… do they try to get something from you? I’m sure doctors and lawyers and stock analysts get asked for free advice all the time, but what about less glamourous jobs?
If you’re a bartender, do they ask you to give them free drinks?
If you work retail, do they ask for your discount?
If you’re a hairdresser, do they want free haircuts?
My brother is the Chief Financial Officer where he works, but when he started out, he was a mere CPA - and he was frequently asked for tax return advice. :rolleyes:
I’m kinda lucky - I work for the Department of the Navy, and, of course, the Department of Defense. If you look at the highest level organization chart, you’d see my boss ultimately is the President. But I don’t think anyone would ask me to grab the ear of W to tell him something. I’m also an engineer, and no one has yet asked me to design something for them.
Have you had to deal with this? Anything particularly nervy? Something really outrageous? Inquiring minds want to know.
I’m a Computer Programmer. I also fix and build PCs. I’ve had friends of friends ask me to fix their PC.
I already help my friends & family. If I helped everyone who asked, I would have no time for family.
My parents live in a senior community now. I made the mistake of working on one of their friends Pc because it was my old 486. After fixing it, suddenly was asked to look at several more. I told my father, I come over and fix yours anytime you need help. I fix my uncles who lives in same community, but I can’t run over to help dozens of his friends. Thankfully he understood.
At work I’ve had co-workers who never talk to me otherwise, ask me lots of PC buying questions. Several years back, I took the time and configured a Dell to the money he wanted to spend and told him how to get set up with Cable Broadband as Cable was $40 per month and AOL + 2nd Phone line was $43 for 1/10 speed.
He of course took advise of his brother and Bought a Compact because in bundled a free year of AOL.
Within 6 months he had problems and asked me many questions. Finally I offended him by telling him, “Look, you ignored all my advise, I warned you only people who can fix computers should by compacts as they are often lemons with bad tech support. You’re under warranty, just call Compaq and AOL until your issues are resolved”
{Side note, I no longer recommend Dell, their Quality slipped and their customer service went over to India.}
I’m an immigration paralegal. Two categories of people with whom I odn’t discuss my job:
Taxi drivers, and
Convenience store owners.
The last time I answered a question from someone in the latter category, it took me 2 hours to extricate myself from the store, complete with tea and cookies just brought over from Jordan. The guy didn’t take my advice either, until a year later when I heard from him that his son was in deportation proceedings.
(At least if I’m in a taxi, I’m probably on the way to the airport, so I have a plane to catch and therefore a ready excuse to leave.)
No one has asked me to help them build an airplane but I have been asked to help with a few electrical problems, my job is fixing electrical problems on new 737’s. I am a paralegal on the side and do get asked a for legal opinions. Most are criminal in nature, I’m trying to stick to the civil law side.
I’m a writer and also do some copyediting. I’ve had several people
a) ask me to write something for them for free (“No, really, it’ll only take you ten minutes - please write something for my church newsletter.” or “My life story is sure to be a bestseller - if you ghostwrite it for free, I’ll make sure you get plenty of exposure.” (First of all, I get money to write, second, how would I get exposure when I’m ghostwriting?))
b) ask me to edit their manuscript for free (“Overly, I know you set your own hours, so you’re probably not too busy - would you just take a look at this for me? It’s about 250 pages, but it reads really fast.”)
c) ask me for free writing advice
Like any other field, most of these questions arise from negative (and incorrect) assumptions about what I do. Lots of people assume I’m sitting around thinking all day when I’m usually busting my butt writing for someone else about something pretty boring so I can make a living, then working well into the night writing more creative materials for my own gratification and for magazines and Web sites who actually want to publish that work. I’ve had several people tell me, “Oh, I’d write articles if I have time. Unfortunately, I have a job.” They don’t seem to get that it is a job and a lot of research, interviewing and other legwork go into doing what I do, same as with many other professions.
I work in television and film prdoduction. So naturally I get asked a lot to program VCRs
And why is it that a $70,000 camera is less complicated than a $200 dollar consumer VCR?
Recently an acquaintance asked my mother if I would give his kid a chess lesson. I didn’t know if he was asking for a freebie, so I passed back the message that I would perhaps be too high-powered, since I charge £50 / hour (about $88 / hour).
He replied saying that he always expected to pay for expertise, and when could I start?
I work for the U of Michigan. Sometimes people think I can help with football tickets. Hahaha. I don’t know people with college-age kids, so no one has asked for admissions help, but I’m waiting for that one.
When people find out about my job, they usually look confused and then change the subject. Very few people do what I do for a living. (Most of the time I build lighting rigs for production events, usually for trade shows & conventions. Occassionally I do the same for TV or film work.)
I always get asked a million questions about my occupation. I don’t mind it, really. Sometimes people do ask a few too many questions or ask me something that I cannot answer…kinda like ‘If I told you, then I would have to kill you’ type of thing.
When people find out about my job (transcribing for court reporting firms at home), the first thing they ask me is how can they do it. So I start listing the requirements: self-discipline, typing faster than the wind, great spelling, no homonym errors, minimum six-month learning curve, etc., but I usually don’t get beyond self-discipline before they give up.
Why do they think that just because I get to do it at home means that it’s so easy anybody could do it?
I don’t have kids in the house, but I do work out of my home, and I have a constant problem with friends, relatives, and neighbors who assume that being in the house means I am free to do anything I please. It doesn’t really count as “work” if you do it at home. Ha.
“Whoa, you’re a pharmacy tech?”
Yes.
“So you can like, get me drugs and stuff, right?”
No, I would lose my job and go to jail.
“Well, I have this really bad headache and last time I took a Vicodin it really helped…”
Then go to your doctor. Vicodin is probably a little overkill for a headache.
“Okay, what if you just tell me how to get into the pharmacy and tell me where the Oxycontin is…”
No. Again.
As an academic librarian, I get this too. The unwritten rule is that if they’re faculty, we can, and if they’re anyone else, we can’t. I don’t like it, but RHIP.
People also ask me for advice about being a librarian quite a bit (Apparently, it’s an up-and-coming career.). I always give them the same answer: Computer skills, foreign language skills and a reputation for working yourself to death and than working some more won’t guarantee you a great job, but they’ll help you get your foot in the door."
No, no one asks me for anything. Indeed, unless they work in my industry, in my specific specialization, they all look incredibly puzzled as to what I do. It’d be almost nice if I did something people could ask for help with. I do statistical programming and prepare material from clinical trials for regulatory bodies to look at. Maybe I could take up flower arranging for a living or something instead. Everyone needs fresh floral bounty.
