Awkward (and other) questions about MNers jobs-following on from *Pinocchio's 1st thread.

So late back to this!

LtEve, you spellbound pretty busy!

Boffinmum, how silly of me not to add it to the post that I'm an operating department practitioner. I guess organisation is a key skill but I'm a bit stumped frankly.

Andysmild I went in may leave when I was 38 weeks pg last year. I can honestly say I had nothing special put in place in the operating theatre where I work to account for pregnancy. I still had to do my usual lifting and shifting and I once got a bit stuck under the anesthetic table whilst I was down there fixing something during a case!

I'm a GP

MadameGazelleIsMyMum - I don't mind "always being on duty", though I dread an emergency happening when I've had a couple of glasses of wine! I participate in a dangerous sport, so that's always a source of possible emergencies too! I don't mind being asked for advice by friends and family, as long as they're not offended if I say they really ought to discuss it with their own GP. It is a bit wearing to be asked questions about manky toenails or piles or mental illness by people you've just met socially. Sometimes when asked what I do I say I work in a GP's surgery, which isn't untrue!

Fraggley - Honestly most of us don't do anything special to keep healthy, there's the usual range of personalities from the very fit (a suprising number of triathletes) to couch potatoes. Certainly most junior doctors have a terrible diet of hospital food and take aways and not enough sleep. We always complained we felt terrible but the culture is that you just keep going, sometimes when you shouldn't. Coffee and Red Bull helped. Most of us have our flu jabs but are exposed to lots of infections and get our fair share.

Underwear is entirely supplied by the person wearing it, unless visible onstage. Sometimes you get someone a nice bra or comfy pants or for something if you like them (thinking here of an actress who I squeezed some lovely turquoise Calvin Klein bras out of the budget for because she was so nice and it matched her costume and I could completely understand her desire for them). We would wash underwear, if machine washable. Tights/socks/stockings are supplied by the show and hand-washed every day.

Dirty gits get told to wash their own stuff. Thinking here of an actress who wore a body for a week or so with no underwear and returned it rather, er, crusty to be washed. YUCK. We told her to take it home and wash it herself and always wear pants in future. She did. We don't mind sweat in Wardrobe, that's normal. Spit also fine. Other bodily fluids not fine.

Herisson I've often wondered what you do about underwear on stage shows. Do you have to supply bras and knickers for people? What if they're a funny size (thinking of my enormoboobs) or dirty gits?

If you don't like the show or the people, it's relatively easy to grit your teeth and tell yourself it's only another x performances.

Ha. Oh, give it another ten or fifteen years and see how you feel!

I used to be in Wardrobe. I worked on some v famous shows in the West End, toured internationally, was earning a good wage and was in demand but the thing that drove me out of theatre in the end was the sodding people. I just got sick of the arseholes. OTOH, DH who is a lighting guy is quite tolerant of arseholes so maybe you will be too!

If anyone wants to know anything about costume, I'm your woman.

mignonette

Do you have an agent/organisation through which you acquire work? My DD originally did a stage and drama course in which she was apprenticed to the college theatre group. She did a similar course at university but is now training as a patissiere because it is such a tough business to break into.

No, I don't have an agent, and apart from a few lighting designers, I don't know anyone on the technical/SM side who does. Yes, it is a difficult world to break into, and good, paid jobs are scarce. A very high number of employers think that because we work in the arts, we must be doing it 'for the love' and therefore don't need to be paid (they often think this about actors/dancers/musicians too). I've not been in the business long, as I had a 'real' career and retrained at one of the top Drama Schools. My course included industry placements, from which I made contacts, and from then on, I've gone from one job to another. It's very much about who you know and who you've worked with, and if you don't know the company directly, chances are they will know someone who knows someone you've worked with.

I've not worked in the West End, as that is the ultimate challenge to break into.

Which theatres have you particularly enjoyed working in? Can you say? There are some gorgeous Georgian theatrea about (near me) which I imagine you may have heard of.

Buxton Opera House is my favourite venue to date. It's a bit of a pig technically (quite a steeply raked stage) and the accoustic from the stage is odd, but it's something about the atmosphere I love. Plus, the in-house crew are terrific. Just counted up, in the last 2 years alone I've worked in at least 35 venues, not all of them theatres, but a lot of those were one-nighters on tour.

Do you experience any friction between the permanent staff of the theatres you travel to and yourself being freelance or do they appreciate the chance to share 'stories' and expertise with yourself?

It really depends on the production, the venue and the people. On single- or two-night touring, there isn't time for social interaction. A typical schedule might be; day 1 drive from previous venue to next town, check in to accomodation, sleep. Day 2 9am unload lorry, put up lighting, set, set out costumes, props and furniture, 1pm lunch, 2pm continue as per am, 6pm break (maybe, depends how it's going), 6.30pm continue, 7.30pm run show, 10.20pm show ends, take down set and lighting, pack up costumes and props, load lorry, 1am finish, return to accomodation. Day 3, drive to next town, etc etc.

Some in-house crews are amazing, proactive, finish one job and ask you for another, look around to see what needs doing and do it. Some are lazy f*ckers who take the smallest opportunity to disappear or stand around at the door smoking. A lot of them are men who have a problem taking instructions from women. Thankfully I am a woman who has no problem with repeating instructions until they do it, and yelling if they don't.

What was your favourite production?

