# Things you do for work that no one gets... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 24, 2014, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-for-work-that-no-one-gets/686847 "2014-04-24T06:13:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-for-work-that-no-one-gets/686847/1 "2014-04-24T06:13:49Z")
So I am in midst of a rather major project at work. This involves our VM infrastructure. In a nut shell, our SAN is causing performance issues which cause SQL to send alerts. This is due to lun misalignment. So we have to shut down all the VMs and then realign the luns. When I tell most of my friends or family about this they get that far away look in their eyes… What do you do that none of your friends or family get? Slee ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-for-work-that-no-one-gets/686847/2 "2014-04-24T10:39:42Z")
Everything. No one in my family has ever been able to understand what I do, and every time I try to explain it goes wrong. For what it’s worth, I do IT consultancy - specifically SQL Server and Dynamics CRM. It’s not really that difficult to explain or understand, but somehow it’s never really been something they’ve grasped. Now, because I work extensively with SQL server, I understand why you need to realign the LUNs, though the details of SAN management are beyond me. I just yell for help from the infrastructure guys at this point. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-for-work-that-no-one-gets/686847/3 "2014-04-24T10:45:43Z")
Heck, I’m a COBOL programmer. No one believes that I exist. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-for-work-that-no-one-gets/686847/4 "2014-04-24T11:06:34Z")
Well you don’t unless you have been defined in working storage. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-for-work-that-no-one-gets/686847/5 "2014-04-24T11:12:23Z")
He might be a dynamic call to the linked library. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-for-work-that-no-one-gets/686847/6 "2014-04-24T11:36:22Z")
One of the hardest things I had to do in graduate school was convince my advisor that no, the grant request I was sending to my local government could not say “AM1, PM3, 3-21G, 6-31G\* and 6-311+G\*\* will be employed to calculate the optimal steric configuration and variant energy levels along several angles of rotation for the biphenyl and 4,4’-dimethilbiphenyl molecules in order to determine which method offers optimal performance/computational costs ratios”. The people evaluating the proposal were going to be: a lawyer, a doctor, an engineer (mechanical or agricultural) and two more, all of them professors at the local universities. Since there was no local chemistry school, the “two more” were not going to be theoretical chemists: we had to Keep It Simple while not being terribly inaccurate. The “simple” version still was specialized enough that the grant committee had to send it to someone else for evaluation; they wrote me a nice letter apologizing for the delay and saying that as far as they could tell it looked pretty interesting. And once they got the confirmation that yes, it was interesting, I got the grant including payment for the months between the date when other cases were resolved and the date when mine was. Nowadays I work in fields which are a lot easier to translate, but still, “having to do a LOME run on the true bulk before shipping” can lead to pretty confused looks (translation: the code for the “bulk material we store” and the “bulk material we are shipping” are different, you have to move the stock you want to ship from one to the other). ---
**Author:** ![Capt\_Kirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@Capt\_Kirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_Kirk)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-for-work-that-no-one-gets/686847/7 "2014-04-24T12:18:45Z")
I work in concert production. Almost no one knows what I do and most people don’t think it is a job. Most people think I get paid to hang around and party with Rock Stars. If only they knew. **Capt** ---
**Author:** ![2gigch1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2gigch1/32/3313_2.png) [@2gigch1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2gigch1)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-for-work-that-no-one-gets/686847/8 "2014-04-24T12:43:10Z")
\*\*Capt \*\*from what I saw ya got paid to hang with us guests! (Just kidding / insert dumbass smiley here). Actually beyond keeping it all running you earn your money trying to pack the damn van. * * * With regards to my employment, I, like many others, work in a situation that the majority of people think they know about because of preconception or Hollywood stereotype. Alas local tv news photog is kind of an odd mash up of artist, computer tech, construction worker, auto mechanic, psychiatrist and pizza delivery. Everything you see on air I have to be able to do without any help - research, shoot, write, track, edit, operate live, fix broken stuff, etc. Also the concept that we are not allowed to be late (don’t miss slot at any cost) is the paramount consideration of our employment. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-for-work-that-no-one-gets/686847/9 "2014-04-24T14:15:01Z")
