# 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:** 9
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2019, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/161 "2019-08-31T07:32:49Z")
> [@Mr\_Zox](#): > > There’s an easy way to remember. First, recall there are 5 kinds of accounts: assets, liabilities, income, expenses, and equity (yeah, you probably were taught there are six kinds. Every textbooks I’ve read says so, and every one of them varies as to what’s the sixth, and every “sixth kind” is a subdivision of one of the five). Now, all you need to remember is the right IDEA: Increase are Debits for Expenses and Assets. > > That’s all there is to it. It’s really a lot easier than that, if you have the right mindset and understand what’s going on. Understanding the inherent dualities that exist in the double-entry accounting system leads to seeing everything much clearer than simply remembering rules. I suspect a lot of people do poorly with debits and credits because they are taught to memorize certain things, and do not understand the basic concepts. In fact, I’d say for the most part most teaching attempts are entirely misguided in that sense. It took me studying accounting much longer than I’d like to admit before I realized the deep connections in everything, and once I did, I recognized it simply as a new axiomatic system with which I could use my refined mathematical thinking to delve into. All you really have to memorize is that when you get cash, you debit the cash account. All else is simply application of the principles of accounting. So that leads me to a good line to use for this thread: when the bank says they are debiting “your account”, that means they are debiting “your account” on their books, which means that you are losing cash. (Digression: “Your account” at the bank is the bank’s record of what you have deposited. It is not the same as the account that you would keep for your own records. “Your account” is simply a log of entries that specifies what money has been exchanged. It’s a set of information, not something that’s partitioned separately in any way. Nothing in “your account” is separate from the rest of the bank’s assets.) If you were to keep your own double-entry books with the same choice of debit/credit nomenclature as is standard for your bank account, when your bank debits your account, you would credit your account. The two parties to a transaction will necessarily have to make the exact opposite entries in their respective accounting systems, but generally people don’t have their own accounting systems so they use the bank’s nomenclature, which is exactly opposite from how it’s used by actual accountants. ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2019, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/162 "2019-08-31T14:48:00Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Large data statistician: > > If you look at enough different connections between things, some of them will appear to be amazingly strong and real, even if the data is just random noise. > > Examples [here](https://www.tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations). Obligatory [xkcd](https://xkcd.com/882/). ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2019, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/163 "2019-08-31T15:14:38Z")
Programmers are not responsible for that badly-designed website or app. In almost all cases, the design and “look and feel” of a software application or program is in the hands of a product person who calls the shots about how things function and flow. Graphic artists and user interface specialists are called in to assist the product person. Programmers are just given the specifications and told “make that.” So when you say “such-and-such a website is a real pain to use! It takes forever to do x, y, and z, and it’s not intuitive at all!” blame the product people, not the programmers. The programmers themselves probably share your pain, but they really have very little control over it. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2019, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/164 "2019-08-31T16:43:26Z")
Wearing my other hat… _Planned Obsolesce_ is a myth. ---
**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 31, 2019, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/165 "2019-08-31T17:17:52Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > 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. Towards the end of my career I was making six figures, yes. But I was a VP long before the salary properly reflected the title. And I’ll add another contribution to this thread: Just because I work at a bank doesn’t mean that I know anything about banking. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2019, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/166 "2019-08-31T18:07:50Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > 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. That’s true - but retail managers of large stores also earn six figures and are in charge of a chunk of the operation - but it’s only banks that make every location manager a VP Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Jumpbass](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jumpbass/32/147_2.png) [@Jumpbass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jumpbass)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2019, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/167 "2019-08-31T22:01:00Z")
> [@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? > > How do you learn to quickly reach down and change a page on a sheet of music? > > Whats the difference between a fiddle and a violin? You just WANT to practice. If you can’t turn a page quickly, you don’t come in right. It’s a fight for survival sometimes. A fiddle is fun to listen to. 