22 Times People Realized The Person In Charge Had No Idea What They Were Doing
I find a clipboard reassuring. Put someone in a polo shirt and give them a clipboard, and I’ll probably follow them somewhere. I assume somebody checked their qualifications.
Getting older has made me reconsider everything, though. You start meeting people with important jobs and realize some of them are just as clueless as you are. Except they’re the ones responsible for a building full of people.
These Reddit stories capture the moment that confidence disappears. I don’t expect everyone to know everything, but I’d prefer the person in charge to know a little more than me.
1. The Drive-Thru Order That Raised A Few Questions
I was working the drive-thru at McDonald’s when a father asked what on the menu was suitable for newborns.
2. The Manager Who Decided A Word Didn’t Exist
When I was 24 and working with children, I had to write up a safeguarding report. The manager pulled me into the office and told me that I couldn’t invent words on the form. I assured her that I had done no such thing and asked her to elaborate. She pointed to the word ‘pensive’ and told me she couldn’t even pronounce it, had never seen it or heard of it before, ergo, I must have made it up.
I told her the definition. She wasn’t having any of it. A little frustrated, I leaned over to the office PC to bring the word up on Google. She blocked me from touching the keyboard and ordered me to rewrite the whole thing. I literally found another job and left within the month. She was a native English speaker, so no language barrier there apart from utter stupidity and willful ignorance.
3. The Haircut That Became A Team Effort
I walked into a barbershop, and the guy at the desk said, ‘The barber isn’t here yet, but I can cut your hair.’ I asked him if he knew how to cut hair, and he enthusiastically said that he did. I sat down, he started working on my hair, and it became super obvious he had no idea what he was doing. I’ve never been so scared in my life!
I thought I’d leave there half bald and need to wear a beanie for the next six weeks. I was giving him instructions, like we were trying to disarm a bomb together. The worst thing was that I needed to catch a train in less than 30 minutes. Somehow, I left that barbershop looking only slightly worse than when I entered.
4. The Last Thing You Want To Hear From Your Dentist
Watching my dentist pause mid procedure, stare at my X-ray for a solid 30 seconds, then mutter, ‘Huh, that’s… interesting,’ before picking up the drill again. I asked what was interesting. He goes, ‘Oh, don’t worry about it,’ with the LEAST reassuring smile I’ve ever seen. Anyway, I have a new dentist now.
5. The Gas Pump Wasn’t The Problem
I worked at a gas station, and this guy came in saying his pump wasn’t working. I glanced at the screen and saw the pump was active. I said, ‘The screen shows you’re pumping. I don’t know what’s wrong. Maybe try hanging the nozzle up and try again?’ He came back a minute later and said it still wasn’t working. I went out, and he had the diesel nozzle in his car and was trying to pump regular unleaded. Yes, I know he shouldn’t have been able to fit the diesel nozzle in his car, but he did. Don’t ask me how. He had the diesel nozzle in his car and was pushing the unleaded button, going, ‘See? It’s not working!’
6. The Substitute Bus Driver’s Opening Announcement
In high school, I was riding the bus home, and we had a substitute driver who apologized, saying, ‘Sorry if the ride is a little bumpy, but I can’t quite reach the pedals.’ It’s one thing to stumble into a situation where you’re entirely unprepared, but it’s another to openly admit to a bus full of kids that you’re putting their safety at risk.
7. The Restaurant Owner With One Small Experience Gap
My last boss opened a restaurant and then admitted she had never worked in one a day in her life. She lost basically all of her kitchen staff a year later.
I think not knowing anything about the restaurant industry is the only way someone would think that opening a restaurant is a good idea.
8. The Doctor Who Read The AI Summary
I asked my doctor a question. He Googled it, which is fine, but he normally pulls up a paper or an official, credible source to show me. This time, he mindlessly started reading the AI summary aloud.
9. The Firearms Instructor Who Claimed That Was Intentional
I remember watching a video where a firearms instructor was ‘teaching’ a group of people while he had his finger on the trigger of his pistol. He fired the gun negligently, but fortunately, it was pointed toward the ceiling. Someone asked him, ‘Did you mean to do that?’ and the guy sheepishly said, ‘Yeah.’
10. The Electrical Advice Dad Should Have Taken
My dad was putting outlets into my neighbor’s kitchen when I was a kid. I suggested we turn off the power to the whole house, but I was told to shut up and not interfere. So I left him to it and went home. He came home over half an hour later, claiming he got an electric shock. 🤷 He did not learn from that mistake. Don’t mess with electrics. Get a professional.
11. The Engineer Who Needed Help Restarting A Computer
A mechanical engineer who didn’t know how to restart a computer.
12. The Fire Drill That Left People Behind
I work as a cleaner in a nursing home. The nurses and care assistants did a timed fire drill where they had to find the source of the ‘fire’ and clear the patients out of every room in one corridor. The director of nursing asked me to act as one of the residents who doesn’t want to leave their room, and I was specifically instructed to go into the bathroom of one of the bedrooms and close the door.
