Misconceptions about adulting!

PavellumPendulum

oh, to be seen as the poet, not just the muse
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When I was little, I thought that adults paid for houses in cash. I'm not sure why, but my assumption was that you would bundle together wads of cash like they did in the movies for drug deals and pay that way LMAO

What are some ideas about adulthood that you had as a kid that you have realized aren't quite true now that you're older?
 
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I used to think my mother was too lazy to get a job or didn't want to for whatever reason. At least not one that paid well. She's a bus driver making less than 15 bucks an hour. Now I realize, as a mother of 3 with a husband that works 15-18 hours a day, five days a week, that she wasn't lazy. The world isn't kind to the primary caregiver of the household. Now I am a substitute teacher making shit pay doing a job that no one appreciates. Why? Because I need to work during school hours. I have a BA in communicative disorders and am a licensed Speech and Language Pathologist Assistant. I worked my ass off and went to school through two pregnancies. Even took a final three days after I gave birth. I even stayed up and helped my husband with his academy work. Yet, no one will hire me because I can't work past 6 pm. The schools aren't offering SLPA jobs because there is no need. I could only get my license because the course was online, and my husband spent up all his vacation days to help with the kids so I could get through a 110-hour practicum. I could only get my BA because my mother-in-law watched the kids before we moved two hours away from them.

So no, my mother wasn't lazy - she was stuck with three kids and a husband (who I now know was also a rampant cheater) and could not figure out how to get to school or gain employable skills. She came to a country (the US) after knowing only her country her whole life. I do believe in and experience the frustration of being a mother and wife and putting kids and the husband ahead of me. Why? My husband makes more money. Same as my mother's situation. No one calls my husband when the kids are sick, they call me. Just like they did my mother. My kids and husband run my life as a mom and wife; therefore, no one will hire me even if I have much needed skills and the vacancy has been open for months.

I thought I'd be better than my mother. Go to school, get a stable job, raise my kids... support my spouse. That's just not real life. The reality is that no one supports the main caregiver, and then they call us low-skilled and lazy. Even worse, the jobs we can take that revolve around our kids and their school schedule are low-paying (teachers, subs, etc) because we don't have options.

A bit grim, but I suppose this sort of counts. I kinda thought SAHMs were just lazy and lucky. It's actually depressing and stifling, even when you finally get a job and you can hardly be reliable.
 
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I used to think my mother was too lazy to get a job or didn't want to for whatever reason. At least not one that paid well. She's a bus driver making less than 15 bucks an hour. Now I realize, as a mother of 3 with a husband that works 15-18 hours a day, five days a week, that she wasn't lazy. The world isn't kind to the primary caregiver of the household. Now I am a substitute teacher making shit pay doing a job that no one appreciates. Why? Because I need to work during school hours. I have a BA in communicative disorders and am a licensed Speech and Language Pathologist Assistant. I worked my ass off and went to school through two pregnancies. Even took a final three days after I gave birth. I even stayed up and helped my husband with his academy work. Yet, no one will hire me because I can't work past 6 pm. The schools aren't offering SLPA jobs because there is no need. I could only get my license because the course was online, and my husband spent up all his vacation days to help with the kids so I could get through a 110-hour practicum. I could only get my BA because my mother-in-law watched the kids before we moved two hours away from them.

So no, my mother wasn't lazy - she was stuck with three kids and a husband (who I now know was also a rampant cheater) and could not figure out how to get to school or gain employable skills. She came to a country (the US) after knowing only her country her whole life. I do believe in and experience the frustration of being a mother and wife and putting kids and the husband ahead of me. Why? My husband makes more money. Same as my mother's situation. No one calls my husband when the kids are sick, they call me. Just like they did my mother. My kids and husband run my life as a mom and wife; therefore, no one will hire me even if I have much needed skills and the vacancy has been open for months.

I thought I'd be better than my mother. Go to school, get a stable job, raise my kids... support my spouse. That's just not real life. The reality is that no one supports the main caregiver, and then they call us low-skilled and lazy. Even worse, the jobs we can take that revolve around our kids and their school schedule are low-paying (teachers, subs, etc) because we don't have options.

A bit grim, but I suppose this sort of counts. I kinda thought SAHMs were just lazy and lucky. It's actually depressing and stifling, even when you finally get a job and you can hardly be reliable.

