I have an office job that entails a lot of interaction with people who in the construction industry, small business owners, developers, bankers, etc. I'm too androgynous for my employers to feel comfortable with letting me meet people in person (thank god) so most of it is through email or phone calls. They all vary in education and income; some have PhDs, some never finished high school, some are rich as fuck, some are struggling to get by. Most of them are local but I work with quite a few people from different parts of the country.
There's something that is common between a lot of these people, maybe even the vast majority, is that they cannot do extremely simple tasks or understand simple concepts, even when I try to explain them visually (like I'll share a spreadsheet with them and go through each individual thing I'm doing to show them what I mean). Very few of them get it. I'm not particularly smart or amazing at math or anything, but I'd like to think I can understand simple instructions. Sign this, add these numbers, make this match this. I can't imagine what it's like working in retail if the average person is this dumb.
Most people don't give a shit about their job and are only giving 20% on any given day, and don't really want to be talking to you or listening to you in the first place. If you were talking to them about stuff that actually mattered to them, they might seem a little smarter. You are also probably overestimating your own intelligence relative to them, which is human nature. I assure you the vast majority of people you interact with professionally or as a customer are not, if they spare you a thought at all, leaving thinking "what an unusually clever individual", they probably also think you are a dumbass.
Yeah, this. American's are not especially stupid. Ignorant, narcissistic, intellectually lazy, sure, but OP's having a reddit moment here thinking they're mentally lapping people who just don't give a fuck.
:07: :gigachad-hd:
:is-this: Is this the Pareto principle?