Boring Job

[sun~]

Lots of interesting jobs out there!

 

I was thinking about the dinner conversations. Often when I mention what I do, the conversation has lasted long after dinner and the waiters want to leave.

 

As soon as I mention that I am a realtor, in one of the strongest, most consistent markets in Canada, I get deluged with questions. Every American wants to talk about their crappy banking system, how much their homes are worth (or are worthless), the outlook for the economy and housing sector. Canadians will discuss local markets and how lucky I am living in Ottawa. I enjoy answering questions and discussing housing markets, investment properties etc. I try not to initiate things to be quite honest.

 

Even last night, I took a client out for dinner, the server was listening in. He sat down (yep. This happens all the time) and picked my brain about land transfer tax, capital gains tax, house flipping and legal questions about buying a property with a partner. I have tried to extract myself at the table on cruises after the waiters start tapping their feet. My last cruise from New Orleans just about everyone I spoke to wanted to tell me their story. It is fascinating, don't get me wrong, but sometimes I want to talk about something else.

 

My hubby is an Engineer - well actually a Director at a huge defense company, he has worked on fascinating programs. He travels all over. hubby has three degrees and plays the guitar. But do folks want to talk about that stuff? Noooooo!

[Hoyaheel]

Are there any people cruising that have "ordinary" jobs, not accountants, lawyers, scientists, chemists, teachers ect. The ordinary man in the street, i.e. garbage collector, shop assistant, carpenter, electrician, get my drift:D

 

There are far more teachers and accountants in my town than garbage collectors or carpenters, so I miss the distinction about how one is "ordinary" but the other is not?

 

I have to say - while I love to talk about what I do or what others might do, I tend to start conversations with strangers on cruises with something like "so are you enjoying yourself" [this can be problematic if you get a complainer!] or "what did you do in port today" and go from there:D

[Sinppu]

but in one culture (I can't remember, but I believe it was in Europe) it's extremely rude to ask one about their financial position at all...and since you could deduce one's income by their job, it was naturally rude to even ask what their job was.

 

I'd point this toward Asia. I've never heard any fellow European consider it rude.

 

The ordinary man in the street, i.e. garbage collector, shop assistant, carpenter, electrician

By ordinary jobs I got the feeling you meant "not as well-paid" :rolleyes:

[Bridge Maven]

To me an ordinary vs a more unique job pertains to how many people have it.

 

My husband is the former Director of the NYC Forensic (Crime) Lab, and when we first met during the early seventies, most of my friends didn't even know what a forensic scientist was. So at that time I considered it to be a unique job. Now he is a college professor, which I consider to be more ordinary because there are a lot of college professors.

[meggie711]

I was only going to make one comment but that is blown out the water. It was:

 

Are there any people cruising that have "ordinary" jobs, not accountants, lawyers, scientists, chemists, teachers ect. The ordinary man in the street, i.e. garbage collector, shop assistant, carpenter, electrician, get my drift:D

I can possibly see why people clam up and not keep the convo's going.

 

Actually I think there is nothing more normal than to ask where are you from and what do you do for a job. Nothing offensive about that, conversations starters really. We love nothing more than to chat with people from other countries.

 

My husband is a lineman and, as I mentioned before, I work in social services. We met an awesome couple from Europe on one of our cruises that went into a lot of detail about their jobs. She works in a casino and he works on oil pipelines. Even with a slight language barrier, we all had a lot of fun talking about our careers. I think there's a HUGE variety of people with different careers and backgrounds that would be interesting to talk to. It's not my desire to only sit with professionals as everyone has interesting stories to share.

[CurtS]

You can always find something to talk about in everyone's career. I once had the pleasure of sharing a buffet table with a gentleman who collected garbage. He seemed sheepish about his career until I asked him about some of the more unusual things that he has seen and picked-up. It was hilariously entertaining (not to mention a little spooky sometimes). You just need to keep your mind open for ideas to ask about. "You probably seen some really odd (passengers/things/places) in your job..." seems to generally get people to open up.

[xray]

I used to be a Funeral Director in the early years of our cuising and found out that was certainly a good good way to get a table for two after the first nights dining. I'm now a Radiologic Technologist which only draws stares and few questions which is OK by me. When discussing jobs or anything with people certain personality traits, mannerisms, and to a degree looks draw others into the coversations not necessarily the content of the conversation. Over the years I have talked with other FD's who have the opposite personality traits as myself and found that they appear to be the center of attention and the occupation discussion is soon lost. Yes, English was my worst subject in school.

 

Just call me XRAY, easy to pronounce and easy to spell.

[meggie711]

You can always find something to talk about in everyone's career. I once had the pleasure of sharing a buffet table with a gentleman who collected garbage. He seemed sheepish about his career until I asked him about some of the more unusual things that he has seen and picked-up. It was hilariously entertaining (not to mention a little spooky sometimes). You just need to keep your mind open for ideas to ask about. "You probably seen some really odd (passengers/things/places) in your job..." seems to generally get people to open up.

 

Curt, I agree! Everybody has something to share. It's up to everyone else to have an open mind and give people a chance. :)

[tigercat]

circuitrider I would love to have you at my table. I am a homemaker who is looking after her 3 youngest grandkids. I stayed home with my own kids and then looked after my oldest grandkids. Someone mentioned that they don't want to talk about kids and I understand that, but my life has been about my kids. I have worked part time and a some full time jobs but none that have given me more pleasure than looking after the kids.

