When you master whatever it is that you have to master at work, lots of things about it can feel like common knowledge. You might think that everyone outside of the kitchen knows what’s the difference between a béarnaise and a hollandaise sauce or that everyone’s familiar with how to fix computer-related problems.

However, some things that seem fairly obvious to representatives of that specific profession might be completely out of left field for the rest. That’s what members of the ‘Ask Reddit’ community recently discussed after one user asked them what is common knowledge in their profession that not a lot of people know about. If you’re curious to see what their answers were, scroll down to find them on the list below, and familiarize yourself with the ins and outs of numerous different jobs.

#1

That my semi-truck can’t stop as fast as their car.

I need a couple football fields to slow down from highway speed, and that’s in absolutely clear weather… Stop merging 13 feet in front of me & slamming on the brakes for an exit, just stay behind me and wait an extra 2 seconds so I don’t kill you and endanger everyone around us.

Side note. Don’t hang around too close to us either, even something as simple as one of our tires blowing up can kill/seriously injure you by itself or cause us to completely lose control of our rigs if it’s a steer tire.

Sorry for being dark, but people don’t realize quite how dangerous semi trucks can be.

Image credits: xLDKx_NewYorker

#2

The fashion industry is the second biggest polluter in the world behind the oil industry.

Image credits: ehaunted

#3

Mental health worker. Everything you learned on TikTok was a lie. Not wrong. A lie. Take your goddamn meds.

Image credits: No_Improvement7573

#4

Carbohydrates are not “bad”. Carbs are vital to our body and our brain loves them. Ultra-processed food is bad.

Image credits: KindredSpirit24

#5

Most people will try anything but reading the instructions. I write the instructions.

Image credits: fuckyourcanoes

#6

I work in IT

Computers are magic boxes that sometimes do what I want them to do.

I can fix them but a lot of the times I don’t know why what I did worked.

Turn it off and back on again isn’t just a funny saying.

Image credits: ITworksGuys

#7

The lighter the coffee roast, the more caffeine it has. The darker the roast, the less it has.

 

guyhabit:

To elaborate a bit more, the reason dark roasts taste bitter is not because it has more caffeine, but because it’s burnt to shit and that’s just how ash-water tastes. Heat destroys caffeine, so darker roasts have the least caffeine of all.

Image credits: guyhabit

#8

Shocking someone (like an AED or “paddles”) doesn’t restart your heart, it stops it.

 

MaroonTrucker28

People often assume the heart stops and an AED fires it back up. The heart is contracting, but ineffectively (an arrhythmia, it’s basically lethally uncoordinated) and therefore not pumping any oxygenated blood to the body. Which equals death before too long. So the idea is to stop the heart so it’ll reset itself to a normal rhythm.

Many films will also show CPR, and the person comes back from unconsciousness. This DOES NOT happen. The only thing CPR does is keeps pressure on the heart to pump oxygenated blood to the rest of the body. CPR is not a treatment, it’s a temporary measure to keep the bodily organs oxygenated long enough to get the heart restarted via shock.

 

Image credits: Bada*sBumblebeee

#9

Everybody sells as much information on you as legally possible. Your bank, credit card company, mortgage company, any website that required a sign on… all of them sell your data. So I can target you with ads based on if you have a hotel booked for a major destination, how many kids you have, if you’re due for a new car, where you get your oil change, how much sports you watch, where you spend your time and on and on and on. It’s creepy

Image credits: Innerouterself2

#10

Computer clouds are just someone else’s computers. Younger folks generally get this.

Image credits: painthawg_goose

#11

Not in hotels anymore, but spent 15ish years there. People die in hotels all the time. Every hotel I’ve worked at has their stories, and the ones with indoor open atriums are the worst. Sometimes it’s just natural causes (I’ve had twice where someone had a heart attack in the middle of an event) but sometimes it’s drug overdoes or suicides.

Image credits: lovebyletters

#12

Most grocery stores make about 7¢ profit for every $100.00 spent on the “middle” of the store.

Most profit comes from the perimeter departments.

