Like for example, how someone thinks because you work in IT you can fix their TV, or how if you’re into music you must be able to play any random instrument.
I just like hearing pros rant about about their very niche problems.
I write electronic music. Misconception is that some assume people actually listen to my music.
i like linux
people think i’m a hacker because i use the terminal sometimes
i don’t know shit bruh
When I was an active in a band, “You should play our _________ (usually a very busy bar or restaurant), we can’t pay you, but it’ll be great exposure.”
Whenever people find out I have a math degree, they tell me how bad they are at math. They seem almost proud about it. Nobody ever brags about being bad at English. They also assume I’m really good at arithmetic or counting, a la Rain Man or something. I am not.
What’s 1+1?
If 1>0 and 1<2
Then 1+1>0+0 and 1+1<2+2
So we know that 0<1+1<4
Thus, 1+1 has to be 1,2, or 3.
More cannot be surmised with the given information.I like how this quietly but accurately calculates the result of 2+2, but somehow cannot handle 1+1.
As a geologist, it is maddening when people assume I know about something archaeological.
Or when they assume I know where to find gemstones for free lying on the ground.
Yes, women CAN work on cars, and be good at it.
No, not every mechanic is trying to screw you over.
Yes, all the work/the price I quoted IS accurate. There are other parts that interact with the part you broke. Having a race car isn’t cheap.
No, we can’t just put a new valve in the head, since you bent the old one, and fucked up the seat, guide, etc in the process.
Yes, I know A LOT about Mazda/Nissan, specifically, but I’m not an encyclopedia. Sometimes I do have to look shit up, as much as it annoys you.
No, I don’t know what’s wrong with your car from a 3 word description by you. I’m not psychic.
Yes, we have a scan too, but, no, it doesn’t tell you exactly what’s wrong. It points you in the right direction, sure, SOMETIMES.
No, I’m not being lazy, your car isn’t doing whatever intermittent issue you were complaining about.
The most obvious one I’ve come across is when people learn fountain pens still exist their first assumption is you use it for art, specifically calligraphy.
They are literally just pens. You can use them for anything you would normally do with a pen, and in fact most nibs are not really tuned for any kind of calligraphy at all (and in most cases that would be better done digitally, with brushes, or with special markers these days).
Also my handwriting is shit so I’m just salty lmao.
I have been a machinist/model maker for 10 years now.
No, I can’t just take your .prt/.iges/.stl/.stp file and “load it into the machine and press the green button”.
I use that quote because it was said to me by a particularly arrogant engineering intern. Machining is a complex trade that is made to seem simple because of software and modern automation. While that is fantastic for my profession, it brings with it this idea that I’m not really doing all that much work. Reality is that I’m constantly applying my knowledge of the trade and the things I do might be subtle to the onlookers, but there was a lesson learned before now that took me hours or days to overcome. I train a lot of our machining interns now who are mostly folks in the 20-25 years old range and every single on of them so far as had that humbling moment of “Oh I learned about this in the classroom and did it on the simulator, I know exactly what I’m doing” only to fail. Its a great line of work that is very satisfying for a lot of reasons but it does grind my gears when its portrayed as being unskilled or easy.
I think a lot of people would benefit from learning on manual machines. I had this misconception in my early twenties, but watching (and then using) manual machines was really helpful.
Look, I know my model has a hole that turns 90 degrees midway through. Just make your machine do it.
“It looks great on CAD”
When I was an active in a band, “You should play our _________ (usually a very busy bar or restaurant), we can’t pay you, but it’ll be great exposure.”
I’m an English professor, and I get a lot of “Oh, I’ll have to make sure to use good grammar around you.” First, I have better manners than to go around correcting other people.* Second, I know enough about the development of the language to realize how fluid and often artificial the “rules” are.
- Unless you’re trying to mansplain something to me. Then all bets are off.
Okay but do you let people get away with not using the oxford comma?
I am a Windows and Cloud administrator. As soon as people hear cloud and computers, they start thinking that I am personally involved with building the metaverse and could work for NASA. Meanwhile, all the people on the technical sites and subreddits inflame my imposter syndrome every day.
Every time someone learns that I build PCs as a hobby, they almost all ask me about things relating to electrical engineering. Look, socketing a CPU isn’t rocket science. And no, I can’t fix your computer.
If you can’t fix my computer can you fix my wifi instead?
After I get done with your printer.
just use a sledge hammer. Used properly, a sledge hammer can ensure pretty much anything will never break again.
sure, but it’s a $200 callout fee, and $250 per hour.
