I coach. People always ask things like:
“Do you really like kids?”
“Have you ever done sports before?”
and, my favorite:
“When do you think my child will be ready to move up to the next level?” — this is always asked within the first week the child has ever done the sport. seriously.

Too funny!

This post reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Jerry is dating a woman named Donna Chang (really Changstein) and everyone is disappointed when they find out she’s not Chinese!

Hahaha that is funny. Delicious looking breakfast! I have to get my hands on some of those sesame almonds.

Ugh, I’m a librarian and I get all kinds… so you check out books? (no)… or when they find out you need a Master’s to be a librarian – oh you have to go to school for that?

I’m the History Department Secretary for the College of William and Mary. I’m forever getting calls wherein people ask me about random Williamsburg-centered historical bits. And they are upset when I personally can’t answer the question. I’m just the secretary!!

I also get people that can’t get professors to contact them back. Well, if they won’t answer your calls and emails.. and won’t answer mine… should I use smoke signals next? How about telepathy or carrier pigeons?

I’m dying about the “is he Chinese” question. That is hilarious.

That’s so crazy that they ask if he’s Chinese! Who cares what race he is!

That is really obnoxious that people ask about his ethnicity/race. I can understand the questions related to details of what he does, how he was educated, etc. because people want to understand, but really, it doesn’t matter if he is white, black, or purple.

I’m a nuclear engineer, so I get the most bizarre questions around.
“Aren’t you worried about not being able to have babies?” (no because I don’t plan to, and because I am exposed to almost no occupational radiation)
“Is your job like Homer Simpson’s?” (yes. obviously.)
“Where can you even go to school for that?” (MIT. Yes, I’m smarter than you, now go away)
“Do you work with bombs?” (Not anymore. It got kind of boring about 5 years after the Manhattan project wrapped up)
“There must not be many women in that field.” (Correct)
“That must make it easy for you to get a job, right?” (Well, my three degrees from MIT might do that, but being female, no, not so much)
“Can you help me fix my refrigerator?” (yes. because that’s what I learned about in neutron physics)

I’m a pastor so I get questions like…..

So, can you get married? (Yes, Im not a nun)

They let girls be pastors? (Yup! It’d be hard to be one if they didn’t)

What kind of degree do you need for that? (Undergrad and Masters of Divinity)

Oh, like in Harry Porter? (Ugh, Im done!)

Ha!

Well this isn’t my job, per se, but it’s/was my daily living. I just graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst (YEAHHHH represent) as a linguistics major. Whenever people heard that, and didn’t know about it, the number one question that would fly out of their mouth was “WHOA! How many languages do you speak?!?”. Answer: two. Linguistics work with the THEORY of languages and their universal innate function as an aspect of our biology. However, many of us graduate with very bizarre functioning knowledge of random facts of other languages. For example, many of us know a lot about the genderization in Bantu languages or the de-voicing of vowels in Japanese…we just simply can’t [fluently] speak them! 🙂

rant over :)d

I don’t know why I find this post so hilarious. Maybe because it’s early. But I am actually laughing SO HARD right now. I am also now watching that seinfeld clip linked to above and laughing SO HARD at it.

When I was teaching full time I would ALWAYS get the comment that I am overpaid for only working 9 months a year. I would like to see those people try teaching in a middle school for one day and see if they think they get paid enough. I have also only taught in private schools or as a sub, so I KNOW I haven’t made nearly as much as I am worth (especially now with Masters #2 on the way!)

I am a teacher, and even though it isn’t a question, the number one statement people make (mostly guys) when they find out I am a teacher is “Wow, I wish my 5th grade teacher looked like you. The boys must all love you”. So ridiculous!

well I’m a student, so I don’t really have a “real” job, but when people find out that I go to Stanford, I always get similar responses:
“wow, so are you really smart or something?”
“well I guess you didn’t do too poorly in high school!” (usually said with plenty of sarcasm).
“oh, well look at you!” (usually said with even more sarcasm).

AGHHHH I hate it! How on earth do you respond to any of those kinds of questions/comments?
Actually, seriously. If any HTP readers have any advice for how to respond, I would more than welcome your suggestions!

People never ask weird questions about my job, but when I was in college they would ask weird questions about my major (Exercise Physiology). Like, “Oh cool, so you are going to be a P.E. teacher??!!” Um no…if I was going to be a P.E. teacher, my major would be P.E….

That is funny about your husband…one of those stereotypes I suppose about the job. When I tell people I work at NOAA they start asking me all types of weather questions and I keep telling them that I know nothing about the weather because that isn’t the part of NOAA I work for but they don’t seem to care :).

I’ve never really gotten funny questions about my job (early childhood educator / English teacher) but with my husband in the Army, I’ve gotten a lot of really stupid and downright rude and mean questions like “so… how do you feel knowing your husband has killed people?”

I’m a stay at home mom, so I often get asked “so what do you do all day?”

Heh! I am a fitness instructor and personal health coach. Most people ask me what they should eat and how to work out best to lose weight…… And usually I can give them some pointers, but there is no ONE thing that works for everyone! So that is a hard one to answer. Ha.

I get comments mostly about where I work and what I do.

You work at _____. Do you play video games all day? No I have a job to do.

Whats that? Internal Auditor.

Oh like taxes? No, not like taxes.

Can you help me do my taxes? No.

Why not I thought auditors knew taxes? I’m and Internal Auditor – not IRS, and I use turbo tax so that shows you how much I remember from 2 semesters of tax in college.

