Innocuous things that make you irrationally embarrassed

Yes, there is nothing interesting about me describing what I do for a living and I feel sorry for anyone who tries to get into that conversation with me.

Then again, I have an aunt who got it into her head that I'm the "IT guy" at my work and get endless calls from people needing help fixing their computers, which is extremely far from the truth, but she kept asking me at Thanksgiving if I was getting pestered with IT calls. Didn't have the heart to say "nope, that's not at all what I do for a living."

Ha, when people ask me about my job, I literally say, "It's really boring and we're better off discussing something YOU want to talk about."

I try to play up the *point* of what I do, which has a semi public interest bent to it even though it's for profit. But I don't like overplaying that either, because it feels self-aggrandizing, and ultimately we're still a business.

If I was CEO of JPM that'd be my strategy as well.

yeah, the point of what I do is pretty zzzzzzzzz....

Christmas cards that are those newsletter type updates on what's been happening with the family for the last year make me irrationally embarrassed

btw that video that Tracer posted is not innocuous at all, all four of those people should be on the guillotine, yes the kids included

The holderness family is like kinda fun but mostly braggin

I feel so sorry for those kids, especially the girl as she looks like she's just about old enough to realise that her role here is to be laughed at in patronising way, but not old enough to tell her parents to get tae fuck.

Ha, when people ask me about my job, I literally say, "It's really boring and we're better off discussing something YOU want to talk about."

OMG somebody at a party asked me (I thought sincerely) about workers' comp law so I told her alllll about it and she for real said, "I have to go talk to somebody about something now" and walked away from me like mid sentence.

Professions kind of have their own languages, and after you spend years learning the language you kind of forget that you are speaking a language not everyone speaks.

Also, boring.

I really like hearing details about what other people's jobs. Like how do mail routes work? What is the lingo? What does an operations manager at a financial firm actually do on a typical day? What constitutes a good day or bad day for him or her? What is the lingo?

A friend of mine became a USPS delivery person, and I only asked him, oh, about 9000 questions about his job until finally he was all, look, I'd really like to watch this Super Bowl game now, ok?

I was working hard to make my discussion accessible and not dork out too much. She was just being polite when she asked and didn't actually want to hear about it. I'm usually really good at picking up on how people want to converse but I missed her signals completely.

xp me, too, actually. I ask cab drivers about their work arrangements all the time. I think it comes from being an L&E lawyer (though I think I was drawn to L&E bc I've always been fascinated with work).

That was also one of my fave things about my comp job - learning about people's jobs. Like did you know there is a manufacturing concern in central IL that just makes lids for various beverage containers? And a job someone has is to QA those lids.

xxp I bet I can talk to you about digital marketing and the newswire industry for up to 45 seconds before you wander away uninterested. Nobody can make this stuff interesting, and if they can, I fear for their immortal souls.

I'd appreciate five minutes on it, I think.

That was also one of my fave things about my comp job - learning about people's jobs. Like did you know there is a manufacturing concern in central IL that just makes lids for various beverage containers?

I DO know this and maybe we talked about it? I had to deal with someone at that (or similar?) company for work. Our work lives intersected at a lids concern.

one of the things I've learned as an adult is that when people are enthusiastic about something, it is much more interesting to hear them speak about it. so if someone enjoys their job or family or whatever, it might be worth your time to converse about it because the enthusiasm is what makes the conversation a lot more than the topic

people who are enthusiastic and lucid about something i have little interest in are sometimes the best! i find listening to people like that incredibly relaxing, somehow.

innocuous things that make you irrationally chill

people who are enthusiastic and lucid about something i have little interest in are sometimes the best! i find listening to people like that incredibly relaxing, somehow.

― christmas candy bar (al leong), Tuesday, December 17, 2013 1:22 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

That sounds great! Let me tell you about someone I'm enthusiastic about - Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Haha -- mmmm tell me more about configuring Bloomberg software while I rest my eyes.

xp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6TeDM-wlZ4

<3 BB

so I was just perusing Facebook and I saw that a friend of a friend posted the very same Xmas Jammies video and that my friend commented on it "Now that's a MILF!!!!!"

So add one more layer of embarassment onto this whole debacle.

and of course there's the generalized level of embarassment for humanity at large...

lol

she is kinda ws of shame tbf

I kind of wanted to post a mean comment on it on youtube, but idk, it's still some dude's family video. Would feel too icky.

plus he's an ilxor, we gotta stand by him

wait...really?

I just assumed that was pretty much what all ilxor's families were like

lol

the youtube comments seem to be about 60% people saying the video is cute and awesome, 30% people saying they want to have sex with the mom and 10% people angrily declaring their hatred of the family

why not have all three?

I sent this to my coworkers all 'wtf this is the worst thing ever' - of my five coworkers only 2 of them hated it, the rest were all 'LOL OMG THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER AHAHAHA'

humanity is doomed

p sure that is neither the worst thing ever nor the best thing ever, though definitely located closer on the spectrum to the former.

I don't think I love it or hate it, embarrassment is drowning out all other potential responses

Despite my general disdain for triathletes, I didn't mind that video.

_Ha, when people ask me about my job, I literally say, "It's really boring and we're better off discussing something YOU want to talk about."_

OMG somebody at a party asked me (I thought sincerely) about workers' comp law so I told her alllll about it and she for real said, "I have to go talk to somebody about something now" and walked away from me like mid sentence.

I remember this fondly.

uh oh, I feel an embarrassing poll coming on

Ha, when people ask me about my job, I literally say, "It's really boring and we're better off discussing something YOU want to talk about."

I work for an NGO for people with an unfortunate disease, and when I have to explain where I work I almost always get 'Oh, I didn't know you had [unfortunate disease]!', and they back away, and I have to be all, 'No, I don't, not that there's anything wrong with that, I just work there!'

i am not one for lolling about unfortunate diseases but that made me lol.

fuiud

wait did they seriously name their kids lola and penn

xpost lol!! my mum was an office admin for a "herd improvement" company ie artificial insemination of cows. ppl would ask what my mum did and I'd say she's an office admin and they'd say where and I'd tell them - I would get these crazy looks like YOUR MOM DOES WHAT NOW and have to say nonnono she just works in the office, like everyone was picturing my mom with her arm halfway up a cow

city ppl also have much crazier reactions that country ppl fyi
farm ppl just go oh ok

I am more embarrassed by the reaction that people have when they learn I'm a SOFTWARE DEVELOPER. It's an indicator that no matter how reasonable I was in conversation, I'm going to become a complete socially-incapable nerdo any second.

embarrassed for them, that is