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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

What didn't you know about your profession until you had to experience your profession as a client rather than a professional?

28 replies

bluetrampolines · 11/01/2018 21:32

I have name changed. This could potentially being outing.

I am a teacher. I had NO IDEA how awful homework was until my own children recently started school. If you don't have time to teach it at school don't bother me with it at home.

OP posts:
idontlikealdi · 11/01/2018 21:50

GrinGrin

monkeysox · 11/01/2018 21:52

Especially for Ks1. Pointless

Pumkinfailure · 11/01/2018 21:53

Totally agree with the homework thing, we are setting our kids up for a lifetime of poor work life balance by teaching them it’s ok to take work home with you if there’s more work than can be fitted in the working day.

Mrsmadevans · 11/01/2018 21:53

That when you are really ill you feel vulnerable and find comfort being looked after by people you can trust. Opened my eyes how important Nurses are .

LivingDeadGirlUK · 11/01/2018 21:54

I design operating theaters and got to see one in action when I had my c section :)

TheQueenOfWands · 11/01/2018 21:54

Care Assistant in a nursing home.

After a stint in hospital I realised how dependent you are, how alone you are and how unnerving it is when you don't see any staff for ages.

I make a big deal now of telling the residents which jobs I'm doing next so they know I'll still be in the building and reminding them to call me if they need anything.

echt · 11/01/2018 21:55

YY to the homework revelation for a parent teacher.

The one for me was just what very poor presentation skills so many INSET providers for teachers have. The average class would be rioting in five minutes and we have to endure hours of the shite.

mumtomaxwell · 11/01/2018 21:56

Teacher here too... I feel the same about homework! Also despite having been in this job for close to 20 years it was only relatively recently that I realised (on a training day) how hard it is to sit through 5 lessons in a day... no wonder my Year 10s are a bit wild in period 5!!

AgathaMystery · 11/01/2018 21:56

That when you crawl in to A&E with flu sepsis you need to be triaged effectively. It really brought home to me the horrors of being on the other side of resus.

Can't even talk about childbirth TBH

HeelsHurt · 11/01/2018 21:58

Oh I hate the homework! I work in psych I try my best to act like I would if they were a family member .
We had a survey in work a few years ago asking if you would be happy if a family member was being treated by our team . Lots of folk said no !

Iliketeabagging · 11/01/2018 21:59

How is your post outing? Records show that in 2012 there were 438,000 teachers and 24,372 schools in England. And there are, I believe, other countries in the world. I'm sure you're not the only person with this experience. Just saying ...

ILoveDolly · 11/01/2018 22:01

The things I thought about parents, and why kids didn't come into school with the right stuff on time or do reading every night, and WHY couldn't they bring in yoghurt pots like I mentioned and what about the homework????
Fast forward to having three kids and trying to manage all the stupid teacher requests and on time in right uniform when I had to take my baby in hospital every week and with a shitty toddler in tow.
I am now very different in my thinking......

Pluckedpencil · 11/01/2018 22:03

I used to be a logistics customer, then I became a supplier. I realised that the 'tough negotiators' generally come across as arrogant piss takers to suppliers.

SocksRock · 11/01/2018 22:06

Structural engineer - having an extension built on my own house. OMG builders are annoying.

Original poster
bluetrampolines · 11/01/2018 22:09

pp

Cos I am also getting divorced and I am really interested to know if there are any family lawyers who got divorced and then saw the divorce process in a whole different way.

Also, pp who said about work life balance and setting kids up to fail as adults who can't get their job done through the day.

OP posts:
Freshprincess · 11/01/2018 22:14

Moving from marketing manager to consultant with a marketing agency. Clients giving wishy washy briefings and vague feedback 'it's not really sexy enough' (for IT stuff) and 'can we not be so corporate looking' (you have a 50 page brand book I have to stick to).
Since returning back to being a customer again, my plans are thorough!

redexpat · 11/01/2018 22:16

Social worker with a disabled son. 6 professionals all with enhanced safeguarding responsibilities failed to notify SS that my son needed extra help.

JustPutSomeGlitterOnIt · 11/01/2018 22:22

Moved from print advertising sales, to managing a small jeweller and looking for print space.

I'm the PITA who asks for a quote and never gets round to booking 🙈

BlackeyedSusan · 11/01/2018 22:22

how fucking ill informed some teachers are on special needs. (so I knew that, given we had sod all training and had to learn on the job) but how they are not willing to listen to parent, nor how limited their ideas are on solving a problem with provision for sen kids. some ideas are not bloody difficult, are free to implement and make a hell of a difference.

LemonysSnicket · 11/01/2018 22:24

I don’t think it sets kids up to fail thinking they can take work home. I think it sets them up to think it’s normal for employers to set unreasonable amounts of work and for a shot work-home life balance.

MammaTJ · 11/01/2018 22:30

Worked as a Care assistant from the age of 17. Had a back operation age 30. I was put on a commode, wheeled into a toilet and left, out of reach of a bell for over an hour. This experience has never left me and I am now 50. It coloured all my work after that. I always made double sure people could reach a bell and knew how to use it. If they didn't, then I would check on them every 10 minutes. If they did know how, I would still check on them quite a bit.

TammySwansonTwo · 11/01/2018 22:42

I think everyone who works in a healthcare setting should have to experience being a patient - sadly i can't think of any humane or moral way to achieve this ;)

I once read an article by a former paramedic apologising for the way he'd treated patients with chronic illness, because he'd developed one himself and suddenly understood it.

CuntyChoppyChops · 11/01/2018 22:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CappuccinoCake · 11/01/2018 22:52

In my kids infant school it's nearly all young teachers without kids. It makes such a difference having had someone whose been on the other side...

hatgirl · 11/01/2018 22:55

Social worker

Having to talk my mother (educated, intelligent and in a similar profession to myself) through that absolute basics of social care processes repeatedly and her still not really understanding what was happening and why with assessments in relation to her elderly parents made me change the entire way I interacted with the families of my service users when explaining our processes to them.

Thankfully it happened early on in my career.

It's now the very first thing I teach social work students that just because they 'know' what they are talking about and think the family are understanding what is being said, still put it in a letter/email and given all the relevant leaflets to them because they are usually stressed out and trying to deal with lots of unfamiliar information and will not actually remember everything that has been said however clearly you think you explained it not very clearly at all in many of my colleagues cases