My dentist's airplane movie question made for an awkward cleaning

At my last check-up, my dentist asked how work was going. I mentioned troubleshooting a glitch in a flight control system, and he paused, drill in hand. He said, 'So, you're the guy who picks the movies?' (I almost choked on my spit.) I tried to keep it simple, saying avionics handles things like radios and sensors that keep planes safe. But he just smiled and asked if I could get him early access to new releases. The whole thing was so silly, but I didn't want to be rude during a cleaning. Anyone run into this where people think our job is about passenger perks instead of critical systems? I'd love to hear your funny stories.

2 comments

2 Comments

mark_smith596d ago

Oh man, that is TOO real. I used to work on the software for restaurant point-of-sale systems. I told a guy at a party, and he instantly asked if I could get him free food from a big chain. Like no, dude, I make sure the cash registers actually work and your credit card gets charged. He just kept talking about how cool it would be to get free burgers. People hear tech and just make a wild jump sometimes.

mary_kelly6d ago

Tell people you work in payments tech now, sounds way less exciting. Explain you deal with transaction security and fraud alerts, not menu hacks. Honestly half the time they stop listening after the word fraud and change the subject. Ngl I started doing this after my cousin kept asking for free hotel rooms because I once worked on a booking site backend. Works every time.