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.

I have never forgotten a friend telling me her family friend a gyne, male complained at a dinner party her parents held that too many women managed to clean their genitals but not their arses with remements of excrement....they just did a genital wipe I guess. Twenty years later I am still horrified and bathe pre gyne visit. Yes I know. It is awful to think a man had that thought about all those poor women possibly caught out on a rushed day between demands of the kids, with their shitey arses.

Pitmountainpony

mignonette

My grandfather waited until my grandmother nipped home to change for the first time in days to die.

Question for any gp's or paeds - my 9 mo dd rarely poos unless she is completely nappy free, or has a suppository. The act of inserting the suppository has the desired effect - it seems to remind her to actually push and go. It never actually has the chance to melt and force the poops.

What could this be, and how could we help her? She's on fresh fruit and veg, fresh juice, and lactulose. Really, she should be shitting through the eye of a needle.

Horses I meant I do nails haha I'm well aware of the slog :D and I hate when people are shocked I have a degree

Sorry Szeli , I totally misunderstood you..... I never know whether to feel annoyed or amused when my clients are surprised at the other things I've done with my life/career!

Yey, another Nail Tech !!

Sunshine I have a question for you about your English Lit studies. Do you ever feel that your enjoyment of a book, play or poetry has been affected negatively by close textual analysis? Does it impinge upon the mystery or does it enhance enjoyment?

Gussie Love your posts. I agree with all that you have said and my DH is sitting here proselytising about strengthening the male pelvic floor and how it improves lifting, weight bearing alongside sex.

TimidViper That was a great explanation. I think all student nurses need to spend time w/ pharmacists to gain knowledge of the meds they dispense and to arm patients with this knowledge. I spent time with the pharmacist attached to the MH unit when I trained and learning about how psychiatric medication and painkillers work etc was invaluable.

Horses Thanks for that, I will go check them out as need a change.

Bunty It does happen a lot and I'd be interested to see what GGirl says about her experiences if she comes back because she will have more experience than me in this field. Sorry for your loss.

Olympic I don't know if you have worked with PFI NHs buildings but I have always wondered what effects PFI buildings have on managing and prevention of risk seeing as they tend to be built in a very 'adaptable' design. I am thinking of one I used to work in with its dark central corridors and private patient rooms which would make great offices post conversion back from MH use but which were (to me) potential death traps in that we could not observe the patients very well. They had to be built this way. I have also in the past participated in Critical Incident Assessment and Management. Have you any pointers as to how to improve liaison between say A&E and other emergency assessment units bearing in mind that junior staff are so often rostered out of 9-5 hours/weekends. Money means this probably won't change!

Another question for Olympic. Do you know of any research/audit activity upon the effects potential or actual of staff burn out upon risk management? Is this something you would be involved in?

My favourite question when doing someone's makeup,

"Did you train to do this?"

"No I just rocked up one day and thought I'd give it a bash..."

Most of my makeup girls did 5 years in specific education, playing with someone's face isn't something you want to get wrong.

The sometimes 'lowly' status of people working in various beauty based industries is shocking and the amount of people expecting freebies because "it's just a bit of makeup" is insulting, I don't think the wave of 'technicians' offering £5 tans and £5 Acrylics helps either.

Sorry for the rant!

You only have to look at the effect 'Look Good Feel Better' has on people with Cancer through the use of make up artists and advisors to see how skilled it is.

Make up artists I have met are all pretty knowledgeable about Dermatology, what goes into the products etc.

I imagine that being part of somebodies wedding day must be really cool too-helping make them look beautiful and creating happy memories.

Somebody's not somebodies.

There are some specific antibiotics where, if you drink alcohol while taking it, you will be sick. It will not be pleasant, and you may vomit up your last dose of the antibiotic so you'll not have the right amount in your system.

Metronidazole is one of these (dentists often give it out - I refused it once).

The majority of antibiotics, not much will happen if you have a glass of wine. Obviously don't get rat-arsed because that could lead to: 1 - vomiting (and losing a dose), 2 - forgetting to take them at the right time.

Ask the pharmacist. "What will happen if I have a glass of wine?". You will be able to tell the difference between we don't really recommend it and really really don't do that.

Oh, sorry, already answered - looks like I forgot to refresh!

Migonette. That's what I thought! I wasn't there when my dad died, I was on a train trying to get to him, but he knew I was on my way. He'd been terminally ill for a very long time (constitution of an ox) and I think he wanted to slip off without any fussing maybe. Death is such a taboo. I wish people would talk about it more, perhaps then it wouldn't be so frightening to everyone.

Ages ago someone asked if school staff judge packed lunches.

I spent several years as an LSA in an inner city primary. I never judged but would feel pretty sad.

We had kids who would come in with sandwiches made with mouldy bread and their parents had told them to 'pick the mouldy bits off'.

