Professional advice, erm, no!

Some people will jump on the opportunity to get something for free like aphids on a rose bush.  I find it almost obscene to watch the way normally well-behaved people become frenzied at the prospect of of a give-away.  A similar thing happens when people discover that someone has knowledge that they can tap for free.  As a paramedic, I find this happens a lot.  People ask about their ailments and I really don't mind dispensing advice if I have the answer.  Why they can't look it up on Google, I'm not sure, but then again Google doctoring can lead to people firmly believing they have rare and exotic diseases.  It also happens that people, usually when filled with dutch courage, sidle up to me and with furtive looks while fumbling around the belt area ask "Can I show you something?" I learnt quickly to answer over my shoulder as I beat a hasty retreat, "Go and see your doctor!" Else I may see someone's nasty bits that have been infected for a more than a while. . . . It gets my goat when people ask advice and then take advice from Aunt Arabella who has a dead relative's medical book from 1922, which is clearly far more informative and up to date than anything I may have to say!  On a more serious note, if I am consulted and my experience and training leads me to believe that what the patient is presenting needs urgent medical attention, why ignore what I have to say?  Why ask if my opinion is not heeded?  My husband, who is an accountant, has the same problem, as does my daughter, who is a tattoo artist. I suppose you could say that we are all professional people and as professionals in our respective fields, we take what we do seriously.  My daughter is obviously seen as a magician of sorts when she is asked whether she can replicate "The Last Supper" in minature on someones big toe for a fraction of the normal price. She has been doing this for some time and knows about skin, inks and placing for the tattoo to work and be the best it can be, but does that count, no! People want what they want for as little as possible and the people in the know are seen as difficult. A tattoo placed incorrectly on the body can distort and turn a baby portrait into a Yoda look-alike. Its frustrating. Yet those same people will pay for advice and take it as gospel truth. It is, I suppose, just the way things are.