# What do your parents do/did for a living? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 11, 2008, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-your-parents-do-did-for-a-living/433148 "2008-01-11T17:03:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-your-parents-do-did-for-a-living/433148/61 "2008-01-12T02:18:38Z")
Dad: At one time worked as a teacher in the NYC school district, and worked for an insurance company but the last 35 years or so of his working life were spent at a very famous American computer company, first as a programmer then as a systems analyst. He retired about 10 years ago. Mom: Worked briefly at the same very famous American computer company. Then SAHM, then as the kids got older worked out of the house as an editor of math text books (a sort of fact-checker/error catcher as I remember) then worked at the computer science department of a local college, then came full circle and ended up back at that same famous American computer company as a technical writer. She retired about 5 years ago, for a while she taught some courses part time at a community college. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-your-parents-do-did-for-a-living/433148/62 "2008-01-12T02:31:32Z")
[QUOTE=Nzinga, Seated] This is sorta close to my own story. My dad was brilliant, but wavered between factory work, unemployment, and get rich quick schemes. My mom was a Nurse’s Aide from the time I was 6 until now. Her’s was the stable job that paid the bills. [/QUOTE] Ha- some of my dad’s get rich quick schemes: Raise finches, profit! Take truckloads of potatoes from Michigan to North Carolina and sell them on the side of the road, profit! (that was fun :rolleyes: ) Drive mobile homes from Texas to New York, profit! Make wine goblets from Coke bottles, profit! And many, _many_ others. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-your-parents-do-did-for-a-living/433148/63 "2008-01-12T02:48:17Z")
Dad: mortician Mom: works as a teacher’s aid at a local elementary school ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-your-parents-do-did-for-a-living/433148/64 "2008-01-12T04:11:09Z")
Mom: Medical Lab Technician Dad: Submarine CPO, IBM Electronic Tech. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-your-parents-do-did-for-a-living/433148/65 "2008-01-12T05:03:47Z")
My father was a bank manager. My mother was a physiotherapist before her marriage to my father, but then stayed home to raise the children. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-your-parents-do-did-for-a-living/433148/66 "2008-01-12T05:05:48Z")
Father: First known occupation, a labourer in market gardens. He went on to be a travelling salesman, and ultimately a company director, selling cake decorations. Mother: She worked in a W H Smith bookstall in London, then worked in a dairy (convenience store) here before running another as her own business for a time. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-your-parents-do-did-for-a-living/433148/67 "2008-01-12T05:09:43Z")
Father was a tram conductor. ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-your-parents-do-did-for-a-living/433148/68 "2008-01-12T05:30:45Z")
[QUOTE=MadPansy64] Dad was a Rocket Scientist (Aerospace Engineer) Mom was a SAHM and active in the community (PTA, School Board, PBS, assorted women’s groups) I got Mom’s brains, and Dad’s social skills. 😉 [/QUOTE] Real fun growing up with a father than gave complete, detailed answers to “Daddy, why is the sky blue?” and “What holds the moon up?”. We got over that “why” phase remarkably fast. A technique that I’ve used on my own children. Mom got a degree in meteorology that she used even less than I’ve used my environmental science degree. I got his brains and her drive to excel. And **MadPansy** is being modest - she got some brains, but I’m not going to argue about her social skills. Although she _can_ still beat me up. And out shoot me. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-your-parents-do-did-for-a-living/433148/69 "2008-01-12T05:44:37Z")
Right after WW II my father got a job at the UN as a security guard. He stayed there for about 30 years, and went through a bunch of jobs - being in charge of the flags that flew in front of HQ (he was the first to raise the flag of Israel when it became a member) then working in the department that was in charge of facilities, and finally, after a post in Africa, being in charge of overseas sales of UN stamps. My mother, when we were old enough, did bookkeeping and then worked for the NY Health and Hospitals Corp. reviewing cases. ---
**Author:** ![straykat23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@straykat23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straykat23)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-your-parents-do-did-for-a-living/433148/70 "2008-01-12T05:45:09Z")
Dad: lumberjack in British Columbia; bartender in San Francisco after emigrating; Merchant Marines during WWII; bartender in SF while going to school on the G. I. Bill; insurance agent; VP in his company (Met Life); insurance broker opening his own company. Mom: SAHM until my younger brother turned 18. Went to work at a recording studio and loved every minute of it. She was waaay cooler than my father. I miss them. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-your-parents-do-did-for-a-living/433148/71 "2008-01-12T05:55:50Z")
Mom: Nurse. Not just a nurse, but has been an RN in the same OR in the same hospital for almost 35 years…the only job she’s ever had, and still going strong at it. It boggles my mind to be at the same job basically ones entire adult life, but she loves it there and I don’t know if she’ll ever retire. Dad: Business…_things_. The first job I remember him having is doing some kind of business administration for a medical software company out of a small office he rented in Main Street, but most of my life he’s been doing the business administration for school districts. He’s on his fourth (and in theory, final) school district right now. I also know he was an accounting/finance teacher at the local HS for a bit, and a couple other jobs before I was born. ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-your-parents-do-did-for-a-living/433148/72 "2008-01-12T06:16:52Z")