I do however really enjoy talking to others and finding out where they live and what it is like. I do wonder though that if at dinner with people that are very intellectual I may be looked down on because of the life I have chosen.

tigercat

[cb at sea]

I think when folks ask, "What do you do", they are not really looking for details...just a general idea. As a matter of fact, too many details on ANYTHING get old real fast! Generalities seem to be the order of the day!

[Warmer Climes]

I think when folks ask, "What do you do", they are not really looking for details...just a general idea. As a matter of fact, too many details on ANYTHING get old real fast! Generalities seem to be the order of the day!

 

I agree. It's just small talk.

 

DH really doesn't like to talk about anything work-related on our cruises. Of course he's not offended when people ask him what he does but he will deflect questions because his job in healthcare finance isn't very interesting to people outside the field and also he just wants to have some gin and tonics and sit in the sun. As for me, my last job was a lifetime ago and like many here have said, people don't find stay at home moms too exciting. I am interested in other people, though, and if they like to talk about their jobs, I like to listen. Usually.

[Swayde]

I love to hear about what people do/did for a living. I like to hear about their families and pets and vacations and hobbies too. That said, my husband and I really are pretty boring. He is a fiber optics tech for the cable company. Yeah, I don't really understand it either except that it pays decent and has a lot of over time and that most businesses couldn't function now days if he wasn't adept enough to keep their internet up and running. I am a housewife / homeschool mom. Occasionally people ask questions about the homeschooling. Before I got married though I did work and had pretty common jobs like cashier, administrative assistant, payroll & billing, and mortgage loan processor.

 

I usually ask people where they are from rather than what they do for a living. I find hearing about different places to be much more fascinating. And if they happen to be from the same place as me, or some place I've been or want to go to, that makes for even more conversation topics.

[CurtS]

I love to hear about what people do/did for a living. I like to hear about their families and pets and vacations and hobbies too. That said, my husband and I really are pretty boring. He is a fiber optics tech for the cable company. Yeah, I don't really understand it either except that it pays decent and has a lot of over time and that most businesses couldn't function now days if he wasn't adept enough to keep their internet up and running. I am a housewife / homeschool mom. Occasionally people ask questions about the homeschooling. Before I got married though I did work and had pretty common jobs like cashier, administrative assistant, payroll & billing, and mortgage loan processor.

 

I usually ask people where they are from rather than what they do for a living. I find hearing about different places to be much more fascinating. And if they happen to be from the same place as me, or some place I've been or want to go to, that makes for even more conversation topics.

 

That's a very good point, Swayde. I've also ran into those people who don't want to talk about jobs (or, perhaps, don't want to be reminded that when the cruise is over, they have to go back to them). Usually we can find common ground after the first few, sometimes uncomfortable, minutes by asking where they are from, what about their families, hobbies, even TV shows or movies. We've met people from Chicago which we've visited many times and discussed the city. We have six children (mostly grown now) so sharing stories with parents are always entertaining. I think it's what you can discover about people. Someone once said that you should treat it much like Johnny Carson treated his guests--ask questions to find something that they like to talk about and then add to the conversation.

[spunkyhungry]

I hate being asked what I do for a living because I'm not working right now. I haven't worked for the past 2 years due to a medical reason, so every time I had to explain I wasn't working I was reminded of the pain I was living with, plus I felt embarassed. I also didn't feel like going into detail about my medical situation. Fortunately, I've finally conquered the medical problem and am applying for jobs now. So I'd much rather be asked where I'm from or how I'm liking the cruise/whatever is happening at the time.

[meggie711]

That's a very good point, Swayde. I've also ran into those people who don't want to talk about jobs (or, perhaps, don't want to be reminded that when the cruise is over, they have to go back to them). Usually we can find common ground after the first few, sometimes uncomfortable, minutes by asking where they are from, what about their families, hobbies, even TV shows or movies. We've met people from Chicago which we've visited many times and discussed the city. We have six children (mostly grown now) so sharing stories with parents are always entertaining. I think it's what you can discover about people. Someone once said that you should treat it much like Johnny Carson treated his guests--ask questions to find something that they like to talk about and then add to the conversation.

 

I agree.. looking back, we've always started with "Where are you from" and the conversation would naturally progress from there. Especially with people from other countries or areas I'm unfamiliar with, I usually ask a pretty basic "What's it like where you live" and enjoy hearing them talk about daily life. They may or may not talk about work, but they usually light up getting to tell somebody everything that they want them to know about where they live. One of my favorites was meeting a crazy group of guys from Slovakia on our last cruise. We had a really interesting conversation, and even threw in some (basic) history and politics. Then they bought me & hubby round after round for the rest of the cruise. Fun guys. lol

[mapsmith]

I hate being asked what I do for a living because I'm not working right now. I haven't worked for the past 2 years due to a medical reason, so every time I had to explain I wasn't working I was reminded of the pain I was living with, plus I felt embarassed. I also didn't feel like going into detail about my medical situation. Fortunately, I've finally conquered the medical problem and am applying for jobs now. So I'd much rather be asked where I'm from or how I'm liking the cruise/whatever is happening at the time.

 

 

That is why I always ask what a person's career is. With many cruisers being retired and some being "between jobs", asking what one's career is seems to be a safer question. And it usually leads to discussions like, "Well I was trained as an Electrical Engineer, but I was lucky enough to get elected to the Board of Selectmen, then Congress."

 

Gives a lot of room for the conversation to progress.