# What is obvious in your profession that others may not know? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 27, 2019, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290 "2019-08-27T02:45:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2019, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/121 "2019-08-29T23:15:11Z")
> [@Royal\_Nonesutch](#): > > Typical public schools in many areas of 2019’s USA are little more than glorified day-care centers for America’s youth, where precious little actual education takes place and the majority of a teacher’s time is taken up by just trying to maintain basic safety and order. I was really afraid that someone would say this. No one is more defensive about their job performance than teachers, I’m afraid. ---
**Author:** ![as\_u\_wish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@as\_u\_wish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/as_u_wish)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/122 "2019-08-30T00:22:34Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > When you all were growing up did your mothers have to nag you to practice or did you just WANT to practice by yourself? Thought I’d chime in here as the parent of an adult music major (oboe player and teacher). When she was a child and teenager, I never once had to nag her to practice - or even encourage her to do so. She found her passion for music at about age 9 and never wavered. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/123 "2019-08-30T02:28:19Z")
Having a title of bank vice-president generally doesn’t mean shit. Great thread, by the way. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/124 "2019-08-30T02:34:02Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Like a long tube a poster would come in. Oh OK, thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/125 "2019-08-30T05:00:43Z")
> [@kitap](#): > > Hotel clerks (unless they own the hotel) do not decide what to charge for a hotel room. > > Night auditors at said hotels work. They don’t “sit around all night doing nothing”. Often they also have to play manager, housekeeper and engineer. > > These days most if not all hotels and motels in the US do expect IDs and credit cards at check in. Credit cards that will be good for a hold. Reality check: checking in for a week and we can’t get the credit card to accept a $10 hold, let alone the $800 it should be holding? Yeah, you’re not checking in. > > Don’t try to check in at 12:30 AM on (let’s say) June 5 with the argument that your reservation is for June 5th and thus expect to not pay for the night of June 4th. Your check in time for June 5th is 4 PM. You’re not getting 16 hours free. Biggest rule: be nice to the person deciding where you’ll sleep tonight. She can upgrade you to a suite, maybe, or make sure you’re in the big corner room, or the freshly-remodeled room. Or not. If your payment card declined, it’s often a fraud alert at your bank - say, several purchases at restaurants, gas stations, and a hotel in multiple states, because you’re taking the family to Disney. The desk clerk can’t fix it. You have to contact your bank. No one is trying to insult you. As a former night auditor, though? There were plenty of nights when I totally sat on my ass all night. Unless someone mis-entered a debit or credit or miscounted their cash, the paperwork was 15 minutes, max\*. Answer a couple of phone calls, set wakeup calls. And usually not many check-ins after I arrived at 11. I played a lot of games and watched hours of Lockup on MSNBC. Current profession: Everybody lies. (I’m a mom. Nobody ate the leftovers I planned for dinner. Nobody trimmed her bangs. Nobody left the open box of crackers where the puppy could reach them. No one threw the first hand when the slap fight started. No one left toothpaste all over the bathroom…) \*Except at Starwood brands. I’m sure it’s better now, but their property management system was the most vile, cobbled-together piece of shit I’ve ever used, back in 2008. And I’m comparing to Wyndham, Hilton, IHG, Choice, a couple of generic PMSs, and probably forgetting some. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/126 "2019-08-30T06:02:03Z")
A little bit of IT, a little bit of programming: [ul] [li]I know how to look a lot of things up. I also know the strangest stuff offhand. Which is which is more a function of what I’ve been doing recently than how difficult anything is.[/li][li]Running a fleet of computers with acceptable uptime is a different kind of thing than keeping a single computer on an even keel. You use different technologies which most programmers and hobbyist/small business computer users, no matter how good, haven’t really heard of and would have no experience with.[/li][li]IT doesn’t care about anything unless it impacts them directly or management has told them to care about it.[/li][li]You having shitty security practices impacts IT directly sooner rather than later.[/li][li]In the world of software development, most things are possible, but few things are possible quickly enough to be worthwhile.[/li][li]There’s few things more miserable than having to use a data source with no documentation and limited discoverability.[/li][li]Related to the above, if your database doesn’t have good schema documentation, it’s going to drag you down one way or another. Even if it’s useful right now. _Especially_ if it’s useful right now.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/127 "2019-08-30T06:04:00Z")
Oh, there are nights when I do little- my paperwork takes roughly 75 minutes - but there are times I’m checking people in until 3 AM, answering the phone in between check in and then the checkouts start at 4 AM. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/128 "2019-08-30T06:29:12Z")
that 90 percent of console video games are worthless the minute you open it unless it turns out to be rare or a limited run or has some off the wall technical aspect and if it does have any collectible value its usually 10 to 20 years after the fact so holding on to it for 15 to 20 years to get back what you paid for it when we were willing to buy it from you is dumb Now the rare exceptions are usually 8/16 bit RPGs and simulation games (ie civilization ) ---
**Author:** ![Royal\_Nonesutch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecb155/32.png) [@Royal\_Nonesutch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Royal_Nonesutch)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/129 "2019-08-30T06:41:56Z")
> [@kitap](#): > > Don’t try to check in at 12:30 AM on (let’s say) June 5 with the argument that your reservation is for June 5th and thus expect to not pay for the night of June 4th. Your check in time for June 5th is 4 PM. You’re not getting 16 hours free. Your example is a little extreme, but a friendly attitude and a “I know I am really early, but my flight just landed and I am so, so tired, do you think it might be possible…?” can work wonders. I have checked in several times more than 12 hours early, in hotels both big & small, some that I had “Status” with, others that I had never set foot in before. If rooms are available, by in large the front desk clerk couldn’t care less if you show up early. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/130 "2019-08-30T08:09:40Z")
