Lately, I've been frustrated by this question. I actually love my job and love talking about to people about it (check out www.Capterra.com). However, when this question precedes nearly everything else in the conversation, it can seem like an interview question. I know I'm not alone in thinking that "what do you do?" can roughly be rephrased as, "can your job help me in some way?" or "is what you do cool enough for my attention?"
There are those who are genuinely interested in how you chose to spend a third of your day, but more often than not I sense that "what do you do" is more about who is asking than who is answering. I recently spent a week in Chicago, meeting a bunch of new people at several parties. Only twice (I counted) was I asked about my job. It was extremely refreshing to make new friends and not discuss or care about what we do for work.
Even when you have a job you love, there are many other ways to define yourself. This philosophy goes back to my post a few days ago about doing things that make you smile outside of a paycheck. Surely there's a lot more to you and your friends than what they do, so try ignoring that question next time you meet someone - I bet you'll have a much more interesting conversation.
Amen Chaser! I make it a point to not ask that question when I'm meeting someone for the first time. I learned that about 10 years ago in Germany, where it's considered impolite to do because a person's job doesn't define their worth as an individual.... shocking concept for DC, I know. I think the first or second question anyone should ask when first meeting someone should instead be "What're you drinking?". Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteNo. I'm Joe, you're Chase. (No, my website is not broken, it's just empty at the moment until I find the time to write a secured login)
ReplyDeleteI agree that it can be annoying, and it's certainly seems disingenuous. I think that a lot of it has to do with people's instinct to put other people in categories (makes a lot of money, very important, works too much, creative, logical, etc). In DC, I feel like it is worse because lots of people come here with a specific career agenda. It is one of the few places where it is somewhat rare to meet someone from DC. For a lot of these people, their careers are very important for them and they see it as a defining attribute. I know that over the past few months, I have tried to stop asking that question, but it inevitably comes up in the conversation soon. I think that I'm going to try to have some fun with it now that you've brought up the subject. I bet it would be interesting to see how people react to different jobs.
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