Misconceptions About 50 Different Jobs | Mental Floss

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When we go to visit a physician, we're supposed to be comforted by the fact that they've taken
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the Hippocratic Oath, a solemn vow to do their absolute best in providing care
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and treatment for what ails us. It doesn't matter if we're criminals
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five-pack-a-day smokers, or that we broke our tibia for social media cred. The Oath covers all
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Except it doesn't. For one thing, the Hippocratic Oath isn't any kind of legally binding agreement
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It's more of a ritual, like wearing a gown and cap at graduation
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For another, one 2011 survey indicated only 80% of respondents recited an oath
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And other surveys have indicated many of them may have actually recited the lasagna oath
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which is a real thing. Hi, I'm Justin Dodd, and that's just one of the many misconceptions about 50 well-known
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professions we'll be treating in this episode. And hey, we're always looking for more, so go ahead and drop a common misconception
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about your job in the comments. I want to know what I'm getting wrong about online dating ghostwriters
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Anyway, let's get started. The Hippocratic Oath is often attributed to, but may not have been written by, Hippocrates
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a Greek philosopher who wanted health to take a more science-based approach
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The original oath had some edicts that would be hard to follow today, like promising to
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financially support your teachers. And contrary to popular belief, which is a statement we use
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a lot on this show, the original oath didn't contain the phrase, first do no harm. It was way
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more verbose, with doctors swearing to abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous
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and to give no deadly medicine to anyone if asked. It also asked professionals to swear by the Greek
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gods, something we often skip today. They just need to swear to Etna, the Greek god of overbilling
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Got him. But there isn't really a singular Hippocratic oath. It's been updated periodically
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to reflect modern times, including a particularly popular 1964 modernization by Dr. Louis Lasagna
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hence the Lasagna Oath. Instead, some medical schools allow students to write their own version
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they'd like to recite. If your doctor is a good one, it's not because of a pledge, but because
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they paid attention in school. And speaking of higher education, you need to go to law school
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to become a lawyer. Law school. It's got big, giant textbooks that line bookshelves
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long nights studying, prickly law professors who seem like giant jerks, but who are really shaping
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you to become the best legal mind you can possibly be. That's the only road to becoming a lawyer
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right? Objection, Your Honor. While many states require a law degree in order to become a licensed
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lawyer, not all of them do. California, for example, permits lawyers to gain experience
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in a law office by studying under an attorney or judge. Vermont allows for the same path
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which is known as reading the law. But if it seems like you're getting away on a technicality
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this type of education can often take longer than just going to law school. And yes
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you still need to pass the bar exam in the state you intend to practice in
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By the way, there is a slight difference between an attorney and a lawyer. Both practice law
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but attorney usually denotes someone who practices in court. So if you're working with a lawyer or attorney and ask where they got their law degree from
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and they say they don't have one, it's not necessarily cause for alarm
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Although, yes, definitely ask more questions at that point. Architects need to be able to draw well
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Being an architect seems like it involves a lot of sitting hunched over a drawing table
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carefully outlining how a nice new building is going to look. work. These intricate drawings are then used as a template for the actual engineering work
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Being able to draw well seems like a prerequisite for the job. Not really. While being a good
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illustrator is certainly helpful, being a terrible one isn't likely to hold an architect
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back in their career. That's because most preliminary architectural drawings are mainly
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for the architect or their colleagues. These drawings offer a basic idea of what the design
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going to look like. When it's time to present that idea to a client or to construction experts
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architects typically turn to imaging design software. It becomes less of a freehand drawing
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issue and more of a computer skill. If you can draw well, then you might stand a better chance
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of communicating your vision in those early stages. But sketching out something that would
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look good on your parents' refrigerator is not going to harm you. Pilots fly for free
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While it is true that pilots get airfare perks, it's not as simple as jumping on a plane on a whim
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According to the Flying by Numbers website, pilots are frequently eligible for standby tickets
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or tickets that are available shortly before a flight takes off for a discounted price. In an
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airline pilot's case, that can mean almost free except for the tax on the ticket, which is the
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pilot's responsibility. And it's not exactly first-class treatment. Pilots only get a seat
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if the plane isn't full after everyone else has boarded. A pilot can opt for a normal airfare
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ticket and get it at a discounted rate of up to 50% and maybe even more, but it's far from free
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The one situation where pilots fly completely free? If the airline is shuttling them to their
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destination for work. And even then, they'll likely have to travel in the cockpit's extra seat or
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jump seat and in full uniform. Flight attendants exist to serve you
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A lot of people seem to think that flight attendants exist solely to give you soda and
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snacks, but in reality they're mostly there for your safety. Before they can go up in the air
