What professions do you want people to post regarding Ask Me Anything?
Add them here, hopefully someone will start a thread :)
What Professions Do You Want People to Post [AMA] ?
skywards on 12/10/2017 - 14:28
Last edited 12/10/2017 - 14:36 by 1 other user
Last edited 12/10/2017 - 14:36 by 1 other user
Comments
Yeah same, studying Psych/Nursing double and I'm a guy. There are heaps of male nurses now though, obviously still disproportionately women. But yeah i get the same comments too, i had the same feelings early on, but kinda disregard it now, doesn't really matter i dont think or just a normalised comment to me.
I'm also studying to become a RN and the comments I receive I don't see it as patronising. If someone tells you ‘good on you’ or ‘that’s great, thank you’ its because nursing is an underappreciated and sometimes underpaid profession for males and females (we kinda are doing a community service, except we get paid, but gender has nothing to do with it). Seriously, most of these people would've said the same thing to you whether you're male or not. Of course you get the odd condescending remark but I've found it to be rare or people keep it to themselves.
Also, who cares if we're male or female. We're meant to be professionals and I would rather pursue a career that I find fulfilling and rewarding than be hiding from my insecurities of what people think of me and be stuck in a profession I do not enjoy (I have an engineering degree).
I agree with you hono123. I find hospitals really sad and stressful places to go and every time I see the nurses and how hard they work. Not only do you have to see the pain people themselves are in but you also have to deal with all their family members who think their relative is the only one that matters. However you have more than one patient to deal with, still you put on a smile and help to the best of your ability.
I genuinely think it's a tough and under appreciated profession. Thank you to all the above for the service you will be doing for the community regardless of your gender!
I don't think it's because you're a guy, or they're being patronising; I think people are genuinely grateful. When you're in a hospital, it's almost always one of the hardest times of your life, and great nurses make the experience much easier and more tolerable. It's a very tough job, and people appreciate it.
Coolies.
Thanks everyone for your responses. When mum had cancer, the nurses in Spain were pretty 50:50 gender. They treated her well. Thanks Nurses!It always feels like you men and women have to put up with more than what the surgeons and other doctors have to. Esp with difficult patients.
There are enough male nurses now that most people don't raise eyebrows. I have met a male midwife, which surprised me since even the job title is gendered.
Forum troll.
Calling JV
News website troll.
Paramedic.
Criminal defence lawyer.
Judge.
Commercial pilot.
Flight attendant.
Commercial farmer.
Journo.
Anyone who works at the ABC.
I'm a paramedic.
What are the majority of your calls like?
How long are the shifts? If you end up with ridiculously long shifts do you just try and get powernaps wherever you can?
A lot of elderly patients with various medical issues (mostly acute pain that they want treated) or they have fallen over. Also a lot of mental health but anecdotally that seems to be decreasing. It's quite varied though and that's what I like.
My roster has shifts between 10 and 14 hours long. Occasionally they'll extend by 30 - 120 minutes due to incidental over time. I'll sleep on night shift (5pm - 7am) but otherwise I just push on through.
What's your question for someone from the ABC?
How do funding cuts affect the work environment, do you think years of defunding by the right has skewed the ABC workforce in favour of the left, do you think increased and consistent funding would remove perceived bias, I could go on!
doctor pimple popper
Dole bludger.
Telstra customer support.
Pretty sure as soon as I ask a question, I'll have to be transfered to different department.
Your estimated wait time for this AMA is… 1595 minutes. Thank you for your patience. low bitrate music continues - Did you know that Telstra has a great range of NBN plans?
Underrated comment!
Telstra Enterprise support are flawless. The rest of them are offshored or dgaf.
I disagree their products and software solutions are the bane of my existence.
I am Ex-Telstra technical support. It was my first job back in 2001
ADSL was starting to roll out more and more. But it was very unstable and the sales team was hard at work switching businesses over from ISDN lines. Bad combination. Poor businesses had gone from stable internet which they were relying on to flakey newish ADSL. Spent most of the time getting sworn at, apologising, booking technicians and then apologising some more.
Ask me anything
Does the current Telstra customer support employ third party contractors to handle phone calls or did they set up their own team?
Does Telstra intentionally make getting hold of tech support particularly difficult? (Making it seemingly impossible to get a phone number to begin with).
Does Telstra calculate their response time (which they boast to be quick) based on how long it takes before they pick up the phone? Seems like they are eager to pick up the call (still a good 30 minute wait time) just to ask customers for verification and to tell them they'll be transfered (another 30 min).
"Ex-Telstra" all my comments on the current operations would be from an outsider perspective.
