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'm so sorry Fanny a major misunderstanding there. What an amazing job!

I have all sorts of questions but need to stand back a little and give other people a chance. Don't want to monopolise .

Will be back later.

mignonette, loads of fodder for a novel I should think and far better than Ms Rowling's which I only got 30% of the way through before getting bored with the inaccuracies!

Sadly, I don't have any allotments at the moment, although one of my parishes would love them (the other two mostly are huge houses with enormous gardens and one of those has, apparently, the highest percentage of private swimming pools in the area!), but I'm finding it difficult to get a landowner to let us have some land.

I could also write a book about my experience as a church furnisher - you wouldn't believe the characters involved!

oh good one!

Midwives- do you really not mind people swearing at you when in labour?
and just how do you cope with the stress, the responsibility?
and what about the mess we make?
how how how?

I take all my hats off to you for doing an amazing job!
6 kids here, I am in eternal debt to all our fantastic midwives and the care they provided!

I work for a large pizza delivery company if anyone has any questions?

Oh yay part 2 :)

I can't remember the questions I posted on the previous thread, but think a few were unanswered but can't be arsed to c&p so here are a few more:

Foster Carers - What's the maximum amount of time you can have one of your charges (not sure of the right terminology, sorry).

Hairdressers - What products do you yourself use at home?

Police Officers - What would you do if you found out a friend was taking illegal drugs? Would you tell the police, warn them to stop doing it or just turn a blind eye?

Teachers - In your experience do a lot of difficult children have even more difficult parents (i.e. the naughty ones seem to have rude parents) more often or the well behaved kids have some real arseholey parents?

Chefs - Is there a certain meal you have to cook for your job but you can't stand the look of/smell of it and dread when someone orders it?

Terror I have to touch anchovies. I've had people order tuna, anchovies and pineapple before...

Just as a point, I make the pizzas I don't deliver them. I couldn't handle the abuse some drivers get

Kitty

are you sick of the sight of pizza? do you ever eat it when out or at home as home made, shop bought or takeaway?

or would you just prefer to eat your cat when you wash yourself into a corner?

Still18, I'm not a train driver but my Dad is (well, he drives steam engines, but his day job was railway manager/consultant). Yes, I think train drivers know where they are - unless anything has changed radically, you need to learn the route before you a cleared to drive a train on your own. There are names of places that would mean nothing to passengers, like, I dunno, Quarry Bank loop or so on.

Teachers - In your experience do a lot of difficult children have even more difficult parents (i.e. the naughty ones seem to have rude parents) more often or the well behaved kids have some real arseholey parents?

It really depends, some lovely children have parents who i find it difficult to get on with, some badly behaved pupils have amazing supportive parents.

Sometimes lovely pupils have lovely parents, sometimes I can see why a challenging pupil behaves as they do because of parental influence.

I've learnt that you can't assume and you shouldn't judge.

Marking place

What an excellent answer, Parker.

Can't stand the thought of anchovies either they are revolting Kitty.

For those who asked about prison officers and always being worried. It depends but in general I think you always keep your guard up, no matter how nice the inmate might be because they could turn nasty to you or a fellow inmate just like that.

Also, sometimes you can build a bit of a relationship up with an inmate. In the sense that you may have an inside joke or chat about a film you both like etc. But you'd never tell them personal things about your family life that's the biggest no no.

This is from my Dad working as a Prison Officer and a Drug Rehab Officer. So if anyone wants me to ask him any questions fire away.

I'm boring see, only ever done officer work - uni was just too expensive at the time for me. I would've done Psychology though, so know a fair bit about it.

I'd have loved to have been a midwife but alas, not good enough sight.

Love anchovies...

Mignonette I'm very very lucky where I'm currently working in that I have more or less unlimited sessions with clients (I live abroad) and lots of supervision / peer supervision time. Even so, I usually try to implement many of the ideas from my former more time limited NHS work ie regular reviews. I don’t like the idea of meeting someone for years for the sake of it as I feel that can foster dependence. On the other hand, some issues just can’t be solved in 20 sessions which is just so depressing with NHS work.

