# Have people turned to you for help on things you know nothing about? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 17, 2012, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-turned-to-you-for-help-on-things-you-know-nothing-about/631792 "2012-08-17T16:29:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Corcaigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Corcaigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corcaigh)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-turned-to-you-for-help-on-things-you-know-nothing-about/631792/21 "2012-08-24T17:26:20Z")
Before I learned to drive, I’d frequently get people pulling over in their cars to ask for directions. I’d know how to walk there, but not how to get there in a car, so that would cause some problems. I used to regularly tell people to “go right, down at the end of the road there” and later (when learning to drive) discovered that there was a ‘No Entry’ sign and you couldn’t turn right at the end of the road there. I can’t get into trouble for that, can I?? ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-turned-to-you-for-help-on-things-you-know-nothing-about/631792/22 "2012-08-24T17:37:43Z")
I apparently project LIBRARIAN at all times. I can be walking down the street in a strange city and be asked for restaurant recommendations. I get asked stuff in grocery stores and places like Target all the time. Most of the time I don’t mind, but there are the days I just want to glare at them all. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-turned-to-you-for-help-on-things-you-know-nothing-about/631792/23 "2012-08-24T18:15:35Z")
I’m a public librarian, so it’s sort of my job. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-turned-to-you-for-help-on-things-you-know-nothing-about/631792/24 "2012-08-24T18:21:17Z")
Got asked for directions in Central Park, but to be fair I was _trying_ to look like a stereotypical New Yorker – i.e. black peacoat and black cap. In the Rocket Garden at Kennedy Space Center, someone randomly asked me to name the city in Alabama that was also famous for its space connections. It took me a few seconds to jog my memory that it was Huntsville, but my memory got jogged faster than his did. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-turned-to-you-for-help-on-things-you-know-nothing-about/631792/25 "2012-08-24T18:24:10Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > I’m a public librarian, so it’s sort of my job. My brother’s been a reference librarian a few times and is mildly annoyed/amused\* when someone asks him a semi-obscure question that he totally knows of the top of his head, but then he has to go dig out a cite for. \*Dammit, “bemused” _should_ mean mildly annoyed yet simultaneously somewhat amused, cause there’s no other concise phrase that means that. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-turned-to-you-for-help-on-things-you-know-nothing-about/631792/26 "2012-08-24T18:26:52Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I’m a trivia buff, and a bit of a showoff. As a result, I’m often the first one friends and relatives call when they’re trying to come up with the answer to assorted question. > > About half the time, I have NO clue… which is more embarrassing than it should be. Same here, except for the last part. 😛 Luckily, I have a wife who is a fuck-ton smarter than I am, so I just ask her for the answer when I don’t know it. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2012, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-turned-to-you-for-help-on-things-you-know-nothing-about/631792/27 "2012-08-25T03:18:58Z")
Tonight, at the store attached to my regular bar, I was asked by a random customer how much a few items costs. To be fair, I was in the back room with some friends. There is an unused bar there, and to make the conversation flow easy, I was standing behind the bar while my friends were on the other side. So it _looked_ like I worked there. I actually sold a few things - handed them to the customers and told them to go to the other bar to pay. The owner stopped by to thank me. 🙂 -D/a ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2012, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-turned-to-you-for-help-on-things-you-know-nothing-about/631792/28 "2012-08-25T03:55:43Z")
I used to get asked all sorts of questions when I was at the Walgreens near my office, despite not wearing a blue smock or a name tag. Never did understand that. **Noelq** - stop giving away our secrets! ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2012, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-turned-to-you-for-help-on-things-you-know-nothing-about/631792/29 "2012-08-25T05:41:59Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > Jesus Christ. I’ve worked as reference librarian. Nuff said. From time to time, I’ve entertained myself by asking really off-the-wall questions of reference librarians. Turns out, I was stupefied at how often they actually knew the off-the-wall answers. Or, more precisely, how often they immediately knew exactly where there was a book with the answer, which they would then lead me to. ---
