What is something you know because of your job, that would surprise others? (My example is gross, thread warning!)

[Mrmen1100]

It can be anything!!

I will start..

I am a food safety inspector (local authority) and have been for over 15 years, working in two large cities, and my current job in a smaller local authority. The same theme...

Food handlers do NOT wash their hands properly after using the toilet / before preparing your food.. lack of antibacterial soap in a toilet cubicle or in a kitchen is common place.... even when I am there, hands are not washed, it is an absolute bug bear of mine.

Preparing with raw meat then handling food ready to eat.. not uncommon

Handling cash / touching screens then handling food.. not uncommon.

Yes it does put me off eating outside of my house unfortunately 🙃

I have come across a LOT worse but this example irritates me.

Your turn!!!!!

I'm a science technician in a secondary school and we hold a chemical that even if a tiny amount is spilt, requires whole school evacuation and the fire service to come on site.

Also under the sea. Less, i think than there used to be before satellites

@Feis123 , of course there's no 'special pool' of doctors in private hospitals. Usually the doctors work in both private and NHS settings on different days. I thought everyone knew that.

Ghostwriter here - most celebs don't even read the books they pretend to have written.

All of the Instagrammers I've worked with are absolutely 100% grifters - no surprise there perhaps, but I have been pretty surprised by just how much they utterly despise the people who are paying for their lifestyle.

Fiction is becoming much more of a ghostwritten world - not just the well-known authors who have always been open about it, but ones that have a reputation for being 'real' writers.

You may all know this but the legal definition of 'meat' as in sausages etc is anything from the animal - so think bones, connective tissue, eyelashes/ears/ organs/body fat. The total weight of an animal (pig) is approx 50% lean and 50% other stuff (see above). So, minced up to make a slurry this wouldn't taste of much, so ingredients are added - flavouring (salt, herbs and so on), rusk or cereal to absorb the fat as it melts, colouring (because this is a 'meat' product and should not be the colour of wallpaper paste) and water to bulk product out. So, when they are cooked and eaten they are not 'nice and juicy' but that's the melted fat. The water evaporates and sausages have shrunk.

That chickens used to be and probably still are injected with a chemical before death so that when they are cleaned and cooled, they actually absorb water. What is it that determines the price? The weight. So we all pay for extra water! Same with some ham

I locum for Pharmacies. Alot of the small independents I have worked for will put medications returned by patients back on the shelf and dispense them to other patients. This way, they get paid out by the NHS for the medication being dispensed the 1st time. Then when its returned and dispensed a 2nd time, they will also be paid for it despite not actually paying out for the meds themselves. It's like a buy one get one free for the Pharmacy. Its not legal, they don't give a shit, and neither does anyone I've reported it too.

I have also worked at a handful of independents who expect staff to dispense, check and hand out medication with no Pharmacist on site. Sometimes with no other staff member on shift so literally no one else at all to double check. The most recent one had 2 claims open against him by patients given wrong meds/wrong dose under these circumstances, he still expected staff to carry on as usual though.

I've also covered at lots of branches for a big chain. A few of them had independent Pharmacies within close proximity that turned out to be owned by family members of the managers in the chain stores. Theft was absolutely rife in these stores. Eventually turned out to be the chain managers stealing and passing the stock to the independents owned by family. They were never prosecuted, just sacked. One of them was sacked and they replaced him with his cousin 😂 Coincidentally this store was closing and on the week of closure, lots of medication disappeared out of the controlled drugs safe, including multiple 500ml bottles of methadone, and the cousin never returned to finish the closure week.

I work in pharma, where every single thing is recorded. If it’s not written down it didn’t happen, 10 people could have watched it happen but if it’s not recorded we cannot say it did.

Hospitals cannot keep people in against their wishes unless they are sectioned or have been identified as lacking capacity. If a patient wants to leave, staff have to help them to do so. Hospitals can send people out of hospital against their wishes but its quite a convoluted legal procedure

I unfortunately know what metastatic cancer of the penis looks when a man has refused to have things checked due to embarrassment.

Both the image in my head and the accompanying smell will stay with me til the day I die.

I have also seen similar of the cervix.

No amount of embarrassment is worth not being checked.

Who then get generous DB pensions (side eyes my lazy BIL who got a job in the civil service, immediately got himself made Union Rep to cut down his own workload and ensure that nobody was ever under any pressure to actually work) (though tbf I know civil servants who work very hard indeed)

But they will refuse any medication that patient has been using whilst in hospital. Often resulting in failed discharges.

🤣 Why would private school teachers or doctors be ‘from a special pool’? It’s just a job!

Also…Generic drugs are not “copy-pasted recipes.”
Generics must prove bioequivalence, but manufacturers may use different fillers, coatings, or production methods. That’s why one generic can feels different even when the active ingredient is the same.

Yes Minister was predicted on exactly that, the empire building and sadly it's as true today as it was 40+ years ago!

My current boss's dad was on the panel which decided this!

This is what I found out, and paid for it through the nose. 'But our chemistry teacher has a PhD in chemistry!' - yet he can't teach!!!!! So you have to pay for the school, then get gaslighted by the school - our teachers are best, they have PhDs - then realise they are lying and pay for the tutor, basically, the biggest scam. I feel so stupid after all this - I was taught at university that profit only seeks profit, that the idea of a private business is to charge as much as possible yet to give as little as possible, and still I bought into this stupid dream.

Fancy spas often sheet stack or flip towels inbetween massage clients. They have a really short turnover time so don't have time to fully strip the bed and put clean linen on. So you're usually laying in someone else's sweat.

Because I paid for this scam.

Teachers aren’t “chosen” from a pool in any sector - there’s a position and then people apply for it!

Very few doctors are purely private, the vast majority work in the NHS too. It’s not a secret!

Eh??!! Everyone knows this lol 😂

I worked as a cleaner for years and the people who left the places in a completely filthy state and acted like complete pigs were always the richest people. I've seen some really gross and shocking stuff that I'll never be able to erase from my brain😳😫

And you or any other staff members didn't report him? Unbelievable.

I learnt last week after hearing a couple talking about it on tv that nurseries are told beforehand the day they will be inspected by ousted, I always assumed it was random.. Bonkers. There’s a family protesting currently to try and get this changed.

Yes, it’s amazing what you see, knowing someone’s planning to leave their wife a good 6 months out (usually inc a mistress). “Rich people” often aren’t as rich as you think and it takes a lot of money to keep up the pretence.

I’m not surprised about the hygiene standards. I once saw someone working behind a deli counter in a shopping centre go to the men’s toilets still wearing his apron, come back tying up bin bags, and then immediately make a customer’s sandwich without washing his hands. The way food handlers often touch their mobile phones also really puts me off, especially since so many people take their phones into the toilet with them.
My student son works part-time at a theme park and says the pizzas they sell for £19 each are just the cheapest frozen ones from Iceland.