# But I'm an ARTIST! No, you're a barista **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 2, 2006, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-im-an-artist-no-youre-a-barista/362958 "2006-07-02T18:59:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![homeskillet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7ba0ec/32.png) [@homeskillet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/homeskillet)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2006, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-im-an-artist-no-youre-a-barista/362958/1 "2006-07-02T18:59:03Z")
I won’t go into the specifics of the asshattery\* I had to put up with yesterday, but here’s the jist of my complaint. It’s a bit scattered, but you’ll get the point. I feel that I’m a pretty creative person. As a hobby I paint, make music (thank you Propellerhead Reason) and am (to toot my own horn) pretty skilled when it comes to interior design. But professionally, I’m an accountant. I didn’t necessarily want to be an accountant. I wanted to be an astronaut when I was little, but I mean, come on …who grows up thinking “_I wanna know the ins and outs of double entry accrual accounting_!”? “_I wanna reconcile the double declining depreciation method to Einstein’s theory of relativity_” So that if we have two identical assets, but one asset is traveling at the speed of light, does it depreciate at the same rate as it’s identical counterpart here on Earth? NO, that’s not quite what I was thinking when I was just a wee tater-tot. NO, I chose accounting, because I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing with my life, but felt it better to at least have a marketable skill to know while I sort all that out. Yet I’m often derided by some of the more “creative” twits that inevitably seep into my social circle for not being “creative enough”. Excuse me for having a career and not resigning myself to a life of “unworthy” jobs because I’m REALLY SOMETHING MUCH BETTER. Artistic fucks who manage to not only demean me but to also disennoble the service industry really get under my skin. “Well yeah, I’m a waiter, but I’m _REALLY_ an actor” And I could certainly do without comments like these: **"You’ve sold out man!"** Sold out? To whom? Jeezy don’t you think if I were to “sell out” I’d ask for a bit more. Cuz accountancy is such a lucrative profession! **"You’re just workin’ for THE MAN"** Just who the fuck is “THE MAN”? …and where do you work again? STARBUCKS, yeah\* I’M \* working for “_THE MAN_”! :rolleyes: **"But you don’t look like and accountant"** And what exactly does an accountant look like? I probably look more like one while I’m putting together a consolidated balance sheet. It’s just like when people say, “_Oh, but you don’t look like you’re a "gay_” WTF Just what does a “gay” look like, well maybe not so much at the moment, but I’m sure I look pretty “gay” when I’m getting plowed by a big ol’ hairy piece of man meat! :eek: I PIT STUPID “CREATIVE” FUCKERS WHO WANNA LIVE IN A PLUSH SOCIETY AND REAP THE BENEFITS THEREOF YET STILL GIVE OUT TO US “CORPORATE DRONES” WHO MAKE IT ALL POSSIBLE FOR THEM! :smack: I may be a cog in a wheel, but it’s us worker bees that make the “artistic” community possible. \*\*\*\*\*credit where credit is due, Thank You SDMB for adding some vibrant color to the English Lexicon. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-im-an-artist-no-youre-a-barista/362958/2 "2006-07-02T19:05:57Z")
It’s sad, but this is what accountancy does to people. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2006, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-im-an-artist-no-youre-a-barista/362958/3 "2006-07-02T19:09:42Z")
I don’t know what it is about American society that we totally discount hobbies as being “real” or “meaningful”–it’s only if you turn something into a career that you can be obsessive about it, and any non-carreer interest that you are actually enthusiastic about is suspect–I mean, what a “nerd” or a “geek” really is is someone who cares about something that isn’t a job or family. And I get the same crap from my husband’s fellow grad students in a liberal arts program. I teach high school, and when this comes up at a mixer or whatever, I have actually been told 'I’m sorry". I mean, WTF? I love what I do. I am doing good in the world. I am glad people go to grad school to study what I teach on a higher level, but I didn’t get into teaching because I couldn’t make the cut in academia. I got in to teaching because I have a passion for it. I don’t need pity. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2006, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-im-an-artist-no-youre-a-barista/362958/4 "2006-07-02T19:37:29Z")
You can be both an artist and an accountant. Some people don’t get that. If you had a second “job” job, you’d say “I’m an accountant and a waitress” or whatever. You don’t have to explain yourself to anyone. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2006, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-im-an-artist-no-youre-a-barista/362958/5 "2006-07-02T19:38:40Z")
