150

What's the most useless skill you've mastered, and how did you end up getting so good at it? (lemmy.world)

submitted 3 months ago by raiun@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

120 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I’ve mastered the ability to take any idea or thought and transform it into anxiety. Jitters McGee

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] radicalautonomy@lemmy.world 43 points 3 months ago

I can read UPC,, UPC-8, ISBN, and EAN bar codes. Tear the numbers off the bottom of the bar code, hand me the lines, and I will tell you the numbers you tore off.

I used to work the midnight shift at a call center back in the late 90s. It was incredibly boring because we weren't allowed to browse the internet when no calls were coming in (which was most of the time, got maybe five calls total per night). So I picked up a copy of Yahoo! Internet Life, a now-defunct technology-centered magazine. This issue had a how-to section for wacky shit like that, so I committed it to memory because wtf else was there to do?

[-] Mcdolan@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

Well that's cool. Can you write in scan-able barcode?

[-] radicalautonomy@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

No, there is too much precision required.

[-] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 3 months ago

If you got graphpaper?

[-] radicalautonomy@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

I suppose that might work, it never occurred to me to do so.

this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2024

150 points (96.3% liked)

Ask Lemmy

27241 readers

546 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Rules: (interactive)

1) Be nice and; have fun

Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them

2) All posts must end with a '?'

This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?

3) No spam

Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.

4) NSFW is okay, within reason

Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].

5) This is not a support community.

It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.

6) No US Politics.

Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online

Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.