Apparently, I'm doing nothing with my life

[downforit2008]

This actually happened on my day off. A day that I relished with great relief as I didn't have to be at W-Mart that day.

I had come out of the city library a few weeks ago, my arms full with 4 library books as I walked to the bus stop right outside the library and the bus was coming in 5 minutes, so I wouldn't have long to wait. There was a woman in her 50's at the bus stop, and she recognized me as a W-Mart employee.

SC: Hey, you work over at the W-Mart. I've seen you cleaning the parking lot yesterday!
Me: Oh, yes. Today's my day off, so that's good.
SC: --eyeing my books--So what major do you have in college?
Me: Oh, these are library books. I just checked them out just now.
SC: That is a LIBRARY? I thought it was a college!
Me: Yes, it looks a little bit like a college, but it isn't.

SC: Well, I thought that you were going to college and actually doing SOMETHING with your life instead of just working at the W-Mart.

I remember feeling my jaw stiffen and my blood begin to boil. Apparently, anyone in her mind who works RETAIL is nothing but some brain-dead loser who is doing NOTHING with their life. Isn't that the usual stereotype? Can't I just be a guy who is living from check to check and trying to pay their rent, their bills, and support themselves in a failed economy?

Me: For your information, ma'am, I am a college graduate with a degree in Business, but there are no jobs available for me to help pay off my loans but the W-Mart job, and I'm grateful to have it!

The SC looked stunned and then very guilty, knowing it was quite obvious that I put her in her place. She mumbled an apology and didn't say anything else to me as we boarded the bus. But it led me to wonder what kind of job that she has where she feels free to put negative stereotypes and assumptions on anyone who doesn't make quite as much money as her. I am lucky to have a job these days and haven't taken that for granted in these tough years, but apparently, there are jerks out there who still think that jobs still grow on trees and that EVERY college graduate is able to find the job that suits them in only a day.

[mharbourgirl]

Good job of public shaming there, she needed a reality check desperately.

Could you come by and have a word with MY college degree? Explain to it that it's not the degree's fault we can't find a job? Because it's feeling pretty bummed at this point.

Or, you know, we could just meet for coffee and a mutual bitch session, that'd be good too. But it has to be Tim's, it's the only coffee aside from my own that I care to drink.

Which is to say, I hear and totally sympathize. This is not a seller's job market at the moment.

[Kheldarson]

My parents pulled that on me for a while. Still try to.

Yes, I have my degrees (double major got me a BA/BS). Yes, I'm certified to teach. No, there's not a lot of job openings in my field.

Please leave me in peace while I try to move on in my life and do something productive, parents. Please?

Nothing wrong with retail if you can stand it. Nothing wrong with wanting to do better in it or leave it behind either. Experience is experience.

[Food Lady]

I am incensed at that. How completely rude. You shouldn't have even had to justify working there by explaining you have a degree. That's the whole problem with the conversation. I don't have a degree and work retail, and have been repeatedly told I am above average by far in intelligence. I'd tell her just that--I have done it before--and let that stick in her craw.*

*I don't mean to sound arrogant; it's just a fact in my life that proves the point.

[agirlfromnowhere]

People need to mind their own damn business. I worked at a certain fast food restaurant for almost 5 years. I got all kinds of people saying things like "why are you working here" or "you're way too smart to be working here." I kept thinking just shut up and be glad that there's someone here to refill your coffee.

[Flyndaran]

There are many far more important parts to life than what you do for a living. People work to live, not live to work.

[Mr Hero]

You're right, ma'am, that is a college I was visting. It's called STFU, ever heard of it?

[Pixilated]

What do you want to be she doesn't have a job ... of any kind?

Frankly, at this point, I am not doing so well in my pharm. tech. program, and I am actually enjoying my retail job, although this particular company is a little aggressive for my tastes -- if I could find a fulltime retail job at my favourite big-box bookstore, I'm really not sure I'd stick it out in school.

But yeah, that was incredibly arrogant on her part. Your response was great, especially since it succeeded in getting her to realize there's always a good time to STFU.

[LillFilly]

Well, you can't win either way, because when you DO have a job, people complain about you and say "Why don't you get a REAL job?!?" Umm, I'd say any job where you get paid and pay taxes is a real job!

[Jay 2K Winger]

That sort of thing pisses me off. Right up there with the "real job" crack.

As I've mentioned before, I got sensitive about the "real job" stuff around the time I left retail hell. My mom got the brunt of my tirade about it, wherein I detailed how insulting that sort of phrase is to the people who can't get any other job than that, either because no one else is hiring or because they don't have the qualifications yet, or because of some other perfectly reasonable explanation, and how if a job pays you real money, then it is a real job, and so on.

I wasn't yelling, but I was very very firm in my stating my case, to the point where Mom apologized, and cautioned Dad against teasing me about "finally getting a real job."

[Kristev]

When I worked at Wal-Mart and I had to put up with that, I'd just inform the creep that I was the author of X# books. Then follow it up with one of my promo cards. The look on people's faces was almost worth it.

[AccountingDrone]

When I worked at Wal-Mart and I had to put up with that, I'd just inform the creep that I was the author of X# books. Then follow it up with one of my promo cards. The look on people's faces was almost worth it.

From discussing it with Lois Bujold, she got told a few years ago that authors were another group that needed to get a real job ... then she pointed out that she is in the 20% or so that actually makes a living as an author [IE not needing a spouse or a job to support herself, including paying for her own medical insurance.] and was one of the top award winners of SF/F writers.

And as an aside, I might congratulate you on actually getting off your mental ass and actually putting forth the effort to write. So many people keep saying I wish I was an author ... all they need is pencil and paper/typewriter/word processing program and some mental elbow grease and so few people manage it.

[unperson]

It's amazing that someone too stupid to tell the difference between a library and a college feels like they've got the high ground in ANY conversation.

Then again, they're probably too stupid to know they're stupid..

[Food Lady]

It's amazing that someone too stupid to tell the difference between a library and a college feels like they've got the high ground in ANY conversation.

I completely missed that, and yet, it says it all.

[MoonCat]

From discussing it with Lois Bujold, she got told a few years ago that authors were another group that needed to get a real job ... then she pointed out that she is in the 20% or so that actually makes a living as an author [IE not needing a spouse or a job to support herself, including paying for her own medical insurance.] and was one of the top award winners of SF/F writers.

And as an aside, I might congratulate you on actually getting off your mental ass and actually putting forth the effort to write. So many people keep saying I wish I was an author ... all they need is pencil and paper/typewriter/word processing program and some mental elbow grease and so few people manage it.

Bujold has won Hugos and Nebulas! That woman is one of my idols!! And we have people on this site who know how much work goes into writing a book and going through the publishing process.

I bet the woman in the OP just likes to look down her nose at people. Any job that pays you is a real job. There are no small jobs--just small paychecks.