Category: Professional Confessions

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Teachers Disclose The Absolute Worst Thing A Student Has Ever Done To Them

Being a teacher is one of the most noble professions there is, but it’s not a walk in the park.

Teachers are underpaid and underappreciated.

Besides teaching, the amount of drama they have to deal with is unimaginable.

So Redditor TheRealZFinch wanted to hear from all the educators who have had to endure while teaching other people’s children.

They asked:

“Teachers of Reddit, what’s the worst thing a student did to you?”

Evil Parents

“I had a parent push me, spit on me and slap me when she came to my classroom unannounced, because I had given her daughter a detention for spitting in my face.”

“Parent denied it, school did nothing. Don’t teach anymore! I’m in Australia FYI.” ~ Apprehensive-Ad4244

“My girlfriend also wants to quit teaching because of shitty kid’s parents.”  ~ NeokratosRed

“I feel for you, you do years worth of difficult training because you want to work with and help children, change the world for the better, and you wind up being crap on every day instead by parents.”

“Luckily, teaching skills are very transferrable, I’m now in the disability services industry.”  ~Apprehensive-Ad4244

Bad Kids…

“A friend of mine is a teacher is a rough neighborhood.”

“One day immediately after school she got a call from the principal telling her to stay in her classroom with the door locked instead of leaving like she normally did.”

“The police arrested one of her students, who had bragged to another student about kidnapping the teacher.”

“He was arrested waiting by her car with a knife and zip ties.”  ~ SoullessDad

Private School Drama…

“I was slammed against a wall by a 17 year old kid who then wiped his hands all over my face and kissed me.”

“One other student saw and she laughed. I left the position immediately. It was a private drama school.”  ~ Ieatclowns

Birmingham UK…

“I’ve been mostly lucky, but I’ve had 2 bad ones, both while training.”

“Both these were in Birmingham UK.”

“A student aged 7 brought a Stanley knife into school and was taking it out of his pocket and messing with it while looking straight at me.”

“It was pretty scary knowing he knew exactly what he was doing.”

“A very aggressive child attacked me, digging his nails into my arm and drawing blood. He then twisted my arm backwards.”

“That was a fun report.”

“I’ve also had a chair thrown at me. Fun times.”  ~ Winchesters_TARDIS

“Hey, also Birmingham, UK here!”

“But I am still a student, in Sixth Form right now.”

“The following stories are all from secondary, though.”

“One of my friends almost started a physical confrontation with a teacher, to the point that they were physically yelling at each other and squaring up.”

“Another time a group of boys yelled sexual expletives at a female member of staff (the boys that few people liked, the number of their friends decreased YoY).”

“Teachers started searching students bags because so many people were bringing in weapons. “

“In a school near mine, a teacher got stabbed, chairs were being thrown around, a teachers arm got broken, it was bad – but that wasn’t my school.”

KABOOM!

“Mine still had its fair share of incidents not pertaining to teachers, but we were not that bad thankfully.”  ~ mxlevolent

“I’ll never forget the day I had a student light off a firework in my classroom.”

“It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever had a student do in my classroom, but it’s definitely the most unexpected thing that I’ve had happen.”

“I’ve been called things by students, and I even got pushed by a student once.”

“But looking back on all of those situations I feel as if they could have been avoided had I built up better relationships with those students or handled the situations that lead up to them differently.”

“With the firework in class, it was completely out of the blue and not at all something I feel like I could have prevented.”

“It just happened randomly one day, and I will never understand why the student decided to set it off during class.”  ~ DerekIsAGooner

Feeling the Bounce!!

“I had a student run into me and bounce off of me.”

“She then accused me of shoving her and hurting her back.”

“I was relieved of my position and I resigned.”

‘”Fortunately the footage shows that I was hit by her, but I still lost my job.”

“After an inquiry with the Texas Education Agency they found i did nothing wrong and I got to keep my license.”

“Fortunately I was offered a position with a government contractor making more money with a lot less stress.”

“I never want to step foot in a classroom as a teacher ever again.”  ~ Damnpenguins4269

Let Go!!

“I had a student grab my arm, then later claim I grabbed him back.”

“His parents wanted to press charges, have me arrested, but the SRO refused, as he’d already taken a dozen witness statements corroborating my version.”

“I got very lucky. Another teacher had to sit for months at central office while CPS investigated baseless claims.”  ~ lazy_days_of_summer

“Out loud to the whole class, I had a student wish cancer on my unborn son.”

“Had another student say he would shoot my wife.”

“This one wasn’t so bad, but could’ve been—one female student started a rumor that she was my favorite and that I thought she was cute.”

“I had to proactively reach out to leadership to put that one down before it got bad.”

“In general, tons of swearing and disrespect.”

“Most of it is due to childhood trauma and home life, but yeah, teaching is great but being a teacher can suck.”  ~ mywifemademegetthis

Feel the Warm

“I taught toddlers, and they consistently wanted to sit in my lap.”

“I had a few girls climb up in my lap, smile sweetly, and pee all over me. It’s amazing how a 5-gallon bladder fits in a pint sized body.”  ~ schnozzberryflop

Terrifying…

“I taught elementary kids in Korea and they were honestly angels.”

“But when I subbed for a friend’s high school class for a week I had a student and his friends try to lock me in the classroom alone with them while they acted really overbearing and sexual.”

“It was terrifying, but thankfully didn’t last long at all as the VP came to have lunch with me 2 minutes in.”  ~ punctuationist

Crazy

“A colleague was stalked by a kid.”

‘”Found out where she lived, where she shopped, what her routine was.”

“Used to get her friends to stand outside her house and harass her outside Tesco.”

“She would make comments in class, such as ‘aren’t green curtains nice?’”

“Knowing the teacher had green curtains, for example.”

“It got so bad she got the police involved and ended up moving house.” ~ Evening_Rose_619

We need our educators.

They don’t deserve abuse.

Be better kids and parents.

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People Who Work In Remote Places Break Down The Creepiest Things They’ve Ever Experienced

Some jobs require employees to work in unique locations outside of the typical office job.

While unconventional job locations provide an environment that prevents fatigue experienced by others who constantly work under fluorescent lighting, working in remote locations can experience unsettling feelings while on the clock.

Curious to explore examples of this, Redditor shafaatkhan007 asked:

“Redditors who work at remote places like forest officers, oil rig workers, etc, what creepy things have you noticed while at work?”

A Bloody Discovery

“I worked at a public forest. One day we had someone report a dead animal on the side of one of our trails. A few of us from the front desk hiked out to see what it was. It looked like a giant peice of…liver maybe? Just a pile of smooth red meat…no blood around.”

“And it was wrapped up in a t shirt, with some coins scattered around it. We called our rangers to go check it out, and one of them was pretty sure it was a placenta.”

“The weird part is, you have to check in thru a front desk. So someone either snuck a placenta/liver in or gave live birth/removed an organ on our trails. We never got an answer on what the pile of meat was, how it got there, or why.” – WhiteOwlz

The Body

“I do a lot of stream work so I spend time out in pretty rural areas walking streams and rivers. Once my coworker and I were working in a more urban environment and came across what we initially thought was a body – which of course triggered ‘Oh sh*t!!’ from us – but it ended up being a firefighter’s dummy that had fallen down a hill. We felt pretty dumb.”

“Other notable things include a small grave in the middle of nowhere for someone’s dog (pretty sad), and a stuffed rabbit with shotgun shells placed where its eyes should be, a mannequin very purposely placed in a chair in the middle of the woods, and lots of little random alters.”

“I also did work in Myrtle Beach (what a hell hole) and accidentally walked into an inhabited homeless camp. I was peering into a stormwater grate when I looked up and saw a homeless person standing in his shelter staring at us and saying nothing. I felt like I was trespassing so we quietly left.” – RegularTeacher2

Suspicious Sound

“I used to work in a ship and we’re usually gone 3 to 10 months at a time. I worked night shift so this meant I would sleep in the sleeping quarters during day time with either just me or a handfull of other crew members where usually there’d be 20 to 30 of us in there.”

“It wasn’t so bad. Actually I really liked because it’s a lot more peaceful sleelimg during the day. You don’t hear anybody else snoring or someones footsteps because they have to piss or something like that.”

“All you can hear is the light creak of the walls and the floors of the ship and all you can feel is the sway of it on the ocean. A bit haunting and creepy of you really think about it but I like it.”