Image credits: 2leewhohot

#13

When you brush your teeth, don’t rinse with anything afterwards, just spit out the toothpaste. You get more benefit from the fluoride sitting on your teeth than just rinsing it off.

Image credits: fateless115

#14

Used to be a railroad conductor. Derailments happen all the time. Like multiple per day. You only hear about the major crashes.

Image credits: vandemic

#15

There are no guaranteed results with therapy. It’s all subjective and based on what you put into it/the connectedness with the counselor. I say this as many clients have told me they compare it to going to the gym..

#16

That language isn’t stationary!
I’m translator and for the last few years my native language (Ukrainian) changing a lot.
We are bringing some old words and rules back and, at the same time, creating new ones, which is awesome.
But, unfortunately, I’m hearing all the time about “truth is only in vocabulary” and “new words aren’t real” and sometimes it is really pissing me off.
Languages are changing all the time! It’s their nature.
Yes, there’s a set of main rules and words but even they are changing from time to time.
People creating new words all the time, some of them are dissapearing with time, some staying for much longer and that’s okay.

Image credits: LimpExplanation9645

#17

Lots of very talented and successful criminal defense attorneys can’t make enough money from retained clients, so they also take on court appointments (not all court appointments go to public defenders, at least in Texas). I’ve seen defendants fire really good court appointed lawyers to hire mediocre attorneys simply because of the misconception that court appointed lawyers are bad. So called “free world lawyers” aren’t always great and some of the best criminal defense attorneys are public defenders.

Image credits: Worried-Ad-9038

#18

Drowning is typically quick and silent. I’m a lifeguard.

#19

Those $25 t-shirts you buy online cost the company about $0.02 each. They’ll buy a case of 500 shirts for about $10.

Image credits: adimwit

#20

Working in delis where you get fresh sliced meat and cheese. A family owned grocery slicer is always more sanitary than a chain deli. Without fail.

Typically, family owned has two slicers, one for meat one for cheese. They always wipe them down between customers. Why? A . Business is slower B. They know all the customers C. Customer is really watching.

Chain grocery rarely wipe down the blade. It’s all about the speed of service. It’s POLICY to not wipe it down at most chains except on even numbered hours or at the half, even if you just sliced pastrami and are doing Turkey next. One place I worked it was every third hour. So gross. I had to quit.

Family owned is more pricey, better quality.

#21

Reboot solves 80% of problems.

#22

Most plants you buy in stores are not grown from seeds, but are multiplied by taking a cutting off of a mother plant.

Image credits: Original_Leopard_162

#23

PLEASE clean off your shoes after you hike, it is SO easy for invasive weeds to hitch a ride on your shoes and nest in the next place you take them (like your backyard)

Image credits: MammothDiscussion513

#24

Not all railroad crossings are automatically closed by train approaching (usually some older ones but even brand new types when there is a severe fault), so there’s always a small chance you might get hit. These cases are obviously a severe incident that will be investigated and someone will probably get punished, but it will unfortunately be too late for you. If you can, always slow down and look to both sides before you cross.

#25

If a column fails then it’s very likely the whole building fails.

Image credits: queenliz2fr

#26

Cell phones dropped in water. Step Zero: salt water? Forget about it. Step one Do NOT put your phone in rice to dry it out. There are two problems with this. The moisture of your newly damaged phone will strip minerals off the rice, and those minerals will now be free to contribute to the corrosion of the circuits. The other problem is the amount of time rice would remove moisture from your phone is insane. FYI anecdotal evidence perpetuates this myth because sometimes phones work for no reason. Just lucky

Step two, remove the battery. Can’t do that at least power the device off asap. Like if your stuff isn’t backed up ASAFP. Do not use the device.

Step three, take your phone to a repair shop. They will disassemble it, they will scrub all components with isopropyl alcohol, and heat everything. They will reassemble everything and pray. They will test everything and let you know if more repairs are necessary but more importantly they will attempt to backup any data that isn’t in the cloud.

Source: I personally repaired about 5,000 water damaged phones over four years.

Bonus fact. Water resistance is damaged by chlorine and exposure to water in general.