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well, in a professional capacity at least, they have to go through weeks of flight attendant
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training, learning emergency medical aid, how to handle water evacuations and turbulence
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memorizing how planes work, all sorts of things. It's way more than pushing around a cart
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School teachers get paid summers off. There aren't many jobs more important than being a teacher
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Quite honestly, teachers deserve to make a whole lot more than they do. And while having paid
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summers off is often thought of as a major benefit, that's not really how it works
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While not every school district is the same, in many cases, teachers do not get paid for the
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summer. Instead, districts give them the choice of getting their full salary over 10 months
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with two unpaid months, or having the earnings spread out over 12 months. Obviously, if you have
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the option of being paid less over 12 months, then you're not receiving 12 months of salary
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Some teachers budget for their reduced income, while others opt to get a summer job. Either way
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they are not paid to sit in the pool. Real estate agent and realtor are the same thing
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So, you've saved up enough money to buy a house. Congratulations! Now you can enter a destructive
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soul-eating market of reduced inventory and buyers offering tens of thousands over a home's list
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price. When selecting someone to guide you through this hellscape, you might think that there's really
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no difference at all between a real estate agent and a realtor. You absolute goofball
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With an approved training course and license, pretty much anyone can become a real estate agent
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and transact the buying or selling of property. But a realtor is different. For one thing
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the word has a capital R. That's because it's a trademark of the National Association of Realtors
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which has a kind of Hippocratic Oath of its own. Realtors must pledge to put the needs of their
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clients above all else and to provide ethical assistance Most realtors are real estate agents but not all agents are realtors Does that mean agents aren ethical No of course not Just that realtors might be
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held to a little bit more accountability when they neglect to mention your new home once belonged to
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a Manson family member. Astronauts need to have military experience. Only the best of the best get
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to become an astronaut for NASA. Do they need a pilot's license or military experience at all
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According to NASA, flight time is not a requirement to get blasted into the galaxy
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While you can enter the astronaut candidate program with at least a thousand hours of
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flying time in a jet aircraft, either commercially or in the military, you can also get in by having
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at least two years of professional experience with a master's degree or two years of work
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toward a doctoral program in one of the STEM fields, or various other ways that do not need
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the military. Paleontologists only study dinosaurs. Digging up fossilized dinosaurs is a cool job, and it's largely the purview of paleontologists
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or scientists who seek to uncover how these creatures lived millions of years ago
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And while that might be the most interesting part of the job to others, it is not all paleontologists do. The hint is really in the name
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Paleos means ancient, onto means organism, and logos is for our purposes study. A paleontologist
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studies all fossilized life, from fish to plants. Really, anything that's part of the fossil record
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and can help us better understand life on Earth falls into a paleontologist's hands
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Nor do paleontologists spend most of their time out in the field digging up evidence for life
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That might be a few weeks of the year. The majority of the time, they're researching their
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discoveries. And they don't deal exclusively in bones, either. The fossil record can include things
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like trace fossils, like footprints, burrows, or even poop. Coroners always perform autopsies
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When someone passes away and there's reason to be suspicious of the cause of death, like
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say, a set of bloody footprints leading away from the scene, officials usually order an
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autopsy, or the post-mortem examination of a body to investigate signs of trauma, disease
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or other reasons they're no longer among the living. While you'd think coroners are always responsible for splitting someone's ribcage open—sorry
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for that visual—that's not necessarily the case. While policies can vary by state, often a coroner is a county official who is tasked
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with investigating the cause and manner of death, but that doesn't mean they're physically
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performing an autopsy. That job is more often the responsibility of a forensic pathologist or a licensed physician
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who has received training for such examinations. can take a few hours to conduct, but the reason that results might not be available for weeks
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is due to laboratory testing. As for coroners, they're often elected officials, and they don't
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have to be actual doctors. If they are a pathologist, however, then they can certainly see if you died
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from heart failure or from your spouse feeding you drain cleaner. Firefighters sit around all day
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Firefighters have a lot of clichés to deal with. The fire station Dalmatian, the sexy yet
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tasteful fundraising calendar. But the worst misconception might be that firefighters sit
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around and play cards in the fire station until the alarm goes off. Not so. For one thing
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firefighters do more than just respond to fires. They're also responding to car accidents and
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medical emergencies, which adds to the calls that require their attention. If they're not out in the
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field, they're likely servicing equipment or trucks, maintaining the station, or promoting
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fire safety in the community. There's also checking hydrants, physical fitness training
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paperwork, and a fairly demanding schedule. One popular schedule has firefighters work a 24-hour