I just say “It’s computer stuff” and people usually don’t ask any questions. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-for-work-that-no-one-gets/686847/10 "2014-04-24T14:18:18Z")
Let me tell you about computational fluid dynamics! No? ok… so, the football schedule’s out for next season. ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-for-work-that-no-one-gets/686847/11 "2014-04-24T14:19:06Z")
I love my SO dearly, but when I explain the finer points of resource leveling to her, I get a look that tells me that she’s trying to understand but doesn’t. I also think that she doesn’t care…but that another matter entirely…😛 ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-for-work-that-no-one-gets/686847/12 "2014-04-24T14:26:51Z")
I’ve never found anyone outside of lab who can sympathize with me over the pain of ripping open a fruit fly, only to find tiny ovaries. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-for-work-that-no-one-gets/686847/13 "2014-04-24T14:32:58Z")
> [@Capt\_Kirk](#): > > I work in concert production. Almost no one knows what I do and most people don’t think it is a job. Most people think I get paid to hang around and party with Rock Stars. > > If only they knew. > > **Capt** Lighting guy checking in; I get the same kind of thing. To keep things easy to understand I have two standard responses to people who ask “What do you do for a living?” 1. “I push big black boxes around empty rooms.” 2. “I sit in the dark and wait for bad things to happen.” ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-for-work-that-no-one-gets/686847/14 "2014-04-24T16:03:33Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Lighting guy checking in; I get the same kind of thing. To keep things easy to understand I have two standard responses to people who ask “What do you do for a living?” > > 1. “I push big black boxes around empty rooms.” > > **2. “I sit in the dark and wait for bad things to happen.”** Oh, wow, we have the same job, except I’m in enterprise monitoring. I sit here and wait for something to break, and then I fix it, and if I can’t, I call the people who can and tell them to fix it. I have also described my job, for the _Bill the Galactic Hero_ fans, as Fuse-tender First Class, only without the grunting. ---
**Author:** ![Maeganspop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Maeganspop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeganspop)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-for-work-that-no-one-gets/686847/15 "2014-04-24T16:10:58Z")
I run a pick and place machine. Does\*\* anyone \*\*want to know what that means? ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-for-work-that-no-one-gets/686847/16 "2014-04-24T16:13:37Z")
> [@Maeganspop](#): > > I run a pick and place machine. Does\*\* anyone \*\*want to know what that means? You make circuit boards? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-for-work-that-no-one-gets/686847/17 "2014-04-24T16:17:33Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Oh, wow, we have the same job, except I’m in enterprise monitoring. I sit here and wait for something to break, and then I fix it, and if I can’t, I call the people who can and tell them to fix it. I have also described my job, for the _Bill the Galactic Hero_ fans, as Fuse-tender First Class, only without the grunting. We must be brothers from different mothers: I named my first cat Deathwish Drang (although I called him D.D., which was also a nod to The Ramones). ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-for-work-that-no-one-gets/686847/18 "2014-04-24T16:33:10Z")
I work on IBM mainframe computers… _my boss doesn’t even know what I do_. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-for-work-that-no-one-gets/686847/19 "2014-04-24T16:36:50Z")
[QUOTE=Crotalus] Heck, I’m a COBOL programmer. No one believes that I exist. [/QUOTE] Bank mainframe security administrator here…I know how you feel. People are amazed that A: room-filling computer systems still exist, and B: they’re still being made. If I say I do information or computer security, I’ve had people ask what kind of gun I carry. No… Not that kind of security. If I say I work with computers, people ask me for help with whatever virus they picked up or getting their printer to work. Sorry, that’s for the end-user support groups to handle. [QUOTE=Lukeinva] I work on IBM mainframe computers… _my boss doesn’t even know what I do_. [/QUOTE] Is that good or bad? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-for-work-that-no-one-gets/686847/20 "2014-04-24T16:44:07Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > I’ve never found anyone outside of lab who can sympathize with me over the pain of ripping open a fruit fly, only to find tiny ovaries. Weren’t they supposed to be there? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-for-work-that-no-one-gets/686847.md?page=2)