“All that ended when there was a short period of time was literally only 2 of us in there or at least that’s what I thought. I started hearing light taps across the room. At first they were light taps. Then it would get a bit faster. Sometimes it’ll get a bit louder. I’d ignore it if it wasn’t so utterly annoying.”

“I look at where the other guys is sleeping and he seems to be fast asleep accompanied by his light snoring. 2nd day, there it goes again. I tried to follow the sound but for some reason it bounced around the room like an echo.”

“Eventually it comes to an abrupt halt. So I try to sleep it off. During work at night I tried to ask my mate about it but he said he was too tired to even notice. I guess I’m alone on this pursuit.

“3rd day I take my pursuit one step futher by not sleeping right away. I’d be fully awake when it starts so I’ll have a better chance of discovering the source. There it goes again. This time I go from one empty rack to the next until finally it was loud as f’k, tapping in progress.”

“My heart was thumping like a jackhammer. I pulled the curtain to the side. There laid the biggest dude I’ve ever seen on the ship holding his d*ck mid stroke. You have no idea the speech I prepared for this guy, in my head, for keeping me up for several days but at that exact moment I had no idea what to say.”

“Of course I gave out a small yalp which didn’t help the situation. I never thought I’d be locking eyes with another dude while he’s gripping his dong when I began this honorable pursuit.”

“With the current situation I mustered my best attempt at displaying my annoyance. It somehow came out as an apology followed by ‘I keep hearing tapping noises.’ He hadn’t said anything yet but at that exact moment, I realized that his elbow that which belong to the fapping arm is resting right on the wall probably banging on it over and over and over.”

“I didn’t wait for a reply. I nodded my head, kind of rolled my eye and walked away. It will never be easy trying to avoid a big guy like him everyday in the same sleeping quarters.” – Chevrons21

Isolation Fears

“I work on North sea oil rigs on an ad-hoc basis (off the coast of Scotland).”

“Wouldn’t say anything was particularly paranormal creepy but it can be very unsettling/weird place.”

“Fog can come rolling in out of nowhere and other rigs you can see off the sides can disappear in front of your eyes. Sometimes you can’t see the walkways 6ft in front of you or if you’re walking over grating you can’t see the sea below your feet (about 60m down from feck to sea) but you can hear it, all be it muffled. The fog can roll in over the course of a few minutes too so a perfectly clear day becomes pea soup.”

“You can also feel the rig moving/swaying on high winds /rough seas. Even though it’s a fixed leg Platform. Very unnerving to feel your office swaying when it shouldn’t be.”

“My last trip was my first ever Nightshift and I found it particularly unsettling as you’ve got the background noise of the plant but I walked around the whole rig without seeing another living soul for the whole shift (usually there are about 130 people on board although smaller rigs have smaller headcounts) .”

“Usually once a trip im hit by this awareness that you are just very isolated and in the middle of no where (most rigs I’ve worked on are an hour’s chopper ride from land). So if things go wrong it can escalate very quickly.” – sootsprite13

While many may scoff at the prospect of sharing a crowded space with other coworkers, it could be better than the alternative.

Constantly working in isolation with no one to distract you can be nerve-wracking over time and your imagination can wind up playing some cruel tricks.

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People Who Quit A Job On Their 1st Day Describe What Happened

One of the main reasons that people “rage quit” their jobs – meaning they leave in a dramatic fashion when they’re fed up – is usually due to poor management and abusive treatment.

In August of 2021, we saw the largest amount of people quitting their jobs at once in what is now known as the Great Resignation. Some left due to low wages and poor management, some left because of the pandemic, and some wanted to do work they actually loved doing.

While many of these people quit after working for quite some time, there’s a great deal of people out there who quit on day one of their new job.

Sometimes you start a new job and instantly you realize that it’s not going to be the right fit. Whether it’s red flags with management or the work isn’t something you want to be doing, there are so many reasons to leave.

We went to Ask Reddit to get the truth on why people left their job the moment they started.

Redditor redmambo_no6 asked:

“People who quit their jobs on the first day, what was your ‘I’m outta here’ moment?”

Here’s some of the best responses.

Had to pay for the microwave.

“When the microwave in the lunch room was coin activated.” – CaptainArsehole

“That’s real? What the ever loving f*ck?”

“That warrants loading that thing up with quarters, filling it with silverware and setting it to ten minutes on your way out.” – larry_flarry

“I work in building management and am personally responsible for many of the amenities tenants have in an office, and I can’t even imagine the conversation on that one.”

“I had a hard time putting in a cold brew and kombucha machine that was pay per use, I feel like if you are going to put something in an office it should be free, or just don’t offer it.” – BuffFlexson

Management has issues.

“Worked in a hotel for a day.”

“No one told me where anything was. Got chewed out for it.”

“Guests enjoying their meals told me to pay no mind/I was doing a good job and that my boss is a c*nt.”

“I told the manager that I was quitting and wouldn’t be doing the next shift.”

“I arrived the next day, returning a work uniform and my supervisor approached me and yelled at me for being late. I told her I already quit but if I was working, technically I was 5 hours early for my shift.”

“Absolute nutcases.” – O5CR

“The not getting told how to something then getting told off for doing it wrong thing happened to me. I was so mad.”

“Got told to put something on shelves by checkout. Asked if there’s way any specific way it needs to be done? Get told ‘No, idiot, it’s not hard you just put as much as you can fit on the shelf’. Stack stuff on shelf. ‘Why didn’t you follow protocol around displaying stuff here? You have to count exactly how many you use for stock control and display them a certain way.’”

“Thought that one was a one off but the next day I ask what I should be doing after a busy period? ‘There’s nothing to do for a bit. Make us all coffee to practice using the machine.’ Half way through making coffee ‘Why haven’t you done really important job? You don’t have time to be taking coffee breaks!’”

“This was my trainer vs the manager. Turns out the trainer didn’t want someone else working with her so she sabotaged me and set me up for the manager to catch me doing the (wrong) things she’d told me to do.”

“I told them they clearly have some issues to work out among themselves and quit.” – Few-Evidence-7534

They were watching.

“I got a job at a Build A Bear knockoff at the end of a mall that wasn’t very busy. My interview with the owners was interesting. They were an older couple who said that they had wanted to open a Chick Fil A, but you need about a million dollars to do that.”

“My first day, one other girl was working, and she didn’t really talk to me. I had basically no training and she disappeared into the back. I was standing at the register area, which was underneath a giant storybook mushroom. A mother and her young son walk in and start to look at the bear skin options. I greeted them and left them to look around. They ended up leaving after a couple minutes and my coworker reappeared from the back with the cordless phone and handed it to me.”

“It was my boss. He told me that when a customer walks in, he wants me to come out from under the mushroom to them (‘come OUT! from the mushroom!’). After he finished speaking to me, I hung up and went to my coworker and asked about the phone call. She said the place has cameras set up and the owners watch them from their house and call in a lot. I did not come back to work after that day.” – pocketradish

“Not mushroom for improvement there.” – FreudianAcordian

“Owner didn’t seem like a fungi.” – TrippyReality

They had been robbed.

“Fast food chain: I was 17.”

“I found out during training that the place had been robbed 3 times in the past month and 1 employee was seriously injured.”

“Not worth the $5/hr. (This was the US state of Georgia in 2004).” – ThunderFlash10

“I worked at a KFC when I was 16. I remember the training orientation video told us over and over not to be a hero if you get robbed. Do they really think we’re gonna take a bullet for them? Like we’re gonna scream ‘Not on my watch!’ and dive over the counter?” – casino_night

They didn’t take breaks.

“Took a summer job at a textile plant and the trainer said, ‘Forget about taking a break if you want to stay caught up.’” – p38-lightning

“Reply forget about being caught up.” – Big-Red-Husker

“Especially because ‘caught up’ is an arbitrary standard.”

“Breaks, however, are mandated by law and measurable.” – TootsNYC

They didn’t want to pay the $40.

“I applied for a job at my longtime favorite restaurant(celebrated my birthday there every year).”

“Owner asks me to come in for basically a try out, as I communicated I was looking at other job possibilities. I come in and they just stick me on dishwashing for an hour, no biggie. Then there dishwasher doesn’t show up, so the kitchen manager asks me to stay one for their lunch rush, says I’ll get paid for the hours. I do, kitchen staff was nice so I was happy to help out even though I figured I’d be taking a different job. I fill out a time card at the end of the shift and tell the manager I probably wouldn’t be back, he understands and thanks me for the help.”

