Awkward questions you've always wanted to ask someone who works in a specific job...

[PinocchiosLeftNostril]

I thought this would be a good way for us to get answers to those awkward questions we would never dream of asking someone to their face in their place of work.

These are questions relating to my life that i would love honest answers to.

Hairdressers - When someone with bad dandruff/psoriasis sits on your chair, do you shrug it off, or do you quickly have a look to make sure it's not lice? Are you able to tell the difference right away or does it need investigating? And do you really want to know what my plans are for the day, or would you rather work in silence?

Teachers - do you get annoyed when parents write in homework diaries that a specific piece of homework was too tricky for their child? Do you take it as an insult to your teaching skills?

Waiter/waitresses - do you expect people to offer to clean up their children's mess before they leave, or do you just shrug it off as part of the job? If you're busy and haven't had chance to clean a table yet, and a new customer came up and asked for a cloth to clean it, would you be offended?

I'm a trainee SLT so not quite sure if I'm qualified to answer any questions regarding that line of work yet.

But i have experience working in a Subway sandwich store, a library, a gym and as a cleaner. So i can answer any cleaning, book or sandwich questions that are burning away inside you all.

Police people - do you have to spend the first couple of years dealing with drunk people, shoplifters etc before you can specialise and how do you cope with that?! I've considered the police a couple of times and one of the mains things that put me off was having to deal with endless Friday/Saturdays of drunk folk getting in fights until I had enough experience to go and work in a more specialised area.

Bus drivers - do you have to drive the same route over and over, or do you switch routes day to day to make it more interesting?

I work in renewable energy, wind turbines now, but my last job was more general in renewables and sustainability. Ask away!

Anyone work in television?

How can you tell what people are watching? Is it only certain people (Nelson families...?) that count? If I don't have time to watch a favored show but turn on the channel to register my support before I go out does that even matter or is it a total waste of time?

I'm a nurse, no problems with phlegm, pee, vomit etc. Only time I ever gagged was at shit, and in my defence I was in the throes of morning sickness. And I second what an early poster said, tits, fannies, arses, wobbly bits, hairy bits, we really don't care.Everyone's bodies are unique, we're all built differently and it'd be boring if we were all the same!
Anyone in IT I would like to know if turning it off and on again is a key element of your work.
Anyone in kids tv, has Justin fletcher ever snapped and told a child to fuck off?

Estate agents: Do you enjoy doing the photos of homes? Or is it a pitfa when you have people with 'quirky' or messy homes?

It can be good but generally a pain when sellers have given no thought to how their house will look to the public. I have often had to rearrange appointments in order for people to clean their house, flush the toilet, do the dishes etc.

I have gone to houses where beds are not made, tampax are sitting on the cistern, curry dishes and beer bottles left lying out, dog shit in the garden.

DH used to be a bus driver. Different routes on different shifts.

Revolting - do you interact with mature students differently than younger students? Would you feel intimidated teaching someone older than yourself?

Another bus one - does it annoy you when there are bus stops within 30 seconds of each other, and you have to stop at every single one to let people out? Don't you just want to scream "Why didn't you just get off at the last one?"

Daniel Do you ever feel a bit queasy taking in a urine/poo sample over the reception desk? My GP receptionist always makes a big deal of going off and getting gloves before touching samples, even though the tubes are in a plastic bag.

Daniel did you feel very territorial over your doctors?

Primary Care IT is generally very good. More and more stuff is able to be easily transferred electronically between practices and basic information is often available within minutes of registration. Shame secondary care is so far behind.

I know a couple of anaesthetists. He absolutely loathes fat people - and yes, it really does make it more difficult to put in an epidural.

Anesthetists - why do patients have to fast before a scheduled operation, but are able to go in for an emergency operation even if it's just 30 minutes after eating a big meal?

i desperately wanted to ask my daughter's anesthetist this when she was rushed in for an emergency op but i was a right old mess. I can just remember shouting, "But she's just had a casserole and dumplings! The medicine won't work!"

Kids TV question answers!

I worked on a very famous news programme, the programme named after a colour and bloke's name, and a little stint on a nursery belonging to a Mr ___ who shares his name with Orlando. ;)

Do you know Floella Benjamin and how does she look exactly the same as when I was 5 a loooooong time ago?

-No don't know her personally, but have seen her knocking around the studios. She doesn't seem to age!

Do you frequently want to punch the "talent" rosencratz? Are the children awful?

-Haha, many do! I don't tend to work with child actors (factual programming here, not drama) and the shows I'm on tend to have adult guests, who are for the most part lovely - though I do think 'celebrities' are pandered to, to ridiculous levels, by staff in other departments. Excessive riders for dressing rooms, things like that get on my nerves - they're only people too! Makes for some over inflated egos in the entertainment biz - but again, not too much of a problem on my shows. Presenters -hands down- have been wonderful, and are loved by staff!

rose long shot but don't suppose you work on that pirate Cbeebies one? Someone on here reckons its CGI slime (I've not watched it to see) and I want to know is it true & is so why?