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shift before going off for 48 and then going back on duty again. And because emergency calls
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obviously take precedence over everything else, a firefighter may not even get to all of their
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scheduled responsibilities planned for the day, let alone have time to play cards
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Every community has a favorite meteorologist. That person who makes the prospect of flood-threatening
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rain or 24 inches of snow seem fun. Usually, meteorologists are part of a local newscast
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but they're not all broadcasters. According to one estimate, roughly 10% of meteorologists appear
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on camera to deliver the weather. The vast majority working in the meteorological sciences
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are working behind the scenes. Another misconception? That they're wrong a lot
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Typically, weather forecasters get it right about 90% of the time. The catch? That 90
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comes with five-day forecasts. Once you get out to 10 days, that drops to about half
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Librarians only work in libraries. When you think of librarians, you probably imagine a person
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sitting behind a solid wood desk in a library, surrounded by reference books and eager to assist
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you in locating a book, or hushing a group of local hooligans, or making far too much noise
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Of course, libraries are stocked with librarians, but that's not the only place you can find them
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According to the American Library Association, librarians can, and often are, recruited for jobs in the private sector. Some organize information for companies
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while others provide structure for websites. Others can be recruited as systems ysts
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database administrators, or chief information officers. They can manage social media and work
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in other settings like museums or even hospitals. The reverse is also true. Not everyone who works
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in a library is a librarian. Librarians usually have a master's degree in library science. A
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library employee checking out books is more likely to be a library assistant or library technician
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No master's is required for those positions, just an ability to make you feel very bad about
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returning a book late. Midwives only deliver babies naturally and in homes
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Call the Midwife. It's a cult TV show about midwifing in mid-century London. It's been running
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for 12 seasons and renewed for more. But if you've never seen the show, you might wonder
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what is a midwife? Well, it's a healthcare professional who assists in pregnancies
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They're a kind of guide for newborn care before, during, and after giving birth
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so long as the pregnancy is reasonably uncomplicated. While a lot of people think
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that means midwives only assist in at-home births, it's not really true. Midwives can
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and often do, assist with births in hospitals. Someone pregnant may opt for a midwife over an
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OBGYN if they want a more natural birth with no or as little medication as possible
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but that doesn't mean they can't offer medication like pain relievers if needed
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provided they're a certified nurse midwife . In fact, some midwives will elect not to assist
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in home births since they want hospital resources on hand if they're needed. A midwife is not the
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same as a doula, which is a labor coach trained in breathing techniques to assist in births
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Some people have an OB-GYN, midwife, and a doula. The holy trinity, I call it
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Caterers only serve food. Party Down is one of my favorite TV shows of all time
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and in every episode, a jaded group of caterers go to some party or event and grudgingly serve food to the attendees
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But, believe it or not, television is not always accurate. Some catering services go the extra mile to offer floral arrangements or even live entertainment
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Some even support pop-up eateries for special events. In other words they do way more than just light one of those little flame things under a tray of lasagna One other misconception about caterers and catering Even though you the customer you might not be allowed to keep leftovers Why Food safety
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Some caterers are sticklers for not leaving food that's been sitting out on a buffet
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since it might have an opportunity to spoil. Many businesses, however, have a system in place to
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donate leftover food to a nearby charity in a prompt manner. Nice. TSA officers are law enforcement
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Ah, TSA, the Transportation Security Administration, aka the Belt Police. Sure, TSA agents can be a little curt, humorless, even rude, but how else can they make sure
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you don't bring water through security? While their demeanor has a few things in common with law enforcement, they are not actually police
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According to the American Civil Liberties Union, most TSOs, or Transportation Security
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officers are not commissioned law enforcement officers and their role is to conduct screening
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of passengers, baggage, and cargo. TSA screeners can search you and your baggage at screening
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checkpoints, but they cannot arrest you. If a situation arises that requires a police presence
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TSO agents can reach out to airport police, who do have the power to make arrests if necessary
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Tenure means professors can never be fired. In higher education, getting tenured means having
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an incredible amount of job security. College professors who receive tenure are, in a manner
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of speaking, given a job for life. But it's not really a perk. Tenure is in place partly so teachers
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can tackle controversial issues without fear of a career-ending outcome. Say, a university donor
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doesn't like what a professor has to say about something political. When someone is tenured
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retaliation is a lot harder, and thus free speech is protected. But tenure isn't a complete
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guarantee someone will never be fired. Let's say a professor is found to have engaged in some form
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of misconduct that goes against the school's policy, like sexual harassment. The university
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can still terminate their employment. They can also do so if a school's financial situation
