To find it awkward explaining my job?

[Bluebluesea321]

Does anyone else find it awkward/tiring trying to explain their job to people e.g. when being asked in a social setting? Unless you’re a vocation like doctor, teacher, accountant etc it just feels quite difficult without either sounding boring or show-offy! I work in a senior role in financial services and although it’s a very good job I have people asking what I do!

I’m a midwife. I hate telling people because I inevitably get a dramatised birth story which almost always ends in ‘and we nearly died’ or ‘we would have died if not for x/y/z’.

I know a nurse who has this whole story made up that she sells hot sausages in a bun in a marketstall. The types of sausages are in colour coded packaging for the type of meat in it which is really handy and if she's really enjoying the conversation she will describe her uniform. She got found out once on a group holiday when someone became very ill.

I work in sustainability. Which immediately means I am a massive hippy and want to save the world! I want us as humans to save the world (I don't expect to do it alone!) I also don't think I'm a hippy, I just don't want to leave the planet in the shit tip we are now!

Me too...I'm quite high up in financial services compliance and its really hard to explain.

When my stepson introduced me to his girlfriends parents he said "I've known Swoon for 20 years and I still don't understand what she does."

DH calls me a policeman for financial advisers.

Absolutely. I'm self employed, work at home as a web content writer.

If I say "I work for myself at home" people panic and think I'm going to recruit them into a MLM scheme.

If I say "I'm a writer" people automatically assume i write novels. Which I don't.

DH works in media/tv, and we have lost count of the amount of times he has had people saying 'can you get our Daniel/James/Dave/Steve/Alan a job on the telly?'

No experience or training at ALL in anything to do with media - but they think DH can just get them a job as an actor or writer 'on the telly!'

So he just tells people (usually) that he works in Morrisons on the tills.

Digital copywriter donkey

Ex-dp was an estate agent for a while... he got so sick of the reactions he got, he started telling people he was a dustman!

When I tell people that I work in accounting they aren't usually impressed because I don't say I'm an accountant, and they tend to assume I'm in a rather lowly position, handing out petty cash or something. There's rather a lot more to it than that. Most of it dull but occasionally it isn't. Perhaps I should tell them I spend some of the time looking for black holes

Yes. I'm a landscape designer. People often want me to come a do a look around and give free of charge ideas. OR get them plants from the wholesalers at a trade price. CF's I'm afraid.

I say I’m a historian/university lecturer. Sometimes I say I’m a teacher as people tend to not like academics.

I once told someone I worked in pharma and he thought I said "I am a farmer" and started asking me all these questions about what type of animals and crops I had

Even within known professions you find this as so many variants. But yes, much more difficult within relatively unknown professions I’m sure

I do a dull job for a large and well-known company so I usually just say ‘I work for x’

I find once you say the words health and safety people's eyes just wander

Struggling with this at the moment. A short version is that I'm a consultant working with arts and community organisations to support them in various areas such as fundraising, interim management or the early stages of capital projects. But by the time I've said all of that people have usually glazed over or left the room.

I really can't be bothered explaining what I do, so I just say I work in I.T., rather than the specific type of software I work with snooze snooze bore and what it does.
Just say you work in finance. If the person does too they might have some follow up questions, and at least will probably understand your answer.
Otherwise that's enough to make them smile and nod and change the subject

I never know what to say because I work in a certain profession but am not yet qualified so can’t say I’m a X or even a trainee X because technically I’m not

Same here OP. I've NCd but (obviously) I'm a voiceover artist. People know what it is in general but I often get people telling me that they've always wanted to be one and everyone tells them how nice their voice is. Then questions like 'where would I have heard your voice?' or 'how much can you earn doing that?'

I know people are just being nice, feigning interest or actually do want to know but it makes me feel awkward sometimes. I usually say I work from home and if they ask me to elaborate then I do.

FWIW yes you have an absolutely gorgeous voice! Please let me tell you the name of every client I've worked hard to accumulate over my career and the details of how much I earn. It's just sooooo easy...I just record myself talking after all!

Same OP. I work in finance, and even my family don't understand my role.

Depending on the company I am in 'I'm a teacher' changes to 'I manage a team of 30'

If I tell people I'm a therapist everyone tells me their problems

Which is incredibly annoying when someone has come to fix the boiler or do work on the house if they charge by the hour.

I got wise to this when a plumber fitted a ball cock (generously, a 15 minute job) and cried about his divorce and charged me 2 hours work!

So now I let them in and fuck off to the office to do 'paperwork' (Mumsnet)

@Starzig, that can’t be a nice job to do though?.

My job tends to prompt people to tell me very personal things about themselves or people they know, even hairdressers, taxi drivers, tradesmen etc. Sometimes I just say I work in financial services, or auditing so I don't have to listen to it.

I work for Central Government as a financial technology analyst....I just say I work in finance. People assume I do the payroll.

I've always lied about my career to strangers. My favourite one was that I wrote plays for Radio 4 .

Recently found out my mother used to do this when she was in her 20's too. She and her friend were penguin keepers.

I'm a musician - classically trained but I'd don't teach or play with an orchestra so that confuses people when they ask. My husband does both, so often I get the impression people think he is more successful than me. I get asked a lot whether I earn any money for my work or what my other job is. Then when I explain what I do if people ask, as I freelance I have four or five totally different music related things I do on a regular basis so it probably sounds like I'm just making jobs up!