NeverKnowinglyUnderstood Once I get to know someone then I can usually read in their face / body language that something’s not quite true or what they’re saying just doesn't fit them. But not always. Often it’s teenagers who are not telling the truth and I find it harder to tell – but if I suspect then I’ll give a spiel about ‘you can tell me what you wish, but since I trust what you say, not telling the truth will only hurt your therapy’ (but much much more subtly). In the end, people may have many good reasons not to tell the truth and I may work on improving their sense of safety and trust in the sessions rather than calling them on what they’re saying. Or I may ‘give them permission’ to be honest with me: saying something wasn't helpful or that I've misunderstood them.

The thing about not flinching is not just that we've heard similar things before (although that too) but also it’s as if we’re hearing this from the inside not as if my client is talking to a stranger; so on one level I'm right there feeling this with my client. But sometimes inside me I'm seething at something that was done to them (seething at the perpetrators) or I may even have tears in my eyes on occasion. Also, at the end of the day, I walk away and don’t carry home what I have heard: that’s what gives me the strength to help.

It has been several years since I last worked in England, so paper notes may have disappeared, but this is how it used to work. Legally, therapists have to keep notes (certainly in the NHS). I do so openly, but if my client is very bothered I may either photocopy it for them at the end of each session so that they can see what I have written or write after the session. It helps one to listen, to bridge the different sessions, to plan where to go etc. The notes are totally confidential. When I worked in a CMHT I wrote a couple of lines in the general CMHT file and kept my own detailed notes in a locked file. The notes are always kept in a locked cabinet and are not accessed by anyone else. Confidentiality is truly paramount.

The only circumstances under which I would breach confidentiality would be: if there is a reasonable suspicion of harm to someone else (like child abuse) or if I am worried that you will walk out of the session and commit suicide. This does not mean that everyone who says they’re considering suicide loses their confidentiality. In any case I would always try to discuss my concerns first with you. I will also bring my cases to supervision but this is also bound by confidentiality.

The only other thing I would add is that it’s always OK to ask these kind of questions. If you don’t feel ‘safe’ in therapy then it’s hard to open up. You are far from being alone in these kinds of concerns.

Fab thread! Any questions on X-rays ? I'm happy to answer .

Train drivers:
Yes, they should know pretty much exactly where they are; certainly to the last signal they passed.

(I work for a train company)

thanks... at what point do you destroy your notes.. I am assuming it isn't possible to keep every note for ever??

I was a classroom teacher for seven years or so. I found the children with parents who were reliable and consistent in their approach to life had the best behaved children, on the whole. It had nothing to do with social class, and everything to do with sensible boundaries having been learned by these parents when they were children themselves.

not really a job, but I want to know if my friends really don't mind helping when I ask or they are just being polite....

I hope they don't mind and perhaps even happy too.
I'd hate it if it turned out they roll their eyes and think "oh, not again!"

it does bother me.
I don't ask often on purpose.

Surprisingly I still eat a lot of pizza. I tend to make my own at work and take it home with me, but I do order from other pizza places. I couldn't stand and make one at home though, that would be too much like bringing work home!

Doin - does it really matter if you have xrays or other scans (CT/MRI) when you're pregnant? or is it just a precaution?

HI what a great idea for a thread.

I can answer questions on print advertising - classified and display (the big full page ads in mags and papers). Not sure if there's much of interest there though...

I would like to know about Childminders who have kids all day... what do you do with them? Do you feel responsible to do the sorts of things that the parents might be doing with them (like at different ages, teaching colours, numbers, reading to them, playing games etc. etc.) if they weren't at work, or do they learn to amuse themselves, or do they watch a lot of telly? Genuinely interested, in a totally non-judgemental way.

surprised nobody has asked any questions of the drs secretary...

Doinmummy when I broke my arm I nearly vommed at sight of it all bent and mangled. How do you avoid spewing on your shoes when you X-ray injuries?!

Ooh love this thread.

Any surgical kit / prosthesis reps out there? Do you inwardly groan when a surgeon starts ranting at you about a certain kit? Do you actually care when they suggest improvements? Do you feel awkward at having to be super polite all the time?

I'm an orthopaedic doctor if anyone has any questions :)

NeverKnowinglyUnderstood It's a good question about destroying the records and my honest answer is that I don't know how long the records are kept - there is a certain legal requirement and then they may be destroyed. I've never been in a single post long enough to see the end of my records. The legal requirement is different in different settings. The British Psychological Society publishes good practice guidelines on record keeping which sets out what psychologist should do (sorry I couldn't get the links to work). For some reason I have 7 years in my mind, but I'm not sure that's an accurate figure.