It’s no secret that fiction spreads faster than truth. Myths are no exception. Blame the communal imagination, internet folklore, word of mouth and so on, but in reality, we are all susceptible to false claims and and wrong assumptions.
Jobs we do are no exception. Just think of the way we imagine a spy (thanks, James Bond!) or a crime detective (thanks, X-files!) and you see how easy it is to succumb to cliches.
So in order to debunk those stubborn myths surrounding common professions and see how they really work, we looked at various Reddit threads where people share the myths behind things they do for a living. The results are in below, so scroll down!
#1
IT – that we just Google everything. It’s not true. Sometimes we remember the solution from the last time we googled it.
Image source: Nevermind04, Solen Feyissa
#2
Contrary to popular belief, not every magician has a beautiful assistant. In fact, the only time I make women disappear is when I tell them I’m a magician.
Image source: captainmagictrousers, Fengyou Wan
#3
No longer my profession – BUT I was a stripper for 5 years.
We, in my experience, tend to have MOTHER issues, not father.
I’m dead serious. I’ve been to a lot of ex-stripper weddings. Their dads are *always* there.
The mothers not invited.
Image source: lubblylady, Eric Nopanen
#4
People always think welders are all stupid alcoholics. In my experience most of the welders I’ve worked with, and including myself, are pretty intelligent alcoholics.
Image source: WAwelder
#5
That scientists know everything about every science subject. Typically, we are very specialized. I don’t know shit about biology, for instance. Nonetheless, people think I know about anything sciency even though I only studied a very particular slice of something.
Another myth is that we are scientists all the time. When I play golf, I’m not calculating the trajectory of the ball. I’m just hitting the fucking ball. Usually off into the trees.
Image source: 53504
#6
I work retail. We are human beings with feelings and emotions. We just want to help you out.
If you’re an a*****e to us, we won’t help you.
Image source: Poggystyle, Patrick Tomasso
#7
Farmer here.
I do not delight in killing the livestock, nor are any of them mistreated. We do not all support factory farms.
Image source: anon, Stijn te Strake
#8
From bomb squad, I’d say the “Do I cut the red wire or the blue wire!” cliche is tiring.
Terrorists don’t follow standardized wire coloring codes.
Image source: More_Bort, wikipedia
#9
That I, a simple cashier, am responsible for the pricing in the store.
Image source: consultingrodent
#10
Unemployment is not as relaxing as people may believe.
Image source: -917-, Anna Shvets
#11
> ‘Therapists will make me talk about s**t I don’t want to.’
We really don’t. If we are working on your anxiety I’m not going to ask you about your first sexual experience unless YOU think it’s relevant.
> ‘Therapists get in to your head and make you do s**t you don’t want to’
That’s Jedi. Not us. If I could do that I wouldn’t be a therapist.
Image source: Absisvenomous, Alex Green
#12
That doctors are super humans who don’t need to eat, sleep or have a life.
We are all human and almost all of us would put your lives before ours at the drop of a hat so please don’t abuse it.
Image source: orchidbonsai, Jonathan Borba
#13
Criminal defense attorney. People think our job is to find “technicalities” that allow alleged criminals to go free. Those “technicalities” are most often fundamental constitutional protections, not something like a typo in the charging documents. Our job is to make sure the government is playing fair.
Image source: seanamott
#14
No, not everyone should learn to code. It is not the new literacy. Literacy itself is a worthy enough goal, and we are losing on that front.
Also, programming is hard, and not necessarily that fun when you have to do it for work.
Everyone should learn how computers work, and everyone should be able to understand what code is, but people who imagine some kind of utopia where 80% of the population are happily employed as computer programmers…you are all smoking crack.
Image source: jseego, Ilya Pavlov
#15
Dog trainer
No Cesar Millan did not fix all those dogs issues in 30 minutes. He spent all day with the dog and family working with it getting the dog to a point where HE could prevent some of the behavior issues from occurring while in HIS control. Which is great and although the methods he used in the Dog Whisperer series tend to be pretty controversial he accomplishes a lot with the dogs he worked with. But watch the video testimonials at the end, the families always say, “we’re still working with behavior X things are getting better…”
Also quick rant about people who watch Dog Whisperer and try to replicate his “Alpha” methods. Be really careful, you can do more harm than good. If you see a dog on his show being aggressive and he alpha rolls it and dominates it and your dog does the same thing and you try to replicate it, first be prepared to get bit. Second if the dog is displaying aggression because of fear or lack of socialization and you do this you’ll make it worse almost without exception. Also there are other and arguably better methods of dealing with genuinely aggressive dogs.
Also most of what you learned about pack theory is wrong. It was taken from watching captive wolves from differing packs the behaviors you’ve been taught are “pack” behaviors are actually stress behavior occurring because of captivity and because of the mingling of different family units. So the social interactions that we’ve learned about don’t actually occur with packs in the wild.
Image source: stoph999, Richard Brutyo
#16
Being an accountant does not require good math.
Whenever I tell people I’m an accountant, I frequently hear, “oh, you must be good at math.”
Math in accounting is adding and subtracting. The difficulty lies in the rules and regulations of accounting.
