Secrets of your trade.

“when employees say they’ve got a solicitor, I know that you’ve been talking to your mates brothers’ wife, whose likely told you, you’re in the wrong”

No, it means they have a mate or their partner has a mate who is a solicitor but is giving advice off record for free and can’t be named due to liability

Another HR here.

We take early notifications and indicators of stress and depression incredibly seriously. The faster we can intervene the faster our employees can get back on their feet. We also understand that mental health problems manifest differently in individuals.

Oh and constructive dismissal is really hard to prove and not an easy way to get a payout!

YY to the poster who said please don't "help" by taking pots of tea etc off our laden trays, nor by passing us plates or stacking them.

Oh no, I always do this, I thought it was helpful. The waiting staff have always said thanks but now I'm wondering whether they're just bring polite and secretly cursing me

I would say the same of eating out, seen for myself and from others some of the shoddy practices.

Congratulations OP, for classics accolade!

Yeah I also want to know who owns the earth's resources like sea beds, that they can 'sell/profit' from it?

The high levels of nitrates/nitrites in tap water wasn't really directly addressed. Saying we test for lots of things and what's OK for fish isn't for humans, and vice versa? allergic I try to avoid them in food, as links with cancer when used as preservative. It's always niggled me, and never had an answer from authorities. I remember being so shocked to know tap water could test so high.

Narcissist I think the same is true in the uk because the tube often follows the roads above to so only it's just the Council and a few land owners that need asking eg the central line runs under oxford street, New oxford street, high Holborn, Newgate street...

And take OFSTED with a pinch of salt.

Yep, there are still incompetent and lazy teachers in schools with excellent Ofsted reports - they know how to play the game!

And take OFSTED with a pinch of salt.
I had a placement in an Outstanding 'montessori' nursery that had 1 Montessori trained staff member and the majority of the others were young women either being paid peanuts whilst training or the minimum wage - the way they talked to the children was shocking and as for the Tesco basics nuggets with ketchup that were served rather than the stated snacks ....

In my last primary the inspector came in with a clear agenda and we all knew our grading was determined before he'd even started.

Visiting a school/nursery and talking to parents is the best way of choosing.

Primary teacher:
Re: cakes - there is a hierarchy...

• large cake, biscuits - eat (it's baked, all bugs killed)
• cupcakes that look suspiciously like the child had a hand in making/icing them - depends how hungry I am and if I've had any breaks that day.
• chocolate truffles, peppermint creams or anything else that is not cooked and is shaped by hand rolling - IN THE BIN!!! (Later, and the child is always genuinely thanked for such a kind thought)

Thanks Lorddenning1. It reminds me of a quirky fact about Malaysia. If you own a property/land, you also own the area underneath your property right down to the core of the earth. When they built the three level underpass under the city a number of years ago, they had to follow the route of an existing overground highway, as getting permission from thousands of owners would have taken years.

Great thread!

Hospitality

If you're precious about food hygiene, just don't eat out. Ever. Kitchens and bars vary greatly in their standards of cleanliness, and there really is no way of telling which the good ones are unless you work there. It's amazing how few people get sick from kitchens where food hygiene is below parr.

Be pleasant to the waiting on staff. Not because they'll spit in your food, but most will go out of our way to ensure that the nice customers have a great time.

If you have a big function or big party at a function, tip the staff for the whole night yourself at the beginning of the night rather than assuming your guests will throughout the night (They don't). I've not seen this done for years but that's probably more because I moved out of hotel work, but it always put a smile on our faces and a spring in our step for the shift, and it's amazing how much nicer that makes it for your guests.

YY to the poster who said please don't "help" by taking pots of tea etc off our laden trays, nor by passing us plates or stacking them. It's an amazingly exact science, and an unbalanced tray of hot drinks could easily land in your lap. Please just try to keep out of the way and let us organise it best. Keep your handbag straps and walking sticks tucked right under your table so we don't trip, and don't be so wrapped up in conversation that you can't lean out of the way to help somebody put your plate down.