I believe they still have some local (mostly outsourced) call centres, very few run by telstra themselves. Probably only high value med-large commercial customers.
Yes and no. They want you to try and fix the problem yourself, but not get too pissed off that you cancel or don't sign up. It's a balancing act. If you call, it is expensive for them, eats into profit which puts pressure on prices etc etc. I remember it was about $15 per call paid to the outsourced provider back in the day. Although the pricing was a lot more complicated than that (incentives for resolving problems in 1 call, minimum committments, incentives for answering the phone quicker etc etc).
After I worked in the call centre taking calls I moved into resource planning (statistics) for the call centre.Yes, this is a key metric for every call centre. Measuring this on the first contact and then transfering you allows them to hide the actual service levels. They would be measuring these other wait times in the background though. In addition to this, people feel happier if they have their call answered and then are on hold for a few minutes, compared to waiting for a few minutes for someone to answer the call in the first place. There is heaps of psychology that goes into call flow and IVR systems and implementation. I spent a lot of time on the statistics for these.
Companies are getting much much smarter at linking your all interactions with callcentre/website/app and profitability on an individual level. This can feed into specific offers that some customers receive. One day I reckon it will covertly feed into wait times and the level of service you experience. That is if it's not happening already.
@ChickenTalon:
Thanks for confirming my suspicioun.Does the statistics show that this (blatant and short sighted) tactic had a positive impact on their feedback?
We're there significant customer service changes in the last 5years? Many people are more pissed off than usual with Telstra, myself included, about the amount of time required to resolve any issue.
Are feedback (as a collective) made available to ombudsman and similar? Or are they used as internal resource only?
@tshow: I think statistically, seeing as how things are what they are, people are usually "okay-ish" with perhaps paying cheaper prices with poor customer service that is required infrequently. Also, the cost of moving isps are prohibitive enough that people seldom move just because of one poor customer service experience (wait times, multiple calls but eventually resolved) say every 6 months at most.
Another factor is that at the rates we are/want to be paying, it is impossible to find a provider with the sort of responsive customer service that we all dream about.
@tshow: Like I said, I can only speculate based on what I know of the industry and implementation of data gathering programs (and a bit about what I would be doing to maximise profits). And my personal experience with them, long after I worked for one of their call centres. I never actually worked directly for Telstra BTW, even though at various times I worked in their head office and had an employee number.
Does the statistics show that this (blatant and short sighted) tactic had a positive impact on their feedback?
no idea, but it probably did.
We're there significant customer service changes in the last 5years? Many people are more pissed off than usual with Telstra, myself included, about the amount of time required to resolve any issue.
Regarding Telstra's reputation. It's actually vastly improved, it was in the gutter in the 90s and early 2000s and they did not care. You had no/few alternatives to Telstra for your phone and internet. They have tried to bring in a lot more customer satisfaction tracking and it's a pretty key metric. If anything when I deal with them I suffer from "over service" of constant emails, texts and phone calls to make sure everything is ok. You might not remember how Telstra behaved when they had a monopoly and no competition. Nowadays they realise they need good customer service to survive, too many alternatives.
Are feedback (as a collective) made available to ombudsman and similar? Or are they used as internal resource only?
I don't think there is general satisfaction or feedback data that formally goes to the ombudsman (TIO). There is no standard way to track this unless you're going to go and conduct an industry-wide survey. A few do this and release the results publically, here is one https://www.choice.com.au/electronics-and-technology/interne…
The TIO itself does publish its own data on complaints that it receives. Which is different, but linked, to satisfaction.
Here is the most recent, which gives you some idea of how they are performing.
https://www.tio.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/246135/Co…
It's just compared to per 10,000 connections. So you need to be a little careful with the data as some connection types are more likely to generate a complaint. Each company will have a vastly different mix of connection types.@lolbbq:
Low rates are relative. I believe we can compare ourselves to the UK, Canada and USA. Or these countries, our telco costs are the highest.For the price I pay for my internet and phone, I can have a full fibre service, choice of VoIP or landline, and premium TV in any of the above countries with change to spare. (Used compare websites to look at overall details of plans available in those countries).
So I say, unless their service is much worse (which my mates placed overseas tell me it's much better) I don't think it's an issue of price vs service. I think we have an oligopoly of wholesalers (and in many regions, a monopoly).
@ChickenTalon:
Very informative. Thank you.Telstra doesn't have to be too competitive in many areas. Mine is one example. There are alternatives (still piggy backing off Telstra) but nothing else is remotely serviceable.
