# What is your profession? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 2, 2004, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-profession/262685 "2004-09-02T01:05:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![the\_Lady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@the\_Lady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_Lady)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-profession/262685/81 "2004-09-02T14:26:00Z")
I’m a landman. Or, to put it another way, a mineral land negotiator for an oil & gas company. ---
**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-profession/262685/82 "2004-09-02T14:34:19Z")
> [@aegypt](#): > > Just curious - how do you pronounce “Havre de Grace”? I ask because I’ve noticed that American placenames aren’t always pronounced like I’d expect (like Cairo, Kentucky, which is pronounced “K-Ro”). I find the subject fascinating for some reason. Yup, whether **GingeroftheNorth** likes it or not, it’s HAVE-er dee grace. I know what it should be, but for this part of the world, Hav de gras just sounds pretentious. And I doubt I’ve sold you anything, **Ginger**. I just started there about 3 months ago, just as something to do to while away the background check time. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-profession/262685/83 "2004-09-02T14:54:33Z")
Alright, I’m the first one with my job so far! I’m currently a biomedical technician. I test, maintain, inspect, and repair hospital equipment. I cover everything from otoscopes (those thingies that look in your ear) to ultrasound machines. Just about the only thing I don’t do is X-Ray machines. In theory, the job sounds hard, cause I’m supossed to know everything about all the equipment, but I’ve found out that most of the time, fixing something means sending it to the company that made it to get it fixed 😛 . I like my job so far. When I talk with other people who work for the same company, they complain a lot about the paperwork and the political aspect of dealing with both hospital administration and our company’s corporate BS. (We all work for a University that outsources us to hospitals. So while we work in the hospitals, we aren’t actually employed by the hospital.) I, luckily, avoid 99% of the political side of it, cause I’m not in charge of any single hospital like my coworkers, I travel to about 10 different hospitals in northern NY to fill in for guys on vacation, help them out with a large workload, or take care of the really small hospitals that have no permanent tech in-house. I do not plan to have this job for too long, though. I went to school for biomedical engineering, and I want to get into design, but I know I need a few years in the medical industry before I can even think about doing that. (My ultimate goal is to design prostetics and orthopedic implants.) ---
**Author:** ![aegypt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/76d3ee/32.png) [@aegypt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aegypt)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-profession/262685/84 "2004-09-02T14:59:18Z")
> [@the Lady](#): > > I’m a landman. Or, to put it another way, a mineral land negotiator for an oil & gas company. Shouldn’t that be “landwoman”? ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-profession/262685/85 "2004-09-02T15:22:36Z")
I’m an insurance adjuster. aka evil minion of the dark lord. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-profession/262685/86 "2004-09-02T15:29:06Z")
I teach English as a Foreign Language to students in the Royal Saudi Air Force. I was previously with the Saudi Naval Forces. I am a retired (U.S.) Army officer. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-profession/262685/87 "2004-09-02T15:34:35Z")
IT contractor. Network administrator, computer installer, software deployment, help desk, technical support. Currently WebTrends administrator for a chain of stores. Which means I sit and surf the web for about 7 1/2 hours a day and actually have things to do the other 1/2 hour a day. I spend most of my time waiting for my bosses, who I have _told_ there’s no work for me to do, to realize that I really wasn’t kidding. ---
**Author:** ![tsarina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@tsarina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsarina)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-profession/262685/88 "2004-09-02T15:35:40Z")
I’m a microbiologist for the State of Michigan. Whenever a hospital or a clinic has a specimen of diarrhea, gonorrhea, or intestinal parasites that they can’t diagnose, I get them and do some biochemical tests to figure out what they are. I have really good poop stories I share with friends at the bar. I love my job. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![badmana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@badmana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badmana)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-profession/262685/89 "2004-09-02T15:37:03Z")
Boy do I feel outclassed by some folks here! 😃 I’m in the cell phone “industry”. Worked up from the hell that is Customer Service to the Credit and Activation department (mostly declining bad credit customers or calling creditors for references). Now I work in the Corporate Activation department doing large scale activations and supporting our dealers. I’m basically a data entry monkey. In reality of course I surf the Straightdope and Somethingawful web sites and read the news all day. My ability to type at 80+ wpm (in a job that requires less than half that) makes this job really boring. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-profession/262685/90 "2004-09-02T15:40:39Z")