> [@Royal\_Nonesutch](#): > > Your example is a little extreme, but a friendly attitude and a “I know I am really early, but my flight just landed and I am so, so tired, do you think it might be possible…?” can work wonders. > > I have checked in several times more than 12 hours early, in hotels both big & small, some that I had “Status” with, others that I had never set foot in before. > > If rooms are available, by in large the front desk clerk couldn’t care less if you show up early. Nope. I charge an extra night if you show up at 12:30 AM and want to check in then. I mean, if they decided to leave at 11AM that morning that would mean a free stay. Not happening. 8 AM? Yeah, we probably won’t charge you. But you are not getting an extra night free. Lots and lots of people call or show up late and cheerfully pay for the night. ---
**Author:** ![Royal\_Nonesutch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecb155/32.png) [@Royal\_Nonesutch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Royal_Nonesutch)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/131 "2019-08-30T08:55:53Z")
> [@kitap](#): > > Nope. Yep. Just a few weeks ago in Nuremberg I showed up at 6:30am at a 4 star hotel I had never set foot in before, (check in time was either 3 or 4pm) and was in my room by 6:45, and that isn’t particularly unusual, either. (I worked for IHG for 3 years, and have spent time in over 40 different US states and 20 different countries, at literally hundreds of different properties ranging from fleabag shitholes to 5 Star ultra-luxury resorts. Your policies are not universal, they are just that, YOUR policies, nothing more) ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/132 "2019-08-30T10:48:13Z")
> [@Royal\_Nonesutch](#): > > Yep. > > Just a few weeks ago in Nuremberg I showed up at 6:30am at a 4 star hotel I had never set foot in before, (check in time was either 3 or 4pm) and was in my room by 6:45, and that isn’t particularly unusual, either. > (I worked for IHG for 3 years, and have spent time in over 40 different US states and 20 different countries, at literally hundreds of different properties ranging from fleabag shitholes to 5 Star ultra-luxury resorts. Your policies are not universal, they are just that, YOUR policies, nothing more) Sure , every hotel has its own policies. But there’s also a difference between checking in at 6:30 am and 12:30am. And one of those differences is that if I think a hotel will let me check in at 12:30am _free_, well I’m not making reservations for the day my flight arrives late in the evening. Because if I have a reservation, I’m going to pay and without a reservation, I have a shot at a _free_ night. I’ve absolutely checked into hotels around midnight- but it was a late check in for Thursday ( which I was getting billed for , even if I didn’t show) , not an early check in for Friday. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/133 "2019-08-30T10:59:30Z")
If you check in before I run the audit, it’s Thursday. If you check in after I run the audit, it’s Friday. Everything else depends on whether there’s a vacant clean room, and on the hotel’s policies. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/134 "2019-08-30T11:17:53Z")
> [@Royal\_Nonesutch](#): > > Yep. > > Just a few weeks ago in Nuremberg I showed up at 6:30am at a 4 star hotel I had never set foot in before, (check in time was either 3 or 4pm) and was in my room by 6:45, and that isn’t particularly unusual, either. > (I worked for IHG for 3 years, and have spent time in over 40 different US states and 20 different countries, at literally hundreds of different properties ranging from fleabag shitholes to 5 Star ultra-luxury resorts. Your policies are not universal, they are just that, YOUR policies, nothing more) As was already said, 6:30 AM is much different than 12:30 AM. How about if they show up at 1 1:59 PM? Is that a free early check in, too? 12:30 AM is deliberately trying for a free night. My guess is there is some “how to get a free night!” article out there that suggests this. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/135 "2019-08-30T11:39:28Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > 1. Nobody remembers their passwords. > 2. People protect the wrong things (e.g - carefully filing away their software discs, but losing the license codes). > 3. ISP’s will wreck your computer given half a chance. > 4. People only care about their data after it is gone. > 5. People think that hardware is immortal. I know better. I definitely agree. I would add: 1. People don’t see that, as users, they are usually the biggest problem, not the device. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/136 "2019-08-30T14:22:00Z")
The people you pay for investment advice will charge you too much and will most likely perform worse than an index fund. If they do better than an index fund, it was because of blind luck and you can’t count on them to do it again. If they give you good general financial advice, hold your hand to keep you on track, minimize taxes, and help comfort you into not making stupid timing decisions, perhaps they are worth something, but still probably less than what they are charging. > [@Urbanredneck](#): > > We also get the occasional crate of live bees. That gets handled with extra care. Every fragile item I shop will now have “Live Bees!” stamped on every side. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/137 "2019-08-30T14:46:01Z")
> [@Snake\_Plissken](#): > > Cover them with a blanket. So that everyone passing by will think they are dead? Do people carry blankets in their cars? Maybe if you live in Minnesota? ---
**Author:** ![2Bits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e95f7d/32.png) [@2Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2Bits)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/138 "2019-08-30T15:12:27Z")
People may “love” and treasure your small, local business but in the long run… ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/139 "2019-08-30T15:47:46Z")
> [@Royal\_Nonesutch](#): > > Typical public schools in many areas of 2019’s USA are little more than glorified day-care centers for America’s youth, where precious little actual education takes place and the majority of a teacher’s time is taken up by just trying to maintain basic safety and order. Is this really part of your profession or just some non-educated conservative talking point you wanted to throw in here? ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/140 "2019-08-30T16:57:19Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > Having a title of bank vice-president generally doesn’t mean shit. > > Great thread, by the way. You’re still probably making 100 thousand a year and are in charge of a small chunk of the operation. But you’re right that there are hundreds of vice presidents and very few of them would report directly to the boss. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290.md?page=8)