> [@homeskillet](#): > > Yet I’m often derided by some of the more “creative” twits that inevitably seep into my social circle for not being “creative enough”. > . . . > Artistic fucks who manage to not only demean me but to also disennoble the service industry really get under my skin. You do realize, I hope, that rather few truly creative types or actual artists deride other persons for their efforts. (Some do, of course.) The twits who are giving you grief are not “creative” (as you so correctly put the term in ironic quotation marks) and they are not artistic: they are simply wannabes who need to ridicule persons who are not the failures they recognize themselves to be. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2006, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-im-an-artist-no-youre-a-barista/362958/6 "2006-07-02T19:45:26Z")
Your job isn’t what you are, your job is what you do. It’s perfectly feasible to be a volinist who drives a cab for a living, or a writer who does accountancy. The difference is how you view yourself. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2006, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-im-an-artist-no-youre-a-barista/362958/7 "2006-07-02T19:55:42Z")
The problem is not how **homeskillet** defines herself, it’s the fact that she is surrounded by asshats. **HS** , wait til you’re retired, living comfotably, and pursuing your many hobbies and the asshats are still correcting customer’s mispronunciation of “vente latte”. BTW, should I use a cash or accrual method for my books. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2006, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-im-an-artist-no-youre-a-barista/362958/8 "2006-07-02T20:00:57Z")
> [@homeskillet](#): > > \*\*\*\*\*credit where credit is due… Where’s the contra debit? ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-im-an-artist-no-youre-a-barista/362958/9 "2006-07-02T20:01:41Z")
I wish my sister had had your common sense, **homeskillet**. She’s 56 and has a long history of under-employment because she wanted to devote herself to making dollhouse furniture and other arts and craftsy pursuits. She was only able to do so because our mom partially (and grudgingly) supported her, but now mom has Alzheimer’s and my sister has had to get a -_gasp_- job and pay her own way. She has done this with a lot of bitching and moaning, saying things like “I don’t wanna be a 9 to 5 stooge!”, which is a nice thing to say to us working stiffs who have supported our own selves all this time. Kudos to you for taking steps not to end up this way, and bollocks to your friends for ragging on you. ---
**Author:** ![seenidog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@seenidog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seenidog)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2006, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-im-an-artist-no-youre-a-barista/362958/10 "2006-07-02T20:08:33Z")
Bill Door was just right. I like to think I am a writer, and I am, just not up to professional standards. The house I live in, the cars, the bills being paid, braces for the kids, and now college, that is paid for by me fixing computers. Who you are and what you do to put food on the table can be two totally different things. I recently posted an example of my writing on the SDMB and it got shredded. It got picked apart like a dead coyote with a hundred vultures overhead. And rightfully so, It was a poor excuse at the art of writing. Just tells me I have a lot of room for improvement! So you are an accountant. So what shame is there in that? God knows I could not do your job! Like Bill said, that is what you do, not who you are. Those Starbuck coffee shufflers, well if they choose to pass judgment on you tell them to stuff it and a ragmop to boot. You own no one an explaination. ---
**Author:** ![homeskillet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7ba0ec/32.png) [@homeskillet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/homeskillet)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2006, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-im-an-artist-no-youre-a-barista/362958/11 "2006-07-02T20:40:33Z")
> [@Chez Guevara](#): > > Where’s the contra debit? To the left of course! **Debits to the left of me. Credits to the right. Here I am stuck in the middle with you!** ---
**Author:** ![Campion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2006, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-im-an-artist-no-youre-a-barista/362958/12 "2006-07-02T20:54:19Z")
> [@homeskillet](#): > > “_I wanna reconcile the double declining depreciation method to Einstein’s theory of relativity_” So that if we have two identical assets, but one asset is traveling at the speed of light, does it depreciate at the same rate as it’s identical counterpart here on Earth? So … does it? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-im-an-artist-no-youre-a-barista/362958/13 "2006-07-02T21:00:23Z")
C’mon,confess. You really want to be a lion tamer. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2006, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-im-an-artist-no-youre-a-barista/362958/14 "2006-07-02T21:06:32Z")
> [@homeskillet](#): > > I wanted to be an astronaut when I was little, but I mean, come on …who grows up thinking “_I wanna know the ins and outs of double entry accrual accounting_!”? Actually, that sounds kinda hot. ---
