Why do coworkers just say "it just works like that"?
When supervisors and coworkers give dismissive answers instead of explaining the underlying mechanics of the trade, workers are left unable to understand what they are actually doing or advance their knowledge. This prevents them from moving past repeating tasks from memory or knowing whether their work is technically sound.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Looking into other options like larger companies or commercial work
- 2Calling coworkers for help on service calls when needed
- 3Repeating procedures from memory without fully understanding the underlying mechanics
- 4Identifying the business case and asking 'why'
- 5Talking to other experts and learning from mistakes
- 6Gaining experience through repeated design arguments and pushback from clients or colleagues
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I ask questions about why things work the way they do and I always just get told “they just work like that” does that make sense?”source ↗
“I feel like I’m not advancing my knowledge with the trade at this job is it worth looking into other options?”source ↗
“it’s not necessarily doing my job I struggle with it’s actually understanding what I’m doing and not just repeating things from memory”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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- 5What to do when your plumbing foreman is a terrible teacher
- 2What happens when you go months without a manager?
- 6Why is everyone at work so boring and uninspired?
- 41Why is teaching so joyless now?