😃 My contributions: No, I don’t know every song ever written. I may know your request, but just saying, “It just goes like this: (random humming) You can play that!” doesn’t mean I can play that song. This shit takes practice and research. (I also have gotten this from some singers. They know the words and expect the instrumentalists to know the song just as easily. I try not to work for them.) Yelling “Freebird!” isn’t funny. It’s stupid and annoying. So is “all about the bass” and “slappa da bass mon”, as well as “that’s a big guitar ya got there”. My colleagues and I practice and rehearse a lot. When we quote you an amount for a show, it’s not inflated. We work unpaid A LOT to learn what we do. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2019, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/168 "2019-08-31T22:34:33Z")
There’s no such thing as “off the record” unless both parties agree to it before the question is asked. In other words, no takebacks once you open your mouth. Also, and this is something public relations types and lawyers agree on, once you’ve answered the question to your satisfaction or made your point, STFU! Let the other person say they want more information. I can’t believe the number of successful, supposedly intelligent people who think that saying more will magically make things even better. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2019, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/169 "2019-08-31T23:40:32Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Wearing my other hat… > > _Planned Obsolesce_ is a myth. Or is it just a misspelling? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2019, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/170 "2019-08-31T23:51:02Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Whats the difference between a fiddle and a violin? They’re exactly the same instrument. If you want to be a fiddle player you have to buy a violin when you’re at the music store. You’re a fiddler if you’re playing fiddle music and you’re a violinist if you’re playing violin music. Fiddlers tend to play very loudly, so they super-tighten the horsehair on the bow, often resulting in its bending backwards. But it’s still the same hardware. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2019, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/171 "2019-09-01T00:03:02Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Whats the difference between a fiddle and a violin? Bobby Weir said that the difference between a fiddle and a violin is intention. I always liked that. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2019, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/172 "2019-09-01T01:30:36Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > In almost all cases, you’re gonna want an M30 at the end, obviously. Imma guess [event coordinator](https://www.tennantco.com/en_us/1/machines/sweeper-scrubbers/product.m30.ride-on-sweeper-scrubber.M-M30.html)? > [@EmilyG](#): > > . . . > “Crescendo” doesn’t mean “climax.” It means a buildup to a climax. > . . . Well, if you want to get technical, a build-up _as if_ to a climax. An anti-climactic crescendo is still a crescendo. 😉 A law degree might get you the job, but it won’t do a whole lot of good once you get here. Knowing the law, even following the law, makes very little difference if you have not also learned and followed the regulations. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2019, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/173 "2019-09-01T03:12:46Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Well, if you want to get technical, a build-up _as if_ to a climax. An anti-climactic crescendo is still a crescendo. 😉 That’s true. And as for the difference between a fiddle and a violin, there’s a joke going around that a violin has “strings,” and a fiddle has “strangs.” Page-turning can be a struggle sometimes even for seasoned musicians. Though often sheet music parts for the instruments are printed out in a way that’s planned to have page-turns during the rests (parts of the music where you’re not playing.) Some music-writing software even does this more or less automatically. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2019, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/174 "2019-09-01T03:24:29Z")
The simpler a concept, the harder it can be to teach. Complex, multi-step mathematical processes? You teach the multiple steps. Teaching a kid to count each object exactly once, or to blend the phonemes in an unfamiliar word, or that if Bob has 32 Cheerios and Clara has 45 Cheerios, Clara can’t have 77 more Cheerios than Bob, because that doesn’t make sense? These are the moments that will test you. ---
