I love to learn the ins and outs of industries and jobs I don't know much about. Recently, the BuzzFeed Community chimed in, giving insight into what their jobs are and how different they can be from people's assumptions. Here are some of the on-the-job secrets people shared:
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
1. "I'm a vet tech. I don't make the prices of our products or services, I simply provide them. I also don't work at the lab so no, I don't know what your pet's results are until we get them sent to us, which is not instantaneous."
2. "Therapist here. I can't speak for all, and I'm sure it varies from office to office, but my job isn't just listening to people and offering advice. I have tons of paperwork to do on top of notes. I actively plan sessions and sometimes have to scrap what I had planned because my client needs something different. I supply a lot of my own activities and supplies, including art materials and therapy games. Also, therapy isn't always talking about the bad stuff. Some of my clients come in saying their week was good and nothing else, only for them to say they passed a test they had, or they used a coping skill or vocalized a boundary. I want to hear the good just as much as the bad! It's how I know you're making progress."
3. "At the library, we hear, 'Gosh, I wish I could get paid to read all day!' an obnoxious amount. Librarians, circulation staff, shelvers, and other library employees have many varied duties that keep them busy throughout their shifts. There's collection development and maintenance, shelving, data analysis (because when shelf space is limited, you need to know what books are actually being read and which are literally just holding the books around them upright), program planning and execution, item preservation and repair, reference queries, shipping and receiving, request fulfillment, computer support, meeting room scheduling, and SO MUCH else. There's not really time to just sit and read. In fact, at one library I worked at, if you got caught reading while sitting at the desk, regardless of how slow it was, it was an immediate disciplinary write-up."
4. "Back when I worked at Barnes & Noble, we had a tally sheet at our info desk where we could mark things the store's inventory claimed we had, but nobody could find the book. Managers would go through and correct the inventory regularly to be sure it was as accurate as possible. So I generally always knew that when the system said we didn't have it, we didn't. But that never stopped me from dropping by the back for a quick chill and chat with the receiving team whenever a customer insisted I just 'check the back!'"
5. "Working at a museum isn't always 'dealing with old stuff.' It's so much more than that. It's advertising, programming, creating exhibit content, etc. I work at a museum, and the amount of contact I have with artifacts is almost zero. It's basically like running a business."
6. "People think that being a chef is glamorous and female chefs should be loving and nurturing, unlike their male counterparts who are not. Also, people think we have a fully stocked grocery store in the kitchen and will have anything you want that isn't on the menu. Nope, we only have what is required for the menu. I can't tell you how many people have asked for food that isn't on the menu, and when I say we don't have it, they say, 'Well, just go back there and get it,' as they point to the kitchen. People also think that we cook everything from scratch when you have ordered it. Nope, the soup is done, and no, I can't just pick the onions out."
