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Have you ever been out at a gathering with people you meet for the first time and everyone is getting along well and then someone asks "hey what do you do for a living??"
I find that to be rude. I read that in France you could go to a dinner party every other night with several couples for a year and NO ONE would dare ask what you do for a living. They would ask questions like what book did you read last, Or have you visited the Louve museum or some sort of museum or discuss the arts.
But why do we Americans have the tendency to do this?? I hired someone to do some work for me and that was one of the questions he asked me--I was immediately turned off. My reply was do you base your fee upon occupation??? He was silent. Very evident he didnt like that response. Its as if alot of Americans feel entitled to know what you do for a living as a way to size you up.
So then he says wow I never met someone so secretive about their occupation--Are you a top government official on an assignment. At that point I terminated his contract and taught him a very good lesson in professionalism. You are here to do a job, not attempt to pass judgement or size up your client.
What are your thoughts?? Anyone else find this question rude and annoying??
You have way to much time on your hands if you think this is worth any more time then it took to post this.
Have you ever been out at a gathering with people you meet for the first time and everyone is getting along well and then someone asks "hey what do you do for a living??"
I find that to be rude. I read that in France you could go to a dinner party every other night with several couples for a year and NO ONE would dare ask what you do for a living. They would ask questions like what book did you read last, Or have you visited the Louve museum or some sort of museum or discuss the arts.
But why do we Americans have the tendency to do this?? I hired someone to do some work for me and that was one of the questions he asked me--I was immediately turned off. My reply was do you base your fee upon occupation??? He was silent. Very evident he didnt like that response. Its as if alot of Americans feel entitled to know what you do for a living as a way to size you up.
So then he says wow I never met someone so secretive about their occupation--Are you a top government official on an assignment. At that point I terminated his contract and taught him a very good lesson in professionalism. You are here to do a job, not attempt to pass judgement or size up your client.
What are your thoughts?? Anyone else find this question rude and annoying??
I have no reason to consider this question rude.
It is a common conversation topic to get to know someone better and is often a starting point of common ground.
I have intentionally not asked that question for a couple of years now. I don't find the question offensive but I find that I get to know more about a person by asking questions unrelated to occupation.
Because discussions about a person's occupation are very interesting. Everyone reads books, goes to museums, etc... but not everyone trains horses, or builds houses, or is in the military, works in a science lab, or stock shelves at a grocery store. Some of the funnies stories I have heard came from people and the strange adventures they had while they were at work.
This post is a real head scratcher....
First, NO, not everyone reads books or goes to museums.
Second, those things are INTERESTING.
Third, A person needs a pretty interesting job to keep up an INTERESTING "let's all talk about Work" conversation. ( Just shoot me!)
Fourth, isn't it bad enough that we have to spend so much time AT work? Isn't that enough? A break with an interesting vacation, concert, book, conversation, weekend, funny sister-in-law, pets, sports, is soooo much more interesting...and the snobs can still judge and place you ....
First, NO, not everyone reads books or goes to museums.
Second, those things are INTERESTING.
Third, A person needs a pretty interesting job to keep up an INTERESTING "let's all talk about Work" conversation. ( Just shoot me!)
Fourth, isn't it bad enough that we have to spend so much time AT work? Isn't that enough? A break with an interesting vacation, concert, book, conversation, weekend, funny sister-in-law, pets, sports, is soooo much more interesting...and the snobs can still judge and place you ....
I don't have the same taste in books or music as others...who says one is more interesting than the other.
I don't have the same taste in books or music as others...who says one is more interesting than the other.
Besides, if you are reading the fourth book in a fictional storyline, how absolutely boring it would be to tell someone about the plot and the characters. It is boring, because I have had to sit thru some of those. Then again, I could sit thru hours and hours of some person describing their thrilling day at the museum of fine antique chairs and lamp shades.
Have you ever been out at a gathering with people you meet for the first time and everyone is getting along well and then someone asks "hey what do you do for a living??"
I find that to be rude. I read that in France you could go to a dinner party every other night with several couples for a year and NO ONE would dare ask what you do for a living. They would ask questions like what book did you read last, Or have you visited the Louve museum or some sort of museum or discuss the arts.
But why do we Americans have the tendency to do this?? I hired someone to do some work for me and that was one of the questions he asked me--I was immediately turned off. My reply was do you base your fee upon occupation??? He was silent. Very evident he didnt like that response. Its as if alot of Americans feel entitled to know what you do for a living as a way to size you up.
So then he says wow I never met someone so secretive about their occupation--Are you a top government official on an assignment. At that point I terminated his contract and taught him a very good lesson in professionalism. You are here to do a job, not attempt to pass judgement or size up your client.
What are your thoughts?? Anyone else find this question rude and annoying??
You find it rude, because you are ashamed at what you do.
I won't come right out and just ask, " what is it you do, again?" unless we are talking about our weekday struggles.
I have networked some good paying projects bring up, "what is is you do"
Most of the time in addition to this being a conversation starter, its usually asked by work obsessed people who have no social skills and have to resort to talking about work just to have something to talk about because its the only thing they know. If I'm at a social event on my day off, the last thing I want to talk about is work! What I do see often times is a person ask the question just so when the question is fired back at him he can boast about his position and what he/she does.
You find it rude, because you are ashamed at what you do.
I won't come right out and just ask, " what is it you do, again?" unless we are talking about our weekday struggles.
I have networked some good paying projects bring up, "what is is you do"
Do you look at people as "potential paying projects" when you meet them?
Most of the time in addition to this being a conversation starter, its usually asked by work obsessed people who have no social skills and have to resort to talking about work just to have something to talk about because its the only thing they know. If I'm at a social event on my day off, the last thing I want to talk about is work! What I do see often times is a person ask the question just so when the question is fired back at him he can boast about his position and what he/she does.
I love what I do.
We can talk about what I do, if you want to drop the conversation about the job you hate.
But I hate the conversation to just be about me and my life.
My play, is harder than work.
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This post is a real head scratcher....
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