# (Thx Scarlett67) What idiotic assumptions to others make about your job? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 4, 2005, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thx-scarlett67-what-idiotic-assumptions-to-others-make-about-your-job/283042 "2005-01-04T15:44:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thx-scarlett67-what-idiotic-assumptions-to-others-make-about-your-job/283042/81 "2005-01-06T05:33:21Z")
> [@overlyverbose](#): > > I’ve been approached a couple times by people who think that publicity and exposure (both of which are very unlikely when you’re writing for someone nobody’s ever heard of) should be enough to satisfy any writer. _ARGGGH!!_ The old “exposure” line. “We can’t pay you, but you’ll get _exposure_.” That is used on creative people of all stripes. My eyes glaze over when I hear the “exposure” line. These people delude themselves into thinking that you should feel that the _honor_ of working on _their_ project would be such a satisfying experience that you wouldn’t dream of asking to be paid on top of it. There is rarely any “exposure” that is going to do the creative person any good. Sure, once in a blue moon, offering your services for free for some big shin-dig might be a smart move, but otherwise, it’s just a cheapskate’s way to try to get something for nothing. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thx-scarlett67-what-idiotic-assumptions-to-others-make-about-your-job/283042/82 "2005-01-06T05:49:21Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > I’m an English professor and always get the “oooh, I better be careful about my grammar around you or you’ll get out your red pen” stuff. People always ask me if I’ve read this or that and are sometimes puzzled that I haven’t yet read every book ever published or can’t recite Alfred Lord Tennyson from memory. > > I made a living as a graphic designer for a long time before graduate school. As with the other GD’s posting here, the job wields a certain fascination for many people, who would say: 1) How fun! You just get to sit and draw all day, and; 2) I’ve always wanted to do that, do you have to be arty? Another English prof here. Oh yes, I hear you loud and clear, **Jenn**. If I confess that I never read a certain book, they just can’t believe it. Milton really gets 'em, and that’s just one example. I’ve never read **Paradise Lost**. Shame on me, eh? ---
**Author:** ![daydreamer23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@daydreamer23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/daydreamer23)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thx-scarlett67-what-idiotic-assumptions-to-others-make-about-your-job/283042/83 "2005-01-06T06:37:13Z")
i’m a stay at home mom. people assume that i’m lazy and don’t want to find a “real” job. in actuality its the hardest job i’ve had and sometimes which i had a “real” job just for a break. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thx-scarlett67-what-idiotic-assumptions-to-others-make-about-your-job/283042/84 "2005-01-06T12:14:49Z")
> [@Tentacle Monster](#): > > I’m in the Air Force. > > I do not fly an airplane. That’s sort of the opposite of what I get: I fly airplanes. No, I am not, and never have been, in the Air Force. ---
**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thx-scarlett67-what-idiotic-assumptions-to-others-make-about-your-job/283042/85 "2005-01-06T12:25:52Z")
I was a practicing lawyer until sometime earlier this year. 1. The lawyers don’t stand around talking and debating controversial issues and cases all day long. In fact, we spend most of our days in our offices, alone, at our computers, researching on Westlaw and writing. 2. Even high-powered trial lawyers are not constantly in court. 3. Over 90% of cases settle. Some of the ones that don’t go into arbitration or mediation. We hardly ever get to go to trial. 4. The law office is not a particularly sexy place to be. Affairs are really, really rare, and at most prestigious firms, they’re highly frowned upon. Meaning the participants are often asked to leave the firm. 5. We don’t spend our days chasing ambulances. Or suing for “emotional distress.” Most civil-term lawyers are working on contract cases between companies who want and need their lawyers to be involved, or family law cases, or other real issues for clients who seek out a lawyer (and not the other way around). 6. I never play private detective, and I have never berated a witness on the stand until he/she confessed to being the real killer. I could go on and on, but it’s easily summed up by saying, It’s not like Ally McBeal, folks. (Or “Law & Order,” or “Matlock,” or…) ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thx-scarlett67-what-idiotic-assumptions-to-others-make-about-your-job/283042/86 "2005-01-06T18:43:01Z")
I’m an archaeologist. 1. I have never dug up a dinosaur. Ever. Those are paleontologists. 2. I’m not digging for gold. 3. I know what a leverite is. No matter how many times I hear it, it is still not funny. 4. No, the indians in this area are not extinct. In fact, there’s one standing right over there. and finally… 1. I don’t carry a gun or a whip (at least not at work). ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thx-scarlett67-what-idiotic-assumptions-to-others-make-about-your-job/283042/87 "2005-01-06T18:53:02Z")
> [@Ol'Gaffer](#): > > I’m an archaeologist. > > 1. I have never dug up a dinosaur. Ever. Those are paleontologists. > > 2. I’m not digging for gold. > > 3. I know what a leverite is. No matter how many times I hear it, it is still not funny. > > 4. No, the indians in this area are not extinct. In fact, there’s one standing right over there. > > and finally… > > 1. I don’t carry a gun or a whip (at least not at work). Another thing about archaeologists (having worked as one for a while myself): it’s really not all that exciting. Yes, it is exciting once you have excavated a full site and can put together the maps and a picture of the civilization that lived there; however, digging down in ten centimeter increments in the space of a square yard and outlining and photographing features like possible fire pits, then using a Munsell and analyzing the soil to make sure the feature really is what you suspect it is, is tough, tedious work. It’s not like you go in with a forklift and just unearth mounds of artifacts. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thx-scarlett67-what-idiotic-assumptions-to-others-make-about-your-job/283042/88 "2005-01-06T18:59:27Z")