**Author:** ![Arabella\_Flynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8491ac/32.png) [@Arabella\_Flynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arabella_Flynn)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-turned-to-you-for-help-on-things-you-know-nothing-about/631792/30 "2012-08-26T20:29:32Z")
Constantly. I apparently have a reputation for knowing everything. I don’t, but I do know where to look everything up. For most people this is the difference between omniscience and access to a giant Book of All Knowledge written in a language they can’t read – which is to say, pretty much none. Often they don’t believe me when I say I don’t know anything about something. This seems to be a difference in definition. They think I ‘know something’ if I know enough to figure out where to get more, and I think I ‘know something’ if I can hold a conversation with an expert or an enthusiastic hobbyist without embarrassing myself. There’s also ‘know something’ versus ‘is any good at using what I know’. I know plenty about photography, but I’m a lousy photographer, to the point where it takes me multiple tries to get a photo that contains 50% or more of a mostly-in-focus pet to post on the internet. If asked to fix something I don’t know much about, I tell people that I will gladly take it apart and have a look if and only if it’s already so broken as to be unusable as it is. I have basic electric/electronics repair skills, but I’m not taking a chance on munging up something that isn’t already at the “throw it out and get a new one” stage. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-turned-to-you-for-help-on-things-you-know-nothing-about/631792/31 "2012-08-27T02:56:20Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > Wear anything looking like a uniform in a store and your guarenteed to get somebody ask for your help. You don’t necessarily have to be dressed like the staff, either. I’ve been approached for help in stores when I had a shopping basket in my hands, a purse over my shoulder, and headphones visibly in use, while not even wearing any color that store’s employees would wear. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-turned-to-you-for-help-on-things-you-know-nothing-about/631792/32 "2012-08-27T02:57:24Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > If you are wearing khaki pants and/or a red shirt in Target, I will ask you for help. > > Sorry. ☹ You’ll probably have better odds of getting useful help if you ask someone wearing a nametag. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-turned-to-you-for-help-on-things-you-know-nothing-about/631792/33 "2012-08-27T03:45:52Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > If you are wearing khaki pants and/or a red shirt in Target, I will ask you for help. > > Sorry. ☹ See that sort of makes sense. The time I was asked for where something was in Walmart while I was wearing jeans and an orange paisley blouse? No idea. And then he got snippy when I said ‘do I look like I work here?’ Dumbass. Back on topic. I’m an admin assistant; I get asked to do everything. And my mom expects me to be tech support because I’m less grumpy about it than my dad. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-turned-to-you-for-help-on-things-you-know-nothing-about/631792/34 "2012-08-31T17:53:05Z")
That’s essentially always what happens with anyone who asks me about a computer problem, despite the fact that I sorta make a living off of fixing computers. I think it’s a requirement in that line of work, since most people are so bad at explaining what the problem actually is. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-turned-to-you-for-help-on-things-you-know-nothing-about/631792/35 "2012-08-31T19:13:15Z")
I am always being asked for directions. Apparently I look like I know where I’m going. :dubious: The worst recently was when I was assigned to a new hospital, wandering around the lobby when an elderly lady limped up to me wanting to know where Interventional Parasite Removal (or some such) was located. Since I was in scrubs, I don’t think she bought my explanation that I didn’t have the foggiest idea. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-turned-to-you-for-help-on-things-you-know-nothing-about/631792/36 "2012-09-01T10:14:27Z")
For some reason older people ask me to fix their computer issues. I probably know as much, if not slightly less, about computers than the average person my age (29.) I usually do end up figuring it out, though, because a lot of fixing computer problems is trial and error. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-turned-to-you-for-help-on-things-you-know-nothing-about/631792/37 "2012-09-01T10:42:31Z")
I’m an English teacher who has become known as someone who “knows stuff about computers” among my fellow teachers. So yes, they come to me with questions. Sometimes it’s easy. but often it’s way way beyond my fairly low level of expertise. Then I send them to our IT department, which is staffed by two geniuses who get paid for knowing this stuff… and some student apprentices who need to learn these things if they don’t know it already. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-turned-to-you-for-help-on-things-you-know-nothing-about/631792/38 "2012-09-01T12:57:03Z")
I work in computer support and am always being asked about software I’ve never seen or how to do something in Word that I barely realized you could do. Google is essential. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-turned-to-you-for-help-on-things-you-know-nothing-about/631792/39 "2012-09-01T13:10:37Z")
A fellow customer asked me where to find something in the supermarket recently on the basis that I was a female and we generally knew where to find everything. I did nothing to dispel that notion when I directed him to the correct aisle (and it wasn’t even my regular supermarket!). I am always asked for directions, the time, help locating products and weird random things, like the shopping centre (mall) security guy who asked me to help him set up his new phone for no apparent reason. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-turned-to-you-for-help-on-things-you-know-nothing-about/631792.md?page=1)