I am in charge of a university’s website… and the most common question I get is, “So what do you do most of the day, after you do some web stuff? That can’t possibly be enough work for all day!”

My husband gets the same stuff as Kate, he is an auditor and people always want him to help him with taxes. He’s not a tax accountant, he’s an auditor!

I get the same question with my current job as I did when I was in school getting my degree.

I have a math degree, so everyone always assumed I would become a teacher. Now that I work for a University (not teaching!), people still assume I’m a teacher. It is however great for store discounts 🙂

I’m a teacher, and I almost always hear, “Do you like kids?”

No. I just chose to work with them for nine hours each day. I mean, really?!

I’m in grad school, but I waitress part-time at a comedy club. People always ask if I ever go and do stand-up. I am not funny at all, and they don’t just let anyone who works there go up and tell jokes!

My boyfriend is an electrical engineer for the power company around here, and people always ask him if he can get them a discount on their electric bills…it doesn’t work like that!

It must be really AWESOME to have a husband that can whip up an individualized herbal concoction for you whenever you need it!!

I work as a Registered Dietitian and people always ask if:

1) I only eat tofu and wheat grass (uhhh… NO!)
2) If its really hard for me to eat out in restaurants (uhh… NO!)
3. If I ever miss eating fast food (Uhhhhh.. NO NO NO!)

I enjoy chatting, for HOURS, about food and health. I find that most people simply have NO clue what to eat or how to eat. They simply stick with the same ‘food groups’: Pizza, hotdogs, fr chicken, burgers (AKA the ‘crap’ food group). Its fun, and challenging, to try and introduce people to new foods and to encourage them to ‘think outside the box’.

As a lawyer, people think I know everything about every area of law and can help them (for free, of course) with every legal question they have! Oh, and that I’m overpaid. 😛

I’m a ballerina, so the typical conversation goes like this: “Oh, so you’re like in school or something then.” “No, it’s my job.” “But I don’t understand, what do you really do?” “I get paid to perform ballet. That’s what I really do” “So what do you do all day long?” “Rehearse and perform.” “How’s the pay for that, maybe I should try doing that….sounds easy!” “Yeah, do that. Let me know how it turns out.” Grrrr. But I have yet to be asked if I’m Chinese 😉

I love the whole Asian questions!! Being a Chinese girl myself, I get asked lots of questions or received surprised statements based on assumptions too – “Oh, your husband’s not Chinese?” – No, he’s white. “You use forks at dinner?!” – Yes, it took me years to learn, but I’ve finally figured out how to hold one correctly (j/k) – “Wow, do you know what those asian people were saying?” – No I don’t. Why, do you speak Japanese?

It’s nice to get perspective from the “other” side of these assumptions 🙂 I think your response to the “Is he Chinese” question is wonderful. Interestingly enough, I’ve actually had a person tell me they made an appointment with a doctor and picked him because he had an asian name. Then they were upset because he only gave them “Western” medical advice. Race assumptions again! 😉

That is too funny! I work in tech & health care PR, and whenever I tell people I’m a PR executive, they always assume I have a lifestyle like Samantha on Sex and the City. In actuality, I spend the day writing incredibly technical press releases and pitches. Not too glamorous!

I used to teach English as a Second Language to adults from various ethnic backgrounds.
The most common thing I’d hear is: “So do you speak a lot of languages then?”
NO, I don’t! I taught English with simpler English, or with pictures, gestures, or context. I don’t think people understand that you can learn a language without translating to your mother tongue. I mean, how do people learn their first language in the first place??

I worked for the Girl Scouts at one point and people asked if I had cookies and went to camp. Uh, no. The Girl Scouts do so much more than that!

I’m sure I’ve had strange questions about my jobs, but I always got asked questions about my husband’s job (Naval intelligence officer). His last tour was at a non-military government agency, and I got asked all the time if he really was in the Navy. No, for almost thirty years he’s been dressing in a Navy officer costume … Or people would ask me what he did, and then immediately reply “if you told me, you’d have to shoot me.” Sorry, I don’t know what he did. That’s the nature of the business, and he couldn’t tell me.

I’m a Salvation Army minister but so often people miss the minister part. They come to my church during office hours looking for the store. It happens a lot at the beginning of college terms.

People also assume it is my job to pay all their bills when often I only can refer them to agencies who have those funds.

I do wear a uniform for work and was thanked for service to our country on Veteran’s Day. I said thanks and would tell my dad who is a real veteran.

I work for an optometrist. His last name is very Mexican, so every once in a while, a patient will come in and stutter over his name, then finally ask, “Where are you from?”

He always replies, “Minnesota.”

Well I just graduated from a Waldorf HS, founded by a….person named Rudolph Steiner, and the two questions we students get asked the most are “Oh yeah the cult school? Do you really believe that Steiner stuff?”-not a cult, but admittedly wierd, and no by HS we kinda just laugh at it. And seondly “What is Eurythmy?” Google it, we made a shirt this year, becasue we got so tired of explaining it haha

I’m a nurse on a burn unit, and the first reaction is usually complete and utter silence, followed by, “Wow…I can’t even imagined,” followed by, “So it’s just like Grey’s Anatomy, right?”

Oh, most definitely……not.

Ha! I’m a dietetics student, and I don’t often get asked weird questions, but if I ever bump into someone at the grocery store, they’ll immediately apologize for the contents of the cart. “Oh that pie is for my husband–not for me!”

I work for the IRS, Office of Chief Counsel. Enough said.

I work at a school board, but I’m not a teacher (I do payroll). People are always asking me if I get summers off…..I wish!!! 🙂