Jobs that lead to people asking you for free advice

We asked our listeners about having jobs that involve people asking for free advice when you’re off the clock, so to speak. Apparently, there are a lot more of these types of gigs than I expected, because we heard from a lot of people with jobs across a wide variety of fields.

Just some of the jobs we heard about included:

• Roofer: Especially annoying when people ask you to inspect work for free that they paid someone else to do!
• Mechanic: Everybody has a rattle they can’t identify and expect you to diagnose it for free!
• Pharmacist: All manner of medical questions (including very personal ones) get directed at your friendly neighborhood pharmacist.
• Hair dresser: Sometimes the caller even got asked if she had her scissors on her for an impromptu (and unpaid) trim!
• Nurse: Looking for more free medical advice.
• Butcher: People expect you know how to prepare and cook everything you sell.
• Gardener: All sorts of questions about how to make things grow.
• Painter: Again, asking you to tell them for free how to un-do what they screwed up themselves.
• Computer tech: If you work on servers you should be able to fix my laptop, right?
• Personal trainer: Come on, give me some free advice that other people pay for!
• Dental hygienist: Some people will show you their teeth no matter what the setting.
• Restoration specialist: Tell me where you find your materials so I can go get them ahead of you.
• Realtors: Tell me what my house is worth so I can go give the listing to my relative

Those are just of the jobs called in, so please be respectful of the fact that people should get paid for their expertise!

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Doyle. Any opinions expressed are Bill Doyle's own.