I have an office job that entails a lot of interaction with people who in the construction industry, small business owners, developers, bankers, etc. I’m too androgynous for my employers to feel comfortable with letting me meet people in person (thank god) so most of it is through email or phone calls. They all vary in education and income; some have PhDs, some never finished high school, some are rich as fuck, some are struggling to get by. Most of them are local but I work with quite a few people from different parts of the country.

There’s something that is common between a lot of these people, maybe even the vast majority, is that they cannot do extremely simple tasks or understand simple concepts, even when I try to explain them visually (like I’ll share a spreadsheet with them and go through each individual thing I’m doing to show them what I mean). Very few of them get it. I’m not particularly smart or amazing at math or anything, but I’d like to think I can understand simple instructions. Sign this, add these numbers, make this match this. I can’t imagine what it’s like working in retail if the average person is this dumb.

82 points
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43 points
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31 points

I am very firm that I get 8-9 hours of sleep every night and I refuse to feel lazy about that. I also think most people are chronically dehydrated. If I don’t drink at minimum a liter of straight water a day, I know my focus and cognition start to go to shit.

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66 points

I’d say it’s a bias of your job. To you doing the spreadsheets is dead simple because you do it all day. There are things that are second nature to you that other people struggle with. You’re judging them by their ability to understand your work. There are things they do that you would also struggle with but you are never in that position so you don’t realize it.

Everyone is stupid at most things.

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15 points

Construction is a very friendly field to people who struggled at school because you don’t have to be book-smart to do well. It’s also full of men, which means a lot of arrogant assholes. A significant amount of the people who don’t understand spreadsheets are just prideful middle aged men who think “book learning” is beneath them and get all pissy because they refuse to learn from someone they see as beneath them (some of them literally cannot read and are too embarrassed to admit it as well).

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50 points
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literally argue over something online that actually both agree on

You’re completely wrong.

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16 points
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9 points
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6 points

While I have to admit language stuff is something I have had a knack for forever, this is still true. I’m pathetic at math though, so I sorta get it.

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45 points
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8 points

Communist Stainless Steel Tubing

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Yeah idk my old job was literally teaching people things. Maybe it’s different cus most were there and happy to learn but everyone picked it up at some point if they put effort in.

I don’t think the average person is as “dumb” as disinterested for whatever reason.

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3 points
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45 points

Most people don’t give a shit about their job and are only giving 20% on any given day, and don’t really want to be talking to you or listening to you in the first place. If you were talking to them about stuff that actually mattered to them, they might seem a little smarter. You are also probably overestimating your own intelligence relative to them, which is human nature. I assure you the vast majority of people you interact with professionally or as a customer are not, if they spare you a thought at all, leaving thinking “what an unusually clever individual”, they probably also think you are a dumbass.

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23 points

Yeah, this. American’s are not especially stupid. Ignorant, narcissistic, intellectually lazy, sure, but OP’s having a reddit moment here thinking they’re mentally lapping people who just don’t give a fuck.

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17 points

Most people don’t give a shit about their job and are only giving 20% on any given day

:07: :gigachad-hd:

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8 points
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Most people don’t give a shit about their job and are only giving 20% on any given day

:is-this: Is this the Pareto principle?

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