Secrets of your trade.

[Confusedfornow]

I have worked in my current area of expertise for the last 20 years or so. It's in Aviation, can't say exactly what or for who as it's a relatively small community (for my role) and it would be VERY outing. Before this, my only other "job" that I did for a few years was dancing (yes, that kind ). So I don't have massive experience of the world of work.

But I was chatting with some people in a bar over the weekend and conversation turned to jobs and then to my role. I was telling them about some stuff which is perfectly normal to me, but was absolutely news to them.

For instance . .

When a plane is "parked" and everything is switched off, the aircraft is referred to as being "Cold and dark".

If a helicopter has engine failure, it won't just fall out of the sky. The pilots are trained in a procedure called "autorotation" and can usually land safely even if the engine isn't running at all.

All British Airways flights use the call sign "Speed Bird". It's unique and no other airline in the world uses it.

Last one . .

Pilots can't wear polarised sunglasses. They make the electronic displays on the flight deck appear black, and you can't read any information from them.

So, what do you know from your jobs that is mundane for you but which most people wouldn't have a clue/be surprised by?

Working in teaching, I have to say some of the saddest things that have stuck with me is hearing children in foster care talking about their home situation. These are placements of young (under 7) children, with families rather than in a residential home.

In each case I have been involved with, the child has seemed so poorly cared for. Not locked in a cupboard or hit, but just the bare minimum done for them. The foster parents have eg given totally inadequate birthday presents-eg socks, a card, school shoes. They have been treated noticeably different to their own children (who have also been at our school) in an almost Cinderella way. They seem totally uninterested in doing anything with the fostered child-reading, talking to or spending time with them. I just wanted to take one of them in particular home, give them a hot bath and a bit of happiness.

I have probably been very unlucky and just met a handful of crap foster carers (I totally accept that there are some crap ‘people’ everywhere be it foster carers, dads, teachers, bankers etc but the impact it had on the daily lives of these very little children who were supposed to be helping them was just so sad.

Can any social workers here tell me if they struggle to get foster carers? Are they paid much? Do you ever have to remove children from foster carers or are they really well vetted?

It must be a really hard job to do-providing a home but never knowing how temporary it would be and when you might have to say goodbye, but I just wish I’d seen more compassion there :(

I am not saying all foster carers are crap at all-I’m sure most are amazing. It’s just the 3-4 I have met in my work-capacity (over 15/20 years) really made me sad.

Probably not the most secretive thing I'm sure many know this, but most big fashion houses, the designers do not design their stuff(for fashion week) They have a big design team who do it all and they will come once every now and then to have a look at the items and then tells the team what's good or not. (yeah that's not amazing news)

Another one, is a very big lingerie store I used to work in. If the staff came across a bra that is slightly "damaged" which is as small as a having a pen mark. We have to cut it up and dispose of the item. Couldn't even give away to charity.

(ok mine is quite boring)

thanks earlybirdhasanap. For clearing that up I was a bit worried then, it sounded a bit like everyone was just hanging around waiting for the person to die without anyone trying to help them.

@Redlocks30 gosh your's is the very saddest post on here.

@Redlocks30 that is so terribly sad. I always assumed that being a foster parent was vocational, a calling if you like.... how naive am I.

This is not something I'm keen to share but after reading Redlocks30 post.....
A family friend used to foster, she openly admitted doing it for the money. They used to get laptops, theatre tickets, days out, money for home improvements etc. All to be used for the foster children, She used to sell the tickets😮😥
The children were always clean and well dressed but she had minimum interaction with them. Used to make me so angry!!

@nevernotstuggling

Also 200k is a gross underestimate. I worked out roughly how much a child I work with has cost the local authority. It's £550k on foster care alone I'll add up staffing transfer and other costs later

That would be very useful, thank you. If LA understood how much they are saving money fostering fees alone, they might be willing to spend a £10k child on post adoption support. Maybe £20-30k on older troubled children. As you know, teenagers in residential care cost thousands a week. And that’s where they are heading if the adoption disrupts in teenage years.

