ago
Or.."I am incredibly frustrated right now, so if I get snarky please understand it's not with you".
#14
I'm an accountant and people think I'm some type of math wizard. Excel, literally, does all the math for me.
Huddo's sister 1 month ago
I wish they had taught us more excel in school, I'm sure it would have been useful
#15
I’m a security guard and we have standard operating procedures for bombs and mysterious packages.
A few weeks ago, someone tried to plant a bomb at the high school near my apartment. The school janitor found it and he brought it INTO THE PRINCIPAL’S OFFICE to show him.
#16
I am a chemist and it’s not all fun experiments with colourful solutions and explosions&flames with rainbow sparkles and m**h cooking and instant results from all our shiny fancy machines. It’s more like preparing 50 solutions a day (all of which look alike, usually like water) and waiting for instruments to complete the analyses (for hours!) and then trying to make sense from the results while cursing and having a mental breakdown.
#17
"Hackers" are seldom the actual problem with computer security. Insider threats and the battle against the end user's stupidity make up the vast majority of security breaches.
Multa Nocte 1 month ago
Or drunk Secretaries of Defence who accidentally add journalists to their top secret chats.
#18
No one is maliciously hiding a cure for cancer. It's just really f*****g hard to figure out.
#19
Nobody gives a flying f**k about your website beyond whether it gives them the information they came to find.
99% of people just want to know where you're located, what your phone number is, and what your hours of operation are. The thousands of dollars people spend adjusting colours and logos are all done in the service of business owners' egos.
Huddo's sister 1 month ago
Honestly, most of the time I don't even click on the website. I google and read the opening hours etc from the results screen.
#20
I'm a computer programmer and programming is no where near as glamorous as the movies make it. Code does not make digital noises when it runs.
#21
Fats don’t make you fat they just contain more calories than carbs or proteins. Eating too much of any of them is the problem.
So don’t feel bad eating cake on your cake day!
#22
Just because someone works in a hospital and has a hospital ID badge clipped to their shirt does not mean they're a doctor or a nurse. I've lost track of how many times I've had to explain to patients and visitors that I'm not qualified to answer their medical concerns.
Corvus 1 month ago (edited)
I've had to explain to people that working at a university doesn't mean I'm a professor (or "teacher" as some of them said, which is inaccurate). Still, when someone calls on the phone and addresses me as "Doctor" or "Professor" I would sometimes "forget" to correct them ;)
#23
I work at an airport, don't drink the coffee on commercial flights, they don't give us anything to clean the coffee pots, and the water truck is used fill the plane with potable water, isn't cleaned as much as it should be.
#24
No, we don't bake the cakes the same day we sell them. Chances are you've never had a "fresh" baked cake. If you want it to be iced we have to let it cool off.
Oh and you can't order a custom cake day of, I don't care what its for. It isn't our fault you can't plan things.
quentariel 1 month ago
People feed customer service incredible sob stories on daily basis. They seem to think having a explanation will do the cake decorating for them, open a closed restaurant kitchen or materialise a wanted item out of the thin air.
#25
Cement makes concrete, not the other way around. And it's more complicated than you think it is.
#26
That industries spend huge amounts of money to keep people addicted to things like gambling, smoking, drinking, and sugar and work to create new addicts once their customers die. I'm looking at you Big Tobacco and Big Sugar....
Example: Coca-Cola engaged in a major campaign to spread the myth that obesity had more to do with how much you excercise than your diet, to shift the focus away from their products. It worked shockingly well. Many people still believe this.
StrangeOne 1 month ago (edited)
I recall "slim" cigarette ads in magazines in the early 90s. They were marketed as a "healthier" option for smoking. That didn't work for too long. The tobacco companies started losing new customers as the public became more and more educated on the dangers of smoking cigarettes. So they invented vapes with higher concentrations of nicotine, and who knows what else, and just told everyone they are a "safer" product because it's now vapor people are breathing in, enticing those who wouldn't have dared touch a cigarette to feel comfortable vaping. These companies are purely evil.