#27

Bookstores do not mark-up the price of the books. The publisher sets the price and we get a discount, usually around 30- 40%, when we order them wholesale. The reason some places can sell them cheaper is either that they buy them in huge quantities for their own warehouses and pay their workers poorly (B&N) or they make ZERO profit off selling books at all and pay their workers even worse (Amazon.)

Also, if an indie bookstore can’t get the book you want around the holidays, there’s a good chance that Amazon ordering WAY more than they will ever sell and holding them in warehouses in case the book gets popular is the reason. Then Amazon returns everything they didn’t use to the publisher in January, f*****g over the publishers who may have put out the money to print more copies they didn’t need, the authors who could thought those books had been sold, the wholesale warehouses who now have no space for new releases, and booksellers who dealt with a*****e customers during the busiest time of the year.

#28

It’s not really a “professional secret” but more people should know; you can use the Inspector on any browser to change the text of anything on any website and have it look 100% genuine. Again not a secret but a lot of people don’t know about this. It’s noteworthy since a lot of people still will look for mismatched font or spacing or other tells that something has been photoshopped, but that is utterly meaningless. Can make screenshots that look exactly like a real post with 2 seconds of effort.

Image credits: LevelStudent

#29

The manager is responsible for the horrible requirements on job descriptions, not the recruiter. We try our best to convince them they are ridiculous.

#30

IT here. 90% of our fixes come from Google. Even corporate systems can mostly be googled. Most of us have no particular training at the field level. Sure, we pick up tricks along the way, but we largely wing it. Help desk folks are even worse. They largely hire right off the street.

Image credits: jamesuss

#31

That the hearing implants my company makes do not make your ears work again. They work through vibration through bone conduction.

#32

No decent to pro chef remembers recipes (except if it is mandatory or most likely their favorite) most good chefs learn techniques and skills which is far more useful than remembering how to make specific dishes, this of course does not include simple recipes like mashed potatoes and what not.

#33

I’m an archaeologist, we got a find, I googled what it could be, that’s what we wrote down… admittedly a specialist will confirm but there’s a lot that we don’t know but hey that’s why we have specialists.

Image credits: KIESC159

#34

Stop using Q-tips to clean wax out of your ears. All you are doing is packing it further in and clogging your ear canals until the wax turns to a rock against your eardrum. Highly recommend using Debrox or some sweet oil and then flushing with warm water instead!

Sincerely,
A doctor

Image credits: Rennault

#35

That pretty much everything in a grocery store bakery comes frozen in a box.

Image credits: Gfy6669

#36

I’m a lawyer and people CONSTANTLY argue with me about whether they “winner” in a lawsuit “have to” pay the other side’s legal fees (in America, they usually don’t). But people will straight up just say I’m wrong… like guys… it’s my job. If the loser had to pay, I’d be rich asf. The fact that everyone pays their own fees is FREAKING WHY rich people can abuse the system.

#37

Live Soundboard engineers. If everything goes right, no one knows you exist, but the second anything goes wrong it is immediately your fault. One of the most under appreciated jobs out there.

#38

Breathing isn’t done the way most people think. Most people think they take a deep breath, and their lungs/chest cavity expands. It’s the other way around. We use the muscles in and around our chest to expand our chest cavity, which creates a suction that draws air into our lungs.

Too much tension in those muscles makes them act like a corset and prevents you from breathing deeply. So most people who get stressed and can’t breath need to get a real massage more frequently.

#39

The overwhelming majority of governing in the US is done by literal amateurs – almost all city councils and school boards are volunteers (or get paid a few thousand stipend) and many state legislators don’t make anywhere near a full time salary.

Your local school board and city council hold a meeting each month. It’s 100% free and open to the public. Most are conducted in rooms full of empty chairs.

If you know or care who is president of the United States but do not know the name of your city or village council representative you are getting exactly the government you deserve.

The above mentioned government bodies will frequently look for volunteer citizens to sit on various types of advisory committees. If you’re are interested in how your city/town/school district/ etc. is governed I bet you could find a way to get involved.

