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?

These are fantastic.

I’m a teaching assistant - in the past I have specifically been a 1to 1 for early years children with ASC.

The love I felt for those was almost the same as for my own children.

Like my own children they sometimes absolutely did my head in, but I loved them unconditionally, would have taken a bullet for them, and adored seeing them every day.

From my retail days:
All the heavily discounted perfumes and aftershaves, usually sold around holidays (Xmas, Valentines, Mother's Day etc), piled high in displays. Have you ever noticed that they’re not usually stocked at any other time of year? They’re just brought in to sell en masse for hols. We’ll put a bottle on a bottom shelf somewhere for a week or two (whatever the required time is, I can’t remember) as you can only say it’s discounted if you were previously selling them at a higher price. Come holiday season, there’s 50 boxes of the stuff all apparently 50% or 75% off. Yeah... no. We never actually sell them full price.

From my charity call centre days:
We didn’t work for the charity, we worked for a separate company contracted by the charity and it’s like any sales environment - the focus is on setting up Direct Debits over the phone, we have targets, and often prizes for whoever gets the most DDs or who reaches the targets first. You move around different charity campaigns, and if you miss targets even for a week (for whatever reason) you’re under monitoring.
We also got scripts from the charity. One included me pretending to have taken part in a very well known charity fundraiser. I’ve never taken part, and I shared ‘experiences’ from locations I’d never been too... (anecdotes shared by the charity, to make it ‘authentic’...).
Also, we had to ask for money three times (you got hauled over the coals if you didn’t, we had supervisors listening in to calls), and let the person respond. If the person you called hangs up on you, that’s counted as a response! (Obviously if they hang up before the 3rd as then that’s okay, you don’t have to ring them back, thankfully).
If the person you call is actually deceased, you don’t automatically back off you’re expected to ask their child/widower/loved one if they would like to support the charity (throw in a bit of emotional blackmail about how much the deceased cared for the cause...).
I got really cynical from that job and didn’t last long!

I'm sad that books get pulped! 😦

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

Some secret

All airlines have a call sign specific to them.

Work in MH with ex offenders

Empathy, patience, communication and laughter

We laugh a lot at work we have to it’s very heavy at times

I didn't know that about the call sign. No need to be rude

My job involves a lot of deaths and dark stuff.

I drive an emergency response car in blue lights. You'd be very surprised at some of the jobs I've blue lighted too!

didn't know that about the call sign. No need to be rude

I didn't mean to be rude. And perhaps many people don't know, but it was posted as if having their own call sign was something special when it's total bog standard.

@velvetpineapple, I did a Btec when I was 16. Stopped attending for the last 3 months and was very shocked when I got an envelope through the post a few weeks after the end date saying I had passed!

I’m a make up artist, no juicy secrets really, but I do despair of seeing others dirty kits, dirty brushes and awful sanitation such as using mascara and lipgloss etc straight from the tube on multiple people.

Aero engine testing: there is genuinely a test where frozen turkeys are thrown at into a test engine while it's running to check the effects of a bird strike. Afterwards, the blades are stripped of and imaged under a microscope to determine the type of damage.

There's also a test where an explosive is put at the root of one of the large blades at the front of the engine and it is blown up when running to make sure that all the bits of metal stay contained in the engine (and don't come flying into a prospective cabin). You can see videos of this on YouTube, it's quite impressive.

I'm a teacher. We don't get paid for our holidays although we get paid in the holidays (we usually work in the holidays too). It's called Pro rata pay, perfectly normal and not used to annoy folk. We also don't work 9-3. We also have to account for and justify absolutely everything we do, say, think, plan despite being fully qualified professionals. Shouldn't be a secret but reading the vitriol in the press it seems like it is!!!
Ahhhhh sorry!