#27
Tech support needs descriptions and preferably an exact error message. We are not psychics.
#28
The left lane isnt "the cruise lane"
Another one is if an 18 wheeler is creeping past you that doesn't mean "go faster/match their speed" you didnt have an issue when you were going 55 infront of me dont be a d**k because i want to go 60 in front of you.
SirWriteALot 1 month ago (edited)
It's illegal to speed up when you're being passed. At least in Europe.
#29
Therapy doesn’t work if you don’t go consistently and don’t want to go. Many people complain about their psychologists, but usually you’re not opening up to us. Also please don’t lie down on couches, that’s a freud thing and most of us dislike him.
Edit: I never meant to say it’s a person with mental illness’s fault if they don’t want to see a psychologist. I was meaning that until we find a way to make you understand how important treatment is, you won’t get the full benefit of it. It is a part of job to make you want to get better.
#30
Don't go ahead with DIY electrical repairs or installations at home, if you're not qualified. You're going k**l your family one day! ESPECIALLY DONT GO MAKING NEW PLUG POINTS AND CONNECTING HIGH AMPAGE S**T TO SMALL CABLES. WTF GUYS!?
Geoffrey Scott 1 month ago
One thing my boss at school treated me with contempt for...if it can't be killed, I ain't working on it. I don't care if it IS a little tickle, I do NOT work on live s^^t!
#31
Oil well drilling is an industry full of snakes and liars. There are people, known as promoters, who put together drilling programs of one or multiple wells then go and try to get investors to buy into their project. Many of these people are straight, good businessmen. Many of them are crooked and unethical AF. All of them will make money by drilling the well whether the well makes money or not. Promoters put their fees, usually to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars, into the cost of drilling the well, then, more fees for completing it. There are many ways to trick investors by using well logs and and seismic data that have been manipulated.
Participating in a drilling program where there is no promotion (Everybody who stands to make money from the well is putting money into the drilling/completion) is the best way, although very difficult to get into.
All promoters should be looked at with a very, very skeptical eye.
#32
Many cargo ships turn off their signal in the ocean for weeks and do a lot of shady stuff...
#33
How unethical speculation artwork is and how it’s really only regulated to the artistic profession.
One of the bigger issues is that many young designers are lured into these contests.
Speculative artwork is when a company holds a contest to design or create artwork in exchange for a prize. Only the winner gets the prize, the rest of the entries who did the same work get nothing.
I cannot solicit the local pizza places to make their finest pizzas for me and then choose only one to pay.
StrangeOne 1 month ago
Well, the artist does enter these on their own accord. No one is tricked into doing free work. Some artists use the contest to get their work and abilities noticed. Some do it out of the thrill of competition. But if you're the type who will only create something for money, then a contest would not be for you. I wouldn't even say becoming an artist is the best thing for you with that mindset. I do tons more practice pieces than sellable pieces, all using my own tools and materials I pay for. It's also like saying a hobby isn't worth investing time and money in if you're not using it like a business. Not everyone shares the same sentiment.
#34
I am a web designer. People need to lay off the center alignment. 8/10 times, stuff looks way better left aligned (if you're from a country that reads text left to right) than center aligned. This applies across websites, powerpoints, business cards, posters, everything.
You can tell right away that something has been designed by an amateur if everything is center aligned.
Sam Lombardo 1 month ago
Webdesigner here. Can approve. There are studies that show, that centered text is far less readable. Nonetheless my customers always want it and even design agencies do it all the time.
#35
That when referring to the race of a black person as a physical descriptor you do in fact default to the word “black”. African American is only used when you are certain that that person is American and their ancestry does in fact go back to Africa, rather than say Jamaica, Haiti, etc.
