“Professional Incompetence”: 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think

Many things might seem uncommon at first glance, especially when there’s no one in your circle going through the same thing. But members of the ‘Ask Reddit’ community recently revealed that some occurrences or situations are way more common than one might think.

They started a discussion on the topic after one user asked them about such things that are more common than people realize, and in their answers, the netizens covered everything from amicable divorces to professional incompetence, and beyond. Scroll down to find more of their examples on the list below and see what other things might not be as rare as they seem.

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"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think Not having any friends when you're older. After you graduate college, especially if you move to a new city for a job, it's hard to maintain friendships. And it's definitely hard to get new friends once you're in the adult world working every day. Many people's only friend is their spouse. And if they aren't married many people just don't have any friends.

lilyboocakes , mikoto.raw Photographer / pexels Report

Final score:

151points

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Anthony Nizza 8 months ago

I have none.

67points

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"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think Childhood trauma. A lot of us hide it, mask it, or pretend we had normal lives.
PS: Please don't include childhood stuff in team building workplace activities. This stuff is so hard to avoid and uncomfortable, even something like "A picture of you as a child!" or "Favorite childhood memories and goals!" I'd much rather focus on the person I am today, than the vulnerable little body I was many years ago.

GreenDregsAndSpam , Arzella BEKTAŞ / pexels Report

Final score:

134points

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WonderWoman 8 months ago

Team building - a way to find out your weaknesses and exploit them! We do not need to be friends at work, we are co-workers, respect me and I will respect you. STOP the team building!!

47points

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"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think living paycheck to paycheck. We are all broke and can’t believe how expensive groceries are

HotPinkWaterfalls , Karolina Grabowska / pexels Report

Final score:

120points

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Anthony Nizza 8 months ago

Also, I don't think people know how many people go without food on a regular basis.

50points

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"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think People who don't wash their hands after using the restroom.

ThatAboutCoversIt , Ketut Subiyanto / pexels Report

Final score:

104points

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Hard as pumpuli 8 months ago

This one always amazes me. Grown ups. Gross. 🤮

31points

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"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think Chronic pain.

UselessUsefullness , Karolina Grabowska / pexels Report

Final score:

87points

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Hans Georg 8 months ago

I am at a point in my life where I get suspicious if some part of my body does not hurt.

38points

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"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think Imposter syndrome. No one knows what we are doing. We are all just winging it. Most of us are hoping that asking questions and being nice will get us there.

marodelaluna , Yan Krukau / pexels Report

Final score:

85points

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kansasmagic 8 months ago

I have sat through many, many meetings, thinking "everyone here is just playing 'Grown Up'".

17points

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"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think Alcoholism. There are many more “functional” alcoholics or recovering than people would guess.

WastingMyLifeOnSocMd , cottonbro studio / pexels Report

Final score:

84points

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Surenu 8 months ago

And they're in all social classes. Poor alcoholics are just more visible to the public. I've met surgeons and mid to high officials in therapy.

24points

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"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think Mental health problems

Maleficent_Nobody_75 , MART PRODUCTION / pexels Report

Final score:

81points

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Bear Hall 8 months ago

And if these illnesses are diagnosed after they progressed for a while, they usually can be only treated but cannot be cured. The treatment might save people's life, maybe even help them to have a more or less "normal" life, but they keep suffering for years and decades. They are walking on the edge their sanity depends on if they take their meds in time.

14points

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"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think People being ashamed of things they like. Pro wrestling, tabletop games, types of media (anime, reality TV etc.).

People are way more insecure about people getting a peek at their true selves than people realise.

Forward_Put4533 , cottonbro studio / pexels Report

Final score:

78points

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Anthony Nizza 8 months ago

And people are way too critical of what other people like.

67points

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#10

"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think Feeling lonely. Even if you're married/with kids/etc

lin_the_human , Kindel Media / pexels Report

Final score:

78points

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Richi Weiss 8 months ago

I live in the same small city with the majority of my family and my siblings are just a 30 min drive away but still lonely all the time. Loneliness got nothing to do with having ppl around its a feeling that is hard to fight...