“Fast forward a couple weeks and he tells me to email the owner after I ask him if I should pick up my measly paycheck. I do, she basically tells me to f*ck off over text. Tells me it was ‘staging’ and that she told me I wouldn’t be paid. I respond that I understand that but that I stayed an extra 3 hours which I WAS told I’d be paid for. She stops responding. I decide I want to be petty over the 40 bucks so I get the state labor department involved. Dude goes in there and makes her pay me for the hours including the first ‘staging’ hour. Couple weeks later I got my 40 bucks, never went back to that restaurant.”

“Firstly, ‘petty’ is not how I see it two years later. I’m VERY glad I did this and sharing the story with others in my city I learned this practice was very common with local restaurants. Hopefully others learned to stand up for their labor too from my small experience.”

“Secondly, this restaurant closed down a couple weeks after I got that paycheck. The owner made a long winded complaint on the FB page about how the food culture had ‘changed’ in the city and her restaurant didn’t fit in anymore (total bullsh*t, they were ALWAYS popular. Most people theorized the terrible mismanagement and employee abuse had caught up to her).” – sleepdyhollow

“You’re not petty, I wonder how many other people they fleeced for free labor.” – FaustsAccountant

“You would not believe what restaurants get away with. And they’re so blatant about it.”

“It’s such an insane work culture. I’m glad I experienced it but the thought of doing it everyday makes my job being a welder now a total cakewalk.” – providenthound

The employee had to pay for training.

“My very first job was at a little drive in restaurant close to my high school. I showed up to work the first day, they lady said I had to pay her $50 for training. She showed me around the place and said that my pay would be $4.50/hour as a carhop(this was in 2010), and all the tips I made went into a bucket with all the other girls’ tips. At the end of the night, she counted up tips, kept 20% for herself and split the rest up evenly among EVERY employee. Also, part of our job was one day a week we had to spend 4 hours cleaning her house. It seemed super shady.”

“I literally left after listening to her go over all these rules. My dad was pissed until I explained, and another girl confirmed and my dad agreed I did the right thing.” – tlr92

“Shady and highly illegal.”

“Tip pooling is legal but is supposed to be only with other tipped employees, her skimming 20% off the top is not legal.”

“Pretty sure you can’t charge someone to train them for a job you hired them for.” – -Work_Account-

Hired to do one job, told to do another.

“I was hired at a chain restaurant to be a hostess. I was so excited because my last job was washing dishes and because of my eczema, I had to quit. It was too painful to do that job. So, I arrived at my new job dressed up to be a hostess and those mfers took me back to the kitchen to do dishes because the dishwasher just quit. I noped out of there real fast!” – Ismygrayshowing

“13 years in restaurants, I can say if you have any skin condition stay out of restaurants not because of your skin but the chemicals some places use for their dishwashers. I’ve seen people welt up just from industrial detergent.” – scootiesanchez2038

Even the customers knew it was bad.

“Went into an Italian restaurant for my first day of work and I got 3 red flags on the very first day.”

“1- The manager said he had lots of hours for me and getting shifts would be no problem. Every single other employee told me that they were struggling for hours and that they had no idea why they hired me.”

“2- Everyone said the manager was an asshole. Even the customers.”

“3- It was my first day there, and I actually had to teach the woman training me how to do one or two things.” – Stevie-Avail

“Probably hired you to replace that woman.” – RonStopable08

They were pushing a sale that should never happen.

“‘Salesman’ for Kirby vacuums. First sale call was to a single elderly woman who was supporting her son in hospital (they got us in the door by offering a free carpet clean as a demonstration). The supervisor training me pushed and pushed to make the sale until this old woman was in tears. Just as she was about to sign the paperwork I asked if she actually wanted to vacuum and she said it was lovely but she couldn’t afford it. I took the paperwork away from her and said not to worry.”

“Outside I told the supervisor I quit to which he replied I would’ve been fired anyway. No love lost. I hung around for half an hour playing on my phone to make sure the supervisor left because he was a real piece of work.” – Pokestralian

“Oooh I have a Kirby story! I worked for them when I was 17 – not selling the vacuums but setting up appointments for the salespeople. They had the shadiest way of getting their salespeople into people’s houses. They went around town with raffle tickets where people could sign up with their name, address, and phone number for a chance to win some cash prize. The kicker? There was no contest. It was just a way to get these people’s info.”

“When I would get the filled out raffle tickets I was instructed to look at the zip codes and throw out any from the lower income part of town. Then with what was left I had to make calls. I had a script where I would tell them they were still in the running for the cash prize but in the meantime, they had won a free one room cleaning. I’d get the details on which room they wanted to have done and set up a day and time for it. Their free room cleaning was a Kirby salesman pitching to them the whole time.”

“The whole thing was so dishonest I quit after a couple weeks.” – SavaRox

Not only do some of these jobs sound terrible, a lot of what happened was illegal.

With all the abuse, misuse of power, and poor wages, it’s no one these people quit on day one. If they stayed any longer it was bound to be stressful.

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People Explain Which Jobs Are A Lot Less Fun Than People Think

It can be difficult to figure out what you’re going to do as a career for the rest of your life. In fact, the job you’re working in now might have started out as, “Just that thing I’ll do until I find the real thing I want to do.”

Usually, these careers are filled with long hours, difficult clientele, and a secret load of hardships the outside world is not privy to knowing. Unfortunately, as it turns out, the “dream” jobs, the ones people spend all day wishing they had while they work their dead-end feeling jobs, may not be as great as some hoped.

The smells. So. Many. Smells.

A Redditor wanted to know what jobs may not bring as much joy as some think when they asked:

“Which job is a LOT less fun than most people expect?”

Imagine The Smells. Now Imagine Them Every. Day.

“Zookeeper.”

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s awesome to be around so many amazing animals and care for them…”

“But the smells are ridiculously, insanely foul.”

“I have a really strong stomach and it’s still tough for me…we’ve had some interns quit over it.”

“I was warned about the smells when getting into the field, but thought ‘oh I’ve volunteered at animal shelters, I know what animal stink smells like’”

“Nope. Not even close.” ~ wekoo9

So, I’m Not Like Indiana Jones?

“Paleontologist. You don’t get to work with full dinosaur skeletons and do all kinds of awesome expeditions.”

“You’re mostly sitting at a desk looking at some pictures and logging stuff on your computer, maybe examining a fossil occasionally.”

“If you’re lucky you can go on a real dig, and OMG SPEND HOURS IN THE HOT SUN DUSTING OFF ROCKS!!!” ~ MidwesternMonkey

Someone Has To Make The Donuts

“Baker. Coming into work at 3/4 am so you can have a six am baked goods is miserable.” ~ haireypotter

‘”o00Oo0h y0u MuST L0vE tHe wAY U SmëlL WhEn ù G0 h0Me!’”

“nope…I go home smelling like burnt oven” ~ Vdd993

No “Smoke On The Water”

“Working in a music store ( musical instruments )”

“Your days are spent listening to 50 different people play 50 different riffs poorly simultaneously, as if they’re all putting on their own concert.” ~ [usernamedeleted]

“Some of my (least) favorites:”

“Person who thinks playing well and playing loud are the same thing.”

“Person who wants to make sure you know they are very smart and you are very lucky to be in their presence.”

“Person who goes to absurd lengths to test out drum sticks to make sure they’re pitch matched without knowing how to execute any of those techniques. Extra points if they’re just going to shred them to splinters in a week anyway.”

“People who act like you’re in their way because you’re trying to do your job.”

“People who assume you couldn’t possibly know anything about the instruments you play and sell all day long.”

“Side note – I mostly loved my time working in a music store and I enjoy helping people but the people who come in with aggressive egos and nasty attitudes are insufferable.” ~ JessicaMessica

No Running!

“Lifeguarding. Everyone expects Baywatch, act, saving lives all the time. But It’s usually just sitting there blowing your whistle telling little sh-ts to stop f-cking around.” ~ Theholynun

I Just Wanted To Smash Stuff

“Demolition”

“Everyone wants to break shit with a sledgehammer. Everyone is tired of lifting that sledgehammer by 5 swings.”

“Nobody wants to load the broken stuff into bags or a wheelbarrow and take it to the dumpster.” ~ Bill_S_Preson_Esq

The Key Is Not In The Wall!

“Gamemaster at an escape room.”

“It’s the same repetitive script, resetting the same stuff, giving clues and hints about the same things.”

“The patrons are often competitive families who argue, obnoxious impatient 13-year-olds, college students who have been drinking, idiots who break sh*t and touch sh*t that I SPECIFICALLY TOLD THEM NOT TO.”

