I'm an Air Traffic Controller and people always 'joke' (or really don't know) I wave the batons at planes to get them to the gate. No I don't and I'm not in the tower either (while that is a good guess).
People saying it must be so stressful. Well yes, it sometimes is. But so is every job. And we're trained to handle it.
People blaming us for not keeping an eye on cities or nature while controlling planes. We have procedures which take that into account and we are hired to be as efficient as possible. If the rules allowed it, we're doing it.
People saying pilots fly the plane and we do nothing. Yeah pilots fly the plane, but look at all the dumb idiots on the road when giving way or getting in one lane/queue. You really think the sky would go any better when they can't even see eachother?