Mabelbabel 1 month ago
I once got abused on here for referring to the MOBO awards. In the UK, we have an annual Music Of Black Origin award ceremony-its what the award is called. Black and Black British are the commonly used descriptor if you're stating a person's origin/ethnicity. But no, "Black" is pejorative and I should have said "Music of African American Origin (even though they are British) awards.
#36
The cigarette smoke and smell will stick to all the textiles in your car, its as if either people dont know or just dont care, its nasty.
#37
That antibiotics don't do anything against viruses. Every time I hear someone say they're going to take antibiotics for their cold it seems so stupid to me.
Oh also, I heard someone say "when you have down syndrome, it's probably because your parents were relatives" which is so w r o n g.
(The only factor that affects the chances of a child suffering from down syndrome is the mother's age.)
I also heard someone say that for humans most genetic disorders are due to the lack of chromosomes. That, again, is wrong, there is only one case of people who lack a chromosome and still survive.
sfgothgirl 1 month ago
"The only factor that affects the chances of a child suffering from down syndrome is the mother's age". Sauce? Cuz I musta missed that day in midwife school. (And yes, age of father is a correlating factor.)
#38
911 is not some magic cloud in the sky that automatically knows where you are or where the emergency is.
I need you to tell me where you are. That means YOU need to know where you are. Yes, cell phone technology is great but it doesn't always get it right or it takes a minute or more to get it.
If you call 911 because someone who is not near or with you told you to call (like your dad is having chest pain in Alabama and you are in Oklahoma) calling 911 will get you 911 where you are. I cannot transfer you out of state. You will need the 10 digit non-emergency number to the agency local to the emergency. It is always best if the person having the emergency calls 911.
Answer the questions the 911 dispatcher asks. It is not delaying help. The help is on the way as soon as we have an address. Do not hang up until you are told to do so.
GenuineJen 1 month ago
There's an app called what3words that might be helpful if you find yourself in a situation where you don't know where you are need to provide a very specific location. It will give you three specific words that mark your exact location that you can share with others and they will be able to pinpoint where you are based on those words. I've never had to use it in an emergency situation so I can't say how well it works, but I've used it with family and it's worked great.
#39
People tend to think that lawyers are expensive, so they don’t involve one in drafting contracts. When s**t inevitably hits the fan, they suddenly NEED a lawyer and have to pay 10.000s€ to fix the problem, where a measly 500€ would have gotten them an airtight deal if they hired us in the first place to draft that f*****g thing.
Plus, if we f**k up, we have insurance for that, that covers up to 100.000.000€ in damages, and we aren’t even a big firm.
#40
Lawyers write a lot (like a LOT) of stuff down that *probably* wouldn’t actually work in court. It’s just written down to discourage people from going to court (or hiring a lawyer to start a dispute) in the first place.
Looking at you “opening this envelope binds you to all terms and conditions” and other such shenanigans.
Surly Scot 1 month ago
I've worked for 9 lawyers. They don't write much of anything down except drafting complicated pleadings or briefs. They chat about cases, dictate to staff what they want done, and on occassion write out a bunch of paragraphs on an email along with "put this into a pleading for X case and file it". Sometimes long emails are written to clients/insurance adjusters explaining case strategy or events, otherwise, they do a lot of talking and avoiding being in the office.
Note: this post originally had 60 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.
What do you think ?
Tara Noe 1 month ago
Nearly everything people seem to think about teachers is wrong. All those holidays? Don't make me laugh. When do you think we have time to plan and prepare 30 hours a week worth of lessons? At work? Sorry, but any precious office time I've got is spent on admin and training. And there is no lesson fairy that comes to me while I sleep to leave perfectly structured resources that account for the incredible range of learning styles, personalities, disabilities, and psychological problems in a class. It takes a LOT of education and a LOT of effort to make sure your TikTok addicted, RedBull chugging teen, pays attention for more than 5 seconds and learns something. I'm sorry if you think he's an angel and we're just incompetent, but you really have no idea what we face.