And for the love of god remember what you pre-ordered. The party organisers I loved the most were those who had typed lists of who was having which starter, main & dessert, and some even printed place cards with name and choices on so that their guests couldn't deny that they had indeed ordered soup ;) ... It's nice when they organise a big tip at the end too of course, but you being organised helps us to help your meal to go smoothly.

@NarcissistMum I think the country own the first 12 miles out and after that, I have no idea

@HerRoyalFattyness
Best insider secret yet! 😂😂😂

Journalism - local newspapers.

The vast majority of reporters are decent, honourable people trying to do a decent job with far too little resource (at least half the staff than ten years ago for example).

Visiting the families of people who have died for a story is called doing a ‘death knock’. It happens rarely now, due to staffing levels and the fact proactive police media departments release photos and statements anyway.

Twice in my experience we opted not to do a death knock, circs were too tragic and we agreed to leave the families in peace. Both families complained as they wanted the chance to talk about their loved one, have their photo and good memories shared in the paper and felt very offended to have been left.

Some families would stay in touch for years after and enjoyed speaking (usually off the record and over a cuppa) about the loved one they had lost - thia surprised me too as a young reporter, but I happened many times.

Many people make their information and lives public without thinking about it - when a tragedy or scandal happens the first thing journalists do is look at public profiles, where people have willingly shared pictures without putting privacy settings on. Definitely worth reviewing if you have not already done so.

Love this thread.

Just in reply to a pp, im a nursery nurse and we are never ever over ratio or left alone, and we have cctv in the building to protect the children and the staff.
If your sister is left with more children than allowed, I'd say she isn't in a good nursery. (Not saying the staff are rubbish. Management shouldn't allow that to happen though)

Secrets... erm... we try and find celebrity look alikes for your babies. Sometimes it ends up being a cartoon character.

When the Westminster attack happened the Armoury (place where the guns are securely kept) ran out of guns.

To mllie Mollie Mandy your mum is the kind of person who makes a difference and makes the world a nicer place.Not like the so many oxygen stealers we here about

Polymere does that mean using official fuel garages are better to use? as I am now worried I have been damaging my car buy using supermarket fuel.

Lorddenning1 That’s interesting! Who do they buy the land from? From an individual country/government?How far out from a coastline does a country ‘own’ a seabed?

Another vet nurse here!
We seriously do care for every pet that comes in, owners shouldn’t worry about leaving them for the day. We honesty try our best for every patient, try and keep costs as low as we can. (While still trying to cover the costs of everything used!)
Someone else said there is nothing sinister with your pet being ‘taken through the back’ - that’s correct, a lot of pets behave very differently away from owners. Equally, a lot are better with their owners. We can be quick and efficient, rather than wiggle/wrestle and make it uncomfortable for the pet in front of the owner.
If your pet is aggressive, it doesn’t get treated any different (by me anyways) ... we may be limited with some things we can do - but overall we even love the naughty ones. (And we don’t take difficult animals personally)
Same as our human nurses - when the pets die, we still talk to them, clean them up, carry them and prepare them with respect. We often say bye to them as they go into cold storage too.
Also - I’m a little different to other nurses because euthanasia part is one of my ‘favourite’ Parts as such, I like that I can be there, a kind face and comfort in last moments, especially if owners don’t want to be there. It gives me huge comfort, and I’m often the main euthanasia nurse in my practice.
We also like cards with our name on, most cards come through like ‘to John and the team’ even when ‘John’ has had nothing to do with the animal for three years.

Well, go ahead... as long as it’s a secret insider speech!

I work in the offshore oil industry, an oil company will buy miles of the sea bed and then look for oil, when they find it, they drill it and it can be plugged for 10-20 years before they produce it.
The North Sea has very strict environmental rules, if a product may be a smidge bad for the environment, it cannot be dispersed in the sea, Norwegians are very straight laced and direct.

@BitOfFun random drugs tests are usually carried out when there is suspicion but not enough evidence for a 'with cause' test. IME not just the suspected person is tested so it could be random for the none suspected persons to be tested at the same time.