> [@yosemite](#): > > There is rarely any “exposure” that is going to do the creative person any good. Sure, once in a blue moon, offering your services for free for some big shin-dig might be a smart move, but otherwise, it’s just a cheapskate’s way to try to get something for nothing. Amen! The only exposure I ever got for writing something for free (which I did once) was a bunch of people e-mailing me, asking me to hire them or put together a work-at-home scheme for them. I’m happy to negotiate a pro bono contract for a charitable or political cause I believe in because I don’t make much enough to be able to donate (though hopefully that’ll change soon); however, having some idiot tell me I should appreciate doing work for free for someone I’ve never heard of is a slap in the face. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thx-scarlett67-what-idiotic-assumptions-to-others-make-about-your-job/283042/89 "2005-01-06T19:11:19Z")
I’m a geologist, so my neighbors come to me with all their questions about dirt. I’ve studied structural and sedimentary processes, oil migration, petrology, reservoir mechanics and the like but paleosols are relatively scant in the stratigraphic record and I’m at a loss to provide them with the answer as to why their tomatoes and St. Augustine aren’t doing well. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thx-scarlett67-what-idiotic-assumptions-to-others-make-about-your-job/283042/90 "2005-01-06T19:19:12Z")
> [@Podkayne](#): > > Yes, I am an astronomer. No, I do not have a telescope fetish. Charming as you are, I don’t want to hear your backyard outfit described to me in excruciating, loving detail, because once you get beyond, “20 inch Dobson . . .” I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about… > Amateur astronomers make me feel completely inadequate. Heh, I’m an astronomer and I _do_ have a telescope fetish. It’s the avid readers of popular science books that make me feel inadequate - they know more about the latest developments in cosmology than I do. (It’s just not my field, OK? I just design and test instruments for solar observation.) Also, people incorrectly assume I must be smart. :o > [@Angua](#): > > …what does annoy me is the entire “you get to go to nice warm sunny places to do your observing. You astronomers are soooo lucky. I bet you placed those telescopes where you did on purpose just so you could get funded holidays.” Right. That’s what _conferences_ are for. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thx-scarlett67-what-idiotic-assumptions-to-others-make-about-your-job/283042/91 "2005-01-06T19:19:13Z")
> [@Indygrrl](#): > > It’s interesting to me that the copy editors on the board get the spellcheck comments. I work in publishing, and any time I tell people what I do, they always go, “Whoa…” like it’s big shit or something. They seem impressed that I am an editorial assistant who does copy editing, proofreading, and a million other tasks. No one has ever acted like my job is easy. Well, to be fair, I do get that too. But then, I work as a subeditor on the travel section of a weekend paper. This, of course, causes other misconceptions: No, I don’t get to travel anywhere for my job. I sit in the office in cold wet London and try to form a coherent article out of the gibberish that has apparently been filed directly from a beach bar somewhere in the Caribbean, right around closing time. No, I don’t get discounts on flights or holidays. No, the famous folk that write for the paper are not to be found wandering around the office. I will occasionally have to phone them to (tactfully) point out an especially egregious error, or to seek clarification on passages such as > [@](#): > > "Restaurants: La Grand Chapel??? xx Beachfront Ave tel: xxxxxxxxxxx Main courses from £xxx…(((SUBS PLEASE CHK))) For this, they get a byline and a pound a word. 😉 All typos in this post may or may not be intentional. Who gives a damn? I’m not at work now… ---
**Author:** ![taxi78cab](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47c2d/32.png) [@taxi78cab](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/taxi78cab)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thx-scarlett67-what-idiotic-assumptions-to-others-make-about-your-job/283042/92 "2005-01-06T19:26:09Z")
Disclaimer: I haven’t all of the previous posts in this thread so I might be repeating what someone else said. Sorry. Mine’s not about my job (which is too hard to describe in a simple job title anyway) but about my bf’s. Lots of people ask “what does your bf do?” to which I hesitantly reply “He’s in customer support.” I know everyone thinks that this means that he’s a sort of reverse-telemarketer, the type of person who gets calls from people who think that their computer has a cup holder. He’s not. He supports some highly technical software that is only used by very large companies so the calls he gets are from techies at said very large companies. He’s really more of an investigator because once they describe their problem, he’s got to go and try to figure out what caused the problem. It’s very intense, very fast-paced and certainly not the customer support that is a fancy term for retail sales person. Not that there’s anything wrong with retail sales, but it’s NOT what he does. ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thx-scarlett67-what-idiotic-assumptions-to-others-make-about-your-job/283042/93 "2005-01-06T19:39:02Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > Right. That’s what _conferences_ are for. Exactly. