I live in the eng/efp world and am with Arnold in my attitude...
Like him, don't get me wrong and assume I don't give a ****. I do, but often find picture rules even for shoots where we all know that 90% of the IV is going to be covered with re-creations or B-roll.
Example, the other day we turned up to do a gig where most was going to be re-creations. The shooter loved the look of the outdoors so we set up to IV , never mind the main road on the other side of the house... I spoke up, said my piece, and was ignored. I requested that we redo questions if possible because of traffic but was told several times that no, we're happy with the answers.
Yes, I did everything to lessen the noise within my power and did put a lav on him to cut down on BG noise, but I couldn't stop the traffic obviously.
Now I know that most of the IV was a waste of time but was over ridden by someone higher up in the food chain so figure maybe, (just maybe) next time they might listen to the sound person..
As i once said to an inexperienced director: once it leaves here any sound problems are your responsibility as I told you of my issues, but you chose to ignore my advise. good luck! ( he did come back and say they ended up reshooting that IV because they failed to listen to me, approx $1500 later and a day wasted on his first doco...)
I've just got home after a long day and intend to have a beer, watch some tele, and thank god the company I work for doesn't do reality tv.
Grant.