# Bad things that people like to brag about
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [December 24, 2022, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031 "2022-12-24T05:32:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 7
### Author:  [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2023, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/121 "2023-01-07T13:12:14Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#):
>
> The one that always surprises me is when people bragging about overworking.
>
> “I worked 10-16 hours a day for the past 2 years. I worked even when I was sick, and didn’t take a single day’s vacation!”
>
> How is that something to be proud of? I don’t get it. Heck sometimes people brag about this over a lifetime. I’ve seen people be like “I worked 30 years for the same company. I worked when I was sick. I worked at least 10 hour a day. Usually more.”
>
> My thought is “Dude, work to live, don’t live to work.”
I worked for 30 years at the same company! I worked 3 jobs to make ends meet! I never took a sick or vacation day! Congrats on being a good slave.
I mean maybe if you worked your way up to some sort of senior executive at a great company, I can see that. But otherwise usually what I see are people content to be stuck in some dead-end job doing the same dumb thing for decades. I mean at no point did you ever say “I wonder if there is a better job out there?”
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#):
>
> In the IT industry: How much you work.
>
> Nights, Weekends, Holidays, never offline. Bah…You have a six figure income, but are making $6/hr when you do the math.
I think you need to work on your math. People always say this about jobs where people work a lot, but I assume it’s hyperbole because it’s mathematically impossible. You can’t clear $100k a year on $6/hr even if you worked every hour of every day of the year.
The reality is that even working crazy hours, such a person is probably earning $30 to $70 an hour and working a job that is probably a lot more interesting than one that pays minimum wage.
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### Author:  [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2023, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/122 "2023-01-07T15:59:10Z")
> [@msmith537](#):
>
> The reality is that even working crazy hours, such a person is probably earning $30 to $70 an hour and working a job that is probably a lot more interesting than one that pays minimum wage
It was poorly phrased hyperbole. The point being: you’re being paid the same salary if you’re working 40 or 60 hours a week. If you average 60 hours a week, your effective salary is 1/3rd less.
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### Author:  [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2023, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/123 "2023-01-07T20:25:51Z")
> [@kayaker](#):
>
> > [@Cardigan](#):
> >
> > I can very confidently state there are LOADS of people that haven’t got a clue how to use a map.
>
> I know a woman who can not tell her “left” and “right”. She couldn’t use a map if her life depended on it.
Left-right confusion is surprisingly prevalent, and it’s more than poor sense of direction and different than dyslexia.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2023, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/124 "2023-01-08T00:44:17Z")
My wife kinda sorta has this. She _knows_ which side is left and which is right, but if I’m asking to give me directions, she will about a quarter of the time get it wrong when doing it on the fly. I’ll have to double check, “left … you’re sure?” “Oh, wait, no, right!” Or she’ll point to the left and say “take the next right.” Otherwise, her spatial intelligence is high – but she keeps getting those two mixed up.
I also went to college with a very intelligent woman who somehow didn’t realize until her college years that cardinal directions were not relative. We were explaining to her freshman year here in the Chicago area that the lake was always to the east, and as long as you knew where the lake was, you can figure out where to go, as we’re on a pretty straightforward grid system. She was genuinely puzzled. “But how can that be? What if you’re facing the other way?” “It’s still to the east.” “But no, wouldn’t it be west?” And then it dawned on us where the confusion was. Not sure how you get to 18 and not come across that piece of knowledge, especially with her SAT scores (around 1450-1500), but it happens, I guess.
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### Author:  [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2023, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/125 "2023-01-08T00:48:01Z")
It seems there are many ways to be intelligent, and they are not distributed equally.
Myself, I often lack what is known as “common sense,” which means sometimes people mistake me for a damned moron.
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### Author:  [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2023, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/126 "2023-01-08T00:48:02Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> We were explaining to her freshman year here in the Chicago area that the lake was always to the east, and as long as you knew where the lake was, you can figure out where to go, as we’re on a pretty straightforward grid system
Yeah, growing up on the westside of Los Angeles it was Mountains in the East and Ocean in the West. Then, I visited Hawaii for the first time, and it was Mountains in the Middle and the Ocean All Around. I was a bit confused my first couple of days about my compass point directions.