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changes or if the professor's work is severely lacking. You can still get canned, but for the
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most part, being tenured provides relatively ample job security. Fashion designers have to know how
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to sew. While sewing is certainly a skill many designers possess, it's not mandatory. What a
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designer needs to do is communicate their ideas, which can take the form of a sample design or
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if they can't sew, an illustration. Designers also relate their ideas through other images
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like photos. That said, sewing is certainly a useful skill. Tom Ford is said to be quite good
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at it, and I think he's done fairly well for himself. Opticians are just salespeople
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The next time you go looking for that perfect pair of glasses, you might feel like the optician at
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the counter is trying to get you into a better and costlier pair of frames. While they could be
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recommending a more expensive pair for a variety of reasons, it's not necessarily because they're
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earning a commission. Opticians are not the same as salespeople. Optometrists have doctorates and
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write prescriptions for corrective lenses. An optician is the person who will fulfill that
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prescription by finding the right fit for you. As we once noted in a list of optician job secrets
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the optician is like the eye pharmacist. If they're suggesting something pricier, like glasses with
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UV coating or other benefits, it's probably because they think it will work best for your
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specific situation. Some eye care centers do offer incentive programs for opticians
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but it's far more likely they're working on salary as opposed to getting paid based on sales
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All air traffic controllers work at airports. Some air traffic controllers work in airport
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towers to guide takeoffs and landing. Many others, however, work at terminal radar approach control
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facilities or route centers. Essentially, controllers at the TRACON centers take over
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once a plane is in flight and while it's between 20 to 50 miles away from the airport
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When it's over 17,000 feet, the route centers assume control for what amounts to the bulk of
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of the flight time. While TRACON centers can be located in an airport-controlled tower
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route centers can be miles away from an airport. Storm Chasing is Dangerous Because of the Storms
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We all saw Twister, so we know that storm chasing carries great risk of being sucked away by a
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tornado. Actually, storm chasers do have a dangerous vocation, but it's not because of violent weather
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It's the traffic. Storm chaser Greg Johnson once told Mental Floss that
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The thing that keeps me up at night is the driving, not the tornado. The tornado will generally go from
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point A to point B along a defined path. It's very well behaved. The quickest way is a straight line
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It's very visual. You can see where it is and you can avoid it. Driving is a completely different
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story. Put enough miles on and you're bound to see a bad accident. The reason chasers fear traffic
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is because people tend to flee when a serious weather event is approaching. Cars can speed
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add to congestion or get stuck under overpasses. All that and reduce visibility from storms can lead
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to accidents. Ice cream truck drivers make most of their money when it's scorching hot
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Ice cream trucks are a seasonal business. No one is really looking for a popsicle in the dead of
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winter or even when it's pouring down rain outside. But if you think your local good humor truck
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driver makes a killing on really, really hot days, think again. That's because extremely
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high temperatures tend to keep people indoors where they can enjoy air conditioning. Not so for
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the hapless ice cream truck proprietor who has to drive around with his windows down. The best
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temperature is probably closer to 75 degrees. Warm enough to be outside, not so hot that your ice
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cream sandwich turns into goo within seconds. Secret Service agents take an oath to give their
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life for the president. There is no more elite security detail in the United States than the
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the Secret Service's Presidential Protection Division, a squad sworn to protect the life and
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well-being of the President of the United States. It's believed that agents have a duty to intervene
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at whatever cost, even if it means taking a bullet for the Commander-in-Chief. According to
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journalist Ronald Kessler, who wrote the non-fiction book In the President's Secret Service
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agents do not have to take an oath to lay down their life to protect the President. Kessler says
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that it's understood that something like that could happen, but they take every possible step
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to avoid it. One thing you might have heard is that agents travel with several pints of the
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president's blood in the event they're in need of a life-saving transfusion, and that one is actually
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true. Wild. I'm already writing a spec script in my head about a vampire assassin. Uber drivers need
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to own a car. The next time you climb into an Uber and assume it belongs to the driver, well
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they might just laugh in your face. That's because owning a motor vehicle is not actually
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a condition of becoming a contractor for the popular transportation app. All Uber mandates
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is that drivers be listed as an insured driver on the vehicle's insurance policy. That could mean
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the driver is leasing it, borrowing it, or that it belongs to a friend or family member. Drivers can
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also opt to rent cars from Uber via one of their third-party rental partners, though that can get
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expensive at $260 and up per week. Cars don't have to be that new, either. Uber accepts vehicles
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up to 15 years old, so long as they're a four-door model and haven't been salvaged or rebuilt
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Tipping is a cultural custom that many follow because most people understand that those in the service industry cannot get by on their wages alone at least here in the U But how much
