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.

To answer a couple of dentist questions. I get bitten probably once a month. Only very hard about twice in my career so far.

Why would anyone want to be a dentist? So people can make offensive assumptions about how much I earn obviously. I can't think of another reason. Such as the application of science and practical skills to relieve pain and improve appearance. No. Just the offensive assumptions bit.

I'm a management consultant. Don't all rush at once!

I can tell you that I went to the hygienist after about a 20 year gap. My teeth were shocking and I was terrified. I skipped out of that room. Even a clean up and descale had improved my life 1000x. Unfortunately my dentist was shite and scared me off again but if a hygienist can do that then imagine what a good dentist can do. I wouldn't fancy the job but to sort the likes of me out would be life changing (for me!).

I am surprised i haven't come across anyone doing my job yet. Im a carer and specialise in dementia of all kinds. Have also been a home carer too. Feel free to ask questions.
Noitsachicken - you have the job of my dreams! Do you have set animals that you only work with or do you get moved around different enclosures? And of course....what are your top 3 animals?!

I knew someone who worked for a big mail order company who used to look up what celebrities had bought, and her mates too. Do you do this if you have that kind of job?

I am that person the DM hates. I work on aid programmes dealing with climate change in Africa. [Smile]

Ive also been a shark researcher, a call centre worker, a chambermaid, a swimming teacher and a scuba diving instructor.

Ask away!

Me - Id love to know if those folks that work on the stock exchange shout instructions when they get home too.

Loving this thread!

Teachers do you/would you like to hear what certain former pupils did in life?

I work for a firm that draws up houses and project manages renovations/builds. I mainly do the accounts side of things so checking quotes & invoices from contractors etc. I have also worked in a kilt hire shop and a tourist info call centre. Any questions?

When I've wondered about why would anyone be a dentist, I've usually been thinking about having to deal with halitosis and rotting teeth and patients who never floss, however often you tell them. And don't teeth get boring? (I prefer a wide range of interests rather than specialism.) But that's mostly based on reasons why I would never have chosen it as a career, rather than why others did, and there will be plenty of people who wonder why I chose to do what I do including me most days.

noitsachicken - I can answer part of your question. Some hospitals have a bariatric MRI scanner so if they think you're not going to fit down a normal one you have to go to a special one. The nearest one to me is 3 hours away so I don't think there's many about.

I know because I got referred to one accidently - I needed an upright MRI scan and got a letter about my apt for a bariatric one. Good job I knew what bariatric meant or I'd have been hacked off IF I'd driven all that way.

Dick how do you feel about the constant criticism of the probation service, messing about with systems, privatisation etc? And how do those of you trying to do a good job feel about the tick box jobsworths? (Have met one or two of those and also plenty of good POs)

I work in a Hotel if anyone has any Qs.

Mine: Bus drivers - what do you do if you need to pee whilst in the middle of your route?

There's always children that u find you create a bond with better, and that's always a different child per nursery nurse :)

I've never worked with a child I didn't like, but I wouldn't tell you if I did not like your child haha

Sorry if I offended mrsmorton - i was on about my undergrads who are very excited by money, but they would be, they are students...they definitely articulate responses like yours over time hence my comment about being keen on medicine. It is a profession I am fascinated by - the poster unthread who talked about it being allied to cosmetic and as a branch of medcine is pretty much why.

Mortified I read an interesting magazine feature recently about people who die in hotels. Does it really happen often?

If you havea whole day of check ups then yes it can be dull. I also find gums incredibly tedious but today, for example, I'm taking teeth out this morning and this afternoon I'm doing some training as part of a disaster victim identification team where we can help the police/Interpol to ID victims of mass fatalities by looking at dental records.

Most dentists have something else to their job, they may campaign for dental contracts on behalf of their local dental committee, a bit of dento legal work, some teaching. If course some work in general practice and that's enough for them.

mignonette I'm so glad I got a question!

We are open every day of the week from 9am to 10pm (community in the day and young people 8-18 years after school as well as clubs - karate/asian womens group/community football etc) and for young people we have both generic sessions and targeted sessions.

