A colleague just said to me, “Can you try and remove any extraneous bollocks from this file?”
It occurred to me that this sums up my duties better than any written description. (I’m a copy editor.) What’s your job in a nutshell?
SDMB reader.
(We’re really slow lately…)
doing Everything for Anone that Asks
To learn cool shit.
(I’m a grad student/research assistant)
Also a copyeditor. I like the description that a colleague invented: “professional idiot.” In other words, we’re paid to misunderstand the text in every way possible – and then fix it. 
I Tell People What To Do And How To Do It.
To teach cool shit.
(I’m a high school teacher.)
As a Mom, my job is to do “Everything”.
As a Cashier, my job is to “ring people up and take crap”.
Sometimes it’s nicer being a cashier, even with the crap, because at a certain point in the proceedings I am allowed to stop and go home. I can’t do that with my other job; ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee, you poor sad sack, when there’s no toilet paper on the roll or the dog’s water dish is empty. Who’s going to fix it?
You are.
[sigh]
I solve problems and perceived problems, mostly the latter. I’m Patient Services manager at a large ophthalmology practice.
Many days (too many) I get paid to stand around and watch things drip.
(I’m a chemist)
This is mine:
“Help! I’m in a nutshell! How can an abstract concept such as a person’s career get stuck in this bloody great big nutshell?”
I’m a systems analyst with a coffee habit, so:
code java, drink java
Before I was a copy editor, I was a chemist too. Only I used to squirt stuff into jars, then rinse it out into other jars.
Depends on who you talk to.
If you’re talking to (some select members of) the scientific community, I’m the thorn in their side, impeding the advancement of science.
If you’re talking to a member of the lay public, I’m the guy that makes sure they’re not treated as ignorant guinea pigs.
If you look at my business card, I’m an analyst for an Institutional Review Board.
Mine: Fixer.
Me: Queen of the Universe.
What, you didn’t KNOW?
Fix the broken stuff, install new stuff to get broken later.
(I’m a Unix systems administrator.)
I make happiness!
I really am a baker, and if I do say so myself, my sweets are good!
:: rubs eight fingers together ::
Hear that? That’s lots of small violins
I get dirty and kill things.