“They never remember your initial instructions. If something gets broken during one group, you have to hurry and fix it before the next group.” ~ Reddit

You Know How Frustrated You Get When You Have To Replay The Same Level Of A Game?

“Video game tester.”

“You aren’t spending your time playing completed fully realized games. You are playing the same level of a game over and over seeing if there are bugs.” ~ Mr_frumpish

“Also, you are probably not going to test the next GTA, but something like Barbie’s Super Happy Funland 3, or some other game aimed for kids 8 and under. And you’ll have to play it for 8-10 hours a day, every day.” ~ __Hello_my_name_is__

“Lets see if I can clip through the wall in position 131, 875, -121”

“Lets see if I can clip through the wall in position 131, 875, -122”

“Lets see if I can clip through the wall in position 131, 875, -123” ~ RoboNinjaPirate

It’s Insane How Much We Don’t See On Screen

“I have seen this question before and then it was zookeeper at the top comment too. Nice.”

“Anyways, there’s this making-of Frozen 2 mini docu. Most animators work weeks for a minute of animation of one character, if not less.

“At one point they decided to leave out a piece that one person had solely been working on. Must be crappy to be part of the credits without being able to say “this is my part!”.” ~ ArrrSlashSubreddit

“I couldn’t believe it! It was even crazier to me when Sterling K. Brown recorded an entire song and it got scrapped. It’s insane how much ends up on the cutting room floor for a movie to be just right.”

“I was so psyched for the animator that did that end scene for ‘Into The Unknown’ though! She killed it.” ~ heronlyweapon

The Magic Never Leaves, It Just Changes

“Being a Character Performer at Disney.”

“Don’t get me wrong, there are some amazing perks and truly magical moments. I know I’m super lucky and tons of people would love to be in my shoes.”

“But the day to day work is EXHAUSTING in ways I never thought possible. Guests are ridiculously abusive…I’ve had things said and done to me I never would have imagined.”

“The company isn’t always great – it highly depends on your leadership. And there’s so much focus on your body and face (good and BAD) that it can be incredibly depressing and difficult emotionally.”

“Plus, you have to accept that there’s very little upward mobility. Most people “grow out of it” and it’s rough to know that one day you’ll get “too old” or “too fat” and you will have to start all over in a new career field.”

“So you constantly are thinking either, 1) what you’re going to do when you leave, 2) how you’re going to keep yourself there.”

“I personally knew it would be temporary, and I now only work there seasonally while I have a “normal career”. But Disney has a way of sucking you in.” ~ TheMarvelPrincess

They say do what you love and you’ll never work another day in your life.

It’s clear after taking a look at these entries, that is not the case and coming home smelling like burnt dough and elephant feces is not the life many thought they wanted.

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Therapists Divulge The Most Common Secrets That Patients Are Scared To Tell Them

*The following article contains discussion of suicide/self-harm.

Those who seek professional counseling are there because they want to improve their mental health and need guidance.

However, getting some patients to open up on their first meeting seems to be a challenge because they are struggling with their self-imposed shame.

Curious to hear about the things patients finally opened up about in a therapy session, Redditor Music-and-wine asked:

“Therapists, what is something people are afraid to tell you because they think it’s weird, but that you’ve actually heard a lot of times before?”

Redditors who are in the field provided their insights.

Resisting Impulses

“Intrusive thoughts. Nearly everyone has thoughts about pushing the old lady onto the subway train, swerving into opposing traffic, or stabbing their loved one in the stomach while cooking dinner with them.”

“Some folks, however, take these thoughts very serious that believe that they might act them out. It’s called thought-action-fusion. Most of us are able to brush them off, though.” – vedderer

Normalizing A Common Tendency

“Unwanted intrusive thoughts are normal and do not mean you are a bad person (yes, even intrusions of sexual/religious/moral themes).”

“By definition, these are thoughts that are unwanted bc they go against your own values and highlight what you don’t want to do (eg, a religious person having unwanted blasphemous images pop into their mind, or a new parent having unwanted sexual thoughts about their new baby).”

“However normal these thoughts are (over 90% of the population), the moral nature of these thoughts mean that often people experience a lot of shame and take many years before they first tell someone about them.”

“Edit. Because this is getting more visibility that I realised : The occurrence of these thoughts/images/urges are normal.”

“The best way to ‘manage’ them is to accept that they are a normal (albeit unpleasant) brain process, and a sign of the opposite of who you are and are therefore v.v.unlikely to ever do.”

“Let the thought run its course in the background while you bring your attention back to (insert something you can see/feel/hear/taste/touch). I usually say something like ‘ok mind!”

“Thanks for that mind! I’m going to get back to washing the dishes and the sound/sensation of the water while you ponder all the nasties.”

“Carry on!’ I literally say it to myself with a slightly amused tone bc I am always genuinely amused at all the wild stuff my brain can produce!!” – cbearg

The Thing About Grief

“The amount of people I see who feel like they should be grieving a ‘certain way’ and are afraid that they ‘must not have loved someone,’ or, ‘must not have cared.’ People grieve in all sorts of ways. The ‘5 stages of grief’ are bullsh*t.”

“I was consulting with another clinician who was seeing a couple whose daughter had died. The wife was convinced that the husband must not have cared about her because he ‘wasn’t grieving out loud’.”

“In reality, while she had been going to support groups and outwardly expressing, he had been continuing to work in a garden that him and his daughter had kept when she was alive, using that time to process and grieve as he did.”

“Both were perfectly fine ways of grieving, however it is expected that ones grief is more than the other. They both ended up working it out however, he driving her and others to their weekly support group, her attempting to work in the garden with him on the condition that they didn’t talk. Really sweet.”

“To that same extent, the amount of people who are unaware of their own emotions and emotional process is astounding. So many people feel only ‘angry’ or ‘happy’ and worry something must be wrong with them otherwise.”

“Normalizing feeling the whole gamut is just as important. Recognizing what we’re feeling as well as what it feels like in our body when we’re feeling is incredibly helpful for understanding how we process and feel.”

“As a whole, how we treat emotions as a society is kinda f’ked. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.” – sredac

Feeling Out Of Place

“I’d say a common one is believing that there’s something innately, irreparably wrong with them that makes them unable to ever truly ‘fit in’. For a lot of people it’s such a deeply ingrained belief that it can be extremely painful to acknowledge or express, regardless of the level of personal success in their lives.” – GuidedBySteven

Common Topics

“Two topics come up with regularity: when someone discloses to me that they were sexually abused as a kid, and/or when some is experiencing suicidal ideation. Both are something I hear from clients every single day, and so I don’t find it weird at all.”

“But, when I have someone in front of me who’s talking about it for the first time, I know it’s important to validate the fact that even though I might be talking about this for like the fifth time that day, they have never talked about this EVER, and are in need of gentle care to feel safe.” – HighKeyHotMess

What Makes People Happy

“That they do not know what they enjoy doing. Often they have people in they’re life, including therapists, say ‘try to do something fun today’ or ask ‘what do you like to do when you have free time?’”

“Many people I work with do not know what those are. Once I explain that I dislike these statements /questions because they assume people should know the answer, and that many people don’t, I can watch as they relax, take a deep breath, and say something to the effect of ‘oh my, that’s so good to hear. I have no idea what I like to do. That’s part of the problem’.”

“More often than not they feel like they should know and that everyone else their age has it figured out. They are embarrassed to say that they don’t know when in fact not knowing is very common. I couldn’t even try to count how many clients I’ve had this conversation with.” – ljrand

Not Knowing Where To Start

“A common one in the time I was a therapist was simply ‘I don’t know.’”

“You’d be surprised how reluctant people are to admit that they don’t know why they’re feeling how they are. But that’s exactly why you’re (or were, I’m not a therapist any more) sat there with me; so we can figure out why together.”

“It always put me in mind of a line from America by Simon and Garfunkel:”

“Kathy, ‘I’m lost’ I said, though I knew she was sleeping. ‘I’m empty and aching and I don’t know why’.” – kutuup1989

The Stigmatization Of Sex

“Psychologist here. Basically, anything having to do with sex. There’s so much shame. Sexual abuse. Sexual fantasies and fetishes. Erectile dysfunction. Infidelity. Becoming sexually assertive.”

“I’ve been told that I have a good ‘psychologist’s face.’ I try not to have a strong reaction to normalize the discussion. With adolescents, they are extremely anxious to tell me if they’ve relapsed or aren’t doing well.”

