To be offended?

[Mnfirsttimer]

I work for a big corporate with good money. A friend of a friend was joking yesterday how they too could have “sold their soul” to do similar but that they didn’t. Aibu to find this fairly offensive?! I laughed it off but it bothering me

But not many of us can realistically work for companies who actively do good in the world. There wouldn’t be enough jobs.

No, but you can choose not to work for companies who actively do harm. DH and I both quit jobs on those grounds in another country and moved job,DS’s to the UK to start over.

I've worked for big organsations. I did my job professionally and with integrity. I would feel insulted if anyone suggested that I had sold my soul for the money. Anyone who did would be off my Christmas card list in very short order.

If you were happy and confident in your life choices it would bother you less perhaps ?
Personally I would only get a tiny bit irked by this
I am in a profession which is occasionally slagged off by ignorant gobshites ( my brother ) so can sympathise but I know I can do something that a vast amount of folks couldn’t handle so “laugh” it off and move on

@JemimaPuddlePeacock

God no, YABU to be offended. They’re saying that to them it’d feel like selling their soul, not accusing you of doing the same.

Don't be so naive. Of COURSE the OP's 'friend' was accusing the OP of selling their soul. It's clearly an attack on her. A spiteful, sly, underhand attack. I can't believe anyone would deny that's what it was.

YANBU @Mnfirsttimer I would say (if she says anything again,) 'why are you being spiteful about my job? Are you jealous?'

See what she says.

Sounds jealous to me. And bitchy too.

Ask her if no-one would buy her soul!

There's really no such thing as 'selling ones soul'. You do a job, you get paid for it. The amount you get paid is generally in line with the amount of work behind being qualified for it. Isn't it?

That’s simplistic, @shrumps. If you’re a mechanical engineer, you could work on design in the built environment, or build the ground-to-air missiles systems for Lockheed Martin that are being used to kill civilians in Yemen. What you get paid is irrelevant to how much potential damage you doing your job does.

I used to work in the investment sector and left because it didn't tally with my ethics. I just couldn't live with myself and I Andes up feeling hate towards my work colleagues. Very unhealthy.

That said, yes they were being rude and it's ok to be offended, but it's your choice to ignore it or take it on board. I'd recommend ignoring.

I worked in the corporate sector and enjoyed it, but it felt soulless but because the company I worked for was particularly unethical but because what I did didn't really matter to the world in the grand scheme of things. I moved to a completely different role in the public sector as a practitioner and felt very fulfilled in my work, I knew I was actually making a difference to people's lives but the slow beurocracy was so frustrating. I now work for a private company subcontracted to carry out work for a government department in a much more senior role. We have to be flexible, adaptable, business savvy, rational in the way of the private sector whilst also working to very tight budgets to secure the best possible outcomes for service users and make a huge difference to the people we work with and the general public, I love it and it gives me the best of both worlds (and sometimes the worst). It's just a shame the salary falls on the pubic rather than private sector side of things! I do have people question why I do what I do when I could earn double my salary elsewhere, and I often tell them that when I did I felt that I'd sold my soul for a large salary and a company credit card. There's more to life for me.
I think you've taken an off the cuff comment to heart a little too much.