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.

chocchaffinch - i can't answer all those questions yet because i don't deal with that side of it but my office buddy does... paper medical records are accessible (in my surgery) in a big locked cupboard. there are small folders and big folders. big ones are for people who have had a lot of medical issues and need more space. anyone can access them if need be but they have to be signed out and back in. if copies are made a note has to be made in the patient's computer record. the paper records are photocopied and necessary bits are posted to the insurance company.

and when i say cupboard. i really mean a room. a room that is probably about 100sqm! it's massive and smells really nice

For the posters asking about management consultants (couldn't get onto the site earlier!):

• I don't get heavily involved in recruiting or headhunting, no, that's a different discipline. Like most office workers I have to interview new team members etc but it's peripheral to my main job
• in the main my clients do implement my recommendations, yes. I always get extended and generally it's so I can start the implementation. I also devote a lot of time to good hangovers, knowledge transfer etc. Personally I think the reports that don't get implemented are largely done by sole contractors or very small companies who don't have the skillset to help the client at all stages of the journey, or who haven't consulted widely / deeply enough upfront. That's not to say there aren't some excellent consultants out there working independently... I just think when a client has paid truly big bucks for advice, they're more likely to follow through.

johnny not my fault :)

I work in middle office, basically ensuring trade information is correct, crossing t's and dotting I's. I also don't work for a British bank.

It is bullshit that all bankers are highly skilled and should be paid shitloads. The little people, ie me and the majority of the banking workforce, will have fairly ordinary degrees (I have a honours law degree at 2:1 level and a master of laws). Tbh, most people I know don't even have a financial degree. We learn the job by doing it.

Traders are a different kettle of fish. It is a skill to read the markets and make money. That's why they get paid the ridiculous salaries. When you see headlines stating the average bonus was £xxx,xxx, that doesn't apply to most workers.

Back in the hey day pre 2007, my level could expects bonus from about £1k up, dependant on skill, and the maximum would probably be about £10-15k post tax. Now, they've removed bonuses for anyone below a certain level, and the traders, as always, are getting bonuses in the millions. So, the 'average' bonus is massively inflated by theirs, and a lot of us will get nothing, and those who do get a bonus will get nowhere near the 'average'.

However. We are a mercenary lot. There is a lot of switching after bonuses are paid come February. We do want to keep bankers in Britain, or rather, we want to keep traders in Britain. They have to pay tax on those fat bonuses - it's a lot of tax. So, whilst we could find someone else to do that job, the likelihood is they will still do the job, but just work remotely from a country with less punitive measures in place.

Matryoshkadoll - I work for a Funeral Director. I sort of fell into it 13 years ago and love dealing with the families. Most Independent Funeral Directors in Britain are quite old established family businesses so the business is passed on from father to son, so to speak. Still very male dominated industry. A huge part of my job is just spending time with people, listening to them and guiding them. Families are so grateful to you, there can be few jobs where you are appreciated so much and it is therefore extremely fulfilling

Great thread! I'm a nanny, occasionally maternity nurse, and I've worked in nurseries, hotel creches and hotel nurseries. Also volunteered in the play room of a hospital. will answer anything!

Hairdressers- do you judge clients on their appearance? Can you tell when people haven't been in years? If you had a better idea of some cut that would suit better, would you say? I hate going, I never know what cut to get and am always disappointed!

That's really interesting Bunty Thank you.

Weary Thank you for answering my question. I am a bit thick about what you do but had a think and realised that I had confused you with HR to a certain degree. My previous manager could have done with your skill set.

this is a HILARIOUSLY awkward chat that no one would ever normally air in public... or would they?
watch it and weep

It's alright mignonette, no one knows what consultants do and that's the way we like it!

at Weary.

Wearytiger at " I also devote a lot of time to good hangovers..."

Champagne for the management consultant, then?

Goldi I only style, don't cut, and yes you can usually tell if someone's not had their hair done in a while - not necessarily a bad thing.

Also, I prefer to guide clients towards something that will suit them best and explain the issues with what they've asked for, then give then the choice and the cutters I know do the same

I can answer the TV ratings question asked way back in the thread.

Ratings are generated by members of the public who have been given a 'peoplemeter' by Nielsen. This records and measures tv viewing of all people in the household and of their guests. The panel is representative of the population as a whole, and the data is then extrapolated to provide television ratings.

If you don't have a people meter then your tv viewing is not recorded at all - so leaving your tv on is pointless.

The higher rating the show, the more expensive it is to buy spots (ads) in the show.

Any more tv advertising questions?

For Charity, not a fetish, but I am deeply fascinated by the potential gruesome aspects of my job, ie the accidents that have happened, which thankfully are relatively rare these days, but have been plentiful in the past .

Minion and PearShapedToad - really interesting answers. A machete, really? Think someone in security dropped the ball that day

Now, if either of you could tell me WHY people think safety demos/seatbelt signs don't apply to them...

Well, actually if ANYONE ever figures out a way to fix those issues, they'd be very rich indeed.

