I work in IT (Sysadmin). "Oh, you fix computers? Can you look at my laptop?"
this post was submitted on 14 Jul 2025
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I've had to be very direct with my family that I don't fix computers (anymore, I used to do remote and hands on helldesk), I fix the deeper kind of stuff that keeps email working for an entire company, or makes sure new hires can log in to work stuff.
I'm an IT manager and today I had the director of HR bring me her new iphone asking if I can help her set it up. Um, no... first, that isn't my job, and second, I have no idea how to setup an iphone. I assume it's an easy process but I've never done it before and have more pressing matters to attend to instead of fiddling with her new phone.
Lol, been there. But my former CTO had one that I think takes the cake:
My (now former) CTO showed up to a C-suite/executive meeting shortly after he joined the company and they asked him to sort out the fucking A/V setup (read: projector, computer to put the slideshow on, clicker to advance the slides, hooking it all up, etc). In a hotel conference room that was "bring your own hardware". With no warning.
And these chucklefucks expect perfection. We must have burned over a million on the executive conference room at our HQ. "The camera that automatically zooms into who is speaking isn't fast enough at changing targets" type shit.
We're a company of over 4000 employees. Every single C-suite/executive meeting before then they would book one of the senior members of our in-person internal tech support team for support for that shit, so they should have known better.
It wasn't some joking hazing thing either. They legitimately just hadn't fucking planned for how they were going to present their slideshow at this off site location and expected the CTO to just magic it together. Why they needed to do it offsite when they had a fancy ass overly expensive room built for conferences at the HQ? No fucking clue.
The things that come out at tech division happy hours are wild once the higher ups get a few drinks in them.
They legitimately just hadn't fucking planned for how they were going to present their slideshow at this off site location and expected the CTO to just magic it together. Why they needed to do it offsite when they had a fancy ass overly expensive room built for conferences at the HQ? No fucking clue.
I work at a place with a banquet room, and consistently ask myself the same question. So many corporate meetings that show up with basically zero plan. I’ve had to tell clients “no” when they asked last minute if we could put up a projector and screen.
Sorry brotato, you should have mentioned the need for a projector during any of the six emails where I specifically asked if you needed a projector. The projector is already in use across the building; you said you didn’t need it six times, so we rented it to a different client instead. And even if it were available, that shit takes two people and fifteen minutes to put up. And I know you aren’t going to crawl around on the floor in your suit to help snap it together, so it’s just me here. And I’m not doing it by myself. So the answer is no, you can’t use our projector and screen at the last minute.
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“I’d be glad to, which UNIX do you use on it?” generally stops that conversation from progressing.
I wish. When I tell people I've been exclusively using Linux for more than 10 years they give me a blank look then repeat the question.
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It's frugal.
... It's not. Yarn is expensive as hell, even more so if you want any type of durability or wearability or comfort.
It’s crazy – I have a really nice oversized jumper, and people who’ve known I knit have asked if I made it. Lol no, it would have cost like 10 times more. I bought it on sale (it’s machine made).
The same goes for many handcrafts. Have you seen the cost of one teeny skein of embroidery ribbon? And I always feel a bit sad when I see hand crocheted tablecloths or large cross stitch pieces at thrift shops for almost nothing. Someone spent hundreds of hours on that, and it’s being sold for the price of like 3 tiny skeins of floss.
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- QA tests software.
- QA reports issue with software.
- Developers review issue report.
- "Will Not Fix", "Works As Designed", "Cannot Reproduce", "Works on my machine"
End Users: "This software is buggy, their QA must suck!"
As a developer I cherish Q/A and dread anytime they would start typing something into Teams.
"oh wow your photography is so nice what camera do you use?"
._. photography is 80% skill and 20% gear and yet, i never get asked "what technique did you use?", it's always about the camera i use, as if this entry level DSLR is framing and shooting on its own
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I'm a web developer. People assume the following:
- I'm an expert with operating systems.
- I'm good with math.
- I eat junk food and drink energy drinks/soda.
- I'm a proponent and consumer of all new technologies.
- I like (insert) TV, Movie, or Anime.
Hey bro, can you hack my ex GFs Facebook?
Yeah, by social engineering. You would probably be better at that than myself though since you can get a girlfriend.
I'm knowledgeable about operating systems.
I'm good with math.
I eat junk food and drink energy drinks/soda.
I read about new techniques but am very wary of heavily marketed stuff.
I read a ton of Asian comics.
People assume that I know how to do webpages, they don't know what a web developer is. No, I don't know l. Well barely but not really, I'm a data engineer goddammit.
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I do not actually have keys to anything, nor am I allowed to wear headphones.
(Janitor)
Why no headphones? Seems like that would make the job more enjoyable.
...that's why.
/s it's a safety issue, kitchen workers aren't allowed to use them either
The safety issue thing is bullshit. First of all, there isn't any kind of sounds that would indicate any kind of danger other than the fire alarm (which also has lights and is loud enough that even noise cancellation doesn't muffle it) where I work. Secondly, deaf people are allowed to do the job and they can't hear anything ever.
It truly is all about "looking professional." Why not make me clean toilets in a tuxedo, then?
