When you tell people what you do for a living, what is the

[Jalapeñomel]

first thing they say to you?


People almost always say, "oh chemistry. I hated chemistry in high school."

[lilafowler]

"Wow. You're awesome!"

[cereal K]

I basically get a blank stare. And then people tell me that store brands are the EXACT same thing as national brands, and we only change the packaging. Okay then.

[gault]

HR.

Oh, so you hire and fire huh. Do you like bossing people around?

[cherryvalance]

I'm an English teacher and it's evenly tied between "Oh, I'd better watch my grammar!" and "Ugh, I hated English and never read a book."

[slcjess]

"oh i never buy anything from there"

Large online retailer

OR sometimes people will say 'Oh I hear that's a great place to work!' Yep, it sure is. Haha.

[Ohhmm(bligo)]

OOOOOO better you than me!

[sproctopus]

"Whoa."

ETA: I'm an embryonic stem cell scientist.

[hisno1girl]

When I was a legal assistant: "Ugh, I hate lawyers."

When I was working in homelessness prevention: "Ugh, why do people who don't even WORK get so much free stuff!"

My last job for the church, "Oh, now we're going to have to act proper around you!"

It just occurred to me that "fuck you" would have been a great response for all three of these comments.

[hungrycaterpillar]

Generally - oh wow followed by - my insert xyz here hurts when I do xyz - why?

[RoxMonster]

May 2, 2017 20:47:04 GMT -5 cherryvalance said:

I'm an English teacher and it's evenly tied between "Oh, I'd better watch my grammar!" and "Ugh, I hated English and never read a book."

Same here. I usually get the latter more. "Oh English was my worst subject in high school. I hated it!"

Great, thanks for the chat lol.

[themysteriouswife]

May 2, 2017 20:46:06 GMT -5 jamaicam said:

Do they ever listen to you?

(I'm a policy analyst/advisor at our version of the White House)

This sounds so cool!

[themysteriouswife]

I hate taxes or why does some random person get more back than me?

[winecat]

You must have so much fun every day.

[TR]

"What is that?"

[miso]

"What a blessing!"
"You're so lucky!"
"That's the most important job in the world!"
Etc.

It's kind of ridiculous.

[vicky]

"Oh I'd be so fat" or "your boyfriend is so lucky."

[FastHands]

It goes one of 2 ways (cancer research):
1) the awed/impressed "that's so cool/you must be so smart!"
Orrr
2) the confident-there's-already-a-cure crowd, broken into (2a) how do you sleep at night taking fundraising money when you already know how to help people, and (2b) does it bother you that the government has a cure but won't tell anyone?

[newnamesameperson]

It is beyond annoying. They expect me to detail it to them and then still lack the desire (although, I like to pretend comprehension) to understand what the hell I'm talking about. It's my response that bothers me though the most to be honest. Why do I feel the need to simplify it to people who clearly are interested in one response?

[LanaLang]

I'm in HR, so I just get a bored look. Those who know my name and are a little quick make the silly coincidental connection between my name and occupation and we have some fun groans.

[wannabe]

It's 50/50. I either get "oh, must be nice!" or "well, isn't that lovely?"

[namasteak]

"Do you do anything else?" When hearing I am a SAHM.

[unclejesse]

"How are you so thin? I'd be 300 pounds." "OMG I've always dreamed of owning my own bakery, I make the best __________"

[sewf]

"Oh, do you have such and such book?"

I work at a used bookstore. I have no idea if we have that book, because I am not at work!

[Jalapeñomel]

May 2, 2017 20:59:12 GMT -5 FastHands said:

2) the confident-there's-already-a-cure crowd, broken into (2a) how do you sleep at night taking fundraising money when you already know how to help people, and (2b) does it bother you that the government has a cure but won't tell anyone?

Whatthefuck.

[FastHands]

May 2, 2017 21:01:25 GMT -5 sewf said:

"Oh, do you have such and such book?"

I work at a used bookstore. I have no idea if we have that book, because I am not at work!

"No. All we sell is the bible, because it is the only book worth reading." If you can say this while maintaining eye contact and not blinking, that's even better.

[FastHands]

May 2, 2017 21:01:49 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

May 2, 2017 20:59:12 GMT -5 FastHands said:

2) the confident-there's-already-a-cure crowd, broken into (2a) how do you sleep at night taking fundraising money when you already know how to help people, and (2b) does it bother you that the government has a cure but won't tell anyone?

Whatthefuck.

Mmmhmm. It's not *common*, but still more frequent than I would have imagined. Probably close to 10 times in 11 years? My favorite was from a guy selling fish at an aquarium store. He was like OH YOU DO SCIENCE COME CHECK OUT THESE FISH THAT GLOW OH AND ALSO YOU ARE THE DEVIL AND YOU KILLED MY MOM. Paraphrasing.

[shoeless]

"You must be really smart". (Aerospace engineering)

[sewf]

May 2, 2017 21:02:52 GMT -5 FastHands said:

May 2, 2017 21:01:25 GMT -5 sewf said:

"Oh, do you have such and such book?"

I work at a used bookstore. I have no idea if we have that book, because I am not at work!

"No. All we sell is the bible, because it is the only book worth reading." If you can say this while maintaining eye contact and not blinking, that's even better.

I have had people come up to me at the grocery store if I am wearing my company shirt, while I am shopping, to ask me if we have a book. Yes, just let me teleport over for you and find out for you!

[Aloe Vera]

"Ah..." because they don't understand a thing I do or the words I use to describe my job. 
--> I play with natural gas.