And it might convince MNers and social workers to stop telling adopters and foster careers that they should be grateful that they have a child and shut up already asking for help.

Aurynne, your post is very strange to me. Are you an independent midwife? In four pregnancies I’ve never had a named midwife as far as I know, I have never had any number to call other than the hospital ones for EPU and labour ward, and have never spoken to a midwife other than at regular appointments. I have no idea of the names of any midwife who I saw in pregnancy nor do I know any of the names of people who were present when my DC were born - I’ve never seen them again since. And it would never occur to me to contact a midwife about baby poo.

@VelvetPineapple my son is doing BTEC, will definitely not tell him any of this. He works hard and always submits in time, so far has received distinctions. Latest one he struggled - and had an emotional breakdown but got it done.

However I do understand the need for colleges doing this

I agree with redlock i knew some one who was foster and his parents were just interested in the money they received.When he was 17 he was kicked out as they were no longer receiving money for his care

"IT here. My most important skill is being good at Googling. That's all there is to fixing a lot of computer problems, Google likely stuff and find suggestions for things to try."
safariboot

Yes! This, so much! I say that as a developer I'm a professional Google-r. I'm really good at hunting down stuff in the internet, I can freak people out with my ability to find info on people online (long lost family type thing most recently)

Yeah redlocks...dayum. i'm naive like yogafanatic, assumed fosterers were all really passionate about providing what home doesnt - family, love, giving a shit

animaginativeusername it’s great that your son works hard on his BTEC and submits in time. Those students deserve their distinction grades. What’s unfair is those who haven’t worked hard will come out with more or less the same grades because the teacher has been told to make sure they all pass, and universities/employers won’t be able to tell the difference.

To the other BTEC teachers who commented - I’m aware that schools and FE colleges are funded differently. Schools don’t need students to pass in order to receive their funding. The FE sector has been hammered with funding cuts in recent years and that’s why we need to grab as much money as possible. We can’t afford to lose the money from even a single student failing.

As a journalist it is true that we 'bang people out' when they leave (quit, new job, redundancy) which means that the whole newsroom smacks rhythmically on the desks like some weird tribal Haka. It's a sign of respect.

We censor the comments on our websites not because we 'don't like what was said' as people think but because if it is libellous we can also be sued.

Redlock, that’s shocking.
I know a lovely couple who would’ve given a child a fabulous home and were turned down.
Madness.

Yeah redlocks...dayum. i'm naive like yogafanatic, assumed fosterers were all really passionate about providing what home doesnt - family, love, giving a shit

Some are, some aren’t.

Unfortunately social workers are really poor at telling the difference . They tend to like the crap ones as they agree with them all the time, don’t lobby for more help for the children and hide any problems. Let teh kids do what they want. Basically don’t give them any hassle.

The good ones are up at the school, working with the teachers, lobbying for extra support or TA in school, asking for changes in contact to meet the childs needs, trying to get counselling for the child, hassling for contact with siblings, dealing with child’s family, asking for support with behavioural issues, hassling the Gp for referrals etc

Excounsellor here.
We really have heard it all. Your darkest most shameful secret, we will have already heard lots of times from other people. Especially if you are using NHS counsellors.

@ChanklyBore I had a named midwife and all direct mobile contact numbers for the midwives In our local team, however whilst we aren’t ‘rural’ as such , we come under a community midwife team due to it being a ‘rural’ area. I only had to contact my midwife once outside of hours and she was amazing! I saw her for every appointment, I saw a different midwife for booking in / at the main hospital, and then had a 3rd who was my midwife through labour. Bumped into her in a shopping centre and burst into tears, she was amazing, remembered us and our story too! Perhaps we are just very lucky where we are .

If you want to record an ECG from a wiggly baby you can move the left leg lead to the forehead.

There is no ‘critical list’ often referred to in the media.