20points

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#11

"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think The number of people being left behind by services going digital. They come into the library where I volunteer to find help, not only do some of them not have email addresses (and most of the ones who do rely on the computer remembering their passwords) a significant number don't even have mobile phones.

Lumpyproletarian , SHVETS production / pexels Report

Final score:

73points

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James016 8 months ago

My high street has lost its Lloyds Bank and NatWest branches, I think that Barclays is next to go. Sometimes it is better to speak to someone in a branch. I had to a couple of years ago and things got solved pretty quickly, the people on the phone were useless and the app is not designed for those sort of queries

20points

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#12

"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think Professional incompetence. On all levels, from cashiers at McDonald’s to nuclear scientists.

The difference is in how the organization handles and mitigates failure

pillevinks , Yan Krukau / pexels Report

Final score:

70points

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David Paterson 8 months ago (edited)

I can think of two university professors who are totally incompetent. So much so that I'm amazed they even had the brains to get a first degree.

12points

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#13

"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think Illiteracy among high school graduates.

TwoScoopsBaby , Pixabay / pexels Report

Final score:

61points

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PattyK 8 months ago

Also among college graduates. I’ve worked with PhDs who couldn’t put a simple declarative sentence together.

18points

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#14

"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think Low self-esteem. I don't know how many times I have seen people not invite, include, or initiate something with someone for fear of rejection or the other person finding them annoying, and then the other person feels rejected from not being included.
A lot of people think they are more annoying or unliked than they actually are.

Oil-Executive , Alex Green / pexels Report

Final score:

56points

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LAWLAWLAW 8 months ago

I don't know I can be very annoying, maybe I am the exception to this rule

6points

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#15

"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think Hoarding.

People see the TV show and think those are isolated incidents. But ask your local fire and EMS providers, and watch the horror creep across their faces. I've been in houses where you couldn't actually touch the floor, you walked on top of the....debris.... Houses where the door they use is the only door or window in the entire residence that can be opened. Houses where we had to station firefighters every couple feet along the "path" through the mess, and load the patient onto a mega-mover (basically a heavy duty sheet with grab handles on the sides), and pass her person-to-person out the door.

It is WAY more prevalent than you can even imagine.

yungingr , Eco Bear Biohazard Cleaning Company / flickr Report

Final score:

55points

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Hippopotamuses 8 months ago

We are all just a neurological injury from being hoarders ourselves.

14points

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#16

"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think Parents regretting having children

reddit.com , Keira Burton / pexels Report

Final score:

53points

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pasej41913@bustayes.com 8 months ago

Stop making babies. If there's one thing this nightmarish dumpster fire hellish dying world desperately needs, it's less people.

28points

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#17

"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think Credit card debt. 45% of Americans carry a credit card balance from one month to the next.

544075701 , Mikhail Nilov / pexels Report

Final score:

51points

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Hans Georg 8 months ago

The complete credit card system is f****d up.

16points

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#18

"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think There are a lot more very kinky people doing very kinky things than you think. Seriously. Most people just have no idea

BrimfulOfLa-A , Kamaji Ogino / pexels Report

Final score:

48points

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Panda 8 months ago

I don't usually visualise my friends having sex. They might be kinky or not. It has nothing to do with us being friends.

23points

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#19

"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think people popping pills to barely function

diegoasecas , cottonbro studio / pexels Report

Final score:

48points

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Bear Hall 8 months ago

This.

5points

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#20

"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think People not knowing about whatever the current activism is on social media.

Big example is the Starbucks/ McDonald’s boycott. Everyone online is convinced it’s a huge boycott yet most people in the real world do not know a thing about it. People forget that not everyone is online 24/7 and just because you know about something doesn’t mean others do if they’re not in that same online circle.

wellyboot97 , Igor Meghega / pexels Report

Final score:

45points

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Daya Meyer 8 months ago

If this means that I need to know about stupid challenges and celebrity stories, I am out. The world will stay the same without me knowing about that kids set themselves on fire because of a tictoc video.