Him-electrical engineer Mom-secretary, bookkeeper/accountant/tax preparer, eventually partner in a medical billing firm from which she retired some years ago. I didn’t inherit their math skills so I ended up a Medical Technologist. (My brother did-he was a particle physicist at Fermilab) ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-your-parents-do-did-for-a-living/433148/73 "2008-01-12T06:42:08Z")
Mom: waitress, cleaning service, OR receptionist, astrologer Stepdad: Math professor Dad: Glass and mirror installation/repair ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-your-parents-do-did-for-a-living/433148/74 "2008-01-12T09:38:20Z")
Mom - assembly in a blue jeans factory \> SAHM \> restaurant cook \> dietary aide in a retirement facility \> assembly worker in an electronics factory \> babysitter \> retired Dad - worked in both of the family businesses of farming and well drilling \> feed mill worker \> foundry worker \> sheet metal worker \> machinest in the auto industry \> ditch digger during a UAW strike in 1972 \> machine repairman in the same auto industry plant \> side business making wooden framework for the fiberglass industry, wooden orchard crates and wooden toys \> retired ---
**Author:** ![threnodyangelfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@threnodyangelfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threnodyangelfire)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-your-parents-do-did-for-a-living/433148/75 "2008-01-12T09:50:22Z")
My husband’s Mum: she was a nurse in NZ My husband’s Dad: jack of all trades, mechanic by trade, owned trucks and stuff and later complete factories. My Dad: the most amazing visionary that I have ever known. I guess the best title is “plastics doctor” My Mum: SAHM, and CEO of my dad’s business, now she helps to set small business’ up from a financial structure point of view My husband: is the IT manager of a retail business. Me: I run the digital arm of an advertising agency. ---
**Author:** ![Dying\_Butterfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d2c977/32.png) [@Dying\_Butterfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dying_Butterfly)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-your-parents-do-did-for-a-living/433148/76 "2008-01-12T10:54:49Z")
My dad’s teaching “how not to be a shitty employee” classes for a grocery chain now. He’s mostly worked at book stores and movie rental places in my lifetime, but he used to do something with phones in the White House (got yelled at by Henry Kissinger and then met my mom) and work for the IRS (kicked a family out of a tar paper shack, decided he liked having a soul and quit.) Mom’s been a nurse for around thirty years. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-your-parents-do-did-for-a-living/433148/77 "2008-01-12T12:05:34Z")
You know, reading through this thread, it strikes me that most of our parents actually DID something…Accountant, Police Officer, Nurse, Plumber, whatever. My generation seems to be filled with people who are “mumblemumble Manager of blahblahblah And thingamabob Development” and work in a cubicle. I know, I’m one of them. It makes me wonder what my kids will say to this type of question when they’re adults. (my fear is that mine will say “he had a job until the 2nd Great Depression hit”) ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-your-parents-do-did-for-a-living/433148/78 "2008-01-12T12:22:24Z")
[QUOTE=Alice The Goon] Ha- some of my dad’s get rich quick schemes: Raise finches, profit! Take truckloads of potatoes from Michigan to North Carolina and sell them on the side of the road, profit! (that was fun :rolleyes: ) Drive mobile homes from Texas to New York, profit! Make wine goblets from Coke bottles, profit! And many, _many_ others. [/QUOTE] Was your dad a large black man with a charming smile and a great sense of humor? I think we may have the same dad. My dad sold fruit on the side of the road before too. Sigh. He never tried to make wine goblets from coke bottles, but I could see how that might work! Coke bottles used to be so pretty. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-your-parents-do-did-for-a-living/433148/79 "2008-01-12T13:05:21Z")
My dad was an accountant for the US Postal Service, first locally and later in the state comptroller’s office. Now happily retired. Do not mention the USPS in his hearing unless you have a few hours 😛 Before that he served in the US Navy, which is how he met my mom (I’m a USO Baby!), and continued his service in the Naval Reserves and later the National Guard. My mom had worked as a secretary at a local department store until she married my dad, then did more secretarial work until my brother was born. Then she was a homemaker for about 20 years. When I was about 10, she returned to the retail world, eventually becoming manager of the children’s departments of another local department store. She is also now retired. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-your-parents-do-did-for-a-living/433148/80 "2008-01-12T13:36:44Z")
Dad: Veterinarian\*, now retired. He was in charge of licensing and examinations in his state for a number of years. The story of how he sold his practice and retired is a real soap opera. Mom: SAHM. She was a legal secretary to put my dad thru vet school. Regards, Shodan [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-your-parents-do-did-for-a-living/433148.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-your-parents-do-did-for-a-living/433148.md?page=5)