That usually stops them dead in their tracks.
even if i could, no. i dont wanna be everyones free it.
socketing a CPU isn’t rocket science
Speak for yourself… I trashed a CPU by socketing it in the wrong way around… I’m super lucky that Intel happily replaced it instead of saying “Nope, you destroyed it, you dumbass”
More than 20 years ago we had an intern who was tasked with putting CPUs and RAM on motherboards, which were sold as ‘tuning kits’ for older PCs. He was left on his own for nearly the whole day, because the guy who was in charge was out for the rest of the day. The next day the when he was back the intern came in and was kicked out immediately, because on all of the ~100-200 kits he built that day the CPU was inserted the wrong way around.
I certainly hope someone was fired for that blunder.
I’m a lawyer. If I had a dollar for every time I have heard “oh you’re a lawyer? You must have been good at arguing when you were a kid”…or that I must be “good at public speaking”.
It’s funny cause I do commercial real estate contracts and business law…I don’t ever go to court. Most of my day is spent staring at a computer and trying to figure out the best way to change three or four words in an obscure contract provision to best protect my client’s monetary interests. I don’t really ever argue in a professional setting, but I have learned how to think differently, how to see things from various perspectives and anticipate all sides of a negotiation and how I’d best respond.
I also can’t stand all the constant “hey can I ask you a legal question” from friends and family. Or friends and family sending me random contracts and asking me to “look it over for them”. It’s like they assume that just because they know me, I can do that for free, when I spend 10-12 hours a day billing large commercial clients for that same type of work.
That leads me to my next pet peeve: people in my life assuming that my “office job” is a simple nine to five. No. I represent clients all over the world so sometimes I am up at 4:30am to get on an international call at 5:00an. Sometimes I’m working late into the night to finalize a big land purchase contract or commercial office lease; sometimes doing that after putting in a full 9 hours at the office. I don’t get paid time off; I can work at my own pace, sure, and take “days off” here and there, but the work and business and the need for legal advice is constant and I have to catch up somehow, sometime whenever I take “time off”.
I know I’m in a privileged position so I feel kind of shitty about complaining about this, but it gets pretty old. I also recognize that I definitely need to figure out a better way to improve my work/life balance…because this won’t be super sustainable for much longer.
About the privileged position thing… I’m a blue collar worker with a massive chip on my shoulder, but the only people I complain about being privileged is people with do-nothing jobs, and people who work from home. When I think lawyer or doctor, I think ridiculous hours and lots of work.
Dude, lawyer is literally one of the,“My kid is a big success” jobs. It’s privileged because it requires a ton of work and study before you’re even allowed to do it. Not to mention the insane amount of work the job itself is.
You earned that money and those days off.
I am a school psychologist with a master’s in clinical psychology. The main misconception for my work is that (at least in my state) school psychologists rarely focus on counseling. Instead, we are writing reports and determining whether a student is eligible or maintains eligibility for special education. I give IQ, academic, and social-emotional tests and write a report. I work with a student for about 3 hours maximum and then I’m alone writing and scheduling meetings. Then, I’m onto the next one.
Most people, even staff in the school, think I am a counselor. I can technically do it, but there already is someone who was hired for that position… so, they should probably do that, and I’ll make sure our special education documents are compliant.
There are tons of misconceptions about mathematics, but the biggest and most baffling one is: that no new mathematics is being created, that the field is “done”.
The opposite is true: there are more open problems than ever, and research is frantic in mathematics with hundreds of thousands of serious new theorems being proven every year by professional mathematicians, and entirely new mathematical vistas being discovered every few years.
In fact, the pace of research is so fast that we are now creating the foundations for databases of mathematical theories and their proofs in order to better classify and preserve them.
Yeah but 5th grade math is “done” and that’s all most people ever care to even know exists
I’m at an advanced level of knitting and crochet. I wear a lot of the things I knit to work and I decorate my office with my crochet.
Almost every single person I met has uttered to me, “This is so good! You should sell these.” They assume that 1) I would ever do this for a profit motive and 2) that anyone would even buy my work at the price point I establish.
I just recently finished a sweater vest (link in my profile) that used 8 yarns. The cost of just materials was close to $350. And then I also time my projects, which for torso pieces for me are never fewer than 100 hours. The sweater vest ended up being just shy of 184 hours. So once you consider the cost of labor and expertise, this sweater vest is worth over $2,700 at even minimum wage for the area I live in.
There’s absolutely no way I would consider selling my work!
The ol’ yarn arts dilemma - why buy a thing when I can make one for 10x the cost??
🤣🤣 So you get it.