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### Author:  [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2023, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/127 "2023-01-08T01:03:29Z")
> [@garygnu](#):
>
> Left-right confusion is surprisingly prevalent, and it’s more than poor sense of direction and different than dyslexia.
It can be part of a completely different learning disorder, dyscalculia. The part of the brain that processes relationships between numbers also is the part that processes abstract relationships like left and right, analog time, and also visualizing things like where north is.
I know this because I have it. I was eleven before I could tell time on an analog clock.
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### Author:  [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2023, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/128 "2023-01-08T05:19:39Z")
One of my college roommates didn’t have a TV until I moved in with mine. And I found out why: she was the type who, no matter what was on, would simply zone out in front of it. For her, it was a destructive thing.
As for Easterners and rudeness, I’ll say that granted, this was almost 30 years ago, but when I worked at the mail order pharmacy, only the doctors’ offices in New Jersey had people who routinely answered the phone by saying, “Yeah, what do you want?”
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2023, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/129 "2023-01-08T05:26:27Z")
> [@garygnu](#):
>
> Left-right confusion is surprisingly prevalent, and it’s more than poor sense of direction and different than dyslexia.
And some people don’t grasp what it can mean. They will say, for example, that you can hold up your hand with the index finger and thumb sticking out, then those two fingers make an L on your left hand. But that only works if you just get mildly confused about L/R. If you have full L/R “blindness”, you cannot distinguish an L from its mirror image.
There is no _almost_ no way to “deduce” which side is left without a reference.
> **[The Ambidextrous Universe | The Ozma Problem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ambidextrous_Universe#The_Ozma_Problem)**
>
> The 18th chapter, "The Ozma Problem", poses a problem that Gardner claims would arise if Earth should ever enter into communication with life on another planet through Project Ozma. This is the problem of how to communicate the meaning of left and right, where the two communicants are conditionally not allowed to view any one object in common.
> The problem was first implied in Immanuel Kant's discussion of a hand isolated in space, which would have no meaning as left or right by itself; Gardner p...
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### Author:  [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2023, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/130 "2023-01-08T06:32:53Z")
> [@Riemann](#):
>
> And some people don’t grasp what it can mean. They will say, for example, that you can hold up your hand with the index finger and thumb sticking out, then those two fingers make an L on your left hand. But that only works if you just get mildly confused about L/R. If you have full L/R “blindness”, you cannot distinguish an L from its mirror image.
I have a really terrible time with left and right, and it has nothing to do with having trouble with letter reversals. I _never_ had problems with b/d g/q, J/L or any of the other problems some children have-- in fact, I knew my letters very early-- I knew the Roman alphabet so early, I don’t remember ever not knowing it, and knew the Hebrew and Cyrillic alphabets by the time I was 4.
I read very early, and have some old paperwork from my elementary school where I am referred to as “hyperlexic.” I don’t know if that was a formal diagnosis I had, though.
I can certainly see which L on the fingers orients the same way as the L on paper-- but who has time to hold up your hands and check when someone is giving you directions in real time?
I do pretty well with north, south, east and west, though.
But left and right are almost meaningless for me.
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### Author:  [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2023, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/131 "2023-01-08T11:01:46Z")
> [@Riemann](#):
>
> There is no _almost_ no way to “deduce” which side is left without a reference.
I’ve always used my beating heart as a reference. I always know what side of my body my heart is on and that side is (slightly) left. Even though it is a quick check, it has forever annoyed and somewhat embarrassed me to have to do this in order to get my bearings. Only self-embarrassment of course, since I’d never admit to having to do this…oops. 🫢
And, of course, this only works when my heart is beating. Otherwise, I’m outta luck—in more ways than one.
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### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2023, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/132 "2023-01-08T12:10:45Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#):
>
> …I _still_ have not adjusted to the clerks at Walmart who will not permit me to buy something without my first telling them how I’m doing, or how my day is going…
For the love of all that is holy, don’t go to Trader Joe’s. You have to tell the checkout clerk what your plans are for the day, what you are going to use that yellow curry sauce for, and your mother’s maiden name before they complete your transaction.
