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.

Im loving this thread.

Dentists .Do you like the challenge of poorly looked after teeth every so often with plenty of work to do or do you prefer clean white teeth for every appointment?

I work on a benefits enquiry line . Fire away

I used to clean people's houses. No I didn't judge. Although a fellow cleaner told me she used to clean a house were the women would leave used sanitary towels all about her bedroom. I did judge that.

To the tax return question... No in sure your accountant doesn't give a toss. You pay her to work with whatever you give her. If she asks questions about an expense that appeared last year but not this year, that's just her being observant/professional.
Same as me checking I have been given twelve monthly receipts for say mobile phone bills in any given year, not eleven or thirteen. If the client can't provide all 12, that's their loss (geddit) see we accountants do have a SOH...

IsleofRight you asked

Lawyers - do you make the work last longer so you can charge more?

No, usually the opposite in fact. For eveything we do, we have to estimate the fees as accurately as we can at the outset. These day, especially for business clients or for something like your will or house purchase, the fee is fixed so we would be bound by it even if it took twice as long as we expected. Its usually only litigation (court cases) where fees are determined purely by reference to hours spent and even then we're still expected to try to give you a reasonably accurate estimate of the likely cost. We usually add caveats to the fee estimate for this reason - to allow renegotiation if something unexpected comes up. We are obliged to update you if it looks like our original estimate will be exceeded. The client is always free to tell us that they don't want us to deal with the additional work and we will then warn of the risks associated with that.

If I say I am going to charge you £500 to sell your house and then try to stick you for a bill of £1500 without warning you AND getting your agreement, the solicitors' regulation authority (used to be the Law Society) will find in your favour every single time.

What generally happens is that I (or rather the managers) want to get the work done quickly so a) we can make a profit and b) I can do more work. Sometimes jobs are priced so that they make a profit (eg something particularly urgent or if the client wants us to do something that we suspect might come back to bite us later we sometimes add "danger money" into the fees) but its more often the case that things take longer than expected and we have to stick to the original fees. We can still make some money, but it won't be as much as we hoped for. Law firms work on the basis that they will aim to recover a % of time actually spent - that varies widely even between departments in the same firm.

I would have avoided a Mr bloom web chat like the plague. Why didn't anyone tell him he sounded like a dick when he pitched it and to just talk in a normal voice?

When I was 16 I was office junior in an accountants. They really won't care. We used to get loads of people just dump a box of paperwork at the front desk and I would get the lovely task of sorting it all out.

I'm a report designer. I don't expect any questions unless someone is particularly interested in code. Even then I imagine google would have a better answer than me.

Someone asked Cinema Workers - were there certain screenings everyone wanted to be in - could you request certain films?

We got two free tickets a week so we could watch the films if we wanted to go in on our days off. Otherwise we'd just watch it in installments, but now and again you could sit and watch a whole film.

I worked as a projectionist whilst at university years ago when they had the old style projectors. I burned holes in Pale Rider, Rambo First Blood and Desperately Seeking Susan because I didn't operate the projector correctly.

The attics of the old listed theatre I worked in were little gold mines of old posters and equipment and I was given many many film posters. I saw some right old behaviours from punters.

Enjoyable reading about the MNers wanting to sneak in. It wouldn't be at all difficult to view multiple films in a multiplex during peak times and it does cross my mind whenever I go to watch a film.

I love Accountants because they save my DH a LOT of money and save us both a lot of anxiety and stress. Being awful at Maths, I am boggle eyed with admiration at anyone who is not (and knows their way around HMRC's labyrinthine forms).

I love my Dentist too. I had a severe dental phobia from poor treatment years ago (The Dentist concerned was struck off after multiple charges of malpractice against several patients were upheld) and my Dentist has worked patiently and compassionately with me to help me through it. I can now not worry all week about seeing her even though a few days ago I had to have 9 injections and still couldn't achieve a good level of anaesthesia (had an infection) so the procedure had to be aborted.

RE Chimpanzees, I once read a description of an adult male as being the equivalent of a Sociopathic two year old w/ the strength of ten men. Scared me then and still does. Give me a lion any day. Or a Komodo Dragon.

Posted too soon- My DD had a student job at Cineworld. She could watch any film she liked for free as long as it was not sold out and could get free tickets for family/friends. Whilst she worked there I never had to pay to watch a film and neither did her Brother.

I love this thread

I think my only useful experience though is working in one of those shops which takes old phones, consoles and computer games etc. It was a right laugh You got some totally nutty customers.

DP used to work nights in a hotel if anyone wants to know about that. He used to hear a lot of sex through open windows!

Posties: Do you get annoyed when people order loads of bulky parcels all the time? Do you have to carry all the additional packages on you and do you get paid overtime if your shift runs over because you have to write out loads of those 'while you were out' cards? I always worry about this when I'm ordering loads of stuff online. Obviously some of it comes via 3rd party couriers, but I feel sorry for the regular postie walking around with it all in his bag.

Driving instructors: do you not get bored to tears teaching the same things over and over to me people who just don't 'get' it? Do you ever fear for your safety? I personally can't think of anything worse than being a passenger in a badly-driven car day in, day out, going round the same roads!

Anyone wants to know anything about journal and B2B magazine publishing, I'm yer woman.