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of your tip goes to your server is often misunderstood. I mean, if you think it's 100%
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it is not. In many restaurants, tips are divided among waitstaff, bussers, food runners, and the
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like. Some eateries allow the public-facing waitstaff to divide up the tips, while others
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pool the money and then divide it up later. Either way, the chances of your entire tip going to just
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one person are fairly low. Lexicographers are people who work on dictionaries, writing
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definitions, and determining what words belong in a thorough rundown of modern language. But contrary
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to belief, they don't really decide which words we use. They simply observe and report what words
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society is already using and in what context. Lexicographer Jesse Schiedlauer told Mental
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Floss in 2019 that, "...the role of a dictionary is not to say what is correct in any sort of sense handed
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down from above. It is to say what is in use in language, and if people are using something
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different from how it's used traditionally, that thing is going to go in regardless of
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whether or not you like it." No cap, Jesse. That is based. Phew! Okay, halfway there. Bonus misconception? Being a YouTube host is easy. You know how hard
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it is to keep this voice up? You don't even want to know what I sound like in real conversation
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and I'm not even wearing my glasses right now. Reading this teleprompter is like
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constantly deciphering blurry blobs and... All truck drivers are never home. You might think every trucker's life is basically one long
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lonely road trip from one side of the country to another and back again. And sure, there are
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long-haul truck drivers who spend weeks away from home at a time. That's known as OTR trucking
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which stands for over-the-road trucking. But OTR is only one of three major types of truck driving
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There are also regional truckers whose routes are usually within a thousand mile radius
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They might be away from home for several days or even a week, but they do get to go home on a
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weekly basis. The third variety is local driving, which—and you guys aren't going to believe this—is
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local. Those routes are within an area small enough for the drivers to go home every night
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So what's the catch? Local jobs typically pay less. Speaking of travel, it seems like a very integral part of being an archaeologist. It's hard to say
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how much Indiana Jones is responsible for this misconception, and Lara Croft, and every other
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fictional archaeologist ever, but it makes sense. You have to go wherever the artifacts turn up
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right? In some cases, yes, there are archaeologists who focus on fieldwork, conducting surveys and
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excavations that could be halfway around the world. But there are also plenty of archaeology jobs that
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require little or no travel. As the Society for American Archaeology explains, some jobs in federal
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and state government, museums, parks, and historic sites involve managing collections, public programs
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and education initiatives. Or you could work for a firm whose projects are all within a few hundred
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miles of your home base. And when you're not staffed on an active project per the SAA
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you're in a lab or an office doing ysis and writing reports or publications. Professional
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archaeologists spend more of their time on these tasks than they do in the field. Great news for
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antiquity-loving homebodies. Not so great news for people who believe everything they see in a movie
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private investigators often break the law. On that topic, Humphrey Bogart characters and every
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other hard-boiled fictional PI make it seem like the rules don't really apply to them
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They can break into your house and tap your phone, they can hack your bank account records
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they can get their hands on any FBI file in existence, and on and on and on. Except
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that they actually can't do that stuff. Private investigators are beholden to the same laws that
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you and I are. And as United Security Inc. points out, it's especially important for
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them to come by evidence in a lawful manner so it will be admissible in court. Plus, PIs
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must have a license to practice in most states, and it could get revoked if they break the
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law. They are, however, extremely adept at obtaining intel in legal ways. They know how
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to question people, how to go unnoticed on a stakeout, and how to use public records
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to unearth personal information about their subjects. All told, they probably have more
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in common with journalists than police officers. Tattoo artists will tattoo anyone If you were to toss back several tequila
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shots and suddenly decide it's just a great time to get a tattoo, well, you wouldn't
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be the first. But for every person who's woken up after a bender with some questionable
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body art and heaps of regret, there's someone else whose tattoo artists save their dignity
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by simply saying no. There are a few reasons why many tattooists refuse to tattoo intoxicated patrons. One
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is just scientific. Alcohol thins your blood. If you're bleeding a bit more while you're
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getting tattooed, it can dilute the ink, interfere with the artist's visibility, and even make
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your healing process more difficult. Moreover, a contract can be rendered invalid if one of
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the parties was intoxicated when they agreed to it. And tattoo artists don't want to
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be hit with legal action from someone claiming that their tattoo consent form doesn't count
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Lastly, there's the reason that tattoo artist Sarah Antoinette Martin told Allure in 2015
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I don't tattoo drunk customers because if they are noticeably drunk, they are pretty annoying and I just want them to leave. Can't argue with that
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Hairdressers will think you're rude for skipping the small talk. Hairdressers are masters of chit