I was consistently impressed by the mother of four who produced the most amazing nutritionally balanced delicious looking meals including lots of leafy greens and seeds.

I was really angry for a while at the parents who sent their DC in with eg two chocolate shakes and three bags of crisps. After a while it was just really depressing.

Plenty of kids are sent to school with no breakfast which makes teaching them anything very difficult. We often accidentally had 'spare' fruit and bicuits left from the day before in case there was a really weepy tired child.

The worst was the child who had no food from free school meal to free school meal. We used to give him double portions.

Someone else asked if school staff judge kids names. Yes, we used to have a good laugh when we got the class lists for the following year but the second you meet the child it becomes irrelevant.

This is my favourite ever MN thread. Interesting, moving and honest.

Quite agree Shocking. And for people to understand that death is a process as opposed to a single dramatic event. There is evidence to suggest that cessation of respiration and heart beat is not the absolute stop and that there is some brain activity for a little while (? half a minute or so) afterwards. I would encourage people to sit by their loved one and talk softly to them for a little while afterwards (if they feel able to) just to 'send them on their way'. It can't help surely and we can never truly know just what is perceived or made sense of by the dying brain.

I wonder if there is any correlation between personality type and when and how people die? Do private people 'slip away' when we leave more often? A great mystery....

Some people look 'more like themselves' after they have died whilst others look less like themselves. I barely recognised my Father in the hours before he died- he just looked different yet ten minutes after he died I saw with my own eyes, his face soften and magically settle back into his old familiar looks. It really was amazing. I will remember that always.

It can help, I mean. I really need to proof read more carefully.

Oh, mignonette - MEN's pf's are a source of wonder to me. #doyerblardyexercises are more effective than Viagra at treating erectile dysfunction and cure/improve 70% of premature ejaculation in 3 months.

My master plan is to write a comedy show about "do these, it'll make you stronger for longer, and checkyerbaws". Men's knowledge of their bits is woefully inadequate. They are happy fiddling with them, just not very objectively...

Oh, and, erm, I love your posts too x

LaQueen Good research gets you good work, well done finding someone with that background still doing weddings!

My current pet peeve is the college course in 'wedding makeup and hair' cos yeah you can learn just that aspect stand alone...

migononette wish you were there when my pops died, the hospice staff then were very matter of fact

Have you thought about your own Youtube channel giving out tips and exercises Gussie? If it wouldn't compromise your reg it'd be great.

Could have that comedy element with a serious message. I am a qual Health Promotions Officer too so your idea chimes with me professionally too.

I was really annoyed when I did my Health Prom MA back in 1997. I designed a testicular cancer campaign (months of research) with a leader poster saying 'Improve your ball control' and it had a photo of two footballs in a football net like a pair of testicles, you know? My LHA at the time didn't have the budget then a few years later Robbie Williams was commissioned to head up a very similar campaign by a national body. A very similar campaign shall we say? Still it got the message out.

Bunty- I have seen it quite a few times when a dying patient is hanging on for a relative to leave or in some way give them premission to peacefully drift away.
in my experience some relatives are extremely anxious about the actual moment of dying .Depends how long they have been ill etc. In some cases like this the relatives were highly anxious people anyway so throughout the whole process the dying patient is dealing with worrying about the anxious relative. It takes a lot of reassurance and comforting to ensure the family are at peace with what will happen , not knowing is very scary for most people.
My first priority is for the patient to be comfortable and symptom free and this will often mean talking together with patient and relative about what to expect. Most people eventually come to terms with it and almost welcome the peaceful release and I think patients do often wait to die when their family are not there , often when we are tending to them and the family have slipped out of the room .
Most deaths I have been involved in have been a good death , only ever had one where patient was fully awake and distressed at the moment of death and never want to see that again.

Rosie I am not a GP but work in a surgery and would think there is no easy answer to that question as every day is so different in our practice. We do see a lot of trivial ailments some days, and if we could educate people a bit better on how long to wait before ringing the GP it would be good but sometimes even those can minor things can turn out to be not trivial at all but a symptom of something major.

There is also a huge difference between social classes, one of our GPs moved from a surgery 2 miles down the road which is an affluent area of mostly young families and retired folk to us, a socially deprived area with lots of social and health problems. He said the difference was astounding in such a short distance.

Great thread, I've learnt loads!

I'm a nurse in a private hospital.

mignonette I have a hobby of stand up, did a Fringe show called Gusset Grippers this summer (I live in Edinburgh) which wa about pelvic floors. The idea was to make folk laugh and break down the taboo - and, it went better than I thought. Got some nice reviews, and some peer encouragement which was great. In fact, it was awarded "weirdest show of the Fringe" which is, apparently, a compliment.

Weshoodtawk...

Robbie - ugh. That is a problem. Infuriating.

You sound like your career has been a bit Heinz, like mine!