Jobs - what do you actually do?!

[Ollivander84]

You know when you ask someone what they do and they go "ooh I'm X/Y/Z" and you go oh yes lovely and then think but what do you actually do day to day?
Or is that just me? So here's a thread about what you do day to day in your job!

Ds1's carer and therapist... and mother!
I want to work with autistic children eventually. One day the boy will be independent and will be able to live his life.

I go and see people in hospital that the team have told me about, who are having swallowing or communication problems. I read their histories, talk to them and try to work out what is going on and whether they can go on swallowing safely without food and drink going to the lungs, and if they can't, why and if there's anything that can be done about it. Based on the why, I form theories about whether they can improve with therapy or whether things are as good as they are going to get, and then I either carry out the therapy or explain the issues to the patient. My aim is to advise and inform them to make decisions, not to tell them what to do. Sometimes I also dig my heels in around decisions that the other members of the team have made, but usually I kind of slip in around what they are doing to try and back it up as well as I can.

Bellies, boobs, babies, bums and fanjos. (Midwife)

My job is being harassed daily by gas and electricity brokers. DH runs his own business and persuaded me to work with him doing all the admin. But really I'm just there to answer calls about when our electricity and gas contracts run out.

Living the dream

Lady Passerine- interesting. I have long thought that too much of our household budget goes on lemons and wondered how to cut down. For instance, is it really worth buying organic lemons so I can use the zest in cakes when I hardly ever make cakes?
I'm an EFL teacher. Long sigh.

I negotiate with small people, strap children into medieval looking contraptions, stretch limbs, count ducks, administer medication, change bottoms, and quite frequently, dodge flying objects!

(TA in a special school!)

I care for sick animals. No day is the same most days involve cleaning up bodily fluids of some description. Administering medicines, either by injection or orally. Taking blood samples and analysing in the lab, monitoring anaesthesia, assisting in theatre, laundry - alot of laundry! Advising clients, admitting and discharging patients. Comforting people and their pets. Spent most of today sitting and cuddling a very old cat that had gone blind suddenly die to kidney failure and the only time she wasnt distressed was on my lap. Cleaning kennels, hand feeding, writing up observations and dog cat and hamster wrangling.

Its the best job in.the world even though it breaks my heart on a regular basis

Im a health visitor - a lot of people think that mainly involves seeing squidgy new babies and gaving cups of tea, but in reality about 80% of my workload is child protection, safeguarding and supporting very vulnerable families. My specialist interest in perinatal mental health, so I work with a lot of mums with mental health issues and am going to be involved in doing some training and development work around mental health as well. I love love love my job but it can be very emotionally demanding.

I teach Pilates in my own studio. Small group matwork classes from modified back care sessions to full intermediate challenging work outs. I also teach private equipment sessions for clients living with with various challenges including scoliosis, fibromyalgia and Multiple Sclerosis. I am self employed and love my job, I hope I make a positive difference!

I make the part of a website/web application that you can see.

(Front-end web developer)

Junior doctor. Glorified secretary by day, juggling more work than I ever thought was possible. By night and OOH part of a very small team battling to save seriously unwell patients and praying for daylight when less sleep-deprived, sensible decision makers who know the patients well come in.

Never had a day when I am bored. Quite often have moments of "I'm getting paid to do this!" When doing something particularly exciting. It's not all doom and gloom and a kiss on the cheek by an over enthusiastic 90 year old with dementia at 5am in ED can make it all worthwhile.

Gosh you all have very interesting and highly skilled jobs. I work nights stacking shelves in a major supermarket

I check school registers and monitor attendance; I ensure the kitchen will be preparing enough meals; I ring parents to tell them their child has forgotten their packed lunch, coat, swim kit etc.; I collect, account for, prepare banking of dinner money; I check risk assessments for trips; I send letters about trips, clubs, attendance, homework, uniform; I sell, stock check and order uniform; I stock check and order supplies (exercise books etc); I make appointments for parents to meet with SENCo, SLT etc.; I run around classes with packed lunches, glasses, coats, swim kit, PE kit etc brought in by parents; I deal with first aid; I administer insulin; I open and distribute post; I eat lunch in the Hall with food refusers; I check ID and DBS status of visitors; I make refreshments for visitors; i comfort a mum who has to tell her children that their grandmother died today; .... that was today.... quite an easy one ...... other days will include unblocking a toilet, removing a dead “rat” (it was a mouse) from the playground; dealing with various contractors... and more... but the important thing is I LOVE MY JOB.