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chat. They know it's part of the gig and many of them enjoy it, but they also understand that for
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some people, the most relaxing salon experience is a silent one. Good hairstylists typically just
28:21
take their cues from the client. Rest assured that your name won't land on a list of rude people
28:26
if you fail to make a comment about the weather. Bartending is a side gig
28:31
Bartending can be a lucrative side hustle that puts you through grad school or helps you expand
28:36
your Beanie Baby collection or whatever. For some people, however, it's both a passion and
28:41
a career. They might end up becoming bar managers, brand representatives, or something else within
28:46
the field. Or they might get into competitive bartending, which is a real thing. Take, for
28:51
example, Diageo World Class Global Bartender of the Year competition. Each year, the world's best
28:57
bartenders convene to compete in various mixology-related challenges. In 2022, for example
29:03
competitors had to mix up a highball using Johnny Walker Scotch and fresh produce. They were also
29:08
given Tancrede No. 10 Gin and told to concoct the perfect martini. The blue ribbon winner was
29:14
Adrian Mikalczyk from Norway, and his family probably isn't asking him when he's going to get
29:19
a real job. Interior designers just decorate. Do you have a knack for knowing exactly what throw
29:27
pillow would make a living room complete? Congrats! That's a handy skill that I wish I had, but it
29:33
doesn't make you an interior designer. While it's true that interior designers can select furniture
29:38
lighting fixtures, and other decorative elements for a space, that's just one small part of the job
29:44
They're pretty much designing the whole space from the ground up, which often entails collaborating
29:48
with architects and building developers to weigh in on details like ceiling height. They may also
29:54
have to factor in building codes, accessibility, and other safety features. Many interior designers
29:59
Designers have advanced degrees. If you want people to pay you to decorate their homes
30:04
without all the schooling and the like, you'd probably enjoy being an interior decorator
30:08
To keep the two titles straight, just remember that you have to design a space
30:12
before you can decorate it. All nutritionists are dieticians. Another pair of job titles that often get conflated
30:19
are nutritionist and dietician. Nutritionist is sort of a catch-all term that describes anyone who advises people about nutrition
30:26
In some states, you have to be certified in order to call yourself a nutritionist, but that's not true everywhere. Dietitians
30:32
on the other hand, are all certified, which is why you'll typically see RD for Registered
30:38
Dietitian or RDN for Registered Dietitian Nutritionist after their name. In short, all
30:44
dietitians are nutritionists, but not all nutritionists are dietitians. In practice, there's a lot of overlap between the two jobs. Both nutritionists and dietitians can
30:53
do things like devise nutritional plans for schools, educate community members about certain
30:58
nutrition guidelines and counsel individuals on dietary and or lifestyle changes based on their
31:04
specific needs. Dieticians can also diagnose and treat certain medical conditions, which is
31:09
something nutritionists cannot do. Translators and interpreters are the same thing. And while we're
31:15
on the this versus that beat, let's just knock out translators versus interpreters too. This one's
31:21
fairly straightforward. Translators work with the written word, while interpreters are all about
31:26
spoken word. Just because you are a great translator doesn't necessarily mean your skills
31:30
translate—so sorry—to interpreting. As a translator, you have both the time and the
31:35
resources needed to land on a final product that accurately captures the essence of the original
31:40
text. As an interpreter, you need to get the original point across as fast as possible without
31:45
so much as a quick Google search to help you. It's paraphrasing under pressure
31:50
In hospitals, nurses' bosses are doctors. It's not that doctors never tell nurses what to do
31:56
Often, the doctor will decide on a treatment plan for a patient, maybe with the nurse's
32:00
input, and the nurse will carry it out. But nurses in hospitals and other large healthcare organizations have their own chain of command
32:08
and there's not a doctor at the top. There's a nurse. That is the chief nursing officer, also known as the chief nursing executive
32:16
The directors of nursing report to them. The nurse managers report to the directors
32:20
and the staff nurses, also known as bedside nurses, report to managers
32:25
There are, of course, many other titles that nurses can have, and not every institution is
32:29
set up the same way. The important thing to remember is that hospital physicians aren't really
32:33
in charge of nurses. Some nurses prefer to see themselves as doctors' teammates. In other words
32:39
working with them rather than for them. Accountants are math geniuses. If accountants had a nickel for every time someone called them a math whiz, they'd have��
32:49
I don't know. I guess you'd have to ask an accountant for that. It is a myth that all
32:52
All accountants spend their time solving a-beautiful-mind level math problems. The cornerstone of the job is basic arithmetic, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division
33:03
And if you chant those four words in front of your bathroom mirror, you'll summon Ed Sheeran
33:07
Anyway, here's how CPA Ben Watson explained it for Rasmussen University's business blog
33:13
While I enjoy math, I still let Microsoft Excel do most of the heavy lifting
33:17
In other words, accountants definitely know their way around a spreadsheet, which is its
33:22
own type of genius. Clergy members don't pay taxes. You might assume that since churches and other religious institutions are generally tax-exempt
33:31
the same goes for their employees. That is not true. Clergy members still have to pay taxes, it just works a little differently
33:38
In a non-religious job, your employer withholds some money from each paycheck to cover your
33:43
federal income tax and social security tax. But churches don't have to do that for clergy members
33:49
so the clergy often have to do it for themselves Typically you make quarterly payments to the IRS throughout the year Needless to say I simplifying a complex process There are rules about which taxes you have to file as an employee and which ones you file as a self person
34:05
and some clergy members do make arrangements for the church to withhold their income tax for them
34:10
Though not all taxes can really be withheld and stuff can happen with Social Security
34:14
I cannot stress this enough. Do not get complex tax advice from a 30-second YouTube summary
34:19
But in general, if you were planning to become a pastor solely so you never had to fill out a tax form
34:25
you should rethink that plan. And you probably wouldn't make a very good pastor anyway
34:34
Smartly dressed and vaguely intimidating as concierges may seem, they aren't just there to cater to every whim of whoever's staying in the penthouse
34:43
As concierge Rudy Rasmussen told CNN, We're approachable and we're not snobs
34:48
Yeah, they can hand you a map, recommend a restaurant, and call you a car
34:53
They can also help ensure that your surprise proposal goes off without a hitch or get your
34:57
kids some kitchen scraps to feed to the local ducks. Struggling to tie your bowtie
35:02
Feel free to skip the YouTube tutorial and hit up the concierge instead
35:06
Rasmussen even helped facilitate the freezing and shipping of breast milk for a traveling
35:11
mother on her first post-maternity leave business trip. In short, if you know what you want to do, a concierge can help you do it
35:19
If you don't know what you want to do, a concierge can give you ideas, I guess, and you don't even have to be the richest person at the hotel
35:29
Another misunderstood building attendant is the door person. They can do a lot more than hold the door for you and hail a taxi faster than it takes to say the word taxi
35:40
If, say, your sister is arriving for a visit while you're still at work, your door person can let them into your apartment
35:46
If your huge new TV is being delivered while you're out of town, do not worry, your door person can sign for it
35:52
Door people are also responsible for keeping a building secure. That means being aware of who should and shouldn't make it past the lobby
35:59
And if they happen to know exactly how many times you order nachos at 2 a.m.
