re: I hate when I meet a person and they ask what I do for a living

Are you famous?

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What? I'd like to know whether a girl I might ask out is a Waffle House waitress or a bartender in a dive vs a pediatrician or accountant.

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And you'll find that out eventually. But the first thing should be "do you like this person?" If the first thing you ask is "Is this someone who I could see myself in a relationship with?" you're doing it wrong.

My wife is from an affluent family and had she made her determination of if we were a good fit based on the fact that I worked an overnight shift at a motel when we met, we wouldn't be married. I no longer work that overnight motel shift, but that is beside the point.

Just because someone is a bad position right now doesn't mean they will be forever. That's not to say give everyone a chance, it's more to say don't try to determine whether or not someone is a good fit based on wherever they are in life. Determine the good fit based off attraction.

If your attraction depends on someone's profession, maybe go see someone.

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Again...if I'm off the clock I don't want to talk about the shite that goes down at work. And of course...half the time the person I'm talking to has an AMAZING [insert relation here] with autism that I then have to hear the whole background of, at which point I'm then asked my advice on various situations and just like that....I'm at work.

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I work in healthcare IS, I usually just get blank stares when I say that, so I have to dumb it down like I’m talking to a child unless I’m talking with someone who works in healthcare, and then in that case they usually tell me that either love or hate the system that I specialize in. Luckily for me, I support people on the admin side and most of the people who I have these discussions with are on the direct patient care side, so we can’t get too in the weeds with it.

ETA: I very rarely talk about work when not working, my wife on the other hand has a ton of friends who are in her field and they have discussions about patients/situations several times per week outside of work. frick all that

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I worked an overnight shift at a motel

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How much kickback did you get from the pimps?

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How much kickback did you get from the pimps

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No BS, it was a shady motel in Alexandria, so this question isn't that out of line.

There was a multi person fatal shooting there about a year after I left. What do you expect when you're cheapest room is $37.

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Agree. Cringe when I hear this on the golf course.

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Hou_Lawyer

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People ask questions like this because it gives insight into a person.

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If they really wanted to gain insight into a person why not ask them about their religious beliefs?

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Why lie? What's the big secret? People ask questions like this because it gives insight into a person.

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I think it's not a great idea to lie, but I couldn't disagree more about the insight bit.

It gives the person asking a reason to ascribe their own insight into why a person may choose that profession. It has very little to do with the person who is answering the question.

There are so many different reasons that a person chooses a profession, many of them completely opposite from one another. Someone may get into law because they were wronged in the judicial system as a youth and want to do better. Someone else may get into law because their dad plays golf with a local attorney and they can get the keys to the castle. Someone else may get into law because they like to solve problems.

What you think of the person based on their answer has very little to do with them and more to do with how you perceive that profession.

I usually respond with:

I can't tell you what I do but it's kind of like riding a bike except the bike is on fire, you are on fire, everything is on fire.