Both types of passenger annoy me immensely - listen dude, I'm already scared of flying, I'd like to have some faith in my fellow passengers that they will actually know what they're doing if it all goes wrong!

OK, another question relating to this - could turbulence REALLY make you hit the ceiling if you're not strapped in? It's the one thing about flying that still scares me quite a bit (I'm a control freak and it feels like we're not in control IYSWIM? Also, it makes me feel sick), although I was given some great advice by a lovely pilot I was fortunate enough to meet before one flight, which helped a bit.

Quote of the century from him "Look, the worst thing on takeoff that can happen, is we lose an engine. And actually, that's not really a big problem." After me and another nervous guy trying to argue that actually, it really WAS a big deal, he said, "Nah, we've got two!" and went on to explain that really, you only need one engine to get airborne.

I still don't fancy the idea on my next flight though, thank you.

No one got any theme park related questions? I knew staff in various department so I might be able to help :)

Who ever asked about posties, my dh was one for 18 yrs. He used to only keep the small packets, then give the big ones to a van driver. If he had packets left at the end of the round they would be taken back to the office.

Two questions for GPs or pharmacists (after a teething night in my household).

1. is it ok to give ibuprofen (calpol doesn't seem to cut it) every night for a week? Just one dose. This tooth is taking ages and causing distress.

2. if you have a very heavy ds (he's 9 months but 90 perecentile so bigger than many one year olds) can you give the dose for a 1 yr old rather than a baby eg 5ml not 2.5? Are doses for painkiller worked out by weight or age?

Also occurred to me we Gould post the questions and answers people should be asking us even if they've not yet thought of them.

So I am a uni lecturer. And if you were to ask me whether anyone fails their degree the answer is:

Is it very hard to fail your degree. It makes us look bad. You'd have to hand in no work or not attend the exam for more than one module (we can probably let lack of marks go for one module) and not manage to muster any extenuating circumstances , however tenuous. We are under huge pressure to pass you even if your work very sub standard. And if you are a foreign student paying non eu rates it's even harder as we don't want you to tell people at home not to come as we make loads of money from you.

Sorry should, not Gould

Isle (I am not a pharmacist but have asked this before) drug dosing depends on how the drug works. Many drugs depend on liver size, which varies less by weight (eg a 12st woman doesn't need more than an 8st woman).

In other countries and indeed in hospital IIRC Calpol is administered by weight.

Goldi I only style, don't cut, and yes you can usually tell if someone's not had their hair done in a while - not necessarily a bad thing.

Also, I prefer to guide clients towards something that will suit them best and explain the issues with what they've asked for, then give then the choice and the cutters I know do the same

Thanks Szeli that's good to know, everytime I've been to a hairdressers they ask what I want which stresses me out as I don't know! I have a very fat round face so look nothing like the models in the magazines, so what suits them won't suit me so how do I know! In the past I've tried top explain and ended up going to a second salon as I hated what the first (incredibly expensive) one did just because I don't know what suits!

Driving instructor here!

People who "just don't get it": It takes patience. Take reversing round a corner for example: there are endless ways to explain it. If someone doesn't get it, I try another way to explain it. If that doesn't work, I move on to something else. Sometimes coming back to it another day makes all the difference. I explain that it's normal to struggle for a lesson or two; it's only if they don't get it lesson after lesson that they need to start worrying. I only taught manual; sometimes it was a matter of gently suggesting they tried learning automatic.

I enjoyed teaching older learners (I had two in their 50's): they would take longer, but they made it in the end.

I'd only get bored with repetition if it was the same topic, or even the same place, too many times in one day. The people are all different.

My safety: only once or twice have I been worried for my safety, I used to instruct in a very "rough" area. As the instructor, I'm supposed to be in control: anticipating further than the learner, only putting the learner on roads suited to their ability (this can be a challenge in some cities), being ready to use dual controls, take over steering, etc. I tell people that I appear relaxed, but I am ready to spring into action whenever needed.

The only times in several years I was uneasy were:

1. During a manoeuvre, a gang of kids surrounded the car. Even though they were only about 11 years old, this was a rough area, they may easily have had weapons, and I wasn't going to get out of my steel armour to tell them off! I refused then to engage with them, eventually managed to "out manoeuvre them" using the dual controls when they got bored; but I was quite ready to call the police, and I think I did end the lesson then, because I couldn't concentrate any more.

1. One teenager who wouldn't listen at all, deliberately intimidated other drivers by tailgating, flashing lights etc, kept stopping to "meet friends" on the lesson, and to use a cash machine. As soon as the lesson was over, I got to a safe distance before contacting him to tell him we weren't having lessons again. (He contacted me a few weeks later to tell me smugly that he had passed: I maintained silence

Apologies, haven't read the entire thread, but I'm a lab tech in a histology lab if anyone has any questions. That means I work with all tissue removed from people, so everything ranging from tiny biopsies for diagnosis to partial or whole organs (bowel, uterus, lung, limbs etc) removed.

I also partially work in paediatric pathology, which is working with first & second trimester pregnancy losses, including social terminations (examination & disposal/cremation etc) as well as some placentas.