Don't work on that show, but very familiar with it. No CGI! Colours enhanced in the edit sometimes, but characters deffo get slimed in real life. Kids TV budgets are notoriously low, too low for CGI, when just sliming them is cheaper.

Anyone in kids tv, has Justin fletcher ever snapped and told a child to fuck off?

No contact with Justin Fletcher, sorry! Inclined to think that no, never said that to a child. Most are very professional and actually very good with kids. The amount of time presenters spend talking to kids in their everyday lives - due to being recognised- is insane. They are very good at keeping polite, though probably go home and bitch afterwards. For the most part, to be successful on kids TV, you've got to find precocious kids charming.

I only bothered with gloves if it was a just-produced sample straight from the patients loo, or they brought it out of their bag wrapped up in slightly damp toilet roll .

Territorial? Yes, one older female GP who was, quite frankly, overwhelmed with heartsink patients and got emotional very easily. She was the only one we actively protected from all and sundry. Not the rest though, they deserved everything they got thrown at them.

Anesthetists - why do patients have to fast before a scheduled operation, but are able to go in for an emergency operation even if it's just 30 minutes after eating a big meal?

Not an anaesthetist but I know this because I asked when I had an EMCS. Some people vomit because of the drugs and can aspirate it so for a planned operation you have to fast but in an emergency the risk of not doing the operation outweighs the risk of aspirating vomit during the operation. Maybe there are other reasons too but that was the one given to me.

Probably stupid question but i've always wondered ....

Doctors/Nurses- How do you care for female inpatients when they start their periods? Do for female patients in a coma have periods ? How do you care for them?

Another one for the anaesthetists! When I had an operation, they injected me with something before the actual anaesthetic. Which one made me feel like I was really drunk (proper room spinning) before I went under?

Nurses - what's the funniest thing someone's said when they've just come around after an operation? The first thing I asked the nurse was if I was still wearing my pants! She checked and told me that I wasn't. Good to know.....

I have been a uni lecturer.
I had absolutely loads of mature students because I taught a vocational course where a lot of the students had years of professional experience, and they were great. Generally worked hard and had a mature attitude to learning. (And if you fuck up as a new lecturer the older students are likely to be more understanding about it than the younger ones.) I never had any who were arsey about me being younger than them, though one of my first PhD students who came from overseas was gobsmacked when he met me and blurted out 'I thought you would be an old lady!' (I was early 30s.) We laughed about it.
I didn't feel intimidated, even by those who I suspected knew more than me, because I felt like my job was to help them convert their knowledge and experience into top academic performance; even if there was stuff they knew more about than me, I still had plenty to teach them about how to succeed in their actual degree. Plus, you want your students to do well and if they do well without much help, what's not to like?

Rosencrantz thanks for answering, child actors always seem like they want a good kickin stern talking to.

one more question if you don't mind... what's the atmosphere been like since all the scandals? Are all the presenters a bit paranoid about being too close to the children? Or has it not really affected this generation of performers too much?

Pinocchio - yes that annoys me! Not if the passenger is older or has mobility problems, but people who are clearly too lazy to walk 20 yards drive me mad! On one route I used to drive you'd have to turn around in a housing estate, so to back into a side road, you'd need to pull the bus diagonally across the road so it's completely blocking it to get the angle right to reverse iyswim, I had a passenger who wanted me to let her off the bus while I was blocking the road, rather than wait for me to reverse as it meant she had to cross the road. Drove me nuts.

Estate Agents -
When an Estate agent values your house, gushes about how fab it is and how crazy you are to want to sell it, says they would dearly love to market it, and that they have swarms of people waiting to view and then two weeks later you have had no viewings at all do you think that we may have just fallen for a sales pitch and have no chance of selling it?

I currently work in a university and have a fair amount of experience working at a big UK exam board (that outs me to anyone I used to know!).

I have a question for any speed camera operators out there... Is it frustrating when everyone slows down and because it's a queue of traffic you don't catch anyone for ages? Is there a bit of a thrill when you clock someone doing 60 in a 30 or something?

People who work in banks, Do you judge people on their spending habits? Do you get pissed off when someone loses multiple cards? Do you get frustrated with people who are rubbish with money?

I have worked in food transportation, mental health agency and anything with an engine company
ask away

office workers: do you notice what your colleagues wear? if they wore the same thing a week after it was worn would you care?

Pacemakers and mortuaries got a few mentions up thread. The pacemakers have to be removed because they contain radioactive batteries that would contaminate the crematorium and release radioactive particles if burnt.

I have a question for solicitors - do you ever refuse to defend a client because they were caught red handed and there is no way that you can argue that they didn't do it?

I am terrified of being cremated, although not as scared of being buried.

Pinocchio lie detector tests measure your physical reaction to stress i.e. The stress of telling a lie. So your palms/finger tips sweat, your heart races and that's what the test picks up on. So if you can regulate your breathing (meditation for example) then you can cheat the heart rate one. Psychopaths pass lie detector tests because they truly believe they're not lying (I'm not a psychopath!!!) and therefore don't give the physiological responses it picks up on. Being good at drama may help you in a police interview when I imagine (correct me if I'm wrong) it's about body language rather than physical response.