this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2024
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I just hate being asked what I do for a living. What's the point? So one of us can be like "Oh.." and subconsciously feel below the other person?
I used to do that before I knew better. Now I slap my knee and say "so how about this crazy weather, huh?" whilst maintaining fierce eye contact so that they're pressured into not rolling theirs. I'm a much better person now.
I don't get the below part honestly. No matter what you do, your job is probably needed. If you're not paid well, that's not really your fault.
No one has ever belittled me in the past so it's not as though I've been ridiculed, but I recall years back when I had just immigrated to Canada and had started out as a grocery clerk/stock guy at the grocery chain I manage at now. It was my wife's convocation (CPA) in a very upscale gala sort of environment. We were seated at a large round table with several newly designated accountants and several distinguished CAs, CPAs and other professionals.
Naturally at some point I was asked what I do, and I had to state in front of everyone that I was a stocker at a grocery store. Nobody laughed or anything like that, but there was that awkward kind of pause where the table recognized that I was not accomplished. I remember feeling more humiliated in that moment than I probably should have. It was a blow to my self-esteem, and not the only time I've felt that way in my life. It's why I don't ask others what they do. Imagine being unemployed or something in that moment. Just kind of brings you down in front of others needlessly, and it sucks because there genuinely is nothing wrong with being a stocker.
Oh, the burden of other peoples thoughts~
I always find it weird when someone asks for my, or answers with their, profession. Because that usually says very little about someone. A better question is what someone likes to spend their free time with.
Most people have something they are passionate about. And the weirder, the better. Because weird hobbies are something that many feel judged for. But engaging positively with someones isopod collection, really tends to get people out of their shell.
It becomes something to bond over and it's much more interesting than "train conductor".
I respond to that with, "Oh you know, a little bit of this and a little bit of that."
Better to have them look down their noses at me all night thinking I'm unemployed than endure hours on end of questions like, "I inseminated my horse with my own fluids so I don't have to pay income taxes now, right?"