**Author:** ![MrJackboots](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MrJackboots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrJackboots)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2006, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-im-an-artist-no-youre-a-barista/362958/15 "2006-07-02T21:09:46Z")
> [@Wolfian](#): > > Actually, that sounds kinda hot. Off it goes to the [thread=377994]Things that Sound Dirty but Aren’t[/thread] thread. ---
**Author:** ![homeskillet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7ba0ec/32.png) [@homeskillet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/homeskillet)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2006, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-im-an-artist-no-youre-a-barista/362958/16 "2006-07-02T21:10:58Z")
> [@Campion](#): > > So … does it? Mathmatical theory shows that while both were of the same value when the twin asset was rocketed, the end result was curious. While the asset left on Earth had since been fully depreciated, the asset travelling at the speed of light managed to travel backward in time into a prior period and therefor to be accrued for. This of course is leaving out the whole amortization process, but let’s try and keep this experiment simple. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2006, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-im-an-artist-no-youre-a-barista/362958/17 "2006-07-02T21:11:58Z")
> [@teela brown](#): > > She has done this with a lot of bitching and moaning, saying things like “I don’t wanna be a 9 to 5 stooge!” Yeah, me neither, but my daughter and I have grown accustomed to having a home, and food, and such. I realize it’s terribly bourgeois of us, but somehow we’ll survive the shame. Seriously, **teela brown** , I hope you kicked her, hard. Who in their right mind thinks it’s more noble to let someone else support your ass (into your **50s**! :eek: ) while you dick around with dollhouse furniture? If you’re not making a living at it, it’s a hobby. There’s nothing wrong with having a hobby. On the contrary. But be a freakin’ grownup and do something to support yourself. **homeskillet** , these people you speak of are morons. There’s nothing ignoble about taking charge of your own life, and there’s a difference between integrity and stubborness. ---
**Author:** ![Marienee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Marienee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marienee)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2006, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-im-an-artist-no-youre-a-barista/362958/18 "2006-07-02T21:32:14Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > Yeah, me neither, but my daughter and I have grown accustomed to having a home, and food, and such. I realize it’s terribly bourgeois of us, but somehow we’ll survive the shame. > > . “Be regular and orderly in your life like a bourgeois, so that you may be violent and original in your work” -Gustave Flaubert This response usually brings the above referenced conversation to a screeching halt. It can be extended and abbrieviated as needed. Just for future reference. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2006, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-im-an-artist-no-youre-a-barista/362958/19 "2006-07-02T21:59:34Z")
I have to say, the thread title is making me envision a Puzzler by Will Shortz on NPR some Sunday morning where you take a 7 letter word for an occupation people work to keep from starving drop the first and last letters, add a T, scramble the letters to come up with an occupation often associated with starving. It needs work. ---
**Author:** ![Idlewild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8491ac/32.png) [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2006, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-im-an-artist-no-youre-a-barista/362958/20 "2006-07-02T22:00:26Z")
I thought this was going to be about Starbucks. Anyway. I work a 9-5 job partly in order that my dearest beloved can work part time from home and dedicate the rest of his time to artistic pursuits. We came to this arrangement because he was miserable at the company he was working at, I’m not miserable and quite like my job, we both like the stability of my income, and I still have ample time to follow all kinds of artistic pursuits of my own. Plus I really like having someone else do the housekeeping bit, which is part of our deal. But my god, yes, _some_ artists without day jobs can be _pricks_. He’s fine and dandy with them because he’s perceived as artist first, part time programmer second. He can take off and do random bohemian stuff in daylight hours that I can’t and I guess he’s not compromising his principles or something. But me… oh, I must just be _soulless_ for wanting to put bread on the table. :rolleyes: How can I _stand_ that deadening environment? The implication seems to be that if I were a properly delicate flower I’d have crumpled under the mundaneness of it all. Fuck that noise. The ones who matter don’t care that I work a day job. People are people and infinitely varied and interesting to them. They ask about my work and they ask about my artistic work too. The ones who care aren’t worth the time of day I don’t have to give them because I’m too busy wage slaving. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-im-an-artist-no-youre-a-barista/362958.md?page=2)