35points

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#21

"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think Sleep apnea (and other sleep disorders). It took me 3 years to get diagnosed because my symptoms were dismissed as "depression," because I didn't have any of the sleep apnea risk factors, and because I had a previous history of depression, despite my initial insistence that I'd dealt with depression before, and this was different. I guess I eventually started believing them.

Then I got a new psychiatrist. I told her I was having a depressive episode. She asked me about my symptoms, and all the symptoms that she asked about, either I wasn't experiencing them, or they were the direct result of being tired all the time (e.g. I hadn't so much lost interest in activities, I was just too tired to do anything). She told me that it sounded more like I was describing a sleep disorder than a depressive episode, and referred me to a sleep lab.

She said she ends up referring a lot of her patients to sleep labs, and another friend of mine who was a psychiatry resident said he also ends up diagnosing sleep apnea a lot. Sleep disorders can mimic or exacerbate the symptoms of mental illnesses, so I guess it takes a psychiatrist to tell when someone *isn't* depressed.

isfturtle2 , cottonbro studio / pexels Report

Final score:

42points

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Alan West 8 months ago

Apathy, depression, memory blackouts, hallucinations, heart disease, and all sorts of other health problems can be caused by sleep deprivation.

15points

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#22

"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think Autism in women. Sure, TikTok etc is making this omnipresent in a stupid, possibly dangerous way, but it’s a reaction to growing up in a world where it was thought only boys could be on the spectrum.

(All my teachers knew something was wrong with me, but never what specifically, and I had a real hard time as a teen. As an adult, I’ve sought out a diagnosis, but because I’ve had so many shifting and conflicting mental health diagnosis, it makes it really hard. I’ll probably never get a formal diagnosis, but if they could see how some of the older people in my family were, there would be no question).

Confection-Minimum , SHVETS production / pexels Report

Final score:

40points

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Nitka Tsar 8 months ago (edited)

The same goes for ADS/ ADHD. Back then doctors/ people thought only boys can have it. But girls/ women can have it too, they are just very good at masking. Edit: and it represents differently, I think.

18points

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#23

"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think Miscarriage. The Mayo Clinic says up to 20% of known pregnancies end in miscarriage, which is already a lot. This is obviously heartbreaking for wanted pregnancies, but can be difficult for unwanted pregnancies too. But in addition to that 20%, many people miscarry before they learn they're pregnant. While not distressing in the same way of knowingly having a miscarriage, it's distressing for many people because of an seeming inability to get pregnant.

anyansweriscorrect , Letícia Rodrigues / pexels Report

Final score:

39points

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Kariali 8 months ago

Also: While most miscarriages happen within the first week, it can still happen later. Lost my last 16 weeks into pregnancy. I felt so safe before...

23points

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#24

"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think Local corruption. You think it's just US Senators using inside information to dump or buy stocks or Supreme Court Justices getting kickbacks from billionaires? Nope.

It's your town council, too. Do you know what their salary is? Do you know what the town budget/revenue is? Sometimes it doesn't necessarily even have to have a price tag attached. I lived in a town where the elected town council just conspired to take turns running for mayor. Sure outsiders could run but hey "So and so is a member of the council and has been mayor before 6 years ago, he's good".

Lot of businesses for those council members got expedited approval, too.

I had a friend who lived in Alabama for a while and I was in disbelief to hear that the county sheriff was in charge of the county jails was also in charge of the food budget for the jails, and any "left over" funds for that fiscal year became his. Literally, deposit to Sheriff's personal bank account if there's extra. Surprise surprise there always was.

Cazrovereak , Karolina Grabowska / pexels Report

Final score:

35points

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troufaki13 8 months ago

This is global.

10points

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#25

"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think Grown folks failing to look up ANYTHING on their own, or calling ahead to see if a place is open.
The amount of times I got screamed at already this week for “WHY YOU WERE CLOSED ON MONDAY?”
Ma’am/Sir, it’s a federal/national holiday that’s been in effect for longer than you & I have been alive. Also, we posted signs stating such on every entrance/exit door on the building on Friday morning. They were still up on Tuesday when we returned to work.
Screaming at a random person because you were either willfully ignorant or didn’t think to call ahead and then didn’t READ THE SIGNS plastered all over just makes you look unhinged.
Plus, you made a trip today for nothing because the item you’re looking for still isn’t in yet.
Had you called ahead, you wouldn’t have wasted your time, energy, and gas getting here for nothing!

