What things baffle you?

[NCBabyBoy]

• How the stock markets work: surely Apple (for example) isn't just listed on the Dow Jones but also on other stock exchanges? How does it work when the share price falls in let's Frankfurt? What happens to the shares on other stock exchanges?
• How tiny plastic parts are made: surely there can't be a different machine for each minute part? But then how are they made?
• How to get a job/ career that is not a vocation. I seriously think I'm "not seeing" something or am too rigid in my thinking.

Any mention of Brexit is BANNED from this thread WTF is the backstop though??

Tiny plastic parts are made in moulds. They're often created on "stems"...long ones...then the individual pieces are broken off the stem.

Job/career...well, it's about training isn't it? You complete a course designed to equip you for the job.

What baffles me...how the stock market works...yes. Very confusing. Another thing is maths full stop.

The shares can be listed on multiple exchanges but they don’t ‘belong’ to those exchanges. They still belong to whoever owns the shares at the time ( usually thousands of different owners). The prices therefore adjust according to the actual global trades put through on any exchange and fx changes. So if NY is closed and the price falls on the London exchange then the NY price will correct as soon as NY opens.

:) That's really interesting about the moulds!

I became a teacher, but that was several years after completing two extremely prestigious degrees. I just could not get a foot in the door, really struggled to convert academic success into workplace success. Will be encouraging DS to stick with a training course for a specific job, sod academia!

Ooh, thanks for explaining about shares!

I appreciate the explanations, but I was mainly curious about other people's baffling things :) Bring 'em on!

The exception is if certain companies have different types of shares- eg Chinese companies could have A shares ( listed on shanghai, only traded by Chinese investors) and H shares listed in HK and tradable by anyone. Then you did get price differences which essentially reflected liquidity

I am constantly baffled by human development and society generally in terms of its complexity and the fact that it functions as well as it does.

How to curl hair with straighteners so it looks nice (I've watched all the YouTube videos, still can't do it)

What tidy people do with their clutter

Ditto how they keep their children clean

Ditto how they don't get panda eyes during the day from mascara

Musical instruments

Things that baffle me:

• Why do flies, wasps, etc repeatedly bang against windows and thwart all my attempts to help them out
• when the signs say 'heavy plant crossing' what does it mean? (i have an image of a giant cactus crossing the road)
• People that dont like dogs
• I also have no idea how the stock market works

what do tidy people do with their clutter?
I don't have any! It's all tidied away

Oh I’m good at curling hair with straighteners!!

Baffling things:
How many different shades of paint in the same colour there are?!
All the proper names for types of plants/ fish / insects

Something that baffles me is how intelligent, well-educated people can believe in God. I genuinely find it completely incomprehensible!

Why people find gossip interesting. Or just why people gossip full stop.

I'm not being sneery, I just can't understand why anyone is that interested in anyone else's business or passing judgement on it. So long as its not hurting anyone im all for everyone cracking on with their own lives.
DH is military and when we've lived in a few places where the gossip (and racism) was enough to make you go insane.

Monsterdogs sorry to disappoint, heavy plant in machinery (usually construction type machinery) no giant plants I’m afraid

I am always baffled by ordinary working people voting for right-wing politicians who do not represent their interests. Instead, they represent the interests of corporations and capitalists which seek to extract profit from the labour of working people, while paying those workers the absolute minimum amount possible.

Why can’t people see the obvious fact that, by voting Tory / Republican, they are voting against their own economic interests?

Why you’d want a musical instrument in the house . Friend plays an array as hobbies , purely for the sake of it, in her own home she will play the ukulele or piano or clarinet - why?! What’s the benefit in it ? I was brought up in a very non musical family , don’t know anyone who can play an instrument beyond basic recorder maybe , never understood the point unless you want to be in a band, a party, maybe a children’s entertainer, in a pub, or something but not in your own living room !

Also don’t understand the internet at all - I have zero idea how it works . Ditto for radio , telephones , TV etc , I don’t understand it even slightly except how to use them , how it does what it does I’ve no idea .

I hate dogs, sorry! I don't wish them any harm, but they smell and make me itch and leave shit around.

It baffles me how anyone would go and get their pubic hair waxed off by somebody in a beauty salon. Or at all, tbh, but by a stranger

I don't understand how anyone could want or enjoy having a dog. Yuck

Browsing through eBay earlier and saw a car listed as having "one lady owner" . How anyone could type that in 2019 and not instantly vomit is beyond me.

The gaps in my knowledge includes knowing the difference between hamsters, gerbils and Guinea-pigs, also raisins, currents and saltanas. Embarrassing I know.

Jsmith99 - that baffles me too anyone under upper mc voting tory - totally against your own self interest even if you ignore the effect for wider society. On a recent thread a supposed benefit claimant was defending the tories! Utterly bonkers!

I really struggle with ANYTHING mathematical, I'm ok on basic arithmetic but beyond that I really struggle.

The stocks/shares valuation thing strikes me as largely arbitrary, but then that's true of the value of anything in a capitalist society, a thing is only worth what people are willing to pay for it. I've particularly noticed this with "fad" items, you know when somethings really popular and sells for up to say £50 in "regular" shops but when the fad passes and then you get them on sale in pound shops.

The popularity of sports as spectator activity - I find it mind numbingly boring! One of the things I love about being single having been previously married to a completely sports mad man is NOT having to watch a bunch of idiots (no idea on numbers per sport I'm that uninterested) competing over getting a ball in a particular place on a pitch! Don't even get me started on Fucking golf or cricket! Watching paint dry massively more entertaining and with a greater chance of noticeable variety!

Religion. I try and understand why people would believe in something that isn’t there but...

The rules of football. I go to every home game with son and there always seems to be a rule I’ve never heard of (pass backs last week).

What stockbrokers actually do. What is the point in what they’re doing?

What do people in HR do? I’ve been working for 23 years and never met anyone in HR.

Frith HR people look after the workers in a company. They deal with the paperwork that's involved in their employment...and with their personal issues to some extent. Legalities too.

@anxietyismyenemy musical instrument playing (if just in your own house) is for the sense of achievement in learning new pieces. I suppose similar would be perfecting some embroidery, carving etc. I like printing something new off and then how it all comes together over a few weeks of practice. (It’s only a few minutes a day!)

Playing in a band is different.

I don’t understand why anyone would vote Conservative. The only thing I’ve ever heard which would entice a few people, is tax breaks. Is that it? Surely there must be something more!

@HennyPennyHorror payroll paid me, my line manager did my “back to work” interview if I’d had flu.

What were HR doing for me? Someone must have typed up my contract, I suppose.

My understanding is HR deal with recruitment and employee retention and workplace disputes BUT for the benefit of the employer NOT employees.

If you think HR will act on behalf of you as an employee I think you're likely to end up disappointed!

Their aim in reaching amicable resolutions to eg sexual harassment issues isn't for the employees benefit but to stop the company being sued!

I'm baffled by why people want to go shopping in groups as a social activity. Surely it is far easier to browse at your leisure and make decisions when shopping alone.