“So, what sort of job do YOU do?”

 

For a lot of people, the worst question that they can be asked is what they do for a living.  The reason for this is usually either because they have a job that they are a bit embarrassed about or they fear that people will be judgmental if the work is not totally main stream. It seems that the biggest problem is how to answer this question without embarrassing yourself or someone you care about, or without offending anyone.

 

With a large portion of the United States as well as other parts of the world being religious, if you work from home doing something like phone sex, sex texting, or Tarot reading, you just might be viewed by some people as being on the fast track to Hell. You’ll probably also be banished from certain groups or be stalked by groups who are hoping to save you. Either way, you may want to have a cover story for when this question comes up.

 

Since these people have not been around you when you’re working, nor are they likely to be, you can always fall back on a couple of home based positions that would require you being on the telephone. “Consulting” is one of those catchall phrases that is used a lot by people that are in the adult entertainment industry or the psychic one. When people ask them what sort of work they do, they simply say that they work from home for a consulting business. If they want to get pushy about what SORT of consulting business you do, tell them that you are a bit like a Life Coach, and help people find their path in careers and love. That’s not exactly lying.

 

Another thing that people claim to do from home is customer service or order takers for a company. Either of these works because both of these are “respectable” occupations and no one will be judgmental about them. The only issue you may run into is that some people may decide that it would be such a KICK to work from home doing EXACTLY what YOU do. So they will start badgering you about how to get hired by your company. To that question, you simply reply that they aren’t hiring right now and, that since people rarely leave, they don’t hire very often.

 

If they want to know the name of the company you work for, this is where you fall back on the contract. You tell them that you are contractually bound by the company not to talk about them outside of other staffers. That includes even telling someone the name of the company unless it is for official reasons, such as filing taxes or something. The contract excuse tends to work quite well because everyone will understand that if you have signed a contract, if you break anything in that contract, you will be fired and worse.

 

Next time you run into this situation, try any of these solutions and see just how quickly you can change the subject after answering.