36:03
well, that's a small price to pay for feeling safe. Software engineers can fix your broken device
36:10
Bringing your janky printer back to life is no job for the nearest software engineer
36:15
Why not? Because printers, phones, computers, and all other physical devices are hardware
36:21
Software engineers deal with, you guessed it, software. Programs, apps, operating systems
36:27
tech you can't touch. If your device is malfunctioning due to a software problem, then sure
36:33
a software engineer might be able to diagnose and maybe even fix it. Don't assume they have
36:37
have the knowledge needed to repair a piece of hardware. And if they do end up being able to help
36:42
at least get them a Starbucks gift card or something for their trouble. Come on
36:46
Dog trainers don't need people skills. Dog training might seem like the ideal career for
36:51
anyone who loves dogs as much as they hate people. It is not. Successfully training a canine requires
36:57
quite a bit of communicating with its owner. For one thing, the owner needs to tell you what
37:02
behaviors they're hoping you can address, and they can also shed light on the circumstances
37:06
that could be causing those behaviors. Furthermore, training does not end when a session does. You have
37:12
to teach the owner how to keep it going at home, and that requires making sure all members of the
37:17
household are on the same page. As dog trainer Victoria Shade wrote for Chewy's blog
37:22
dog trainers have to deal with fights, temper tantrums, crying, and a variety of other misbehavior
37:27
from the human end of the dog leash. We're often pulled into family drama during the training
37:32
process, whether settling disputes between spouses or acting as the bad cop when the kids
37:37
won't listen to mom. Even though our primary skill sets are based around our canine students
37:43
the reality is that dog trainers have to be able to successfully manage various human
37:47
personalities while simultaneously keeping our canine students engaged and happy Being an organized people person is all you need to succeed in human resources People skills are a must for human resources
38:01
representatives who also have to deal with fights, temper tantrums, crying, and a variety of other
38:07
misbehavior from humans. But your HR rep might find it a little reductive if you act like they're
38:12
just a friendly person with a penchant for color-coding schedules and pushing papers. As its
38:17
name suggests, human resources is responsible for all things related to the people side of a business
38:23
Hiring, firing, training, and paying people, keeping employee records, resolving interpersonal conflicts, and so on. But they also have to do things like make sure the entire company is
38:33
following labor laws and know the industry well enough to offer competitive salaries
38:38
and benefits packages. There's also a data side to HR that often gets overlooked. Take
38:42
for example, employee turnover rate. HR reps have to calculate that, see how it measures up against
38:48
other companies, and figure out how to foster an environment that will make employees want to stick
38:52
around. Which reminds me, Hillary, if you're watching this, I would like a gumball machine
38:57
in the studio. One of the tall ones. Copywriters write copyrights. Look, I get it, homophones are
39:05
hard, but copywriting as in W-R-I-T-E has nothing to do with copywriting, R-I-G-H-T. A copywriter
39:13
writes copy as in text. There are countless different kinds of copywriting. Newspaper
39:18
advertisements, product descriptions, social media captions, newsletters, etc. You could specialize in one arena or do a little bit of everything. A copyright, on the other hand, is the right to
39:27
produce and distribute copies of an original work, like a song or a book. Copywriting is writing copy
39:33
Copywriting is securing the right to copy something. Pro athletes just chill during the offseason
39:40
After football season ends, some NFL players' social media content goes from all football
39:45
all the time to lots of random fun stuff. In the months after the 2023 Super Bowl, for instance
39:51
Kansas City tight end Travis Kelsey hosted Saturday Night Live, and Eagles quarterback
39:55
Jalen Hurts appeared on the cover of Essence. Even Tom Brady treated himself to eating a strawberry
40:02
or something after winning Super Bowl 55. Actually, it was tequila. But anyway, the point is that the
40:08
life of any off-season athlete can seem awesome. Extravagant vacations, cool media appearances
40:13
and generally just relaxing. That's not completely wrong, and professional athletes do often take time
40:19
off from their sport altogether. In 2013, former Olympic runner Dee Dee Trotter told Outside
40:24
magazine that she doesn't run at all for six to eight weeks after a season ends. During that time
40:30
she said, the only running I do is if I'm running from my bed to the fridge. But apart from a brief
40:36
break, pro athletes spend a lot of the off-season in training. They work with trainers to develop
40:41
exercise plans that'll help them achieve their goals for the upcoming season. Some might need
40:45
to rehab injuries while others focus on improving weaknesses. Cross-training is popular too. An NHL
40:51
player might pick up tennis. In other words, a pro athlete's typical off-season schedule probably