I waited for 20 minutes. I heard people come in and out of the room several times. I even shook the door handle to try to get their attention. Not a single person checked the bathroom. The director of nursing later told me that she stood behind the curtains in another room, and it took them ages to notice her. I dread the day there’s actually a fire here.
13. The Theme Park Trip With A Much Scarier Ride Home
When I was a child, I hopped into the car with my grandma to go to a theme park. I didn’t realize I had never seen my grandma drive until we were on the road. I genuinely was scared for my life. The engine failed multiple times because she didn’t know how to shift correctly. We stood in front of a green light for ages with cars honking behind us. She just started swearing and telling me she didn’t know what to do. She either wouldn’t use her blinkers or leave them on way too long, confusing other drivers. I kept asking if we were close to the theme park. I got sweaty even writing this, TBH. We did arrive at the destination, but it was difficult to have fun since I kept thinking about how we were going to have to get back in the car to go home.
— u/40421
14. The Politicians Who Forgot The Talking Points
When I worked at the Massachusetts State House as a nonprofit advocate, we’d talk to politicians about really good initiatives, get their buy-in for the good of their constituents, and then, when it came time to vote, they’d vote the other way. When we came back to follow up on why their vote was not what we discussed, they told us they just forgot about the talking points.
15. The Health Teacher Who Needed A Refresher
In 1999, my high school health teacher said you could get AIDS from bobbing for apples. Even then, at 17, I was like ‘There is a lot you can catch from saliva…but HIV isn’t one of them.’
16. The Doctor Who Was Counting On A Little Luck
A doctor was removing pins from my wrist. He gave me local anesthesia, which I was dubious about, but he was like, ‘You won’t feel a thing.’ It was agonising because he had to force my tendons aside to get at the pins, AND as he fumblingly tried to get a grip on the pins (there were two), he kept muttering, ‘All it takes is a little bit of luck!’ If I had been a couple of years older, I think I probably would’ve punched him out, but I was a kid, and I trusted my doctor to do the right thing. That was over 50 years ago, and when I think back on it, I still think, ‘That [expletive]!’
17. The Blood Banker Who Had Never Heard Of It
I work in a blood center reference lab. One of my coworkers called in a patient’s results to a local hospital. The patient had the presence of an antibody that is one of the most common antigens that a blood banker sees. It is on every antibody identification panel and is absolutely covered in school and on the certification exam.
The hospital tech claimed to have no idea what my coworker was talking about and said he had never heard of that antibody. Sometimes we get lab assistants on the phone when we call, so she asked to speak to the blood banker. He told her he was the only blood banker there. This man was in charge of transfusions for an entire 170-bed hospital. Absolutely terrifying. It’s so easy to kill someone by giving them the wrong blood.
18. The Head Lice Treatment That Raised The Alarm
I saw the mom of my daughter’s friend spray Repel bug spray in her daughter’s hair because she had head lice. I freaked out, but calmly told the woman that she should get proper anti-lice shampoo from a pharmacy.
19. The Project Manager Who Took Years To Try An Easier Way
There’s a project manager at my job who is in his 60s and has been with the company for nearly two decades. It took me YEARS to get him to finally do one thing in a more efficient way. It made his job easier, and it made my job easier by switching to the ‘new’ way (even though the process was already years old by the time he learned it, lol), but he was so stuck in his ways he’s flat-out refused to change how he did things for such a long time.
20. The Nosebleed That Turned Into An Interrogation
I remember the exact moment, and it changed everything for me. I was probably 5 or 6 years old, and I was playing with a few other kids away from our parents while my brother’s soccer practice was going on. All the sudden my nose started bleeding! Like a lot! It had never happened to me before, so I went back to where my parents were. My dad saw me coming with blood running down my face, so he came jogging up, alarmed. I said, ‘My nose started bleeding!’ He said, ‘Who hit you?’ I was like, “…uh, nobody? It just started bleeding.’ Then he said, ‘Don’t lie to me. Tell me who hit you.’
I knew I wasn’t lying, but I also knew we got spankings for telling lies, and I couldn’t prove anything. I felt totally trapped and powerless. I don’t remember the rest of what happened, but I do remember realizing I couldn’t trust my dad with my problems anymore. I had periodic heavy nosebleeds for years, clear through to middle school. I never told anyone or asked for help. Eventually, they went away.
21. The Professionals Whose Behavior Raised Serious Concerns
I’m going to get hate for this, but I work in mental health with families, which means I regularly have meetings with social workers in child protection, health visitors, midwives, etc. Seeing how these people behave and the things they do in their professions has made me think this many a time. Downright negligence like 80% of the time, but there’s an arrogance that often goes with it. If people really knew how these professionals behaved behind the scenes, there would be public outrage. They have a huge responsibility for the lives of so many people, and for many of them, I have to wonder how they even managed to get the job.
22. The Customer Service Experience That Explains A Lot
Broadly? Working in any customer service/retail job. Having to deal with fully grown adults, both coworkers and customers alike, who couldn’t grasp the concept of ‘play stupid games, win stupid prizes’ or ‘mess around and find out’ made me scared for future generations.