@tshow: I definitely agree with that bit about the oligopoly. Its interesting to know how these oligopolies come up with prices in the first place. In the countries that I have lived in, telcoms always see to be some form of oligopoly (I suspect due to licensing requirements).
So yea probably its a combination of people's tolerance and the lack of competitors.However, I would say its just a little bit disingenuous to compare ourselves to UK, Canada and the US where geography, wages, infranstructure, licensing and consumer base are quite different.
If you look at the following plot, Australia does tend to be more expensive (but not an outlier) and I think the acceptibility does go up a fair bit once purchasing power is taken into consideration.
https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/6ot88y/int…
Beauty clinic technician. Do half these treatments even work??
From what I've heard, they work reasonably well the first time and then it's all downhill from there.
Fighter pilot
Nuclear engineer
Nuclear submarine captain
Space shuttle material test engineer
Cargo vessel captain
Successful prostituteOzBargain Addict
Dont ask..
Fly in, fly out receptionist like Cassie Sainsbury.
So many jobs can be covered by talking to her.
Pro
Admin
Receptionist
Drug mule
Drug dealer
Druggo
Reporter on Australians abroad
Importer of electronic goods
Security tester
IPhone lock tester……..My second favourite job of hers was 22yo international jetsetting generic cleaning organisation representative paid to do nothing on Pacific islands. I think her AMA would be more of an I know nothing.
Importer of electronic goods
Importer checking in.
She's checking in.
A lawyer and anyone who's done any kind of covert work.
I had a mate who was a covert PI. Mostly insurance work. 90% of it is seriously boring just waiting for stuff to happen. But the other 10% holy crap, he had easily the best ever work stories. Some memorable stories from him include being chased by bikies and presenting footage of masturbating welfare cheats to court-rooms.
Same XD Had a friend who said it's nothing like tv, that's just sped up.
Ive been involved in thousands of hours of covert surveillance, no real 'undercover' work though.
Pokemon GO player
OZBargain Forum Addict
"Y'all got any more of them deals?"
Is this the 5 o clock free dominos pizza giveaway??
Hooker
Oops.
I recon Robbie Farah would be an OzBargain regular now
Drug dealer.
(Super promise I am not with the police).
Dominos employee/owner
Anesthesiologist. I woke up once and everyone had a shifty smile on their face. What happened?!
As I waking up in recovery with all these sexy nurses walking around and I vividly remember saying to the nurse sitting with me "Why don't they just hurry up and get their gear off and go for it."
I was groggy enough that I still don't know if I said it or not but it was a quite an experience. I mentioned it to my wife when she turned up and she said you probably did say it you (profanity).
My friend is an anaesthetic nurse, similar but without the medical degree and paid ALOT less
Coles Online picker, and
Coles online call centre (profanity) tosspot who doesn't give a (profanity) about how (profanity) your order is.When I worked in IGA distribution I would put stock on palletes to stores that I think were deserving… ie smaller stores mostly as you know they would appreciate the extra sales.
Centrelink officer
Supreme court judge
Veteran
Correction officerInfluencer
pathologist, doctor (gp/specialist), tax officer, traffic police, developer
I can guess what a pathologist's day is like… Look at slide, dictate report. Look at slide, dictate report. Yell at technical staff about quality of prepared slide. Take phone off the hook. Complain about quality of biopsy. Dictate report. Look at slide.
Professional couch warmers.
I can host then.
Electrician Trade Owner, looking for an apprenticeship.
I'm an electrician who was silly enough to go into niche areas. I'll queue up behind you as I wouldn't mind a change but given I've spent my time on non domestic control systems and assemblies I'd be a bit slow doing residential work.
If you do get an apprenticeship with one of the big corporates just remember that a substation or general control systems tech is different from domestic work. I've done a heap of training in niche areas and enjoyed the work and mental exercise but you are really at the mercy of your employer as they can withhold specialist training as their property meaning you can't be properly licenced for your specific trade unless your employer signs off on it. You will still have your basic electricians licence but that's almost moot when you've been trained in relay faultfinding you're going to be a bit slow when it comes to pulling cable and wiring lights and power.
If you want to get into the industry TAFE will let you do the first year of an electricians course without an apprenticeship (Course for full apprenticeship is Cert 3 in electrotechnology)
Being an electrician is a decent job which you can generally feel proud of your work at the end of the day but it's not without its pitfalls.
Thanks.
marine engineer
several of them owe me money, they seem really disorganized…
Professional Marijuana Paraphernalia Tester (bong/vape/gold roll papers etc.)
Medicinal Marijuana Strain Tester
Bong Designer
Masturbation Tool R&D Director
Race Track Models
Bikini Designer
What about adult toy designer and adult toy tester?
