What do you do?
blogIt sometimes feels as if the entire purpose of all human endeavour is to have something interesting to say when people ask “what do you do”.
There are two basic responses: you can tell them exactly how you occupy yourself between waking up and going to bed or you can tell them what you aspire to do between waking and going to bed. Very few people are lucky enough to be able to do exactly what they aspire to do. Even philosopher kings often spend more time procrastinating than “living the dream”.
If you earn your living as a waiter and yet aspire to be a writer, what do you say?
If you are someone who writes all day everyday yet you’ve never had anything published, what do you say?
The problem is with human ego. We want to impress our interlocutors with our wit and panache, so it is galling when you tell the truth (and say you’re a web designer) only to find that people look start looking over your shoulder for someone more interesting to talk to.
It is at this point where you start to think about other responses, such as “I don’t know” or “As little as possible”, or “Nothing”, but unless the person you’re talking to is sympathetic to cute replies it probably won’t work.
Perhaps we should just avoid the question entirely.