“They cut one night or they were suicidal. They’re having a lot of negative self-talk or panic attacks.”

“They’ll come in, pretending everything is okay. It’s usually in the last 10-15 minutes that they’ll say something. They’ll reveal that they worried they’d let me down.”

“That I’d be disappointed in them. It usually turns into a discussion about policing other people’s feelings and tolerating emotions.”

“I explain that I care about their well-being and it’s my job to monitor my emotions and reactions, not their role.” – MyDogCanSploot

The takeaway from this thread is that psychologists and other therapists have heard it all and they are there to help patients, not judge them.

While it’s easy to say patients should shed their guilt when opening up about their issues, they should be proud for taking that first step by showing up.

If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/

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Waiters Share The Worst Valentine’s Day Disasters They’ve Ever Seen

Though many justifiably call Valentine’s Day nothing more than a holiday called into existence by jewelry and greeting card companies, chocolate and flower vendors and the service industry, most couples can’t help but celebrate it anyway.

And there’s no shame in that.

Why not spend a night with complete focus on a partner and all things love and romance?

But for a variety of reasons, the holiday can still end in pure chaos.

Redditor Hamsternoir banked on that unfortunate reality when they asked:

“Waiters what Valentine day disasters have you witnessed?”

Of course, marriage proposals are frequently a piece of these stories.

“I was eating in a fine dining establishment (Chili’s) several years ago. In the next booth was a really young guy who had a big bunch of roses on the seat next to him.”

“He kept looking at his watch, looking at the roses, and popping open a ring box for a peek at the ring.”

“He did this for a half hour or so, then began calling and texting someone (presumably his girlfriend) over and over.”

“As we were waiting for our check, he hands my wife the roses, mumbled something, and walked out.”

“Poor guy.” — AZScienceTeacher

It’s even worse when there’s a secret audience. 

“Not a waiter but I was a pastry chef at this big resort in cape cod. We got a special order from this guy who was coming in for his anniversary ( Valentine’s day). He wanted his desert to have ‘Will you marry me?’ written on it so he could pop the question when it came out.”

“He called ahead to the front and back kitchen, even came in himself that morning to make sure it was good to go. The whole crew was behind him. We had cooks all night coming in the ask if it had happened yet.”

“I wrote the inscription on the plate and dressed it to the nines with gold leaf and expensive chocolate. I’m taking a picture of the plate just before it’s set to go out and notice our head waiter come in with a weird look on his face.”

“He says plainly ‘They don’t need it’ “

“She broke up with him before the entrees hit the table.” — jeanlukepikard

In one case, the waitstaff became directly involved.

“There was a note in our reservations that it was an engagement, they wanted champagne, a specific seat, bunch of other stuff. The server comes up to the table with something like ‘so I read we’re celebrating an engagement, congratulations.’ ”

“Confusion from the woman; glaring from the guy. He hadn’t proposed yet. She ruined it.” — ChefHannibal

For one Redditor, the proposal remains a mystery. 

“Old man proposed to old woman. He tried to get off the chair to kneel, tripped and fell and I assume broke something since he couldnt get back up and we had to call an ambulance.”

“My manager had to drive her teeth to the hospital separately because she had taken them out to eat her soup (lord knows why) and left them on the table in the confusion.” — rancid_cu**_bucket

There are, however, other versions of love lost.

“They came in at lunch the day after, so it was pretty empty but it was still for a Valentine’s Day date. They were both pretty nice at the beginning, the guy asked for a picture and whatnot.”

“As the meal went on, the dude got progressively drunker and by the time I brought the check out, the woman was gone.”

“When the dude gave me his card, he said ‘I’ll give you a bit of advice. If you’re taking a girl out to break up with her, do it at a McDonald’s and not an expensive restaurant’.” — _StanleyYelnats

Breakups aren’t always such a spectacle, though.

“These two were on a date and the guy went to go use the bathroom, The girl just up and leaves after he went to the restroom. When the guy came back he sat around for awhile until asking his waitress where she went.”

“She replied with saying that she left. The guy then asked the waitress if she would go on a date with him. The waitress said no.” — OffensiveGender

For this waiter, the relationship in question was hers.

“I was working as a waitress in a Sushi restaurant and Valentine’s Day was an all-hands-on-deck shift.”

“This guy I had just started seeing wanted to go out, but I told him that working in food service, you never get Valentine’s Day off and we’d just have to celebrate the day after or the weekend after.”

“Nope. He got so upset that he went and asked a different girl out, came to the restaurant I worked at on V-Day and sat in MY SECTION.”

“He then proceeded to spend the entire evening making a fool out of himself and making his date uncomfortable as he tried to make me jealous.”

“Needless to say we didn’t go out again. Ever.” — venustas

And there were those juicy stories of infidelity.

“In college I waited tables and Valentine’s Day was always a good one in terms of tips.”

“I once saw a couple come in to eat, halfway through the dinner the mans wife shows up to surprise the couple. The wife took the wine bottle and poured the remnants on the husbands head, took off her ring and told the girlfriend she could have him.”

“He tipped me a $100” — kobra_kyle

This one doesn’t involve a waiter, but it’s just too wild to leave out.

“I was a delivery driver for a fruit bouquet company and I had two arrangements from the same guy.”

“Routes were made for me and the truck was loaded so there was no way I could mess this up. Delivered both arrangements to the appropriate address.”

“I headed back to the store to find the store owner and the guy who sent these in an argument. This idiot put the wrong name to the houses. And it was on the card with the arrangement. Along with the phone numbers.”

“So both women called each other and then called the guy. He tried to say it was my fault. Then the person who took the order. He ordered it ONLINE. All we did was import the order.”

“I hate valentine’s day because of that place but man was that great.” — misfits90

And finally, one waiter saw them all. 

“I had a section one V-day that had a marriage proposal, a 40th anniversary, and a break up all at the same time.”

“The break up was the worst. The guy brought his high class date a gift; a mini ceramic bear holding balloons. He presented it when I was at the table and she looked at it like it was a hot turd.”

“I just knew this was not going to end well. She left at the end of the meal and must have said something because he stayed at the table for another 40 minutes, head down and crying. I felt bad, he saw the celebrations going on at the other tables.” — Odd-Examination

So for those of you celebrating V-Day this year, consider a few lessons: propose in private, don’t use the day to save a relationship, and if you’re cheating, beware!

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Doctors Confess How They Behave When They Are The Patient

Something funny that I’ve always wondered… who’s the doctor for my doctor? Does that doctor have a doctor? And what about THAT doctor?

Wouldn’t there be an imbalance of some kind eventually? Does every doctor have a doctor in some never-ending loop? This has to be one of life’s greatest mysteries, right?

Here’s another question: What do doctors talk about when they go for their own medical checkups and yearly physical exams? Do they correct each other? Argue over results?

Oh, to be a fly on the wall…

As humorous as this is, remember: Doctors are people, too! They have to go to the doctor just like the rest of us (even if they refuse to answer my question about this seemingly never-ending loop of doctors).

But there might, in fact, be an answer!

Doctors were candid about their own experiences at the well, doctor after Redditor Still-Tangerine2782 asked the online community:

“Doctors of Reddit, what’s it like when you go in for a doctor’s appointment?”

“Do you and your doctor discuss what’s wrong with you like it’s a group project? Do you not go at all because you’re your own doctor?”

“It depends on what I’m going in for.”

“It depends on what I’m going in for. As a background, I’m an oncologist so I’ve trained in internal medicine before. For most internal medicine-type stuff, I don’t bother going in unless I need something that I can’t easily get for myself (e.g. labs or images).

“For specialty stuff I wasn’t trained in, I go in and try to give them the best history I can, but let them do their own thing.” ~ alkahdia

“Fastest consultations ever.”

I don’t get involved in the management. I let the doctor seeing me lead that unless they missed something huge and I would just double-check.”

“The main difference is I can present the whole history and relevant info in about 30 seconds flat and the doctor with that info can just give me the management plan in about the same time.”

“Fastest consultations ever. Very methodical.” ~ triple_threatt

“I don’t go often but when I do…”

“Doctor here (neurologist) I’m not good at going to the doctor. I don’t go often but when I do I usually just STFU, especially if it’s a field of medicine I have no idea about (like say…derm).”

“That being said, the doctor usually knows I’m a physician as well, and so the language tends to be more technical.”