So the generic sessions have a 'open house/hang out' feel where they can access all the facilities like inside and outdoor sports spaces, table tennis, pool, air hockey, tv (usually on music channels!), games systems, tuck shop etc and we are around to facilitate activities and build relationships which helps to get them to the targeted session which we can let them know about when we know their interests.

Targeted sessions include a 'creative arts' session (dancing, poetry, art, singing, songwriting and playing instruments - we have a recording studio too), a girls group, a sports night and junior/senior nights where we look at age appropriate issues.

I co-ordinate all the youth work (write the programmes, organise/recruit/manage staff, budget, promotion etc) and lead on sessions within my specialty (sex and relationships) so I'm pretty free to do whatever I want to improve numbers of contacts - I'm on maternity atm but from the start of the year to when I went off (April) we had a weekend residential in the Lakes doing water activities, a theme park trip, a trip to a recording studio, various guest sessions including the police (anti-social behavior chat), an ex-con (drugs chat), a professional free-runner and a football at Wembly trip.

We advertise on facebook (the centre has its own page and is 'friends' with young people - also a good way to keep an eye on any potential situations to manage for example fallings out, cyber bullying, grooming etc), we do outreach work where we'll walk around the town centre trying to get them to stop being a nu science/annoying people and come into the centre, leaflets in schools and have the top hit on google for various search terms...other than that its word of mouth I think.

We do have to compete with online gaming (numbers dip a little whenever the next big game is out!) but we rely on various methods to keep numbers up - we have parental support which helps (I guess parents think its 'healthier' or more 'wholesome' to be 'playing' than stuck in front of a screen), we offer incentives in terms of trips/qualifications (mainly AQAs and first aid type ones), its relational work so kids often come in to see us and say hi, we often have sessions where they can get information that may be difficult to obtain elsewhere (sex/drugs/drink/relationship advice), its somewhere to see their mates where they wont get in complained at or moved on...

Sorry thats a massive post isnt it?! Hope I've answered what you asked!

Horry twice in five years across both hotels in my area (chain). its nerve wracking if we havent seen or heard from a guest who.isnt answering the door. Investigators go in twos.

Daniel how do you manage to stay calm when people are ridiculously rude to you?

A deep breath, a wide smile and a sympathetic ear - even when I had no better options to offer. The ones who were being arses for other reasons than illness in themselves or family got the same treatment. I generally found that I could achieve far more that way.

Quarks, re kilts. Do men usually go commando under their kilt? Even in winter?

TeaandCake

What a fantastic answer! You run a fantastic resource and I know from my own professional experience what a source of support these youth services can be. There is not a lot to do for teenagers that costs the little money many of them have especially with rising unemployment and under employment. I used to run a Young Persons Mental Health Promotion Group in an inpatient unit years ago and would have liked to have had somebody like you in to talk to my young patients about what is out there for them.

What age are they no longer 'young enough' to come to you? Do they naturally ebb in their attendance from a particular age/stage of their lives or can there be a bit of separation anxiety when it is time to leave? (Am imagining several twenty somethings clinging onto your 'apron strings' ).

I have a zoo keeper question. How did you get into your line of work? Has anybody ever tried to steal any of the animals? Have you ever camped out in the zoo at night to 'spy' on the animals?

Great thread. in the past I was a newspaper editor - ask away?

Restaurant chefs... are people safe by complaining about the food or will it be sent back plus some bodily fluids?

Can't remember who asked but I work in a bank and we really don't care what people spend their money on! Only time we get a bit is when people are obviously lying about activity. We get quite a lot of people taking out payday loans then coming in and pretending it's fraud to try and claim the money back from us! Doesn't occur to them that we'll investigate and find out it was them in the first place... Also judge if someone comes in pleading for credit to buy their baby nappies/milk and we can see they've spent a fortune on bingo sites in the last week. And we've no problem with lost cards as long as people come in prepared. Saying "I've lost my card, I don't know my account number and I haven't got any ID with me" isn't really much help to us!

Also used to manufacture specs and work in bars if anyone's got any questions about those!

this is what bus drivers do when they need a wee