**Author:** ![DrForrester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8edcca/32.png) [@DrForrester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrForrester)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2019, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/175 "2019-09-01T16:27:15Z")
> [@cerberus](#): > > QFT [Karen Wetterhahn](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Wetterhahn) Thank You for this. One of my university professors had only 1 finger remaining when I knew him. This was 40+ years ago, so I have forgotten his name. His specialty was fluorine chemistry. I asked him why he kept doing it & he said, “Someone has to.” Then, he smiled. Whenever I have someone new around the lab & I am heading out for lunch or whatever, I always make a point of saying, “If this thing explodes while I am gone, what will you do?” The brighter ones will point to a fire extinguisher. “Wrong. You will pick a direction & run. Don’t hesitate. Don’t look back. Don’t try to save the other children. Just run.” […] “but, it really should not explode. So, don’t worry about it.” It’s not that I _want_ to be menacing or be that guy that they all talk about for the rest of their careers. “You wouldn’t believe the guy _I_ once had as a lab partner…” It’s that I have seen, many times over, what happens when things go wrong. It’s hard to instill the same caution in someone who has not. I feel like a parent who is constantly telling the children that the stove top is hot. Once they get burned, well, consider the lesson learned. The carpenters had it right - measure twice, cut once. Or, perhaps the physicians - an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2019, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/176 "2019-09-01T17:23:44Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Also, and this is something public relations types and lawyers agree on, once you’ve answered the question to your satisfaction or made your point, STFU! Let the other person say they want more information. I can’t believe the number of successful, supposedly intelligent people who think that saying more will magically make things even better. Police investigators understand this. They don’t ask a suspect _if_ they committed the crime. They ask them _why_ they committed the crime. In a murder investigation, for example, the suspect obviously felt he had a good reason to kill his victim; he felt that his reason was sufficient justification for murder. So he will explain his reason in order to help you understand why what he did was okay. (Or he might feel the murder was an accident and he’ll want to explain this to you so you’ll understand he’s not to blame.) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2019, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/177 "2019-09-01T17:30:15Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > The simpler a concept, the harder it can be to teach. > > Complex, multi-step mathematical processes? You teach the multiple steps. > > Teaching a kid to count each object exactly once, or to blend the phonemes in an unfamiliar word, or that if Bob has 32 Cheerios and Clara has 45 Cheerios, Clara can’t have 77 more Cheerios than Bob, because that doesn’t make sense? These are the moments that will test you. I remember once trying to teach a friend’s daughter how to draw a triangle. It seems like an obvious concept but she was very young and hadn’t grasped it yet. She knew what a finished triangle should look like and realized hers weren’t right. But she couldn’t figure out how to make one. And as you noted, it’s almost impossible to explain something this simple. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2019, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/178 "2019-09-01T17:33:36Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Wearing my other hat… > > _Planned Obsolesce_ is a myth. > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Or is it just a misspelling? Are you still using the old spelling? You need to buy a new dictionary. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2019, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/179 "2019-09-01T17:42:12Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > _Planned Obsolesce_ is a myth. Not in computer software. I work with an engineering graphics program called Autocad. (It’s the industry standard, used by many millions of engineers and architects all over the world. In its niche, it has no competitors…if you work in this field, you must buy Autocad software) Every year, the Autocad company puts out a new version of the software, and every 3 years they _intentionally_ make the new version incompatible with, and unusable by, all previous versions of their own frickin’ product… ---
**Author:** ![Canuckistan\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Canuckistan\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canuckistan_Bob)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2019, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290/180 "2019-09-02T00:54:23Z")
Old social worker here. > [@steatopygia](#): > > People lie constantly. And by and large they are TERRIBLE at it. a few others: by and large, most cops are kinda dumb. They are persistent and many, so they usually catch bad guys, however. also, by and large, most criminals are even dumber. I suppose the smart ones go to Wall Street or something, but your street level crook or gangbanger or whatever is generally not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer shall we say. in real life, violence is NOTHING AT ALL like what you see in movies or Hollywood. In real life, it is extremely shocking and highly unpleasant, and very very unpredictable. also contra Hollywood, almost everybody who attempts to fight the system gets crushed. The smart move is to give every evidence of cooperation and Try Not To Be Seen. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-obvious-in-your-profession-that-others-may-not-know/839290.md?page=10)