Awkward (and other) questions about MNers jobs-following on from *Pinocchio's 1st thread.

[mignonette]

Following on from this thread by Pinocchio -

"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"

Pinocchio I hope you don't mind me C+Ping your original post but wanted you to have the credit for this follow on as is such a great thread!

I have some questions for anyone working in forensics.

First an ick one. I am on my period and I just wondered would you be able to tell the difference between period blood and normal blood? Sorry to be ick. But genuinely wondered.

And second is can anyone commit a crime in person and not leave traces of DNA? I shed hairs all the time for example not to mention skin and droplets of sweat etc.

As an aside, re DNA evidence... DH and I found out about chimerism yesterday, where a person has some of their unborn twin's DNA inside them (ew).

It made us wonder: if someone committed a crime, and particularly we were thinking of a sex crime, then the DNA they left at the scene could be completely different from the DNA they would provide as a sample for analysis.

Thank you so much, mignonette! Really appreciate it! I hadn't thought about keeping a record so I think I will start doing that for sure and speak to my GP too. I feel quite optimistic after your reply, yay!

Ooh, and thank you ood for answering my other question too! How far into pregnancy do they let you get before they make these adjustments?

Isle of Right, we regularly get samples where the sample obtained isn't large enough to obtain a complete profile. You would have to be in a soco suit to prevent leaving trace dna (every contact leaves a trace) at a scene, which is why socos on major scenes are in them, to avoid contamination.

I love these threads - every time I think of a question, though, someone's already asked it, or come up with something more interesting than mine

I was a prop-maker for a few years and am now a fledgling children's illustrator, if anyone has any questions about those.

I have a question for any wedding planners what was your wedding like? Were you a major bridezilla or very laid back and low key?

Andy risk assessments kicked jn pretty quick as I've worked in female dominated roles so pregnancy assessments are common and just need tweaking for individuals which makes it a smaller task.

AndThePig

What did you do in your job? What and who did you make props for? Were you freelance or employed?

Ziggie What did you study/train in to get to your position? Do you ever feel tempted to get a private pilots licence? Do you feel comfortable flying on airlines you haven't had engineering experience of? Have you known of any near misses re maintenance issues? Could you build your own airplane if you had access to space, money and the materials?

Yay! A question! I thought I'd killed the thread!

Mignonette, I did mostly graphics, so that involved making magazines, newspapers, book covers, passports, shop signs and the like. I worked for a prop company, not freelancing as such (although I did freelance bits on the side for other prop companies very occasionally) and there were several departments doing more 3d workshoppy stuff. We made props mostly for film and TV - I've made passports for James Bond films, huge stacks of post for sitcoms and just about everything in between!

Although my job was graphics, every now and again, there would be a huge job come in, or something that was a rush, then it was all hands to the deck - usually something messy like gluing fun fur on to an 8-foot-high nodding dog.

Ziggie - would you fly Ryanair?
My nephew wants to become an aeronautical engineer, and was thinking of going into the military. Which do you think is better to work in - military or civilian? And what kind of work experience is helpful?

Andthepig

What a fantastic job. My DH is as this is something he'd have loved to have done. How did you get into it? Did you work at Elstree (if you can say)? I love the work of Shona Heath and Andy Hillman (the latter is featured with two other set/prop designers in the Nov edition of UK Vogue) who have both worked with the photographer Tim Walker. I have great admiration for people who are both creative and practical like yourself. I am a bit of a prop geek in that i will freeze frame films to examine what is on set. I always wonder what is on newspapers actors read during a scene (their lines maybe) and other little details. When I watch 'Mister Magoriums Wonder Emporium' I marvel at the toy props and imagine the fun of developing them.

mignonette Speaks a lot of sense here Andy. My sister has had previous mental health issues where she has been in a psychiatric unit for 2 weeks and now works in a branch of the police that deal with mental health. She's been fine for 6 years and takes medication so they have no reason to worry that she wont be competent at her job. Equally, my Dad works with someone who used to take drugs from around 18-32 years old and he's around 45 ish now and been clean for 15 years or something like that. It's very helpful for someone who has had a previous problem to come back and show how they have come from the other side, so to speak.

I am a freelance stage manager, currently working on a small-to-mid-scale one-nighter tour. I can answer questions about stage management and technical theatre .

I've NCed, not because I am embarassed about my job, but because I have asked WWYD advice about a work situation under a different username which could out me (stage management is a very small world).

absy you couldn't pay me to fly Ryanair.