40:57
still includes more exercise than some people do on their most active day
41:01
Esports players have unhealthy lifestyles. The stereotypical image of an esports player is
41:07
someone who lives on fast food and never leaves their gaming chair in a windowless apartment
41:12
Probably their mother's. Not only is this unkind, but it's also not very accurate
41:16
In a 2020 study, researchers at the Queensland University of Technology surveyed esports
41:22
players from around the world and found that they drank less, smoked less, and often were
41:26
at a healthier weight than the general population. Many competitive gamers view fitness as a way to improve their game
41:33
Staying in shape can help them maintain lightning-fast reflexes, and eating well can keep them mentally sharp
41:39
Postal workers must deliver your mail no matter the weather. Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds This declaration makes it seem like a mail carrier will get your Christmas gift to grandma during a blizzard or die trying But contrary to popular belief it actually not an official
42:00
creed of the United States Postal Service. Per the Smithsonian National Postal Museum
42:05
it's a translation of some text from an ancient Greek work of Herodotus describing the Persian
42:10
system of mounted postal carriers around 500 BC. Architect William Mitchell Kendall engraved it on
42:17
New York City's James A. Farley post office in the early 20th century, and it's been associated
42:22
with USPS ever since. Postal workers do not swear an unbreakable oath to deliver your mail in any
42:28
conditions. Here's what USPS has to say about it. Carriers are not required to deliver to locations
42:34
where safety issues such as threatening animals, slippery steps, snow-packed paths, or icy overhangs
42:41
create perilous conditions. While our goal is to deliver the mail, we stand by the decisions of
42:46
local managers and or carriers when delivery is suspended due to an immediate serious safety
42:51
concern, particularly during changeable weather conditions. Sometimes USPS higher-ups will suspend service across a whole region, which is what happened when a polar vortex swept through the
43:02
Midwest in 2019, but mail carriers can make their own judgment calls too. Good thing to keep in mind
43:08
next time you're procrastinating shoveling the snow off your front steps. Lifeguarding is just
43:13
the summer job for high school and college students. Students have the summer off and
43:18
beaches are busy in the summer. Ergo, students and lifeguarding are a match made in heaven
43:24
And yeah, lots of students and teachers do lifeguard as a summer job, but there are plenty
43:29
of full-time, year-round lifeguarding positions too. Indoor pools, for one, and also beaches in
43:34
places like California, Florida, and Hawaii that are open for visitors 12 out of 12 months
43:40
In these places, as the United States Lifesaving Association explains, there are many lifeguards who work full-time in jobs that are considered similar to police
43:48
or firefighting jobs. In certain areas, including Los Angeles County, the lifeguarding force is
43:54
actually a division of the fire department. Therapists don't need therapy. Assuming that therapists can always just therapize themselves is a little like thinking surgeons
44:04
can perform surgery on themselves. Therapists have problems just like the rest of us
44:09
and it can be helpful to get an outside perspective on them. In fact, some therapists
44:14
even feel that going to therapy makes them better therapists. Here's how Dr. Ryan Howes
44:19
a licensed clinical psychologist based in California, explained it to Wondermind. When a client wants to talk about family issues, I don't want my own family issues to drive my
44:28
response. I want to be able to identify and manage every bias I have. So, I go to therapy to understand
44:35
myself better, to know why I feel and behave the way I do, and to identify any blind spots I could
44:41
be bringing to my work as a therapist. Health inspectors dislike eating at places they've
44:46
inspected because they know too much. You might think health inspectors abstain from patronizing
44:52
restaurants in their jurisdiction because of all the horrific health violations they've seen there
44:57
But there's another reason they may try to steer clear of those spots
45:00
It's a conflict of interest. As one health inspector told Mental Floss back in 2017
45:05
if you give them a low score, they might come back with, well, you had a sandwich here last Tuesday, we can't be that bad
45:11
I've also gone to places just for a beer and they've brought me fried pickles on the house
45:16
I can't accept those. You can't be bribing a health inspector with fried pickles
45:20
You know who you can be bribing with fried pickles? Mental Floss video host
45:24
Thanks for watching this supersized edition of Misconceptions. Which misconception was the most
45:30
surprising to you? For me, I'm so excited to finally get a haircut where I can just
45:35
sit in silence the whole time. Just nice, uncomfortable silence. Nobody's saying a thing
45:42
Ah, God, no. I'm gonna feel too weird. I'm gonna engage in the small talk. I'm sorry. I can't
45:47
I'll see you next time

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