People always assume I want to turn my hobby into a job. I love to bake - it helps me de-stress from my job. If I made it my job, I wouldn't have something to help me de-stress anymore. I make enough money; I don't need to extract the joy from everything in my life for the sake of making more money.
Hussle culture is damned annoying
As a teacher: I don't get summers off.
As a waitress: Carrying food or drinks to the table is the least significant part of the job.
Both of those jobs are also significantly more difficult than most people realize.
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That I can fix their computer or home network.
Sorry, Bubba, if your router costs less than my PC, there's not much I can do. Same answer if your PC costs less than my car.
Also, I haven't been good at troubleshooting windows (to the extent that is at all possible) since Tobey was Spiderman.
That I can make the band suck less. Sure, there’s something to be said about polishing a shit... But ultimately, it’s shit in>shit out. Your guitar doesn’t sound like ass because of the EQ; it sounds like ass because the guitarist had nine beers before he even walked on stage, and he can’t stay on beat to save his goddamned life.
Psychoacoustics is a fascinating subject. Just like placebo, people will fool themselves into thinking that something sounds good or bad, simply because they want it to. I always keep a DFA fader on my console, for when random people walk up and have suggestions. I make an adjustment to the DFA fader, they smile and nod to themselves, and then walk away. DFA means “Does Fuck All”. It’s literally a fader that isn’t doing anything at all. It’s not in the mix, it’s not in the monitors. It’s just a spare fader. But by adjusting the DFA, audience members will feel like I took them seriously, and they’ll placebo themselves into thinking that I took their advice.
To be clear, not all audience advice is bad advice. But for every “it’s too loud” complaint, you’ll inevitably get an equal and opposite “it’s too quiet”. There’s a reason music festivals have their audio console fenced off with a very wide perimeter. It’s specifically so drunken audience members can’t just saunter up and start yelling suggestions. That shit is distracting and 99% of the time is entirely unproductive.
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I’m a general contractor, and I think a lot of my customers assume I know everything about construction work - that whenever I’m doing something, it’s something I’ve done dozens of times before. But quite often, that’s not the case. Sometimes, all I know about the task at hand comes from a YouTube video I watched the night before, or I’m just following the manufacturer’s instructions step by step.
People don’t realize how often I’m just winging it and hoping it turns out fine. The fact that someone hires me usually means they know even less about the job than I do, which creates the illusion of much greater expertise. But in reality, the main difference between me and them often just boils down to the fact that I'm not afraid to try.
That management and leadership are smart, visionary, people without whom everything would fall apart.
It doesn't matter what my line of work is. Management is mostly out of touch idiots everywhere.
"We need to redesign the web page to be more modern! Get me a big hero image and an image carousel!"
"Customers are complaining about how they can't save their search settings. Maybe we should do something about that?"
"No that's not a priority"
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That I smoke all day, everyday. I don't. I read reports, I check environmental variable, I take readings from and make adjustments to tanks, I instruct people on how to prune and I sob over the new room of completely bare ones because nobody fucking listens to me.
People assume that because I'm into technology that I can unlock ~~stolen~~ phones or do XYZ whatever with their Facebook/Twitter/Instagram accounts or whatever. One, I don't touch stolen devices. Two, I don't have any accounts with any of those sort of services, and ain't about to start one to learn the ins and outs for other people.
I'm a physical substation designer, and people ask me if I can do electrician stuff.
No, I can't, and don't ask me anything about electricity, thanks.
I just had to google what a substation was. My initial guess was that you made subways lol.
Therapists are not "always analysing" you.
Seriously, you gotta pay me before I'll spend the energy to do that
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That I spend all day coding, I spend most my day reading. Code usually but still
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No one knows the difference between fire eating and fire breathing. Everyone asks me for fire breathing lessons. I don't fire breathe. I also highly advise against it.
AI can do it - translator.
Example of Google lens fail:
I work with embedded programming. I am not the first person you should ask to make a website for you...
I'm a game designer. Most people have a very hard time understanding what I do
What I've learned from this thread is you can fix my laptop
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Your business degree does not make you an industrial engineer, you don't even fucking understand why I keep crusading against variance!
I had the reverse experience. I was in school for finance and I had a roommate that recently graduated with an engineering undergrad. They decided to do a masters in finance because they thought it would be easy. They dropped out after 1 week and said "I have no idea what they're talking about" like no shit buddy lol
I’m in engineering. If I tell someone I work for the phone company they think I work on phones. Not sure what my mom thinks I do.
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Work - that I do math and science and stuff all the time. Reality - I do that some times. The rest of the time is investigating why an operator put toilet paper into the gear box or other oddities. People are weird.
Hobby - that 3d printing can make anything and it's better bc it's printed. Reality - it's just another tool, does some things well, others not. 3d printed houses are, in general, stupid PR stunts.
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Someone glimpses Dark Theme enabled Outlook with custom rules to auto sort email and suddenly you're Neo and can undo longstanding problems caused by nepo IT hires even though you're a plant operator like them with the same user privileges.
I'm an antenna engineer and anyone who vaguely knows what that means asks if I'm a ham radio operator. Nope.
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