Crime Stoppers Operator!
Also, I'd be interested to hear from a police member. I have to deal with them a lot in my work, and sometimes they do my head in! But I always give the benefit of the doubt because their job is pretty difficult. I'd especially be interested to learn about jobs you have to do that aren't "on the beat". How is that managed? How much time, training or support are you given? Do you find it hard to balance your duties?
We have to deal with many other services that do our heads in all the time. Especially DHHS.
Not sure what you mean about jobs that aren't "on the beat".
We are given a fair amount of training at the Academy but you don't really learn anything until you are "out in the real world" where it's completely different which makes the majority of the training pointless.
Vic Pol are making many strides in the support areas of recent years. Many members still don't access the support services as much as they should though because of negative stigmas.
Depends on the station, at busier stations, can be very difficult balancing duties. Impossible to catch up and some people find it very difficult to leave work at work when they finish.
Thanks! For "on the beat" I meant the difference between the hours you're rostered for things like patrol vs. how much time you're given to do things like investigate, compile evidence briefs, do follow-up etc…
You literally do paperwork when you can. It is seldom allocated time (station dependent).
You have no meal breaks or toilet breaks. Everything you 'need' to get done, you do in between jobs if you can.
You can literally go 8 hours without a drink of water.Generally your paperwork gets done if you're inside on a Saturday morning or nightshift.
Having said that, you never plan your day. It's a job where you have no idea what is coming every single shift.The inside vs outside time allocation is station/roster dependent again, but roughly 50/50.
Can't believe no one said eBay employee yet! Or company reps that runs eBay stores that jack up prices during sales..
NBN workers all types from splitters to customer service to everything in between .. mainly I guess interested in the technical infrastructure maintaining and building kind of work.
Restaurant owners, food franchise owners, fast food owners and workers.
Really interested in quality food nowadays not just packaged food from coles and woolies and all the expenses and time and work needed in running a successful business also awesome appliances and recipes.. can really be any kind of "nice tasting" restaurant from a Vietnamese bakery to a kebab shop to a fish and chips shop to an Italian pizzeria to a Chinese or asian restaurant countless others like buffets and delivery mostly places and everything in between including McDonald's, kfc and domino's etc.
Any people that are self employed or run their own business by them selves or a small team can be from home or own office etc and willing to share ideas.. drop shippers, flippers, stock investors, web designers etc
I am all for hearing about crazy exceptional stories like most expensive car sold.. jewelry sold, house sold, best commission based work etc.. or interesting lawyer stories etc.. anything really that might be out of the normal/extraordinary or can possibly help me in my life in some way successfully.
If we had any scientists here working on anything that I guess would also be cool
Queens Council.
What about a SC?
Either one
Escort
School Principal.
Gay marriage pastor, for those who voted Yes.
Also:
+ Lesbian marriage pastor
+ Bisexual marriage pastor
+ Gender fluid marriage pastor
+ Transgender marriage pastor
+ Transsexual marriage pastor
+ Intersex marriage pastor
+ Queer marriage pastor
+ Pansexual marriage pastor
+ you name itI wondered that, on the Yes campaign equal orange juice ad. What do the bis and pans get, orange juice dignity metaphor wise? Half a cup when the bi wanted a full cup? No orange mango. A small fraction drip of OJ of the totality the pan wanted? Lots of cups would be unequal. No tropical punch. No V10. What do asexuals get to achieve orange juice equality? How much OJ for them? Empty cup but the offer was there? Maybe half a cup, but with pulp.
There's always profit to be gained from the Mob. Rome is the Mob.
Celebrants have existed for a long time for those who don't want to deal with an orthodox wedding.
Anyways, I'll leave you to your business… whatever that is.
Belle Gibson
Commando
Infantry SoldierReally any combat role in the ADF
A lounge 'dragon'. Specifically, what's the funniest/weirdest request you've received from a customer that wants to get into an airport lounge.
jv
Female Stripper
Bikie
Harvey Norman / good guys / JB hi-fi employee
Car salesman / sales manager from each car manufacturer
Would be pointless… not a word of truth would be uttered
Perhaps I should have specified 'honest'. Given they'd be almost anonymous here, perhaps some truth could be shared. Or perhaps I'm dreaming
I’m studying RN, the amount of people that say to me when I tell them that I want to become a nurse ‘good on you’ or ‘that’s great, thank you’ makes me feel a bit patronised; as if I’m doing a community service or something (by choosing nursing over some other profession)? I’m prob overthinking it, maybe it’s cause I’m a guy IDK.