Image source: LEGOF
#17
That wait staff/bartenders are uneducated/stupid.
I’ve worked in hospitality for seven years and worked with so many highly educated people. Nurses, refrigeration mechanics, robotic engineers, marketing graduates, aged care workers, marine biologists. I have a degree in ecology.
I can almost guarantee that your waiter has studied something after high school, whether it was a certificate, trade or university degree. But waitressing pays the bills while you’re searching for something better.
Image source: alittlebitcheeky, Anna Tukhfatullina Food Photographer/Stylist
#18
I am a cable man. No sex is given to me by ladies who need the cable fixed.
Image source: PM_ME_YOUR_XBOX_KEYS
#19
Men in the nursing profession aren’t necessarily gay. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that) Many of us were Paramedics and military medics/corpsmen before going into nursing.
Image source: SCCock
#20
Librarian. I don’t sit at a desk and read all day, I don’t shush you, I don’t get an advanced degree to learn how to shelve books in order, and I’m not a woman.
“Librarian” is a bit like “engineer” in that it’s a term that covers a lot of sub-fields and jobs. A public librarian will do things like developing the collection (buying books for the community and removing books from the collection that aren’t circulating), developing and running programs like classes and special events, and doing outreach and administrative things like budgeting. A digital librarian will work with special collections – digital or not – to organize and display them and don’t interact with the public at all (one I’ve worked with recently: https://d.lib.msu.edu/). An academic librarian is assisting with research, conducting research of their own, assisting students in learning how to use the library, and assisting professors in developing coursework.
Image source: marisachan, Tima Miroshnichenko
#21
I work in the laboratory, background in medical lab science.
People in other departments of the hospital seem to think that the lab is full of antisocial introverts who don’t care about patients at all, and that we think of our work like an assembly line.
The introvert part is usually true, but that doesn’t mean we don’t care. We f*****g care, a lot. In my experience the lab is usually full of empaths who want to help people, but can’t afford to get emotionally invested.
Image source: Outrageous_Claims
#22
We don’t abuse inmates or arrange to the death fights. The f****d up system deals with them far more cruelly than we ever could. No need to take it further.
Image source: BeardsuptheWazoo, RODNAE Productions
#23
You don’t “go to sleep” under general anesthesia, and the chances of you “waking up” in the middle of surgery are practically nil.
I get that your worst fear is watching people operating on you and you can’t do anything about it, but the instances of that are so low, you have a bigger chance of dying in a car accident on the way to your surgery than that actually happening to you.
Image source: x_Sligh_x, Ivan Babydov
#24
I have worked at a hotel for 8 years now in positions of power at the front desk, reservations and group sales.
First, we do not hold rooms out of inventory! When we say we are sold out, we are sold out. We are here to make sure you have an enjoyable stay, but we are a business, why wouldn’t we want to sell all possible rooms? First come first served is a real thing.
Also, being rude when there is the smallest thing wrong with your stay will not get you a free night. Comping a whole stay is very rare, compensation by discounting your room rate, parking or food is much more common. If you approach me with respect I am more likely to compensate a greater monetary amount than if you’re a d**k.
Image source: TheSeed2point0-
#25
Graphic Designer.
No, my job is *not* colouring in.
No, it does *not* mean that I know how to draw or paint perfectly well.
And no, just because you watched some Photoshop tutorials on Youtube, does *not* mean you can suddenly do my job for me.
EDIT: Spacing. (Yes, bad spacing *does* make us cringe)
Image source: babaorom, Flo Dahm
#26
I’m an accountant. No, I don’t actually enjoy talking about tax law on my day off, so your “quick tax question” that takes me 30 minutes to explain beyond ‘that depends…’ is really annoying at a family BBQ.
Image source: abqkat
#27
Storyboard artist in the animation industry. Making cartoons isn’t playtime. My position in particular is demanding, physically exhausting, and under-appreciated. On top of that, it is more “cog in the machine” work than “creative fulfillment.” My faith in my work is tested constantly.
And I am not the only one who feels like this. Virtually every artist I know always thinks about changing careers or retiring all-together. It’s a hard job, and it really doesn’t have to be, but… it is.
Image source: hermeown
#28
That working in the film industry and especially doing what i do which is directly on set is glamourous.
Let me tell you its the opposite of glamour.
14 hour days , 6 days a week, sh**ty weather, sh**ty actors, sh**ty director, sh**ty crew ( of which I am part of), sh**tymembers of public trying to get photos and asking dumb questions, sh**ty mud, sh**ty creative types making delusional demands etc.
But there are some fun things
good food, good pay and filming sex scenes is hilarious.
Image source: raquille-, Martin Lopez
#29
QA tester here. We find glitches/ bugs all the time. But it is impossible to find every one. But some that get through baffle me.
Image source: hkd001
#30
1. Engineers do not design every cool thing in the world.
2. Most engineers never actually make all that much money.
3. Chances are, if you study engineering you will end up with an insanely boring office job, or an insane high pressure job working 16+ hours a day.
4. Not all engineers are super intelligent, quite a lot are actually below average intelligence.
Image source: Only_One_Kenobi, ThisisEngineering RAEng
Follow Us