“I also find that we practice less defensively with each other since we can be more open (“We could do ABC tests but honestly what you probably have is X so take this and if it doesn’t get better then we can do ABC”).” ~ Telamir

“Academically minded people tend to ask lots of questions…”

“The pace and density of the conversations is different, I’m sure.”

“I’m an emergency physician who has, over time, treated various physicians in my community including internists, surgeons, radiation oncologists, some from my hospital and some not. Keep in mind that each specialty is quite different from the others.”

“The Rad Onc, for example, thinks and speaks differently than the Ortho Surgeon, and I felt like my treatment of each of them was really quite similar to treating a professor of engineering.”

“Academically minded people tend to ask lots of questions and research stuff while you’re out of the room, as compared to populations that request a more paternalistic bent and just want you to tell them what to do so they can get on with their day.”

“I’m careful to credit that the number of hours that went into my family physician’s training is the same as mine; simply a different topic.”

“She knows tons of stuff about management and screening for chronic disease that I don’t, and I … well I know how to intubate people, manage a bad LSD trip, or use a jar of bubbles to distinguish between kids that are scared and kids that are head injured.” ~ procast1natrix

“For the most part…”

“I’m an ER doctor, and sometimes I have other doctors as patients. For the most part, they’re pretty good patients because they can give a good description of their symptoms in a way that’s useful to me.”

“They usually ask good questions and are well equipped to have an informed discussion about their diagnosis and treatment.

“Sometimes it’s hard for me to dial back my ‘patient talk’ where I simplify medical terms for laypeople. Sometimes it’s challenging if their area of expertise is totally unrelated to the issue at hand and they don’t recognize their limited understanding.”

“The worst patients are those who have just a little medical knowledge and think they know everything. Some version of: ‘My aunt is a nurse, and she said a need a whole-body MRI for this runny nose…’”

“As far as self-diagnosing, I usually deal with my own minor medical issues. If I noticed signs of something more serious, I would go to someone else.” ~ Yeti_MD

“It’s actually a strategy I’ve adopted…”

“Doctor here (family medicine).”

“I self diagnose most things, but for my 1-year-old daughter I decided a while ago that I don’t want to do that for her. So her pediatrician doesn’t know I’m a doctor – I never told her. I want her to treat me like any other parent, and explain everything to me like I’m 5 years old.”

“I’m afraid of being too nonchalant with my daughter’s health that I’ll miss something (or the doctor assuming I know more than I really do).”

“It’s actually a strategy I’ve adopted since on myself; if I go to a doctor (say a gynecologist for a routine check-up) I sometimes just don’t say what I do so I can legitimacy ask dumb questions about things that I should really know – or so that the other doctor won’t leave out important info that they assume I know for fear of insulting me.”

“On the other hand, my regular doctors do know, such as the gynecologist who saw me through my pregnancies, and that enables more complex and nuanced discussions about health decisions, as in debating questions and giving me options that he wouldn’t necessarily do with it he patients, because he can be sure I understand the medical pros and cons well once I’m given a basic explanation.” ~ HermioneGranger8888

“It is a bit dependent…”

“Doctor here – it is a bit dependent on the field of medicine involved.”

“For example, I don’t know much about neurological issues so if I went to see a neurologist I certainly wouldn’t be chipping in.”

“For more generic conditions I have previously offered my thoughts to my doctor about what it could be. Ultimately I still go to the doctor as they can prescribe drugs/order tests for me that would be difficult/questionable for me to do myself.” ~ drbigmac69

“When we do go in…”

“Doctor here. In general, we are not good about going to the doctor. For me, it’s physicals about half as often as recommended and that time I had strep a year and a half ago that didn’t resolve with whatever antibiotics I had in my medicine cabinet.”

“When we do go in, it is like a group project. We usually hash things out together but ultimately I am going to defer to someone with more expertise than me in that area who can make an objective decision.” ~ nellyann

“I always go to someone who doesn’t know me…”

“I always go to someone who doesn’t know me, and I wouldn’t say that I’m a doctor as well. On the other hand, my significant other is a doctor too, and whenever we feel something we do discuss it like a group project in which he always refuses any treatment until his symptoms get to the very worst.” ~ eatfart420

“It can be weirdly stressful…”

“I try to act like any other patient. Medical people can very much sabotage their own care by taking shortcuts or perhaps declining to approach their own problems the way other patients do.”

“It’s a mistake. I have seen harm done that way. I don’t come in for trivial things like self-limiting infections or things that are harmless because I know that they are. But I do go see my regular doctor for problems that really bother me or for routine exams like anyone else.”

“It can be weirdly stressful to be the doctor or the patient in this kind of interaction. I’ve learned to not let it bother me when I am the doctor seeing other doctors. It can be harmful to the doctor as a patient if you let that kind of interaction get to you.”

“I try not to generate stress for other doctors who see me and know what I am. That could be detrimental to me.” ~ Zapranotho777

“I keep my mouth shut…”

“Forensic pathologist here: I keep my mouth shut and let my doctor be a doctor. I have a pulse, so I am not the expert here. Doctors that self-doctor are scary and arrogant, in my honest opinion.” ~ TheresNoIinAutopsy

Well, it’s safe to say I learned a lot.

These answers are remarkably insightful. Next time you go to the doctor, you’ll have a newfound appreciation for them and what they do.

Doctors are people just like you, with concerns about their own health. Given their experience and knowledge, it also takes a lot of humility to just let other professionals do their jobs.

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Therapists Divulge Their Biggest ‘Holy Sh*t’ Moments With Their Patients

Going to therapy is the first big step you should take if you feel like your mental health needs assistance.

If you need it, do it. Don’t be ashamed.

That being said, there is a lot therapists have to deal with on a daily basis, not all of it good. Sometimes they can’t help but judge the people they’re trying to help.

It’s not explicitly said, and from the sounds of it they maintain their professionalism, but sometimes that’s what the internet is best used for—venting your frustrations about what awful people your clients are.

Reddit user, homowithoutsapiens, wanted to know what happens when the hour starts.

They asked:

“Therapists of reddit, what was your biggest “I know I’m not supposed to judge you but holy sh*t” moment?”

Trying To Inform Them Of The Proper Way To Cope

“I work with youth and adolescents who have anxiety, trauma, and/or depression. Some of the kids I worked with had some pretty severe attachment issues. Regardless of this, I never thought I’d have to seriously explain:”

“You can’t just buy a straitjacket for your kid.”

“Feeding your kid ultra Spicy Ramen each night instead of the meal everyone else is eating isn’t specifically defined as abuse, but you have to understand the emotional abuse that this causes.”

“Your kid isn’t trying to kill you because they stand in your doorway at night crying. Thats likely because they’re scared of their traumatic nightmares, but feel like you will just yell at them if they wake you up.” ~ Shozo_Nishi

That’s The Opposite OF Social Distancing.

“Here’s my most recent one: As the pandemic worsened here in the US and more lock downs are on their way, one of my most extroverted clients and I brainstormed ways to meet her social needs while remaining safe.”

“The following week she canceled her session and told me that she’s positive for COVID after attending an orgy, which definitely wasn’t one of our ideas. I let out the deepest most defeated sigh after I hung up the phone.” ~ gyakutai

You Are Allowed To Move On

“Not a judgment – you kind of train your brain not to judge, because you are seeking to understand and help. When you do those things, you can’t simultaneously judge. We could all use a little more of that in real life, I suppose.”

“I’ll share this though. I do feel concerned about this recent phenomenon of young people I worked with self-diagnosing, sharing, and identifying very closely with mental illness; as if the pendulum quickly swung from ‘never, ever share your feelings’ to ‘OMG, you’re depressed? All of us are too!’”

“Life’s challenges can be tough and they don’t need a scientific-sounding label to be valid and real. You are not your diagnosis. We can find validation and support in healthier ways.” ~ Reddit

Take. Care. Of. Your. Child.

“Clinical psychologist working primarily in forensics here. This means my clients are usually involves in legal proceedings (family court, juvenile court, criminal court, etc…)”

“My job is usually to evaluate or provide treatment. I’m not there to judge, that’s the judges job, but of course I have my thoughts.”

“I am usually impressed by the justifications people make for sh-tty behavior. The one that irks me the most is when parents manipulate their child against the other parent.”

“I’ve had to do therapy for a 5yo who said she doesn’t want to see a parent because they haven’t paid child support. Excuse me? What 5yo knows, understand, or needs to be worried about child support.” ~ FriktionalTales

Aware Of Your Own Shortcomings

“Once had a patient whose wife shook their baby to death. He wanted help reconnecting with his wife.”

