Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I seem to remember your username from a thread about an accountant who hates his job. You are the accountant right?
Are you still doing that? Just curious. In any case, what people do defines who they GENERALLY speaking...
Whether you are successful or a failure, or what type of person you are, your profession defines this about you. You may not like it, but there is a social hierarchy in society. Those who are on top don't mind it. Those who are not, mind it.
what if you work for a bank like an armored car driver or work on the ATM machines? answering questions could put yourself in danger, especially for your own security, your not supposed to tell people about that kind of info, those nosey questions could be used for a bank heist.
for some occupations it's best to keep it to yourself
So jewelry store employees should not tell anyone where they work either, because their position is a position of grave importance? What abour retail stores in general, they get robbed more often than banks do.
im in the witness protection program- dont tell anyone!!
im on disability, and presently training in powerlifting
i'm a liberal, im not required to DO anything!
You know, the bolded is probably actually going to work much of the time, given that I would bet strongly on the askers of this question skewing heavily conservative.
It's simply a conversation starter. Work, whether we like it or not, takes up a very large portion of our lives. Perhaps it doesn't define us, but it is a large part of how we spend our lives.
I dropped my car off at the dealership for servicing yesterday, and the driver of the shuttle (taking me to my office) asked me that very question. I doubt he was trying to one-up me or establish socio-economic class. He was just making conversation to avoid awkward silence.
Don't overthink it.
Yes, it's usually more of an ice breaker than anything so long as you don't ask about their compensation. The subject can always be changed to any number of things after that like the weather, a new restaurant that just opened, sports, travel, interests, how long you have been in the area, etc.
Last edited by chessgeek; 07-23-2014 at 11:12 PM..
What is the fascination with this question? Is it to compare themselves to others? To "one-up" someone subtly? To be sure they're in your socio-economic class? Just to get the conversation flowing?
So again, how do you feel about this question? If you ask, then what is your reason for doing so?
I never ask this question. The last thing people tend to want to talk about is their work and I don't personally care what people do. In fact, it took about 6 months for me to learn about what my bf did (who I eventually married). I knew the industry but not a clue on what he did. Didn't seem relevant I guess. Instead, I just ask, "what do you like to do for fun?" That always gets interesting responses. It's not a taboo question, it's just a question that has the potential to shut people down because then they have to field questions they don't want to answer.
I don't mind people asking me what I do though. I don't take offense to it as I know it's just a superficial question.
SOME reasons why SOME people SOME times don't like answering this question
- if you make a lot of money you might not want to advertise that in a roomful of people you judge to have less
- if you make smaller or very small or humiliatingly small amounts of money, you might not want to advertise that
- if you have a certain career that is a lightning rod for society's collective hate - I'm talking lawyer or cop or DMV clerk you might be secretly *desperate* for a social venue and new friends that allows you to define yourself outside of the baggage of your career.
for someone that I'm not likely to ever see again, I don't really care what you answer is, see - because I'm just trying to get you to talk about YOURSELF.
The vast majority of the people I know are either Nuclear Engineers or Doctors, you know how incredibly boring that is?
Other jobs sound exciting, and fun.
Oh you're a line cook? That's amazing how do you get everything out at the same time?
A politician? What's it like to always be disliked more than liked?
Of you're a portable toilet ventilation engineer? Me too (that was my old go to when I couldn't talk about my actual job, there's a whole lot of thought that goes into those systems, pretty cool actually).
Jobs are cool, and ALL are important! That's why you get paid, cause it matters.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