I make sure safeguarding partners such as the police, all the different branches of the NHS, the local authority and other partners eg probation service, fire service etc communicate well with each other in safeguarding matters.

When communication breaks down and a child or vulnerable adult dies or suffers significant harm, my offices supervises the case review and the lessons learned. That's the hard and horrible bit as you get all the details of the abuse cases.

Day to day I'm in meetings, I write and plan leaflets and stuff for front line practitioners and then organise how to get it out so people will see it. I get involved in multi agency training a bit. I meet loads of people and do some community engagement projects.

I'm a Reprographics technician at my local Community College. Absolutely love it.

I review equine qualifications and write new qualifications and courses

This thread is fascinating.

I reunite lost/found dogs, catch and rehome stray dogs, investigate animal welfare issues, dog attacks and dangerous dogs. I also spend a lot of time looking at dog poo and hearing people complain about dog poo.

I help people select glasses that make them look fabulous and lenses so they can see fabulously. I adjust and repair glasses, check they are made correctly and lots of other glasses and eye related things. I'm a Dispensing Optician.

Today I edited some of a book I'm writing, proofread a PR article, replied to some tweets and wrote two blogs. I also did two loads of washing and kept the cat company

@pumpkin2012 I actually did 3 equine courses! A ND, foundation degree and BA Homs degree

I'm a scientist. I manage a team of scientists with different areas and levels of experience to design scalable processes to make pharmaceuticals for clinical trials and then transfer those processes to our manufacturing facilities. That involves lots of meetings with my team and telecons with customers, writing a lot of documentation, showing that all the safety and characterisation tests we do on the drugs are reliable, liaising with our engineers to make sure the process fits in the facility, working with supply chain to make sure all the specialist chemicals and equipment we need are on site in time for our manufacturing slot in the correct quantities. I provide technical support to the operators during manufacture and babysit the customers when they want to watch.

I ensure that a company reports about itself accurately and doesn't say something daft and get in to trouble.

I am a teacher in a school for children with ASD. We teach on a 1:1 basis using Applied Behaviour Analysis, and each pupil has their own individualised curriculum. So I manage a class of 5 teachers and 5 pupils. We teach each pupil different things, so we have to know each pupil's curriculum, and how to manage their behaviours. We have to collect data on their work and graph all these data daily, and then make scientific decisions on how to help that pupil learn a particular skill (i.e. matching colours, writing/typing, communication methods (signing/PECS/communication device), self-help skills). In addition to this, we also have to clear up water poured on the floor, prevent pupils from eating things that aren't meant to be eaten, change pupils when they have toilet accidents, manage a screaming pupil when she isn't getting what she wants and the subsequent upset pupils because they don't like the screaming, teach them all a dance for the Christmas production when they have a wide range of dance skill levels, ensure they're all wearing their own clothing, make sure they've taken the correct items home, and so on and so on.

It's a busy job, and very stressful at times, but I absolutely love it. It's incredibly rewarding to know you are genuinely making a difference to their lives and the lives of their families.

i pander to the jeremy kyle generation mostly and advise them to block folk on facebook.

sometimes i get to actually fight crime
sometimes i get to help lovely deserving people
sometimes i comfort people in pain
sometimes i help bereaved people
sometimes i catch bad people and put them before a judge or a magistrate.
sometimes i get very pissed off.

but i mostly deal with the dregs of society that most people dont even imagine exist.
they usually begin a sentence with "well. whadidisright, " then go on to tell me their best mate snogged their man and since they threatened to smack them up on facebook wont leave them alone and are "harassing" them.
times 100 per day.
peppered with the odd shoplifter.

I spend part of my week visiting people at home and advising the Macmillan nurses, part on the ward of a hospice and part in a hospital. I teach students too. I love it!