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kakofonous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e9a140/32.png) [@Kakofonous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kakofonous)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thx-scarlett67-what-idiotic-assumptions-to-others-make-about-your-job/283042/94 "2005-01-06T19:46:28Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > It’s the avid readers of popular science books that make me feel inadequate - they know more about the latest developments in cosmology than I do. This is it for me, too. I’m in grad school for physics (I’m still unsure when I get to call myself a physicist) and know absolutely nothing about cosmology, the early universe, string theory, etc. Others that spring to mind: The standard assumption is that I’m male. I can certainly understand why - but, well, nope. I’m a girl. Deal. Physicists spend all day sliding blocks down ramps and calculating the velocity of cars. This tends to come from people who took a year of physics at some point and that’s what they did - so clearly it’s what I must spend my time doing. Again, I kind of see the logic but I’d think they could carry it a little further to work out that sliding a block down a ramp just isn’t a PhD level problem. I’m an expert at Unix / Linux / Fortran / etc. Again, nope! I’ve never had reason to learn those. I haven’t avoided them - it’s just not come up. I get along just fine in Windows and program anything I’ve ever needed in Matlab. ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thx-scarlett67-what-idiotic-assumptions-to-others-make-about-your-job/283042/95 "2005-01-06T19:49:31Z")
> [@Kakofonous](#): > > The standard assumption is that I’m male. I can certainly understand why - but, well, nope. I’m a girl. Deal. Whee!!! Another female physicist! So, what’s your field? ---
**Author:** ![Kakofonous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e9a140/32.png) [@Kakofonous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kakofonous)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thx-scarlett67-what-idiotic-assumptions-to-others-make-about-your-job/283042/96 "2005-01-06T20:02:55Z")
> [@Angua](#): > > Whee!!! Another female physicist! So, what’s your field? Biological physics / Condensed matter (Experimental and computational. I don’t do theory. Ever.) ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thx-scarlett67-what-idiotic-assumptions-to-others-make-about-your-job/283042/97 "2005-01-06T20:12:39Z")
> [@Kakofonous](#): > > Biological physics / Condensed matter (Experimental and computational. I don’t do theory. Ever.) 😕 Are those two aspects of the same field, or am I correct in parsing those to be very different aspects of physics? Biological physics is something I usually label as bio-mechanics, dealing with conformational transformations - and, as a chem tech, seems to me to be applied chemistry more than physics. (It ain’t physics til you start talking high energy photons with great regularity, after all.) Condensed matter is a term I associate with astrophysics, and in particular very high energy stuff - big bang and shortly afterwards, black holes, and other waaaay out there stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thx-scarlett67-what-idiotic-assumptions-to-others-make-about-your-job/283042/98 "2005-01-06T20:18:06Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > Condensed matter is a term I associate with astrophysics, and in particular very high energy stuff - big bang and shortly afterwards, black holes, and other waaaay out there stuff. 😕 Why? Condensed matter physics has nothing to do with astrophysics – its more sort of a ‘materials and their properties’ thing. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thx-scarlett67-what-idiotic-assumptions-to-others-make-about-your-job/283042/99 "2005-01-06T20:22:48Z")
> [@Angua](#): > > 😕 Why? Condensed matter physics has nothing to do with astrophysics – its more sort of a ‘materials and their properties’ thing. I always associate the term with the manner and conditions where matter and energy transform between the two states, rather than materials and properties. Of course, I’m also willing to admit I get confused and mistaken easily. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Kakofonous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e9a140/32.png) [@Kakofonous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kakofonous)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thx-scarlett67-what-idiotic-assumptions-to-others-make-about-your-job/283042/100 "2005-01-06T20:26:45Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > Biological physics is something I usually label as bio-mechanics, dealing with conformational transformations - and, as a chem tech, seems to me to be applied chemistry more than physics. (It ain’t physics til you start talking high energy photons with great regularity, after all.) > > Condensed matter is a term I associate with astrophysics, and in particular very high energy stuff - big bang and shortly afterwards, black holes, and other waaaay out there stuff. Condensed matter is often referred to as Solid State physics - it’s really just a slightly larger umbrella that can include things like liquids and complex systems and, well, just about any tangible physical Stuff. Biological physics is still pretty undefined - though molecular bio-mechanics and protein folding are two of the largest efforts within that subfield. My data comes from something that’s alive - and thus I handwave and call it biological physics. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thx-scarlett67-what-idiotic-assumptions-to-others-make-about-your-job/283042.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thx-scarlett67-what-idiotic-assumptions-to-others-make-about-your-job/283042.md?page=6)