When people hear I am a teacher, they ask what grade. When I tell them I teach high school English, they go into a diatribe about how poorly behaved the youth of today is and ask how I can stand it.
(I actually really like kids that age)
Oh yes, when I was doing my BA Ling I got the same thing continually. The annoying thing was that I actually do speak several languages, so when I corrected them it sounded a bit hollow.
I do the opposite. I say “I could only teach high school… I have no patience with younger kids.”
Well, OK. Sure, you could homeschool if you really want to. It’s not easy or anything, but it doesn’t require superhuman abilities. 
Why, thank you! I hope my slight hijack didn’t irk you…I guess I just needed some ignorance fought and it seemed like a good time to have someone fight it.
Oh, and…when people hear that I’m a runner, [many of them] immediately tell me that their knees could never handle running. (psssst, with properly fitted shoes, your knees shouldn’t bother you, and being overweight is far, far worse on your joints than running is).
when people hear I’m a state employee, they immediately assume I’m lazy and have all kinds of vacation time.
I do in fact have a lot of comp time that I’ve accrued, but was able to take less than 2 weeks vacation annually for the past couple of years. Some of us really do bust our asses on behalf of the taxpayers.
- When people hear I’m a flight instructor, the immediately ask if I’m a pilot.
I guess they never put much thought into how pilots learn their trade. Or they assume it’s like those cliff-nesting birds that shove their young off into the air, and if they don’t figure it out they fall to their deaths? No, I totally do know how to fly, and I totally do go up in the air with the students.
- When people hear I work for the space agency, they usually ask if I’m an astronaut. I’m not, but I like my job anyway
- When people hear I’m from Canada, they frequently comment on how cold it must be, and, oddly enough, often mention -20°C as the sort of extreme temperature my hometown must sometimes experience. I normally point out that that, plus or minus five degrees, is a pretty typical temperature every day from December to March, with the ‘infrequent extreme’ closer to -40. And that I’m not from the far north.
This seems to convince a lot of people that Canada is about as habitable as Mars. 
(Put on a coat, people!)
Only because they don’t have the moves.
When people hear I lived in a jail as a kid they immediately compare me to Opie.
FYI, the Taylors didn’t live at the jail.
I usually get the “oh, I wish I could sing, I’m awful, I can’t carry a tune in a bucket, boy I’m glad you’ve never heard me in the shower, etc.” thing first… which always makes me uncomfortable because, hey, I’m not walking around looking for people to judge and lord over for thier lack of talent at what I do :dubious:
I also usually just politely decline when people do the “oh, you just must sing for us” thing at completely random and inappropriate times, but once I actually did say – to an accountant – “sure…if you’ll do my taxes.”
Nah, I’m always happy to talk homeschooling.
I suppose my knees could handle running, but I hate running. I walk. I have a mini-tramp that I bounce on, though, and it’s actually improved my knee–the right one was starting to ache sometimes.
When people hear that I’ve a veterinarian, they assume I’m a vegetarian. Not real surprising.
them: “You eat meat?!”
me: “Yup, I eat all the animals. Now please pass the hot wings.”
So then you’re Barney! 
When people hear I’m an English major, they will ask me if I’m going to teach high school. It’s slightly bothersome.
When people hear I work from home, they assume I sleep all day and watch TV. I don’t, and because I’m a student, my work often is in little bits here and there and I’m on the road a lot.
When people hear I work with computers from my home, they assume I will help them with their problems for free because I’m a nice guy (I guess).
Brendon Small
:mad: I ain’t no purple dinosaur!
When people hear I write computer manuals, they ask me about their PCs.
I don’t write those manuals. Unless you work in a warehouse or port or repair facility, you won’t have read one of my manuals.
Actually, I think that it has more to do with the fact that we’re a bunch of surly drunken louts with bad hygiene and poor social skills - which I guess is, in a way, why we like working with dead folks so much.
Yay he’s back!! huggle
When I went to Spain, I got a lot of “You’re from Canada?? You must be burning up!” I pointed out that it was actually hotter that day in Montreal than in Madrid, so they wandered off or moved on to berating me about Celine Dion, for whom I am apparently personally responsible.
What I’ve learned from this thread:
When people hear me asking a question about their profession, they immediately hate me.
When people hear I’m a clinical psychology intern, they immediately give me the side-eye and ask if I’ve been reading their minds. I tell them, no, I prefer to shrink minds, not read them.
Yeah, she really sucks! What’s up with that?