I once had a supervisor in a food service job come up to me during my shift and say “Hey, you seem like the kind of guy who would know this. What color would a person turn if you steamed them to death?”
A couple years ago, I was in a Bed, Bath and Beyond looking something (a set of sauce pans, maybe) farther down the aisle from where all the kitchen knives are displayed. A married couple comes into the aisle and starts arguing about the best set of steak knives to buy. After a minute or sor, the husband raises his voice, causing me to look up just as he points to me and says “Just ask him! You can tell by looking, he knows knives! He’ll tell you those knives are no good!”
Every other time I went to Walgreens, people made the incorrect assumption that I worked there and would ask me where stuff was. Never did figure that out as I was not wearing a nametag.
Fortunately, the shoppers at CVS seem to be a bit sharper and I don’t get asked questions there.
That’s the best guess I’ve been able to come up with. Still, when you’re not used to opperating like that, having a stranger randomly declare that you look like someone who “knows knives” is a bit off-putting.
I think you need to post a photo of yourself.
People frequently think that I work there. No matter what store I am in, people seem to think that I work there.
That I’m a toff because I’m well spoken. That I’m rich because I’m well spoken. That I’m a right-winger because I disagree with some left-wing views. That I’m a right-winger because I enjoy a good speech by William Hague (except that I enjoy them the same way an atheist can enjoy a performance of Handel’s Messiah).
This doesn’t happen to me much; other than falling into the Smart Guy role more than a few times (so I therefore know everything :rolleyes: ) I’ve been confused for Christian on the Internet once or twice for knowing my Corinthians from my Leviticus and being able to make snarky jabs at the dogma. I’ve also been confused for female a couple of times here.
Back to meatspace, I’m shy enough I’ve been confused for snobbish once so far that I know of. If that person only knew my family…
Twice last week two people began a sentence with “I know you’re really religious…”
I am the hardest atheist you’ll know and have been since I was a wee child. I don’t broadcast it at work, so I’m not surprised that they didn’t know that. But to swing so far in the other direction that they “knew” I was really religious… where’d that come from?
The security folks at the airport assume I’m a terrorist or a spy or a smuggler, because I always get pulled out for the extra security check. I’m a short, squishy, white Canadian woman - what the hell profile alarm am I setting off?
The only assumption people make about me is that, because I can draw, then I am capable of all of the arts, including sculpture, making model kits, or painting in watercolours. But that’s not really a strange leap to make, I suppose.
On the other hand, they are often surprised that I like writing stories, even though I’ve been doing that since I was ten.
This happened years ago - made no sense then and it still makes no sense to me.
A bunch of us who worked at the same place, tho not necessarily in the same office, would meet one Saturday a month for a girls’ breakfast in a local buffet restaurant. We’d hang out, take, laugh, eat, and just generally spend some time together away from work, home, family, and other distractions.
At one such gathering, perhaps one of the more rambunctious ones, an older man came over and chided us about not letting the men real estate agents join us. For whatever reason, he decided that our little laughing group consisted of women who sold homes for a living and didn’t want to network with the guys. In reality, we all worked at a military aircraft depot doing such things as engineering, logistics, electronics, and general office work. After he left, we tried to figure out exactly what about us made him think we worked in real estate. Hence, strangest assumption…
