when someone asks what you do for work and it's low grade hostile and invasive

a: i suck your mom's dick for work, what do you do?

sorry just venting

i regret this thread and i'm sorry it should not have been created

ILX discussed this not long ago, so I searched "what do you do?", which didn't find it, nevertheless that search string yields interesting results.

I hate this question because the answer, in my case at the present time, is so convoluted and strange that it just makes things awkward. I can only hope the response is "Oh, that's interesting..." otherwise I need the restroom, sorry

i do meaningless bullshit for contract pay to help other people become rich, how about urself

https://mirabiledictudotorg1.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/cathy-ack.jpg

"I get paid a pitiful hourly wage by the cheap fux who published H4RRY P0TT3R, thx"

I trade stocks, so the next question is "so you're a broker/work for a bank or hedge fund/ are a financial advisor" but no, I don't even have a series 7, I just trade my own account. I am profitable, but ppl must think I suck because I am poor, but that's because I am actually trading in a friend's account accruing profits which will be split in the future after I have proven that I can stay sober off teh drugs for longer than a month or two. This is not fun to explain casually.

it's hard to explain what you do to other people, is my impression

it's a lazy, rather off-putting ice breaker imo

just tell them you're a cop

g l rip van wanko

just say 'I get high on life' imo

I don't work right now. I get disability, a small inheritance, I do odd gigs. The occasional lawsuit (injury / malpractice) pays for vacations and other perks. But you don't have to tell people if you are a gigger or unemployed or your current job is weird. You can just tell them what field you normally work in, it's what I do. If they ask further, I just say I left a toxic environment with a crazy director. It was the professional thing to do, leaving, and it's how I maintain my sanity. It's hard though not having a title attached to your name anymore and not going to an office every day.

just tell them you're a cop

― Jaki Liebowitz (rushomancy), Monday, April 1, 2019 8:42 PM (five years ago) bookmarkflaglink

this comment hit harder than intended

So that's where it all began......

I never want to talk about this (I just personally don’t like doing so, because I don’t want to have to hear about other people’s work either) so my two non responses to people I don’t really know are like

- sure you know yourself
- this, that, bit of the other

Almost nobody bothers to ask what that means. Just like we drew it up!

I usually tell them 'what I do is really boring' to try and head off the discussion because what I do is a common job (training) in an uncommon industry (HR outsourcing) so it always leads to multiple follow-up questions and talking about work for more than 30 seconds feels like doing work.

I don't think I will ever work a 9 to 5 again, I just wish people would get off it. I don't do family shit anymore or funerals or weddings because I don't want to talk about it. How can I explain to people who remember when I was an honor student that it didn't pan out.

I do get enormous pleasure in the crazy boss being on Facebook and wondering what I am doing now. Every co-worker I liked has moved on and I'm very happy for them, but she is still there. What I am doing: exactly nothing, and it's her fault and she has to live with that. That, and the fact that the place I cared about have gone completely to shit.

this comment hit harder than intended

― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar...

fwiw it wasn't intended as a flip comment... it was an expression of my own deep discomfort with my professional situation in corporate compliance, which i know intellectually isn't the same as being "a cop", but emotionally...

i'm still working that same job btw. stable employment is hard to come by, particularly in the demographic group i belong to.

I tell people I work in marketing. I haven't told any of my neighbors that I'm a writer.

I hate this question and never ask it, but will admit to getting irrationally irritated when this comes up and people cant remark on what they do in a way that makes sense to someone who doenst work with them. like people at a random party who go "i work in transition and assurance", and when i say i dont know what those words mean they'll say something like "the transition is international but the assurance is a mix of domestic and international", as if that explains it. i'll confess that every so often if i find myself in one of these exchanges i will just start asking random questions like "does that involve animals? do you need a special drivers license for that? is it an elected position?"

If you wanna see people's brains leak out their ears, tell them "I'm a writer."

I used to feel a bit raw and judged about this as a f/t carer living on benefits. These days I don't gaf and don't need to justify my existence to anyone and don't give arseholes any space in my head. I still get up 5 am every morning and have to do industrial amounts of cooking, cleaning and laundry and that's the easy part of it! But basically I feel like I do a f/t job and even if ppl think I'm a feckless scrounger on easy street - I'm not even going to bother wasting my energy to disabuse them of this notion.

i have a pragmatic attitude towards this question and it doesn't bother me. i will even ask it sometimes, depending on the look of the stranger i'm talking to, with a tone that is intended to say "what's your strategy for coping with the mundane suffering we all must face?"

the most recent time i was asked this was by a dental hygenist who was scraping around inside my mouth, a real nightmare scenario that somehow wasn't as bad as it sounds

ILX discussed this not long ago, so I searched "what do you do?", which didn't find it, nevertheless that search string yields interesting results.

what an annoying thread starter i was / am! lots of baggage with that one. the me of 2024 does not gaf about this haha.

I tell people I work in marketing. I haven't told any of my neighbors that I'm a writer.

― Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Tuesday, May 28, 2024 10:16 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

it's insane to me that you have one of the coolest jobs ever but have decided to lie and tell people you are scum! lol

if i were you i would've adopted a whole Jim Harrison persona by now

re: thread topic, this is one of the most odious things about american culture

xxp *coolest job titles is what i mean

the most recent time i was asked this was by a dental hygenist who was scraping around inside my mouth, a real nightmare scenario that somehow wasn't as bad as it sounds

Did you reciprocate and ask what they themselves did for work?

"crypto - I fill in for my dad when he's out of town, it's a hobby"

xpost i considered a jokey response by she was an eastern european lady with a pretty no-nonsense demeanor, so i just complimented her scraping technique

"Very thorough ma'am!"

Shortly after my college graduation, I was mid-colposcopy when the doctor asked me what I plan to do after graduation and to this day I’m pleased that I ignored his question. Sorry sir not answering that rn.

also in terms of poorly timed intrusive questions I feel like it doesn’t get much worse than this.

I get that a lot of ppl hate being asked this question - I do too, especially now I’ve quit my job - but I love finding out what ppl do for work, and it can lead to great conversations. I recently met a guy who is a palliative care doctor and talking about his job led to a very enlightening discussion about medical ethics.

I’ve also become so socially awkward over the last 14 years (due to working alone, no longer in shared housing, moved away from all my friends) that I’m hopeless at basic interactions and always fall back on generic small talk questions.

it’s fine small talk and if you don’t care for your day job or lack thereof just be confident in saying what you like doing. I like to paint, drum, write, watch netflix and complain about the lack of coherent plotting? all good

I am guilty of saying more about how things are going than what I’ve been doing but to me they’re entangled. Asking what someone’s been up to lately is also fine. The thing with small talk is it’s a blank canvass and it’s nice to just answer in a way that denies or spurs conversation given your whims

i don't really find it invasive when people ask me, tbh, I just hate explaining it because it takes so long lol....

hobbies I'll talk about all day though