#40

Often times parents don’t want the new, young, inexperienced teacher (speaking solely about elementary). Fresh out of college are the best teachers: educated on newest research, excited, not feeling the burn out yet. The old crotchety ones who think they know best are actually who.you don’t want. Also teachers have zero say who a kid gets the next year…

#41

You’re not saving energy/money if you turn off your AC in the summer. Houses are very good at keeping heat in, not letting it out. So when you finally turn your AC on, it’s gonna take so long for your system to satisfy/get to the desired temperature that you might as well have kept it on all day. It’ll also wear your system out faster because it’ll be running for so long If you’re really concerned about saving on your electric bills, just turn your AC up between 2-4 degrees higher than you normally would. Even 2 degrees can make a big difference.

#42

You can over lubricate something, too much grease will cause just as much of an issue as no grease in things like bearings.

#43

That in industrialized countries, toilet water post-flush flows through a sewer to a treatment plant. At the plant, the water is screened and otherwise cleaned before being discharged into a waterbody.

There are so many movies, like Finding Nemo, that seem to have this base assumption that the toilet flows straight to the ocean. If Nemo actually went down a toilet, he’d make it to a treatment plant with a bar screen. That screen would screen him out and throw him into a dumpster.

#44

Sushi has been flash frozen. It’s to kill parasites and such… it’s FDA required for raw sushi. Also, the cheaper sushi places have the exact same fish providers as high end places.

Image credits: jelloIguess

#45

Merchant processing/consumer credit cards is a scheme that only benefits the rich, the banks, and the card brands (Visa, MC, Discover, Amex). They are a necessary evil for merchants/business owners.

Merchants end up paying thousands a month to give their customers the convenience of using credit cards. In the end, goods and services are priced to cover the cost. What is worse, while credit card companies promote that they are the ones offering cash back, sky miles, yada yada- it is actually the merchants (and in turn- cardholders) who pay the higher fees for rewards cards to cover the cost of the consumer benefits.

It is an industry built to simply move money around from merchants/consumers to the banks and every middle man in between, all for the “convenience” of buying now and paying later or not carrying cash.

#46

I used to work in fast food. A long time ago we figured out that when people ordered fresh what they really meant was they wanted it hot, so we would just dump it back on the grill or in the fryer for a few seconds and then you’d have a piping hot patty/meat.

Image credits: 217381

#47

For the love of god please use password managers and generate different random and strong passwords for everything.

Image credits: Neklin

#48

Disability insurance adjuster: There is no quota of claims to decline and we do not get bonuses for declining claims. In fact, it is way easier on our end to accept most claims.

Also a bonus one: if you’re off on disability and get a form or request for you to log your activity for a week or so, there is a good chance that the insurance adjuster is gearing up to do surveillance on you and needs to know what you’re saying you can do so they can compare it to what they see you actually doing.

#49

Fire engines don’t have keys to start them, just a switch or two. Anyone could steal a fire engine fairly easily. Don’t tell the Kia Boyz.

#50

Worked in kitchens for over a decade, working in one now: now bear in mind it’s a vegan place but the amount of things that go through the sniff test is overwhelming. If that’s inconclusive then just taste a little bit of it on the edge of a spoon – it does the trick. Sure we have everything legally labelled and dated but food can be unpredictable.

#51

We normally consider purchasing replacement print materials after roughly 50-100 checkouts based on demand. Publishers require us to re-buy ebooks and e-audiobooks after 12~26 checkouts.

#52

More often than not in a car accident, the dead person is at fault.

#53

The thermal insulation on your new house does make the house warmer but traps moisture and increases dampness/ mould.

#54

Every x-ray has a marker for which side it is. For chest x-rays you just put up a left marker and when you turn the for the lateral (side) view the L is still correct. Markers have the technologists initials. On most systems, when you do the “paperwork” you include the initials and name, regardless of who does the QC.

#55

Sometimes, your lawyer just “googles” the answer. Chances are another lawyer has already written a blog or something about a case similar to yours, and it is easier to do a quick internet search than to look up case law through the usual sources.

#56

Yes you actually DID get D+ in that class, but your teacher felt bad and rounded up to a C-.

#57

Lots of older trains have high voltage (over 1000V) heaters under the seats or in the walls.

#58

All things considered, very few factory cars are worth more than 50 grand.

