I Thought Everything On TV Was Fake But Here Are 17 Shows That Accurately Showed IRL Jobs

    "That scene was so accurate, it almost gave me and my husband an anxiety attack."

    Tori Honoré
    by Tori Honoré

    BuzzFeed Staff

    Recently, we asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us which shows or films they've seen depict their job the most accurately. Here are the realistic responses:

    ABC / Via giphy.com

    1. The Office (US)

    NBC / Peacock / Via giphy.com

    "I work in HR and I feel SEEN by Toby. Especially in the episode, 'Conflict Resolution', where everyone had all of those ridiculous complaints. Sometimes employees need to vent and then you just put their complaint in the 'special file'."

    —janice95

    2. Waiting For Guffman

    Sony Pictures Classics

    "It's not my full-time job, but this gives the most perfectly accurate portrayal of community theatre actors I have ever seen. I started the movie thinking, 'Oh, wow, I totally know all these people,' and by the end was realising 'Oh, wow, I totally AM all these people.'"

    —toast2002

    3. Tropic Thunder

    DreamWorks Pictures / Paramount Pictures

    "It was a pretty solid depiction of what it's like to be working in the film industry, right down to the 'bananas producer' screaming, 'DIET COKE!'”

    —decoramore

    4. The Office (UK)

    BBC / Via giphy.com

    "My office is just like it. All the meaningless meetings, emails, and rules. Once the second-in-command sent a team email asking people to let the cold water run for a bit after using the hot water in the kitchen sink because it had burned someone’s hand. It’s beyond busy where I work, so this was clearly of utmost importance, despite me never having heard of one such incident among my 10 colleagues, since 2016."

    —carmenwilkie

    5. Teachers (US)

    TV Land / Via giphy.com

    "I'm a primary school teacher and I've gotta admit that the American version of this show is so accurate to what the job is like. Some of the things kids do in real life seem straight out of a sitcom to be honest. I am holding back laughter daily."

    —canunotmywaywardson

    6. Ratatouille

    Disney / Pixar / Via giphy.com

    "I’m a chef, and for me, it’s the specific scene where Colette tells Linguine about how it really is in a kitchen. Every time I have trained a new chef, I give some version of that spiel — and how she says every chef is 'more than just a cook.' I’ve met some very interesting people over the last decade!"

    —pandabear14

    7. Scrubs

    NBC / Hulu / Via giphy.com

    "I am a physician and I usually have a hard time watching medical shows due to the inaccuracies, however, this show totally nailed it. It’s not surprising — the show hired real physicians as medical advisors and based the episodes on their stories. It captures the essence of working in the medical field, from the humour and absurdity to the exhaustion and the heartbreak. They also make the effort to use accurate medical jargon which makes it so much more palatable for medical professionals to watch!"

    —nsous29

    8. The Mummy

    Universal Pictures / Via giphy.com

    "Evelyn was a librarian, like me, and I totally relate to her sense of adventure and thirst for knowledge. 'I am proud of what I am – I am a librarian!'”

    —actuallyno

    9. Superstore

    NBC / Hulu / Via giphy.com

    "Superstore depicts working at a supermarket or big-box store pretty accurately. Obviously, the characters are dramatised for the sake of comedy, but the interactions with customers (and cutscenes of customers doing weird things) are spot-on. People really do get upset over the most mundane things and will do anything to blame you, the minimum-wage worker, for it. I used to watch it all the time after I got home from my supermarket job, it was cathartic for me."

    —electricbutts

    "It's not representative of my job exactly, since I’m a union staffer and not an organiser, but everyone in my office loves this show as a comedy about labour unions and labour rights in general. It’s so unexpected but we keep finding parallels between the show and the workers that we represent."

    —misomiso

    10. The Bear

    FX / Hulu / Via giphy.com

    "It was super accurate, like the ticket scene, it gave me and my husband an anxiety attack."

    —knr8269

    "I definitely 100% related to this show so much. As a chef working on the line in a busy place, it was honestly almost too real for me."

    —maggpie87

    11. Waiting...

    Lionsgate / Via giphy.com

    "Honestly, it had a lot of accurate depictions of restaurant work. We don't mess with food, but the prying on a fake smile, laughing at lame jokes and then walking away muttering under your breath is soooo true."

    —knr8269

    12. NYPD Blue

    ABC / Via giphy.com

    "It was really accurate in portraying police work for the time. My dad worked in law enforcement and had quite a few similar stories. He’s like Sipowicz in all the good ways. A lot of the jaded feelings that the characters develop over the series are almost scary because they're so accurate. Also the emotions they show behind the work were factual."

    —k2p2toend

    13. American Housewife

    ABC / Via giphy.com

    "I'm a professor. Greg Otto is a pretty good depiction of many people who work in academia. My family who have seen the show insist that he's the male, history-teaching version of me."

    —aislincross

    14. The Rookie

    ABC / Via giphy.com

    "Obviously, it has a ridiculous amount of action and drama, but in some ways, it's very realistic for a police show. I think they’ve got the banter down, the way some officers get jaded after long stints like Smitty, or how there are overachievers like Lopez, ex-Forces like Tim, and never knowing exactly what you’re turning up to is pretty accurate. But that’s definitely where the similarities end!"

    —willowtree27

    15. New Girl

    FOX / Via giphy.com

    "This was a short gig for me, but the episode where Jess works in the haunted house is the most accurate depiction of haunted house work that I’ve seen. Workers are totally into it when the patrons are going through the house, but we'd be having totally casual, normal conversations when we were in-between groups. When you aren’t actively scaring someone, it is just a job."

    —ruccarlson

    16. Jaws

    Universal Pictures / Via giphy.com

    "Probably the most realistic depiction of my job, for me, was Hooper. He was just this nerdy but cool scientist, who is also comfortable on the water and actually doing his work. All the more recent movies and especially the portrayal of female marine biologists are just plain wrong."

    —pixel_2000

    17. Parks and Recreation

    NBC / Via giphy.com

    "I lived in Indiana and worked for the local government in a very similar role to Leslie Knope. Obviously, there were aspects of the job that were fictionalised or exaggerated for the show, but there were a few things that were SO spot on. Like at public meetings where members of the public were encouraged to speak — the show was absolutely correct that people never came to those things to tell you what a great job you were doing; if someone walked up to the mic, you were going to hear a litany of complaints, always. Second, there are many 'Ron Swanson types' in local government. Third, Leslie's enthusiasm was very real! People working in local government aren't paid well compared to private industry folks, so people like Leslie aren't rare. We truly gave a crap about the community we lived in and wanted to make it better for everyone living there!"

    —kishbish

    Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.

    What show or movie got your job right? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to follow the BuzzFeed Community on Facebook and Twitter if you want to be featured in similar posts!