When I tell people my last name (uncommon last name of a local hall-of-fame baseball player) they immediately respond:
“Oh, like the ball player?”
When I respond yes I get the immediate:
“Are you related to him?”
And when I say no I get the follow up:
“I bet everyone asks you that.”
Or that you own a pickup truck.
When people hear I’m a nurse, they immediately ask for a sponge bath.
The men, anyway.
When people hear I’m a molecular biologist, they immediately (or in some cases not all that immediately) ask, “er…, what does that mean, exactly?”
My favorite was a pair of Sweet Little Old Lady tourists in Harvard Yard who went into a brief whispering huddle before admitting that they had no clue what I had just said. 
JRB
When people hear I got my degree in Math there’s silence until I change the subject.
That’s true. I know computers and have a pickup truck, so sometimes I’m lacking free time.
When people hear I’m an electronics tech, they immediately ask if I can fix their TV/radio/electrothingamacallit.
I can, but I don’t want to.
When people hear I’m a “Doper”, they immediately “look at me kinda squinty-eyed”.
I got a couple of good hobo stories to tell for one
When people hear I’m a professional musician they either:
1 Tell me about their son/daughter/neice/nephew/ that plays “really well” can you get him/her a break in the business? NO !
2 Ask what I’ve played on. “Is that really you?” Grrrrrr
3 Can you get an autograph from ______?
4 What is _______ really like? He/she’s just a normal person for og’s sake !!!
5 I saw you play last month. Why didn’t you wave? I was in the 40th row.
5 Can you get me backstage? Yeah, just wait right here.
Well, it is supposed to be a compliment of sorts. I think. But it’s sort of a backhanded one, since people tend to think that homeschoolers are extreme, weird types. Extremely patient, organized, strange, and not quite human, perhaps. The fact is that I’m not an incredibly patient person, I’m not amazingly organized, and I only have to be about as consistent as I would be to go to work every day. Homeschoolers are mostly ordinary folks. All it takes is the desire and commitment, just like most large projects.
And what do you answer? “Well, sure you could!” I don’t want everyone to think that I think they should homeschool–I don’t. I mean, what do you want people to reply when you say that?
No, it’s not really such a terrible thing to say “I could never do that.” It’s not on the level of calling me an evil over-obsessed parent, comparing me to Andrea Yates, or quizzing my child on the capital of North Dakota and what’s 376 x 4. But it does get repetitive. And it really is what people immediately say, so I threw it out there for fun.
When people hear my Dad used to work in a hospital, they immediately exclaim “oh, so he was a doctor!” Uh, no, purchasing manager. D’uh.
What Sock of Doom said, re. chemistry.
When people hear I’m a Chemical Engineer, they start berating me about genetic engineering. Uhm, wrong section, that’s them Biology Folks.
When people hear I work at a university, they immediately assume I’m a lecturer. Yeah, right.
When most people hear who I work for, I’ll usually get an hour-long lecture about how evil my employer is and how they’ve been royally ripped off on their latest cell phone/cable/internet/phone bill, or how rudely they were treated by the last call centre rep they spoke with,
Which is why I’m so evasive about who I work for when I meet someone for the first time.
When people hear I work in environmental public policy, they
- pick an environmental issue upon which they have, at any point in the past, disagreed with anyone, and
- expect me to defend the opposing position, usually without
(a) stating their position or reasons for it, or
(b) finding out my own position, and whether and how it differs from their own, or even
© finding out if I know or care anything about the issue or position in question (environmental policy is a very, very, very broad field)
When I tell people I have a pit bull, they are unable to talk about it in any context other than the pit-bulls-are-evil-or-are-they debate. He’s just a dog. Just like yours, but in pit bull form. I want to participate in ordinary dog people conversations too, dammit!
When people hear I’m cute, they assume I’m dumb.
When people hear I’m a history major, they always ask if I’m going to be a teacher. :rolleyes:
Well, maybe, but I can (and would rather) do other things*. It’s not completely useless, you know.
*Museums, that’s what I want to get into. I’ve already had one museum job and loved it, and am now smacking myself for leaving it. However, I have a few more years before I’m ready to begin my actual career so I don’t feel completely dumb. Just a little.
When people hear I work for the Lottery, they immediately ask what the last Powerball numbers were.
When people hear I’m an LSU student, they immediately ask about the football team.
Well, I never do actually say that…but I guess your answer is what I’d want if I did. I don’t at all think homeschoolers are weird, but I do know what you mean re:that reputation.
HA!
When people hear I’m an archaeologist, they immediately ask me about dinosaurs (or if I’m looking for gold)!
Archaeologists don’t do dinosaurs.