“At the time I was a young father of a newborn myself, and he triggered a lot of fear in me for my own child, a deep loathing of his spouse, and pity (the ‘how pathetic’ kind) for the patient.”

“I tried for 3 sessions, met his spouse and everything before handing the case over to my supervisor (who knew about my initial reactions, and tried to help me through it).”

“Unfortunately, it ended up being more about my feelings than his, and I was new to the profession at the time. These things are expected to crop up from time to time, but I was still taken aback by my own reactions.” ~ PrimeGuard

A Serious Lack Of Support At Home

“I work in mental health and have worked in acute and crisis settings for the majority of my career. The most notable event I experienced was when a young person had presented with significant ongoing suicidal ideation who was dealing with a lot of sh*t.”

“I spent a lot of time with them mostly deescalation and working out what the plan should be moving forward.”

“One of their parents came in a little while later and I had the opportunity to speak to them about where their child was and what had been going on, with their consent of course.”

“Midway through me trying to explain some of the psychological constructs and ways the parent could help they said to me, ‘is this going to take much longer I have a show to go and watch’.”

“All I can say is, I never judge my patients, I have never walked their path or viewed the world through their eyes. But the people around them who perpetuate the suffering of the people I work with through ignorance, malice and selfishness, I judge them.” ~ Tedkin

Seriously. Why Dunk On Your Child Getting The Help They Need?

“Therapist here,”

“To piggy back on what others have said, it is highly unlikely for me to have moments where I judge my clients. It happens sometimes, but I’m able to shut down those thoughts quickly in my head and return to being present for the people I see.”

“People are so incredibly complex that my judgment wouldn’t have any meaning anyway and it doesn’t have a place in our work together.”

“I will admit though, something that does get me feeling a little salty is when I have a client’s parent that attempts to sabotage the therapeutic relationship I have with their child, or pulling them out of therapy entirely when some of the things we talk about challenges some potentially unhealthy family dynamics. I don’t feel anger toward the parents, mostly I feel bad for the kid.” ~ dirtyberti

I’m Here To Help, But You All Suck

“Lots of people discussing pedophilia as an example of the toughest stuff to not judge despite our training. I haven’t yet treated a pedophile thankfully. At least not an identified one.”

“I did run a men’s anger management group though, and some of those men had done some terrible things to women. Most of them I found ways to like and admire for their positive aspects, but there were two guys in that group I just could never find ‘unconditional positive regard’ for.”

“One guy basically never spoke in group. He would give one word answers and occasionally just discuss how unfair the ‘system’ was to him. I worked really hard to open him up and find things to connect over but he never opened up to me or the group.”

“He left the group after he strangled his girlfriend and went to jail. She survived thankfully.”

“The other left group early routinely, showed up late, participated minimally and similarly never wanted to open up honestly. He left early one group after we had discussed him staying to the end and threatened me when I told him he wasn’t going to get credit for attendance (something the court required).”

“Oddly, I eventually moved into the apartment below him (completely without knowledge) and listened to him scream at his girlfriend and break sh*t while I called the cops.”

“I judge these men. They’re sh-tty. Maybe they’re redeemable, but redemption requires self-exploration and they both refused to do so.”

“It’s worth noting how differently I felt about them than so many others in the group; men I found ways to help and admire and respect even in spite of their awful behavior in the past.” ~ MyFianceMadeMeJoin

People Are Too Down On Themselves

“Okay, real therapist here. I got one.”

“Some of my clients are SHOCKINGLY BAD at giving themselves credit, holy sh*t!!

“Like they might get a nearly straight A GPA in a brutal major while battling depression, or overcome years of phobia and get behind the wheel again, or write a literal novel, or raise a kid as a single parent with low income, or build new relationships after being burned, or cope with OCD well enough to hold down a job.”

“And they’ll talk about themselves as if everyone on earth is better than them, as if their accomplishments are worthless. And I know it’s because of depression or anxiety or another condition, but I’m often stunned by how differently I see them compared to how they see themselves.” ~ Reddit

Don’t be afraid to share with your doctor.

That’s what they are there for.

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People Break Down Examples Of The Laziest Person Doing The Most Difficult Job Best

Microsoft founder Bill Gates once said:

“I choose a lazy person to do a hard job.”

“Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.”

The idea is actually somewhat sound, although an efficient person might be a better choice.

The quote speaks to the concept of “work smarter, not harder.”

Choosing someone who will find the shortcuts to solve a difficult problem can be better than putting your most ambitious person on it. The most complicated way is often not the best way to complete something.

But just because a billionaire tech mogul said it and it sounds good on paper, doesn’t mean it works in practice.

So Redditors lauvnoodles and Slimer425 both asked variations of:

“There’s a saying about giving the hardest job to the laziest person because they’ll find the easiest way to do it—what is your best real-life example?”

Macros, Not Micros

“I knew a guy who had a low level data/reporting job. He had several daily/weekly work responsibilities, including a bunch of reports that needed quite a bit of tweaking from raw data to finished product. But like I said, low level.”

“We didn’t find out until way later, but he had set up macros for each of his major responsibilities where he could. Once set up, he’d just run the macros to do his work, but then he’d (smartly) hold off on delivering the reports until just a little before the deadlines.”

“He’d hit every assignment and was seen as reliable. He also would complain about the workload so people would leave him with that work. I doubt he did a full hour of work a day after he set up what he did.”

“Eventually he left the job for one with better pay. But damn did he work lazy.”

“Also, he was smart not to reveal until the end, because had he told them about it he would have gotten a pat on the back and would have been given a whole other workload, on top of maintaining those macros/etc…”

“Dude milked the job, not the other way around.” ~ daithisfw

Automate

“Any good IT guy will find a way to automate his job so he can sit around browsing [the internet].”

“I left my last Sys Admin Job for a better paying job and the next guy called me and asked how I was doing the work of 3 people. He was going through the daily playbook and was so far behind…”

“I asked him if he was going through the Manual playbook, or the Automated playbook, as I had left both on my desk. Evidently my former boss had taken the automated one to do the work in the interim and never told the new hire about it.” ~ Zooloph

“I remember I worked in a small IT department in college and the head admin had EVERYTHING automated. He’d spend the whole day playing games or watching YouTube but he still performed all of his duties in a timely manner.”

“One day we played a full game of Civilization V while monitoring the progress of a script that updated everyone in the office from Windows XP to Win 7. All of the work got done on time and correctly so we really weren’t doing anything ‘wrong’.” ~ Bearlodge

Know Your Equipment

“Was a temp.”

“Got hired for the day to print 30 packets with 100 pages each.”

“‘Why would it take a day?’ I asked.”

“‘Our printer doesn’t collate the pages so it will take you the day to sort the pages into the 30 packets,’ they said.”

“Right.”

“It was a standard office Xerox printer. It took me all of 30 seconds to find and click the ‘collate’ button. Clicked the ‘staple’ button while at it.”

“All got printed by itself into nice stapled packets and I got paid to browse internet for the day. They thought I was a genius for ‘fixing’ their printer and gave me glowing recommendations to the temp agency that led to more jobs.” ~ wilksonator

Math Is Your Friend

“At my last job, a truck suspension shop, we did inventory every December and it was someone’s job to count all the washers and screws of every size.”

“It was my first inventory and I casually mentioned that they should just weigh one screw or washer, then weigh them all and divide the weight to get the count. Everyone looked at me like I had given them the key to the universe.”

“Counting washers and screws went from a day or two, to just a few hours.” ~ codymreese

Automation Might Be Your Friend But Not Your Coworker’s

“I inherited a job where the last person spent half their time manually typing numbers into Excel. I turned a bunch of 5 hour jobs into 5 minute jobs and made the job really easy.”

“I was only in a 1 year assignment and spent a lot of it automating everything and got a promotion afterward so it all worked out.”

“Still though, using technology right can get rid of a lot of jobs. I work in corporate finance, and we can do the same stuff with a team of four that 20 people were doing 30 years ago.” ~ munchies777

“A college kid picked up an office job over one summer. He became friends with an older lady at the front desk who always needed help figuring out Excel.”

“He kept finding shortcuts for her, and eventually wrote scripts for her that took a load of work off her plate.”

“By the end of the summer he had made her job so easy that they decided they didn’t need her to do it anymore. They fired her.” ~ seancurry1

Outsourcing

“My brother gave my oldest nephew 10 dollars a week if he did all his chores without needing to be told or complaining.”

