Misconceptions About your job

[qcChemist]

I was wondering what kind of reaction other people on here get when they tell them they work in a lab. I don't know about anyone else, but when I tell people I am a chemist, people are amazed. Most of the time they assume these three things:

1. That I am doing some groundbreaking cutting edge type work like curing cancer.
2. That my job is just like CSI where I can inject something into an instrument and 10 seconds later a full report pops out. My bosses are also guilty of making this assumption about my job.
3. That I get paid A LOT of money. lol that one is my favorite.

[Peter Apps]

I do semiochemicals by GC-MS in a small dedicated laboratory - people ask me can I analyse lubricating oil, heavy metals, microbiology, foreign bodies, pesticides in poisoned vultures (OK I did that one). All you need is a white coat, a bench and some boxes with flashing lights and you can analyse anything right

Peter

[WK]

Peter,
I agree - a very good summary!
WK

QC chemist,
Perhaps on management training courses they advise looking ignorant in presence of the worker?! Maybe to get them wound up to work harder? Or is it genuine ignorance - anyhow they are in the management position anyway!
WK

[carl.nott]

Explaining at parties that I work at an 'environmental lab' usually results in talking about pollution/etc. with neo-hippie types.

My wife is a lawyer and makes about twice what I make but saying I'm an 'analytical chemist' usually impresses people more than when my wife explains that she's a lawyer, which is rather amusing.

[WK]

Carl,
I recently went on a public tour of our local recycling facility (UK). It is interesting to listen to the arguements of the general less technical public who think they know all things "environmental". Luckily our kids are introduced to ideas at an early age at school. Hopefully then we won't dedicate the entire UK to palm tree plantations(!) - instead we will ship in wind generators - it doesn't cost any energy/CO2 to build and ship them you know!! I'm getting back on my bike as unleaded is now £1.20 ($2) a litre (12p a litre in Dubai). Powerade is much cheaper than that.
Has anyone calculated how much CO2 a cyclist puts out per mile?!
This is a subject I have a keen interest in! It tends to bore people - funny that - like Sheldon in the Big Bang Theory.
Sorry I have changed the thread slightly.
WK

[carl.nott]

No worries, not trying to get in a discussion on the environment and all, but that's why I brought up my experience at parties as folks hear 'environmental lab' and assume that I'm trying to save the planet, or something, as opposed to (for the most part) doing contamination assessment for big companies. Depends on how you like to hang out and all, but after a few times of 'Yes, I'd like to continue talking about my carbon footprint, but I just got called up to sing 'Summer of '69' on the karaoke machine' I've learned to avoid using that phrasing for my job description if I don't want to engage in that sort of discussion.

Actually kind of underlines my point, I suppose: Don't bring up the term 'environmental' if you don't want to get into a discussion about the environment.

[GregK]

When I tell people I work at "[Company] Animal Health", in the analytical lab, they want to know if I do tests on animals. (We don't.) The closest we come is the mice in our sample retain area that eat the rodenticide we make.

I'll second (or third) the idea that people generally think I make WAY more than I actually do and that we should be able to analyze anything with all that expensive equipment.

Now I'm starting to work in method development, and I have to try and explain what that means. Try explaining that you are working on a residual solvent method by GC to someone without any chemistry knowledge, not fun.

I've gotten in the habit of just saying "I'm a chemist". Then I tell them what a former co-worker said about our job: "Basically, I drain straws and fill bottles all day according to a recipe that someone gives me."

If I'm wanting to impress people I tell them I do method development in a quality control lab for an animal pharmaceutical company.

[qcChemist]

Interesting...My standard line has become, "I'm a chemist" and I try to change the subject as quickly as I can. I don't like trying to explain my job to people, they often end up more confused afterwards. I also do residual solvents testing, and just trying to explain it to my bosses is tough enough. Sometimes I have a little fun with them, and I say I work in a poorly lit lab with little or no personal protective equipment and a lot of soft neon lighting in the background where I solve murder cases. The funnier part is that people often believe me when I lay that on them, LOL.

[oscarBAL]

Well is not exctly the same but I remember when I used to work in an analytical service lab some years before; we used to do a pretty broad kind of analysis; so there was people that use to send you a powder labeled "analyze"... when you tried to contact the person who sent the sample and get more information about it sometime you received the respond... "Well I do not know, you are chemist... you should know... thats why I am paying!!"

Now that I look back is like a funny joke

[chemwipe]

I work in a plant and my results go to to workers who don't quite understand GC instrumentation and analysis - they only need to know that it's "good" (meaning below the detection limit) so they can process the samples accordingly.

One of the most frustrating misconceptions is that if something goes wrong with the instrument (power outage, bent syringe, misaligned sampler arm), it's my fault.

Example:

Co-worker: You got those results?

Me: No, the instrument stopped overnight --

Co-worker: Oh, so you ****ed up?

Just imagine how irritated you would get at that comment.

[sanmari]

I'm a formulation chemist for an agricultural company...

If i use the term "Formulation" the reactin I get is " oh, so you just mix stuff together"...if it only was that easy

If i use the term "Chemist" the reaction I get is " oh, so you count the pills"...come on people..that is called a P-H-A-R-M-A-C-I-S-T

Why don't they know what a chemist does....

[DR]

Pharmacist in most places = Chemist in the UK... I'm not sure what the UK title is for what the rest of the world calls a Chemist... Alchemist?

[Peter Apps]

Say you are an analyst and people have two choices on how to get it wrong - market or psycho-

Peter