MRSEQM , Anna Shvets / pexels Report

Final score:

34points

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Michael Largey 8 months ago

“Why were we closed on Monday? Actually, we heard that you were planning to stop by.”

18points

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#26

"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think Train derailments. When the wreck in East Palestein happened, a whole lot of people acted like this was just unheard of. I work in an industry that's heavily affected by rail, and let me tell you, it's very common. We are impacted by derailments a few times a month at least.

xjuggernaughtx , James Wheeler / pexels Report

Final score:

31points

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BlueBlazer999 8 months ago

For the record, that’s still much safer than cars.

7points

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#27

"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think Lactose intolerance. It's estimated that 65% of adults worldwide are lactose intolerant. I was in denial about it for a long time, but I finally tried cutting out lactose-containing dairy, and it made a huge difference (for me, the lactase pills help, but not as much as just avoiding lactose).

isfturtle2 , Alex Green / pexels Report

Final score:

29points

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Hans Georg 8 months ago

Sounds reasonable, because intolerance is the norm, while tolerance is the mutation.

20points

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#28

"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think Amicable divorces.

SuvenPan , cottonbro studio / pexels Report

Final score:

28points

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Dane 8 months ago

Hey, my ex-wife is the mother of my children. For most of our lives, she was my favorite person, best friend, the sexiest woman I knew. And all of that goes out the window because we can no longer live together, regardless of reason? To me, that is just petty.

5points

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#29

"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think Agreement to Forer statements, also known as the Barnum effect. It's how horoscopes and fortune tellers get you.

_Most_ people highly agree with each of the following statements:

* You have a great need for other people to like and admire you.
* You have a tendency to be critical of yourself.
* You have a great deal of unused capacity which you have not turned to your advantage.
* While you have some personality weaknesses, you are generally able to compensate for them.
* Your sexual adjustment has presented problems for you.
* Disciplined and self-controlled outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure inside.
* At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing.
* You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations.
* You pride yourself as an independent thinker and do not accept others' statements without satisfactory proof.
* You have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to others.
* At times you are extroverted, affable, sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, reserved.
* Some of your aspirations tend to be pretty unrealistic.
* Security is one of your major goals in life.

sobani , Mikhail Nilov / pexels Report

Final score:

26points

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Tucker Cahooter 8 months ago

Wow! This person really knows me!

37points

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#30

"Professional Incompetence": 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think SIBO - if you have some weird physiological problems and you don't know the cause, it could be your gut, small intestine bacterial overgrowth especially

Statakaka , Sora Shimazaki / pexels Report

Final score:

23points

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David Paterson 8 months ago

I had to look this up "Some studies reported up to 80% of patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) have SIBO".

12points

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What do you think ?

Steve 8 months ago (edited)

Stupidity. It affects 7 of 4 people.

3points

Sonja 8 months ago

The number of obese people with severe mental health issues. The main cause of obesity are mental health issues and behavioural problems. Without proper therapy most obese people are unable to lose weight or hold their weight. In the vast majority of cases, overeating is a coping mechanism. That's why body neutrality (NOT body positivity!) is so important. Unless there's an absolute necessity, body weight shouldn't be mentioned at all. Neither in a positive, nor in a negative way, since both can have a negative impact on health progress. People should not be reduced on their weight, the focus should be on their accomplishments so they can find a better coping strategy than eating. Newer studies have found that people who are allowed to distract their focus and can find a different way to level their emotional imbalance, for instance a fulfilling hobby, have better chances to successfully lose weight than people who are constantly reminded of their weight issues.

Nikki Sevven 8 months ago

Also, not eating correctly has a negative impact on your gut bacteria. More and more we are finding that a huge number of medical issues are caused by gut bacteria imbalances.

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Nitka Tsar 8 months ago

SIDS and still births. Most of the time you only hear about them, if it happens to you.

2points

“Professional Incompetence”: 30 Things That Are More Common Than People Would Like To Think

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