I started out in the military, as everyone these days wants experience and a lot of uni/college graduates end up joining up. We over-service our aircraft, so discipline is high; I have never known a service leaver in our branch not walk into an excellent job on civvy st. The forces also dish out enhanced learning credits, where you can become a licensed engineer (a supervisor) and they'll pay for it; about £6k worth. Then you're talking about mega bucks!

Use the military to train you for free, get a bit of experience, work towards your licence modules, and then go out on civvy street and work for yourself on a contract basis. Depending on your skill, you're looking at about £37 an hour as a ltd company with licences.

Thanks terror :) It's great hearing real life examples of people who are managing their MH stuff and still doing the job they want to do. I think that was one of my biggest fears when I was at my most unwell, that I would have to wave goodbye to doing anything I wanted in life career wise. Hearing (reading?) stuff like this is making me feel quite optimistic and hopeful

Ziggie, do you mind me asking, are you a woman ? If you are, do you enjoy working in what i imagine is a very male dominated field ?

I am a woman with long hair and makeup and everything

Hmm. It's hard. Very hard. You have to work at 100% when everyone else cruises at 70%. Your mistakes are noticed a lot more, because you stick out more. Same goes for sick days. You can't show weakness and cry either. It's hard to listen to some men being quite derogatory about women/their wives/ their girlfriends. They'll go out for drinks as a group and genuinely forget to ask you if you weren't there; a woman colleague would text or ring you and ask you. They just do NOT think about stuff like that.

But... You earn a lot of respect. It's hard won, but it's one hell of an achievement.

I suspect working with women would be harder in a way. Men will tell you their problem with you, and you thrash it out or just avoid each other. But you know where you stand. A woman probably wouldn't tell you her problem and you'd hear about it later on, or read a suspicious thread on mumsnet

Ziggie

Like for instance; I'd been off for 5 weeks on a long break. First day back, one of the lads came up, beaming smile and went 'hello! Not seen you in fucking aaages! Nice break?' The guy standing next to him looked up and went; 'oh, have you been away? How long for? A week or something?'

These are guys I'd worked with for over a year. One of them barely noticed I'd been missing for over a month!

You also have to learn to drop hard swearing into casual conversation, as we are essentially just posh mechanics mouth like a sewer!

Thanks Mignonette. It was a lot of fun. I spent a lot of time thinking 'I can't believe I'm paid to do this' - I was sure I was going to get found out and be sent to do a proper job, like Ziggy's, or, well, anyone else on this thread!

I got into it because a lecturer at the university I went to worked at the company, and recommended me when a vacancy came up. We were based at Shepperton, but the company closed down a couple of years ago. I don't know too many set or prop designers but I think that must be a lovely job too, creating a particular atmosphere or environment.

In a weird way, our job wasn't always what people think of as 'creative', as we were often working to some else's brief or design, but there was certainly a lot of creatively practical problem solving going on.

It's also nice to hear from someone else who watches programmes and films and looks at the props and set dressing!

Andthepiggo

Yes the props and set dressing, location scouting and Foley work are my 'geek' obsessions. I am the person who stays sitting at the cinema until all the credits have run because I have to know where/why/how/who!

I think the problem solving is the true creativity. Anybody can say 'I want this' but achieving it is not always simple. I can imagine that props need to show up on film in a particular manner and often 'say something' either actually or sublimally to the viewer?

Ketchup

Do you have an agent/organisation through which you acquire work? My DD originally did a stage and drama course in which she was apprenticed to the college theatre group. She did a similar course at university but is now training as a patissiere because it is such a tough business to break into.

Which theatres have you particularly enjoyed working in? Can you say? There are some gorgeous Georgian theatrea about (near me) which I imagine you may have heard of.

Do you experience any friction between the permanent staff of the theatres you travel to and yourself being freelance or do they appreciate the chance to share 'stories' and expertise with yourself?

What was your favourite production?

Thanks ziggie! That's very interesting and helpful.

That's what his plan is (at first I freaked out MY BABY NEPHEW CAN'T GO INTO THE MILITARY even though he's um, 15) - then the military helps pay his tuition/living costs, good training etc.

Wasn't GetOrf in aircraft procurement or something?

I'm a mental health nurse, working primarily with dementia, but also in enduring mental illness in the community. Ask away
I'm thinking of questions....