> [@nearwildheaven](#):
>
> As for Easterners and rudeness…
Several years ago I wheeled my mother through Manhattan on a crowded summer day. I was taken aback by how polite the other pedestrians were.
> [@nearwildheaven](#):
>
> …the doctors’ offices in New Jersey had people who routinely answered the phone by saying, “Yeah, what do you want?”
I’ve always thought everyone should answer the phone with “what?”
mmm
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### Author:  [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2023, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/133 "2023-01-08T12:35:31Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#):
>
> I’ve always thought everyone should answer the phone with “what?”
I still lament the rejection of Graham Bell’s _“ahoy”_ as the standard telephone greeting. I long to address callers with, _Ahoy matey! … Well, shiver me timbers, it’s good to hear from a scallywag such as ye!_
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### Author:  [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2023, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/134 "2023-01-08T15:13:46Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#):
>
> As for Easterners and rudeness, I’ll say that granted, this was almost 30 years ago, but when I worked at the mail order pharmacy, only the doctors’ offices in New Jersey had people who routinely answered the phone by saying, “Yeah, what do you want?”
Haha. I lived in Jersey for six years and that is so on point. Don’t even get me started on the drivers. They aren’t all bad, but all of the most egregious things I’ve ever seen a driver do occurred in New Jersey.
Less casual racism though, so it’s a trade-off.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2023, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/135 "2023-01-08T15:16:47Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#):
>
> Several years ago I wheeled my mother through Manhattan on a crowded summer day. I was taken aback by how polite the other pedestrians were. -
Obviously you’ve never been hit by a wheelchair.
👩🦽
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### Author:  [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2023, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/136 "2023-01-08T22:03:48Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#):
>
> Haha. I lived in Jersey for six years and that is so on point
I’ve known several native New Jerseyians (what’s the right term?), and they were all really nice people. One woman in particular was a coworker who I really liked. She was positive and supportive and a great teammate. She had a thing about Italian-American stereotypes (that was her ethnicity). She _hated_ the Guido thing, and she didn’t want to watch _The Sopranos_ when it came out, because she thought it’d be one big stereotype. I told her, no, it’s full of very rich characters who happen to be Italian-American and gangsters. Later, she and her husband rented the dvds, and she came running up to me at work and said “I grew up in Uncle Junior’s territory!” Cracked me up.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2023, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/137 "2023-01-10T04:14:22Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#):
>
> But left and right are almost meaningless for me.
As I said above, I’ve seen it in action with my wife when spontaneously trying to give directions. But if you give her a second to think and get her bearings, she’ll figure it out. But what I don’t quite get is why doesn’t one’s handedness work as a cue for which is left and which is right. If you know whether you’re right- or left-handed, why doesn’t that help? For 90% of people it will be “you write (RIGHT) with your RIGHT hand.”
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### Author:  [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2023, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/138 "2023-01-10T14:37:54Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> But what I don’t quite get is why doesn’t one’s handedness work as a cue for which is left and which is right. If you know whether you’re right- or left-handed, why doesn’t that help?
That’s what I did for decades until the difference was burned into me. There is still a microsecond pause sometimes. Same with analog clocks, there’s still a pause sometimes.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2023, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/139 "2023-01-10T14:45:49Z")
I do have a problem with “stage left” and “stage right.” What I mean is that I’m a photographer and when I give directions to a person or group, I still stumble about one in four times and give directions from my perspective (“audience right/left.”) Twenty plus years and it still screws me up. I have to take a second or so pause to do it right, even though it’s simple: just the opposite of my perspective. Maybe if I get visualizing from their perspective rather than thinking “opposite of me,” that may make it feel more natural. I’ll have to try.
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2023, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/140 "2023-01-10T22:54:08Z")
The only stereotype of rude New Yorkers I’ve found to be true is the incessantly beeping taxis. The first few times I’d gone there, it was the only truly large metropolis I had been in so I must have not noticed it as typical of NYC _per se_. Then, having been to several more world-class metropolises before my first time back in NYC, I immediately noticed the honking taxis just like the establishing shots of a TV show.
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