> Could be me, but isn't the -database server- supposed to return this
> character data correctly? If there's a Y stored in UTF8 format, it should
> return a Y in UTF8 format. Why does it return 'Y<<<' (where < is space)

Server must fill 4-bytes buffer with something because UTF8 CHAR(1)
size is 4 bytes. Space isn't the worst choice for filler character
(perhaps, it is comply to standard).

SY, SD.