It’s heartbreaking that careers centered around childcare and childhood education are so criminally under appreciated and under paid. I’m a high school teacher and honestly, it’s a job that takes so much more from you than it pays. I hear the same stories from daycare workers and the like. Love for the job shouldn’t be worth being treated like shit by admin, but here we are :(
 
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I always thought that cops were so cool when I was young. I always thought that other people thought so too.

When I grew up and became a law enforcement officer, I saw that 90% of people hate our guts for no reason. I've been spit on, told to kill myself, been called every name under the sun, and one of my friends was shot while he was out to eat with his family because that individual saw the badge. Inmates treat us better than civilians, and that's sad as fuck to me.
 
I always thought that cops were so cool when I was young. I always thought that other people thought so too.

When I grew up and became a law enforcement officer, I saw that 90% of people hate our guts for no reason. I've been spit on, told to kill myself, been called every name under the sun, and one of my friends was shot while he was out to eat with his family because that individual saw the badge. Inmates treat us better than civilians, and that's sad as fuck to me.

Well I want you to know I appreciate you and all the work you do. You probably don't hear it enough so thank you.
 
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I'm an LEO wife. I feel for you. It's scary out there now! Not very many other professions get killed for no reason other than highly biased media coverage that make lots of money off of one-sided/edited video. Bad cops? Sure. There are bad people in every profession. So many doctors/dentists get sued for malpractice, coaches/celebrities molesting kids, etc - yet we don't treat those professions the same way. The media seems to rule our country these days, and that goes for all sides of the political/social spectrum. Some people are too lazy to look farther than what they see on TV or Twitter. Some people are just using our political climate as an excuse to commit hateful acts, but they've always been hateful. Stay safe out there! Most of us do appreciate you.
I always thought that cops were so cool when I was young. I always thought that other people thought so too.

When I grew up and became a law enforcement officer, I saw that 90% of people hate our guts for no reason. I've been spit on, told to kill myself, been called every name under the sun, and one of my friends was shot while he was out to eat with his family because that individual saw the badge. Inmates treat us better than civilians, and that's sad as fuck to me.
 
@Mombie and @LunaValentine Thanks, guys. It's appreciated. Most of us are pretty good people. I've known my fair share of shitty officers. Also known my fair share of shitty doctors and everything else. We all just want to do our jobs and go home.
 
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I thought adults just know how to do adulting things >:[ I was grossly mistaken, as most adults dont have a clue of what they're doing, they're just winging it and hoping it works out!
 
I thought that going to college and getting a degree was going to solve everything and I’d be on track to afford the kind of lifestyle I wanted, which only amounted to just being comfortable without having to worry about anything. College is always talked about as this wonderful thing, and in some ways it definitely is. But I didn’t finish because I wasn’t interested in a lot of the coursework and hated getting further and further into debt. Fast forward a few years and I end up getting a job in Financial Aid, ironic I know, and the worst part about that was continuously giving money to kids and parents that would realistically have no way of paying any of those funds back. Millions of dollars given out every year. The reality is that college guarantees nothing, because you can go to college and get a degree and still end up not being able to get into the field that you wanted to get in to and end up thousands of dollars in debt because of that. I don’t work in that industry anymore because I couldn’t keep stomaching putting people into debt and it getting glorified as helping people achieve their dreams.
 
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That I would have the money and freedom to go where I want and to travel when I want to. My parents put in so much effort in trying to craft me a better life than they had, not as difficult, or laborious and etc... But the older I get the more responsibilities I find myself running after instead.

Not to mention that old(er) people still find a way to tell you what to do through sheer societal pressure and expectations.

Silver lining though. Adults can have a lot more fun than kids because now we can pay for said fun instead of asking parents to do so and that's liberating for both mindset and fun.
 
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I thought adults never got sick. When I was a wee lassie, I got sick plenty of times, and my mum took care of me. Seeing as a lot of the sicknesses were contagious, I was confused on how she never seemed sick.

I’ve grown to see that my mum is very good at acting ’not sick.’
 
One word: Insurance.

Never thought it would be as complicated as it is. Worst part about it, the people who are supposed to teach me how to figure it out ALSO have no idea how it works.
 
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One word: Insurance.

Never thought it would be as complicated as it is. Worst part about it, the people who are supposed to teach me how to figure it out ALSO have no idea how it works.
The first time I ever insured a vehicle in my late teens, the agent asked whether I wanted to purchase 1mil in liability, and I sat there sweating for five minutes like, Adults are always complaining about how expensive insurance is, but--holy fuck. And then I came out with: "Sorry, I don't have a million dollars to spare."

The whole office had a good laugh at my expense
 
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One word: Insurance.