No but there used to be. In the days when phones were rare (and even before they existed) the local paper would list patients as being 'critical' or 'poorly' etc.

If you ever overhear a medic tell a colleague a patient has been, 'transferred to ward 13' it means they have passed away, 'ward 13' is code for the morgue.

One hospital I worked at I had a relative who was a porter. The hospital had been a workhouse so consisted of many buildings.

If the porters were called to collect a body they all threw 50p coins in a jar and guessed the age, who ever was closest got the cash.

If your child is sent to take a note to another classroom and is then sent on to another it is likely the note they are carrying says, 'X needs a short time out, please send to another room', more used at primary where the child is not actually out of view.

I work in human rights sector, including some of the most well-known organisations. People think that if you work for a 'charideee' you are a lovely, angelic person. Not true. A very high percentage of people working in human rights advocacy are absolute arseholes. Massive bullying, superiority complexes, egos. Nasty Nasty Nasty places to work. looking at you in particular Amnesty

@ QueenRefusnik

Good post. I too am a lecturer and love teaching. I am on an academic research contract though so the expectations on that side are often overwhelming and I know that i am far more stressed than is healthy. I give everything I have to my job and it isn't enough.

I have had some of my students fail the course and it is always awful.

@clairemcnam
100% agree with everything this poster said. Charities which can pay for adverts on trains, chuggers etc do not really need your money. Small organisations which never advertise and you hear about by chance REALLY need it. A small donation to them can be game changing.

I've worked loads of jobs.

Weight loss pills do work, they contain the same ingredient found in Sudafed.

We used to get men paying to use the sunbed then watching porn and wanking, and leaving their 'happy ending' on the Perspex.

Using a sunbed without using a pre designed lotion is like making tea without a tea bag, pointless and a waste of time.

Fake tan has a guide colour that is organic, this turns green after a few weeks due to oxidisation, however, if you still use it you won't go green you'll wash the green hue off as normal.

Tanning injections make your moles go black. Not good.

If you owe my company money we have a dedicated member of staff that will call and say something like 'I'm calling from XX on behalf of xx your outstanding invoice has been passed to us to deal with'

Soft serve ice cream machines are disgusting. We've found a dead mouse in one m, do not allow your children to use the ice cream bars in large chain restaurants, and avoid the soft serve mr whippy type machines.

You get sacked from a certain DWP department for offering advice if the person calling hasn't specifically mentioned said advice.

All boiler repair warranties are exactly the same and are often out sourced to 'rival' companies.

If someone leaves a property and leaves a big deficit on a utility bill all companies will usually bill previous tenants for certain amounts of the balance, 9 times in 10 they get paid.

If you complain to the owner of a hotel/apartment that you booked through a travel agent you won't get anywhere, travel agents pay between €10 and €25 per week to the owner, and charge £250-£700 if you paid for a 'upgraded room' but all rooms are the same, take it up with the travel agent not the owner.

We had a family from a European country rent our holiday home, they arrived with 6 extra people, it sleeps 8, and a tent, and then all guests used the underneath of the decked swimming pool as a toilet, and left loo roll and everything in great piles, they must have taken at least 150 plastic Barbie type dolls because we found limbs and heads and torsos for months in odd places. Weird as hell.

If you order from me on a Thursday evening and tell me, 48hr delivery, you need it urgent for the weekend, I will charge you for fast delivery and it won't usually reach you till Monday anyway.

If you rent my holiday home, steal my coat, that was packed away in a locked cupboard, and wear it in your Facebook photos I will wish an eternity of spiky shits on you.

*A crematorium has to 'burn' a body within 72 hours of it coming into their possession.

Ashes are ground up by a machine which is basically a mechanical pestle and mortar. Any metal (nails, hip replacments, etc) are recycled.*

What level of separation is there between err..clients? Are you really just taking home a token gesture of ashes which could be a mix of mainly your loved one and some of the previous ones..?