I also used to work in the travel industry. In the old days if you had been lovely you got the best seats on the plane, if you had been vile on holiday your luggage was tagged deliberately for the wrong country and customs took a real
Interest in you!!
We also used to go into duty free anytime we wanted and have been known to help unload planes during siesta... (wasn't uk based). The reason the Germans got a better continental breakfast from the Brits was because they paid more for it, same with check in. Though in Greece this could vary depending on the wartime experience of the owners family....
we also made a ton of cash on the excursions we sold people but made more if we organised the trips secretly with locals and shut out the tour operator....

@slimgin - your employer is in breach of data protection legislation

EastMids sorry to be a bit thick (generally consider myself as someone who knows their arse from their elbow...) but if you have a pacemaker fitted, and that device is there to 'kick in' if the 'electrics' of your heart stop... then how do you... y'know... die?!?! Medically? Legally?

Puzzled

In higher education. A few years ago we got an interview departmental memo telling all lecturers to mark up every undergraduate by one grade. So a 2.1 became a first, 2.2 became 2.1 etc. This was just before the tutorial fees were introduced.

It's almost impossible to fail s degree. You have to be practically dead.

International students have their dissertations rewritten for them if their English is poor.

Also students whose parents contacted us about their darlings were despised.

I work in wholesale.

I surprised someone today by telling them I'd rather have rats than a mouse infestation, because they're 'cleaner' and bigger (and therefore easier to catch).

People find it interesting that no one of our alcohol is stored against the walls of the building as it wasnt uncommon at one time for thieves to remove bricks, steal bottles of booze through the wall without triggering the alarm.

We also have to throw out certain medicines once they go over 30*C because their efficacy hasn't been tested in the lab above that temp. Last summer was a nightmare!

Teachers never eat homemade stuff bought in to the staffroom.

There's always alcohol on residentials.

OFSTED inspections are a farce. Don't ever read a report without a massive pinch of salt.

needthisthread

You might know about the call sign, but many don't.

And the call sign IS unique to BA. No other airline uses it.

United Airlines use "Cactus" as a call sign. That is unique to them.

That's the whole point of my thread.

You might know about the call sign, but many don't.

I acknowledged that.

And the call sign IS unique to BA. No other airline uses it.

I also agreed with that.

My post was merely to point out that it's nothing special or secret.

@Needthisthread instead of bitching that the OPs trade secret isn't secret enough, why not share one of your own?

Female barristers generally don't wear a proper blouse with bands in court. We wear a fake bib that fits over a vest or t-shirt tucked into our jackets to give the appearance of a high necked blouse

If you are in a theatre and you hear an announcement that Mr Jet’s friend is in the building that’s a bomb threat.

Mr Jet himself is a suspected fire.

@BirdieInTheHand How so? Guests know that we store their reservation details and this extends to preferences and history that they've told us to make their stay more comfortable for them (e.g a widow will stay with us over the anniversary of her husbands death and does not want a big fuss made of her arrival). The notes on affairs etc are naughty and should all be deleted if spotted.
Also they can opt out of us keeping hold of their details. Happy to be corrected though!

instead of bitching that the OPs trade secret isn't secret enough, why not share one of your own?

Like I said ages ago, I didn’t mean it to sound rude.

I had a CV once that stated the chap had played Crown Green Bowls for his county.

I'm not sure these are trade secrets, but they are things I've noticed about some of the jobs I've done.

My theatre alerts were different to Comefromaway's, so perhaps they differ between venues.

With incoming companies, if you're lovely we'll move the earth for you but if you're not, everything will take longer and probably cost you more.

Most of us who have worked in comedy can laugh on cue. If we don't laugh at your jokes that are genuinely funny, you've probably been rude to us/our colleagues/our friends. But even on long tours of shows, if we like you we will laugh in the right places even if it is the 75th time you've heard it.

The worst behaved comedians I've worked with have been the least well known.

It's almost impossible for an independent producer to make money on the London fringe whilst paying everyone properly. You either need money you're happy to lose, or you get funding grants to cover your costs (But they're hard to come by).

There will always be someone willing to do jobs for free/expenses - acting, stage managing, tech, design, etc.