Grotty teeth can be a good challenge but only if you know the person concerned will change their behaviour. Otherwise, it's like lying on your back and pissing on yourself. Completely fucking pointless.

I can't remember the other dentist questions!!

I am fascinated by the night time 'life' of any organisation. I have vivid memories of my first night shifts as a student nurse when I would walk the hospital corridors during my break marvelling at the quietness and different atmosphere of the hospital. If you sat in the staff library you could hear faint cries from Labour&Delivery upstairs and the first cries of the new babies in those small hours. I would stand outside just before Dawn when you are at a low ebb energy wise watching the sky change and knowing that at that moment our patients were generally asleep and free from their concerns and problems (MH) for the moment. Every now and again a patient would be restless and unable to sleep so I would sit outside quietly with them and watch the sunrise (and have a cig) and it would calm them.

I imagine Hotels must feel the same. So silent that you can hear the 'noise' of the building itself-generators and machinery.

mignonette - you should be a writer. What a gorgeous description!

Thank you NotaGiraffe.

MrsMorten

it's like lying on your back and pissing yourself

That phrase is now going to spring unbidden into my brain when I'm giving someone footwear advice (NHS Podiatrist) that could potentially save their feet.

And I get the "not listening" face from them.

So many fascinating things on here!

I'm a trainer - I teach our employees how to use their systems and support them in that

70isaLimitNotaTarget Every summer hols there are posts on MN about whether shoes need to be fitted at Clarks/Start Rite etc, or whether it's perfectly simple to fit them yourself. I'm interested to know what you think. I tend to go for fitted in a shop as I'm not sure I'd know how to fit them properly and I think the ones I buy (Clarks) last quite well. What do you think?

mrsmorton I have a dental question for you (or any other dentists out there). One of my dc has a cavity despite fairly religious brushing twice daily, not feeding them crap etc. I don't think he believes me though . On his advice we are now brushing three times daily, only milk to drink or water (prev had vv dilute juice). Anyway I can see despite this it's getting bigger which i am really ashamed about, but my question is, do you think there is genetic element to this?? My dh has terrible teeth, lots of fillings, mine are ok. I see other kids drinking fizzy drinks, sweets etc yet their teeth are fine. Also would you believe me in this situation? I'm really upset about it, and don't see where I'm going wrong

Anyway I can answer a few questions. My dsis is a gynaecologist and she had 2 elcs! My other sister and I had all vaginal deliveries but couldn't convince her to try vbac. She specialises in pelvic floor repair, can't help but wonder what she knows but we don't
also as a hcp agree that sputum is worst bodily fluid with the exception of the vaginal discharge you get with a forgotten tampon . Luckily don't have to deal with that very often (twice so far, in 12

Masseurs and hairdressers - do you ever / often have to work on people who are not clean? Do you hate it when that happens? do you expect people to come to you straight out of the shower and how do you feel if you have a lunchtime appointment with someone who is a bit sticky on a hot day?

Priests / reverends - do you find it a strain to be nice to everyone who gets involved with the church and prefer some more successful efforts to others by people who are not particularly gifted and have a soundproofed room at home which you shut yourself into and bawl "I HATE YOUR STUPID YOUTH GROUP NO ONE WANTS TO GO TO IT AND TODAY THE FAITH GROUP SOUNDED SHIT AND TUNE YOUR FUCKING GUITARS FOR A CHANGE"?

Wearytiger, here is a management consultant question for you. How often do organisations do what you recommend? My experience is that the flaws of an organisation are often about a particular culture of senior management or even personality traits of one or two people. So they can read your incredibly expensive report but no one is going to make them do anything and they have a genius to dilute the recommendations so that they are well within their comfort zone and then nothing changes. Or is that cynical?

Preschool teachers: how the bloody hell do you do it? When I go there you are all busy playing interesting and creative games with the children with endless kindness and enthusiasm. Yet the amount of written and illustrated material you produce about each child is incredible. you have created a far better record of my child's pre-school years than I would have done if I had SAHM-ed. Yet you do this for ALL of them. and none of you are just phoning it in, ever. HOW do you DO this?

Anyone want to ask about toy product development?

youretoastmildred Actually, yes I do! In terms of coming up with a new toy, are these brainstormed in mildy ridiculous meetings by adults? I always picture everyone sitting around in suits musing about what phrases a talking monkey toy should say, or whether they think the pirate frisbee or the dinosaur frisbee will sell better, in serious authoritative tones.

I guess they're mostly either commissioned from some factory in China off the back of extensive market research, or pitched by a budding inventor, but I have no real idea.

My children used to take part in toy development. They used to play with the prototype and give feedback. Playskool (Mattel) used to pay them to do it and it went into their savings accounts.

Thanks MrsHoratioNelson

yes, those ridiculous meetings do take place

some toy companies do proper research, as done by mignonette's dcs. some just guess

there are inventors that present ideas to manufacturers, and they get royalties. And every year around Toy Fair an Inventors' Dinner, which is a right piss up

Toys are big money and full of aggressive wide boys. There is some serious hustle in toy let me tell you

Youretoastmildred - so if we had an idea but it was an idea rather than a finished product and by a regular mum not an inventor per se, what would we do? How would we get a slot to pitch it? I sense a harebrained scheme for a new career for me forming here