“One day he gets home early from work and sees the neighbor kid tossing a bag in the trash. He asks him what he is doing and the kid says he gets 5 bucks a week to take care of a few chores.”

“My nephew outsourced his chores.” ~ Downvotesdarksouls

“Now all he needs is to undercut his employee.”

“Scare him straight by telling him the kid down the block will do it for cheaper and this quarter the numbers are lower than expected so take the pay decrease or leave.” ~ AlDaBeast

Let The Machine Do The Work

“I plug clocks in at midnight so they’re already set.” ~ january21st

“Trip the main fuse in the house at midnight to do all the appliances too.” ~ niallw2101

Use The Shortcuts

“I worked ‘goods in’ for an aircraft manufacturer as a summer job at university. Parts would arrive, we’d open them and key in all the details into a terminal.”

“That bit was long winded.”

“I discovered the terminal keyboard had assignable shortcuts, and set up a bunch of them for all the boilerplate items so that keying in an item was about six keystrokes.”

“Saved myself and my workmate hours every day, which we would spend pranking each other, other warehouse staff and staff at other sites.” ~ john_C_random

Skip The Heavy Lifting

“Years ago as a student I got a job stocking shelves. Guys were carrying the heavy boxes, putting them on the floor and bending each time to pick up the items to put on the shelves.”

“I was maybe a light 100 pound (woman) and carrying the boxes was just killing me physically.”

“So one day I had an idea. I put the box on an old desk chair and rolled it around.”

“No more carrying and no more bending!

“Funny thing is that, instead of doing the same thing, most of the guys called me lazy and kept carrying the heavy boxes. Just to prove how strong they were.”

“Now they have special rolling carts to do the job because of all the injuries from lifting and bending.” ~ sonia72quebec

K-I-S-S Principle

“I began a job where 11-12 people each touched a small piece of one process. More time was spent doing the hand off through email between each of us than the actual work.”

“I suggested several steps it made more sense for me to handle completely instead of handing them off in an email. Soon others suggested the same for their pieces of the process and some people were identified as just in the process to ‘give them something to do’.”

“We now do the same process with only 1-3 people involved and it takes a fraction of the time. It went from over 20 busy work steps to about 5 efficient ones.”

“I’m not sure whoever set it up could have made it any less efficient. Keep It Simple, Silly!” ~ Reddit

So Why Are Things Inefficient?

“I never understood why a boss would want you to do a job that you can do in 1 hour, stretch it to 8 hours and let you do that. If the attitude of the corporate world wasn’t this bad, many things could be so much easier in life.” ~ Reddit

“Oh it’s easy. It’s because they don’t know how to measure productivity. They don’t understand what you do, nor how long ‘things’ take.”

“So they rely instead on the assumption that looking like you’re working is basically the same as ‘being productive’.” ~ sobrique

So it seems work smarter, not harder is pretty sound advice that a lot of workplaces are completely ignoring.

What about where you work?

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Workers Divulge The Most Unethical Request Their Boss Ever Made

Most large corporations are built on a ‘leadership’ model that borrows heavily from the military idea of Chain of Command.

The top gives orders, which are followed with increasing levels of detail the further down the chain one goes.

The trouble is that the orders aren’t always proper – or even, in some cases, legal.

Non-disclosure agreements and general embarrassment often keep people from telling these stories but Redditor SethmAR15 decided to use the anonymity of Reddit to ask:

“What’s the most unethical thing a boss has ever asked you to do?”

Someone needed a break.

“Many, many years ago I was working as a part-time mechanic for a guy selling ‘restored cars’.”

“He called me in for an emergency brake repair on a TR-4.”

“One of the rear wheel cylinders had failed and he needed it fixed ASAP.”

“He had a buyer lined up with cash.”

“Instead of having me hone and rebuild the cylinder properly (I had the tools and the kit to do so) he wanted me to cut the pipe to the rear brakes and just crimp it over onto itself, enough to stop the leak.”

“He was in a hurry and wanted it fixed before the customer saw anything.”

“I fixed it properly anyway, so that no one would die, and then rolled my toolbox out of there that very night.” ~ limeycars

The benefit of the doubt.

“Also at Dollar Tree, most of my cashiers were teenagers or dipshits that never showed up for work so this older Korean woman kept getting called in to work the register.”

“She was pretty much getting 40+ hours every week and open season for benefits was getting ready to start.”

“My district manager called me and told me I had to convince her to not get any benefits or else.”

“I told him that else better be him doing that shit himself because I’m not about to do his dirty work.” ~Sol-Blackguy

An executive decision.

“Not me but my dad’s story.”

“1980’s.”

“My dad worked at a small mid-western bank as an executive.”

“One day a fellow executive comes in with several loan applications and says he needs them all approved.”

“My dad looks over them quickly and immediately realizes none of the applicants qualified.”

“If they approved them the loans would go into default within three months and these people would lose their farms.”

“My dad said it wasn’t possible.”

“The other exec says ‘well if you just fudge the numbers it is.’ My father tells him that’s impossible because other exec never walked into his office and they never had this conversation.”

“The other exec nods and takes the papers back.”

“Six months later the FBI raids the bank.”

“My father was the only exec who didn’t go to prison for fraud.” ~ BlackStarCorona

We’re trying to contact you about your car’s extended warranty.

“Similar but different.”

“As a teen, I worked at a car dealership in the service department.”

“At the time, there was a major recall for transmission repairs.”

“They would do fake warranty repair orders on cars that did not need it and came in for other reasons, and bill the manufacturer accordingly.”

“They had to order replacement parts to continue the fraud, and would tell me to take them to a storage room above the parts department.”

“It so happened on my last day there, an auditor was on site for routine audit stuff.”

“In the break room I told him what I knew and left.”

“Fast forward 3 months and the dealership was closed.”

“I probably wouldn’t have said anything if my boss hadn’t been such a dick when I asked for time off to attend my grandfather’s funeral.”

“He thought I was lying and I had to bring in the obit (pre-internet) to keep my job.” ~ RunMelba

Dollar Tree doesn’t play around!

“My old boss at dollar tree would make me drive her to the bank in my car every night.”

“And she would have me park like 10 feet back from the ATM while she walked up to it.”

“She told me that if someone ever tried to run up on her while she was depositing the money I had to run them over.”

“She said if they were too close to her to just hit her as well.”

“She was incredibly adamant that I absolutely HAD to do this and very serious.” ~ durkinbrowns

Expiration dates are suggestions, right?

“Back in a butcher shop portion of a grocery store I worked at.”

“The supervisor asked me to change the date on some burger that wasn’t selling.”

“The day she asked me to do this was the sell-by-date.”

“I even asked her if that was safe/legal.”

“She just tapped her name tag that said supervisor on it and said that was the only thing I needed to worry about.”

“I put new tags on all of the packages while she was there but I didn’t put them on the shelves.”

“After she left for the night I found the store manager and showed him.”

“I showed him the old tags, which were just under the new tags so it was easy to pull them back and prove it. He had me toss the burger down the trash chute and my supervisor was gone from the store by the end of the week.” ~ Nerdfatha

There are always more workers.

“Keep people at work when there was a chemical leak from the car painting shop next door, and people were getting sick.”

“The boss wasn’t on-site (almost never was), I tried calling him and got no answer, and I was the most senior worker on-site so I sent everyone home.”

“When I was almost home (1h+ commute) he called me back.”

“He had gotten my voicemail where I explained the situation and he was not happy.”

“Apparently we should have waited it out or I should have arranged for everyone to work from home (not possible).”

“The guy was a dickhead but this one still makes me angry when I think about it.” ~ipakookapi

Seeing is believing?

“Branch Manager (Banking) asked me to pose in a picture, showing a lot of cleavage, to use on his construction loan website for his builders.”

“He wanted them to ‘see’ who they would be working with in a daily basis so he could get more business.” ~ Hchel25

This sounds like an episode of the Sopranos.

“I had a boss ask to me take a bunch of stock from the warehouse to his personal storage unit, and not to ask any questions …” ~ TJDigital_

What’s a little illegal dumping between coworkers?

“Loaded unknown chemicals into the nose of tractor trailers for out of state transport.”

“I’m sure it was all illegally dumped. Just out of HS I had no idea the scope of what was happening.”

“Nothing was labeled, containers, trailers and manifests all claimed empty containers.” ~ Reddit

It can be very easy to just do what you’re told, to just follow the orders.

Remember though that actions have consequences and to be wary of anyone trying to slide those consequences off their shoulders—and on to yours.