I’m an architect, specialising in designing educational facilities and (mainly primary) school buildings. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-profession/262685/91 "2004-09-02T16:35:33Z")
I’m an artist, working in three different areas: 1. I do “paintings with wood,” which means I apply tiny sticks of bass wood (painted or not) to canvas — usually creating geometric designs, but sometimes more organic or representational. 2. I sell prints of my photography (usually from travel) on an eBay store, “Flaming River Art.” The images are scanned from 35mm slides, and stylistically altered or combined in Photoshop. 3. I work part-time as a graphic artist in a major hospital, specializing in cardiovascular research graphics. Which means that sometimes I have three full-time jobs, and sometimes I’m virtually unemployed. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-profession/262685/92 "2004-09-02T16:42:39Z")
I’m a Senior Adminstrative Assistant for the R&D arm of my company, and a part time student. ---
**Author:** ![auntie\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@auntie\_em](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auntie_em)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-profession/262685/93 "2004-09-02T16:44:56Z")
I am an editor at a company whose name is often used as an adjective synonymous with “schmaltz”. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![little\_bit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@little\_bit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/little_bit)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-profession/262685/94 "2004-09-02T16:47:53Z")
Editor - Video Post-Production In other words, I spend my days creating the useless and annoying 30 seconds of non-sense that interupts your favorite TV shows. If there’s a car commercial on, I probably had something do with making it. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-profession/262685/95 "2004-09-02T16:51:59Z")
Another Prof. checking in. I teach Intro to Psych, Psych of Personality, Intro to Stats, Stats 202, Abnormal Psych, Environmental Psych, Interviewing and Counceling, Behavior Mod, and Cognitive Psych. I rotate in and around these every year. I’m also on the admissions committee, and own my own business designing eclectic habitats and work places… ---
**Author:** ![Cherry2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cherry2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cherry2000)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-profession/262685/96 "2004-09-02T17:03:28Z")
Title Closer/Escrow Officer here. Worked for some of the big companies until, like Ukelele Ike, Bush’s economics caught up to me. After almost a year of being unemployed, I decided to open my own company. The simple explanation is that I do Real Estate closings for people who are buying/selling or refinancing. I deal with a lot of money that isn’t mine, and a lot of very important legal documents. What I actually am is financier, solver of problems/creator of miracles, solver of mysteries, psychologist, marriage counsler, negotiator, slave, scapegoat, and sometimes Omnipotent Mistress of Time and Space…all rolled into one 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Magz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Magz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magz)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-profession/262685/97 "2004-09-02T17:17:33Z")
I’m a photographer. I spend my days hanging waiting for the phone to ring, playing Spiderman 2. I share a very small office with 3 other people, and we’ve got a huge yellow ball we can bounce on. ---
**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:** [September 2, 2004, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-profession/262685/98 "2004-09-02T17:19:00Z")
Archaeologist and occasional community college teacher. Part-time carpenter specializing in tree houses and horseshoe pits. ---
**Author:** ![Magz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Magz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magz)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-profession/262685/99 "2004-09-02T17:23:15Z")
> [@Magz](#): > > I’m a photographer. I spend my days hanging waiting for the phone to ring, playing Spiderman 2. I share a very small office with 3 other people, and we’ve got a huge yellow ball we can bounce on. When I say I’m hanging waiting, I actually mean plain normal waiting. ---
**Author:** ![the\_Lady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@the\_Lady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_Lady)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-profession/262685/100 "2004-09-02T17:30:18Z")
> [@aegypt](#): > > Shouldn’t that be “landwoman”? Nah - it’s a job title, like engineer or geologist. Besides, this is Alberta. We’re still a little behind the times. Oh - and you forgot to add the “hurr hurr hurr” icky laughter that usually accompanies that comment. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-profession/262685.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-profession/262685.md?page=6)