To ask what's the least realistic depiction of your job in a film, tv show or book?

[ZoinksRun]

I'm always watching things and thinking 'I bet that job isn't like that.' People in my job on tv are always dim, well dressed (immaculate hair, nails, shoes) and never look stressed which is very unrealistic! They do all seem to have 'ie' or 'y' ending names which to be honest is pretty accurate

@TopEndChops

Being a postie is nothing like Postman Pat. Honestly. Our office doesn't even have a helicopter.

😂

@DoubleHelix79

I used to be a scientist, working in a lab. TV/movie depictions always involve green, bubbling liquids, or alternatively flashy 3D computer images that rotate, preferably on a holographic screen. Revolutionary discoveries are made in a matter of days or even hours (if required by The Plot). Brilliant scientists spend their time having inspired conversations.

The reality is usually a long grind of pipetting small amounts of colourless liquids into other colourless liquids, then waiting for several hours while doing lab book entries (or browsing mindlessly, pretending to be busy). The result is then usually a few black blotches on a membrane, or perhaps a small file with a few numbers. 99% of the time the results are routine, or you need to tweak the protocol (again) or they're only a tiny part of a study that will take many years to complete. Once in a while you get the results you need, then you spend several months writing and rewriting a long, technical paper, which is then cited a few times by a few other scientist. Then you start the process again, to investigate another small aspect of a bigger problem. Wouldn't make for good TV

This.

When I worked in a lab we shared space with a group of neuro-toxicologists whose work was being considered as part of a Channel 4 Dispatches program. We were asked to make the place look more 'sciencey' so I ended up pipetting water into aliquots whilst surrounded by deeply coloured solutions and whirly mixers. The science in the actual program was bollocks as well but that's what happens when you give an hour of TV time to farmer with a pet theory.

@ahoyshipmates

The tiny hard-nosed finance people in that sodding Quickbooks advert.

Fuck off Quickbooks, your accounting software is shit anyway.

"Fuck you Quickbooks" made me laugh

Secret diary of a call girl. Very scarily accurate at times when I used to work as an Escort. That was a few years ago now thank god!

Sorry realise you just said least

Theo Paphitis actually filmed an episode of his tv show The Buying Game at my work & that wasn't even realistic 🤣

@FrangipaniBlue

My job never appears in movies, if it did half the disastrous stuff would either a) never happen or b) be dealt with without fuss.

It'd be a pretty boring movie

(I work in risk management)

Is that not ben stillers job in Along Came Polly?

I'm a nurse and always thinking 'you should have your hair up!' And 'how can you work at such a leisurely pace!'

One of the most inaccurate things I saw was Hollyoaks (don't watch often so not sure of character names) where a woman started a nursing degree. This involved her going a long to all the Fresher Events and not much else. In reality she would have started Uni weeks before the other students and would have been in full on classes all day 5 days a week and preparing to work full time on placement while studying and writing essays. She wouldn't have had time for Fresher events!

@TopEndChops - please tell me you have a black and white cat, though?

Publishing - often portrayed as some cut-throat industry ( remember the puppy book in ELF?? Well, it wouldn't have shipped!)
the reality is it's run by a load of book nerds, though many are posh - that stereotype is true...

That novel a few years back by, I think, John Lanchester, called IIRC, Capital. I was so infuriated by the inaccuracies re my profession that I couldn’t finish the book

I used to work as cabin crew (long haul) before having children then retrained to become a librarian. Neither are depicted accurately. Flying was more stimulating and I actually read more when I was crew.

@sailmeaway

Publishing - often portrayed as some cut-throat industry ( remember the puppy book in ELF?? Well, it wouldn't have shipped!) the reality is it's run by a load of book nerds, though many are posh - that stereotype is true...

I did my placement year in publishing, there was an actual lord in my team 😁

I'm a museum curator. "Night at the museum" is not a documentary.

Night at the museum" is not a documentary

What are you trying to tell us BestZebbie

I'm a museum curator. "Night at the museum" is not a documentary.

How disappointing