Littlemiss 1 month ago
Thank you! I once had a teacher in another country attack me because I defended teachers I know that work 12 to 14 hour days. They claimed because it didn't happen to them that it never happened at all. I supply things for my classes, resources, plans, time and effort. No holidays for me, no time off with pay when you send your sick child into school and infect a class full of children and I get sick and pass it onto my family. Professional development doesn't just get put into your head, I have to pay and go to implement and teach a team about and hope they care enough to do it too.
Load More Replies...
BeesEelsAndPups 1 month ago
Software engineering. You will need to constantly learn new technologies and approaches. Nobody will pay for this training, you will need to do this on your own time. Job security is a joke, if you want to work on interesting projects with high pay. Most startups fail. Until you have at least five years experience, you will have a hard time finding work. If you are a boot camp graduate, be prepared to compete with people that have their Master's in Comp Sci for entry level jobs right now. Ive been at this over 25 years, and this is the worst job market I've seen since the Dot Com bust in 2000-2001.
Grenelda Thurber 1 month ago
Yep, all the technology I worried about not being current on 5 years ago is obsolete now. And it's happening faster and faster. You haven't been involved in software development very long if you think you're all set for your career.
Load More Replies...
Surly Scot 1 month ago (edited)
"What aspect of your profession do you think surprises people the most?" - The amount of babysitting I have to do for employers. IT'S 2025, LEARN HOW TO RIGHT-CLICK AND PASTE, YOU HAVE 2 DEGREES FOR GODS SAKE!
Tara Noe 1 month ago
Nearly everything people seem to think about teachers is wrong. All those holidays? Don't make me laugh. When do you think we have time to plan and prepare 30 hours a week worth of lessons? At work? Sorry, but any precious office time I've got is spent on admin and training. And there is no lesson fairy that comes to me while I sleep to leave perfectly structured resources that account for the incredible range of learning styles, personalities, disabilities, and psychological problems in a class. It takes a LOT of education and a LOT of effort to make sure your TikTok addicted, RedBull chugging teen, pays attention for more than 5 seconds and learns something. I'm sorry if you think he's an angel and we're just incompetent, but you really have no idea what we face.
Littlemiss 1 month ago
Thank you! I once had a teacher in another country attack me because I defended teachers I know that work 12 to 14 hour days. They claimed because it didn't happen to them that it never happened at all. I supply things for my classes, resources, plans, time and effort. No holidays for me, no time off with pay when you send your sick child into school and infect a class full of children and I get sick and pass it onto my family. Professional development doesn't just get put into your head, I have to pay and go to implement and teach a team about and hope they care enough to do it too.
Load More Replies... BeesEelsAndPups 1 month ago
Software engineering. You will need to constantly learn new technologies and approaches. Nobody will pay for this training, you will need to do this on your own time. Job security is a joke, if you want to work on interesting projects with high pay. Most startups fail. Until you have at least five years experience, you will have a hard time finding work. If you are a boot camp graduate, be prepared to compete with people that have their Master's in Comp Sci for entry level jobs right now. Ive been at this over 25 years, and this is the worst job market I've seen since the Dot Com bust in 2000-2001.
Grenelda Thurber 1 month ago
Yep, all the technology I worried about not being current on 5 years ago is obsolete now. And it's happening faster and faster. You haven't been involved in software development very long if you think you're all set for your career.
Load More Replies... Surly Scot 1 month ago (edited)
"What aspect of your profession do you think surprises people the most?" - The amount of babysitting I have to do for employers. IT'S 2025, LEARN HOW TO RIGHT-CLICK AND PASTE, YOU HAVE 2 DEGREES FOR GODS SAKE!
You May Like 50 World’s Weirdest Jobs That Pay Out Quite Well 30 Unethical Work Hacks That Absolutely No One Should Ever Try Manager Tries To Bully A New Employee, Balks After Realizing They Documented It
Aivaras Kaziukonis
Mantas Kačerauskas
Justinas Keturka
Related on Bored Panda
