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.

Any question for festival medics? I've been one for 14 years.

Two questions that I was frequently asked, as a driving instructor:

Are the boys or girls better learners?
(Dons hard hat) In my experience, the gentlemen often picked it up more quickly, but the ladies tended to drive more safely and carefully. I think that lads often had an advantage with learning driving because of their many hours on computer games (yes, stereotyping I know, but I heard it again and again); for all the wrongs of computer games, they do teach you hand-eye co-ordination, and making decisions very quickly. I used to encourage the girls to take up computer games (even simple alien-shooting games), so they would learn quick thinking. No comment about Grand Theft Auto!

Is the hazard perception test realistic?
The videos are real, not CGI! However, when the hazard perception was introduced, they made all the instructors take it, with threats to disqualify them if they failed it too many times. And guess who found this test the hardest? Those who had been driving instructors for many years! That probably saying something.

LollipopViolet

I have some theme park questions:

1. How much manual control is there over the rides? Can some of them be stopped, or brought back to the start, if a rollercoaster hasn't yet reached the "free fall" part?

1. Do you like to go on the rides yourself?

1. Do people vomit on rides? If so, does the ride have to be taken out of service while it is cleaned up?

1. What incidents have you witnessed?

Question for sports shops:

What happens if someone wants to try on trainers, but they're not wearing socks, especially in summer? Do you have to refuse?

Nurses etc

When you die do you really empty your bowels?

Can you explain what happens and what you do when someone dies?

Do you get anxious over your own health because you have seen so much?

Does seeing death so often make you fear your own?

Do most people who are about to die seem to be aware they only have hours left and do they normally seem calm about it?

Accidental we've probably come across one another, I tend to end up in a medic tent at least once per show... Not really but I did have a few spectacularly accident/illness prone years back to back

Have you ever delivered an onsite baby?

Goldi search good old google for 'hairstyles for round faces' for some ideas.

I'm a clinical psychologist. Previously worked in a community mental health team but now work with people with chronic physical health problems. Have also worked with children, older adults and people with learning disabilities.

I've also worked as a hotel receptionist.

Ask away!

Mignonette

Thank you.

Thank you Mignonette.

Thank you OP for this thread.

I'm an NCT antenatal teacher, if anyone wants to ask anything about my work.

I'd like to ask a midwife - how easy or hard is it on a daily basis to try to enable mothers to give fully informed consent to medical input in their care? And how much difference does age/ethnicity/social class make to the process?

Thank you so much Mignoette :)

I had tears over the opening the window part. How beautiful!

tinytear Sorry, there really are that many viruses around, and they're tricky buggers, constantly mutating and changing so we don't build up defences to them.

isleofright A dose of ibuprofen every night for a week is fine, won't do any harm as long as you follow dosing instructions. As far as dosages go, I would dose by weight (am paediatrician) and we do in hospital. So your DC could probably have the dose for a one year old - but I'm not recommending that necessarily! If you can, weigh him in kg, and the dose of paracetamol (calpol) is 15mg per kg. so if he was 10kg, his dose would be 150mg. There's 120mg in 5ml of baby calpol so 150mg is 6.25mls (round down to 6 or 6.2ml if you can measure that.

However, if that's too much maths for you, or you're not confident in working it out then it is safer to stick to the bottle recommendations based on age.

mignonette That was a beautiful post, thank you.

migonette

mignonette you sound like a wonderfully caring person

I wish there had been someone like you with my Nan when she passed in her sleep at her nursing home, it causes me imense emotional agony even five years on knowing she died alone.

migonette that was lovely

Mignonette.

I am bawling away here.

Beautiful post. You must be an amazing nurse.

I work in an airport.

Someone miles back asked how you can tell someone is lying - my favourite "tell" is when they make lots of eye contact with you for no obvious reason, such as when waiting in queues. Also, if anyone hesitates before answering a simple question such as "what's your name?" or "where have you come from today?", they are usually lying about something - not necessarily that particular answer, but something you will ask them.

Judge Judy's thing about stories that don't make sense usually being not true is quite a useful guideline.

I've sometimes wondered whether people in trust positions (police and medics, mainly) ever get crushes on people they are dealing with, and how they manage it? I used to be a teacher, and although I could look at some of the 6th form-aged boys and think "you are quite handsome", it never became personal. We were warned about it all the time, though.

Thankyou for those amazing posts, Mignonette.
My mother was with my grandfather when he died in a nursing home and she told me about it later. She was very moved by the staff. She was called on the phone to be there and she went into his room and all the staff who could, came in and stood about the bed in silence and waited for him to go and there was peace and respect and maybe even love - they were people who had been looking after him for a while and they knew him.
it is very soothing to think about.

This is a fab thread

I used to work in a indoor soft play place

Lorry Driver: What is it like to sleep in the cabin bit of the lorry? Is it really cramped? Also what's the narrowest road you've driven down?

Thank you mignonette that is a great comfort to me.