#59

Always leave your AC activated, even in the Winter. otherwise your AC compressor in your car may seize up or sonething else in the system rots damaged.

#60

Um, APPARENTLY you can’t serve chicken medium rare….

Seriously, though, I’d say it’s the fact that you can’t take hot food, cover it, and chuck it in the fridge and be free of the risk of food poisoning.

It can absolutely happen depending on a few factors.

#61

Most school music programs are more than happy to play for community events, but people requesting them need to consider: 1) what type of ensemble is appropriate; 2) how many students that includes; 3) how loud that ensemble will be (i.e. drumline); 4) what type of music they want; 5) how long the music should last; 6) how to potentially compensate the students and/or music program for their time and expense; and 7) how much lead time is necessary for the students to learn what you need. Please be considerate of the fact that all music programs are diligently working on their own concert and competition requirements. It is not easy to add in other things into the mix, but we enjoy serving the community if we can.

#62

When you want to re paint a room in your home you don’t actually need to prime before you paint. It’s redundant.

#63

Most off the rack suitings/sport coats/trousers are made of a shorter hair wool. Usually it’s the combing residue from the thick, strong, lustrous long hair that are in quality tailored items. The companies that own their own mills will make a better garment 100 times out of 100.

Also, those short hairs feel very similar to the long hairs, so as a cost cutter, to increase margins, an off the rack Hugo Boss for example will use those nice short hairs, and mask really substandard quality of make with seemingly nice feeling fabric.

That is more of a “to each their own” thing, but that’s a trick many off the rack suit companies use.

#64

The 16 meter area in a football/soccer field is actually 16.5 meters.

#65

There’s no such thing as an “air pocket” when flying.

#66

The TRUE cost of Solar. You take the kW x 1000 x 1.85 = your true cost. What you’re “sold” and the contract you sign off on is all profit and BS for the Solar companies and the lenders.
This means that you really need to do your homework and see if solar is something is right for you or if you can pay cash because generally speaking, it’s a rip-off.

#67

It is very easy to “turn off” a multimillion dollar rollercoaster and f**k it up for weeks on end. I know that because I did it once on accident.

Image credits: Harley_Atom

#68

You get what you pay for. That $100 suit you got on super sale over at Penny’s? Garbage. Absolutely f*****g a*s that will absolutely fall apart. You should not be paying less than $400 for a cheap suit and it should be 100% wool. Otherwise you’re paying for literal garbage

Also, you do not need a black suit even for a funeral. A charcoal will do you just fine and is more versatile. That black suit will likely never get worn again since most weddings are leaning towards blues and grays anymore. Stop buying black suits. The only way they make monetary sense is if you’re attending black tie affairs (galas, proms, fancy/high end weddings, etc) or funerals 5 and 6 times a year, get the charcoal suit

Give a tailor at least two weeks for your garments. You’re not their only client. If you need an inexpensive suit quickly, check Men’s Wearhouse or Jos A Bank clearance racks. They’re inexpensive but not cheap and their custom programs are halfway decent. IndoChino is the better way to go for custom stuff

Buy nothing off Amazon. It’s all hot f*****g garbage and you will regret all of that wasted money

#69

Lobsters don’t scream – chef.

#70

I’m an artist. Art isn’t a talent, it’s learned.

Image credits: ctl-dkc_1783

#71

Many homeless have mental heath issues. Some just had bad luck, but most never had anyone role model what responsibility looks like. They never saw what financial stability looks like. They were raised in a negative culture of poverty. Not the more positive “work hard, keep a clean house, self reliant’ culture of poverty. Their children are missing out just like the parents did and homeless will just grow and grow and get on and on until we as a society decide to house and educate people. -Social worker in an apartment building housing 40 families who were homeless and they’re about to be homeless again because they didn’t have to pay rent during the pandemic and now that the rent moratorium is lifted they all owe tens of thousands of dollars in back rent.

#72

How few people know more than one language, whether it be spoken, written, or coded.

#73

Always negative extrude, never positive remove.

I’m a CAD man

#74

Herbicides will not hurt or kill you.

Source: boredpanda.com