Sprawling on the floor like a starfish beside an overwhelmed teen, staging Friday prank calls to fellow teachers, and orchestrating the chaos of a self-contained classroom with Sierra Patrick, a special ed teacher in South Carolina. What does she wish people understood about nonverbal students? And what's the most valuable piece of technology in her classroom?

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Chanting bids to whip up a bidding war, shipping $750,000 of Magic: The Gathering cards by armored car, and knowing exactly when to bring the gavel down with Joe Bodnar, an auctioneer in New Jersey. How does he separate junk from treasure? And what does it mean to "break up the pool"?

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FOR SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES: Email us at partnerships@whatitslike.com

WANT TO BE ON THE SHOW? Leave us a voicemail at (919) 213-0456. We’ll ask you to answer two questions:

1. What’s a word or phrase that only someone from your profession would be likely to know and what does it mean?

2. What’s a specific story you tell your friends that happened on the job? It could be funny, sad, anxiety-making, pride-inducing or otherwise.

We can’t respond to every message, but we do listen to all of them! We’ll follow up if it's a good fit.

Sleuthing through patient histories for the clue everyone else missed, asking patients about caves, scorpions, and shaman retreats, and sounding the alarm on a potential Ebola case with Dr. Boghuma Titanji, an infectious disease doctor. What annoys ID doctors about the TV show House? And which infections can she diagnose by smell?

LINKS & REFERENCES

• Psittacosis is a rare bacterial infection spread from birds, explained on the CDC's psittacosis page
• A 2026 hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship killed three passengers, per this CDC health advisory.
• APOPO trains rats to sniff out tuberculosis in sputum samples. See how it works.
• Listen to Death, Sex, and Money

GOT A COMMENT OR SUGGESTION? Email us at jobs@whatitslike.com

FOR SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES: Email us at partnerships@whatitslike.com

WANT TO BE ON THE SHOW? Leave us a voicemail at (919) 213-0456. We’ll ask you to answer two questions:

1. What’s a word or phrase that only someone from your profession would be likely to know and what does it mean?

2. What’s a specific story you tell your friends that happened on the job? It could be funny, sad, anxiety-making, pride-inducing or otherwise.

We can’t respond to every message, but we do listen to all of them! We’ll follow up if it's a good fit.