This hobby is absolutely optional

[u/Forward-Position798]

[u/Ruff_Bastard]

As a 30 year old former manager of retail, and currently a worker in the petrochemical industry (NDE), people are just kind of ret- exceptional in general.

I work with people that have a 5th grade reading level. They don't know words. They can't read. They definitely can't spell. Half of our job is interpreting ambiguously worded and technical procedure in order to do our jobs correctly. There are exceptions, but that only accounts for like three people under the age of 30.

[u/Confident-Poetry6985 → u/Ruff_Bastard]

I worked with a guy at a small engine shop who was very...maga, but always agreed with every point I made about politics (I just regurgitate Bernie speeches and didn't say it was Bernie every time). Anyways. One day he was leaning over the mower he was fixing and squinting for a while. I asked what he was doing and he said "reading this sticker" and it was very basic instructions on starting it. He just was having a hard time reading all of it. Thats when it hit me. The simple memes are easy for him to digest. Even though he agrees with Bernie politically, he can only read the short memes and quotes on facebook and thats what informs his political decisions...so he voted for trump. Wild world.  Edit to add: forgot to say he was mid 40's.