Sounds corny, but whatever I'm working on at the time - I've done everything from comedy to Shakespeare, site-specific drama in a basement to large-scale opera. I do have a favourite, but can't name it as it would completely out me - it was a one-off and high-profile.

My contracts generally run at around 6-8 weeks, with the longest so far being 3 months. If you don't like the show or the people, it's relatively easy to grit your teeth and tell yourself it's only another x performances.

calabria, that comes from my days in the military I don't swear at home, I get it all out of my system at work!

ziggiestardust

I have a friend who is an aeronautical engineer. She never swears!

I'm a mental health nurse, working primarily with dementia, but also in enduring mental illness in the community. Ask away
I'm thinking of questions....

Thanks ziggie! That's very interesting and helpful.

That's what his plan is (at first I freaked out MY BABY NEPHEW CAN'T GO INTO THE MILITARY even though he's um, 15) - then the military helps pay his tuition/living costs, good training etc.

Wasn't GetOrf in aircraft procurement or something?

Thanks Mignonette. It was a lot of fun. I spent a lot of time thinking 'I can't believe I'm paid to do this' - I was sure I was going to get found out and be sent to do a proper job, like Ziggy's, or, well, anyone else on this thread!

I got into it because a lecturer at the university I went to worked at the company, and recommended me when a vacancy came up. We were based at Shepperton, but the company closed down a couple of years ago. I don't know too many set or prop designers but I think that must be a lovely job too, creating a particular atmosphere or environment.

In a weird way, our job wasn't always what people think of as 'creative', as we were often working to some else's brief or design, but there was certainly a lot of creatively practical problem solving going on.

It's also nice to hear from someone else who watches programmes and films and looks at the props and set dressing!

Like for instance; I'd been off for 5 weeks on a long break. First day back, one of the lads came up, beaming smile and went 'hello! Not seen you in fucking aaages! Nice break?' The guy standing next to him looked up and went; 'oh, have you been away? How long for? A week or something?'

These are guys I'd worked with for over a year. One of them barely noticed I'd been missing for over a month!

You also have to learn to drop hard swearing into casual conversation, as we are essentially just posh mechanics mouth like a sewer!

I am a woman with long hair and makeup and everything

Hmm. It's hard. Very hard. You have to work at 100% when everyone else cruises at 70%. Your mistakes are noticed a lot more, because you stick out more. Same goes for sick days. You can't show weakness and cry either. It's hard to listen to some men being quite derogatory about women/their wives/ their girlfriends. They'll go out for drinks as a group and genuinely forget to ask you if you weren't there; a woman colleague would text or ring you and ask you. They just do NOT think about stuff like that.

But... You earn a lot of respect. It's hard won, but it's one hell of an achievement.

I suspect working with women would be harder in a way. Men will tell you their problem with you, and you thrash it out or just avoid each other. But you know where you stand. A woman probably wouldn't tell you her problem and you'd hear about it later on, or read a suspicious thread on mumsnet

Ziggie, do you mind me asking, are you a woman ? If you are, do you enjoy working in what i imagine is a very male dominated field ?

Thanks terror :) It's great hearing real life examples of people who are managing their MH stuff and still doing the job they want to do. I think that was one of my biggest fears when I was at my most unwell, that I would have to wave goodbye to doing anything I wanted in life career wise. Hearing (reading?) stuff like this is making me feel quite optimistic and hopeful

absy you couldn't pay me to fly Ryanair.

I started out in the military, as everyone these days wants experience and a lot of uni/college graduates end up joining up. We over-service our aircraft, so discipline is high; I have never known a service leaver in our branch not walk into an excellent job on civvy st. The forces also dish out enhanced learning credits, where you can become a licensed engineer (a supervisor) and they'll pay for it; about £6k worth. Then you're talking about mega bucks!

Use the military to train you for free, get a bit of experience, work towards your licence modules, and then go out on civvy street and work for yourself on a contract basis. Depending on your skill, you're looking at about £37 an hour as a ltd company with licences.

I am a freelance stage manager, currently working on a small-to-mid-scale one-nighter tour. I can answer questions about stage management and technical theatre .

I've NCed, not because I am embarassed about my job, but because I have asked WWYD advice about a work situation under a different username which could out me (stage management is a very small world).

mignonette Speaks a lot of sense here Andy. My sister has had previous mental health issues where she has been in a psychiatric unit for 2 weeks and now works in a branch of the police that deal with mental health. She's been fine for 6 years and takes medication so they have no reason to worry that she wont be competent at her job. Equally, my Dad works with someone who used to take drugs from around 18-32 years old and he's around 45 ish now and been clean for 15 years or something like that. It's very helpful for someone who has had a previous problem to come back and show how they have come from the other side, so to speak.

Ziggie - would you fly Ryanair?
My nephew wants to become an aeronautical engineer, and was thinking of going into the military. Which do you think is better to work in - military or civilian? And what kind of work experience is helpful?

Yay! A question! I thought I'd killed the thread!

Mignonette, I did mostly graphics, so that involved making magazines, newspapers, book covers, passports, shop signs and the like. I worked for a prop company, not freelancing as such (although I did freelance bits on the side for other prop companies very occasionally) and there were several departments doing more 3d workshoppy stuff. We made props mostly for film and TV - I've made passports for James Bond films, huge stacks of post for sitcoms and just about everything in between!

Although my job was graphics, every now and again, there would be a huge job come in, or something that was a rush, then it was all hands to the deck - usually something messy like gluing fun fur on to an 8-foot-high nodding dog.