Never thought it would be as complicated as it is. Worst part about it, the people who are supposed to teach me how to figure it out ALSO have no idea how it works.
The first time I ever insured a vehicle in my late teens, the agent asked whether I wanted to purchase 1mil in liability, and I sat there sweating for five minutes like, Adults are always complaining about how expensive insurance is, but--holy fuck. And then I came out with: "Sorry, I don't have a million dollars to spare."

The whole office had a good laugh at my expense

This is why people get embarrassed to ask about important things. I'm sorry that they laughed at you, I wouldn't have known what they meant by that either 😐
 
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I always thought that cops were so cool when I was young. I always thought that other people thought so too.

When I grew up and became a law enforcement officer, I saw that 90% of people hate our guts for no reason. I've been spit on, told to kill myself, been called every name under the sun, and one of my friends was shot while he was out to eat with his family because that individual saw the badge. Inmates treat us better than civilians, and that's sad as fuck to me.


".. for no reason..."

*rubs her temples*
 
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One word: Insurance.

Never thought it would be as complicated as it is. Worst part about it, the people who are supposed to teach me how to figure it out ALSO have no idea how it works.

Pretty easy around here.. all one really "needs" is a.. ehm.. "Haftpflichtversicherung" (no idea who it is called in English :D )
Everything else is optional... well.. since Health Insurance is taken care of by the state/employer
 
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Mine was with Children.

I (kind of) knew that they can be annoying and need a lot of attention and "work".. but seriously... I did not know that it was THIS MUCH!


Still.. love that little asshole like crazy 😻
 
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When I was a kid, I thought learning how to drive a car would be... Easy? And safer? Adults seemed to do it so simply, and I remember my parents being good drivers. I thought it was just one of those things every adult learned eventually by a certain age. And when car crashes happened, my young mind thought it was all from bad luck. I didn't realize 'till later that like...while accidents truly are 'accidents' at times...there are also just bad or irresponsible drivers out there. People will get approved for licenses to drive even when they shouldn't.
Long story short: I was sorely mistaken when I got traumatized by not just one, but two car crashes. One involved an adult who hit me because they were...just...not a good driver. The other time was because I had poor guidance while trying to learn to drive, and well... ^^; Now I don't have a drivers license and probably never will, heh. I can't get in that drivers seat without massively panicking.
Just, as I've aged too, I've noticed there are a ton of irresponsible drivers out there. Even as a pedestrian, I have to really watch out for myself. The whole "they have the right of way" law isn't often taken seriously. Adults are always in such a hurry in their cars. Kid-me thought the roads would be friendlier, like the roads in my kid cartoons, heh...

Another one, which is kinda funnier than the above, is I thought drugs would be more widely accessible to me as an adult. xD I was expecting coke dealers and stoners to just approach me from out of nowhere and offer me a sample. Anti-drug organizations were so insistent that we'd be offered like every kind of street drug known to humankind. It seems to be the opposite? You have to go looking for most of those things and some can be hard to find. Other than the fact I can now buy weed from an actual weed store.

Which leads to yet another misconception about adults--We do not want to put our expensive, tasty, pain-relieving THC gummies in a kid's trick-or-treat bag! D:< #1, I ain't sharing! #2, those are not safe for kids, what kinda fucked up idea is that! Even when I was a kiddo, people insisted there'd be drugs in my bag from shady adults, but there never were.
 
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I always thought that cops were so cool when I was young. I always thought that other people thought so too.

When I grew up and became a law enforcement officer, I saw that 90% of people hate our guts for no reason. I've been spit on, told to kill myself, been called every name under the sun, and one of my friends was shot while he was out to eat with his family because that individual saw the badge. Inmates treat us better than civilians, and that's sad as fuck to me.


".. for no reason..."

*rubs her temples*

Yes. No reason.
 
I always thought that cops were so cool when I was young. I always thought that other people thought so too.

When I grew up and became a law enforcement officer, I saw that 90% of people hate our guts for no reason. I've been spit on, told to kill myself, been called every name under the sun, and one of my friends was shot while he was out to eat with his family because that individual saw the badge. Inmates treat us better than civilians, and that's sad as fuck to me.


".. for no reason..."

*rubs her temples*

Yes. No reason.

Ywah.. keep telling you that.. I'm sure racial profiling, killing people out of the fucking blue, obsruction of justice and the general systemetic idea of modern police to opress the working class and minorities has absolutlely nothing to to with that

*rolls her eyes*



I stand by it... ACAB/ACAT