Whats your REAL job?

[jjllbb]

I had yet another customer tell me i should "go back to school and get a real job"

I'm so sick and tired of it. I'm lucky to HAVE a job, jerks.

I'm just going to start making up stuff.

From now on when they ask me what my "day job" is I'll tell them I'm an astronaut or an investment banker.

[SG15Z]

"go back to school and get a real job"

As opposed to the fake one he's doing now?

Serously though I'm getting tired of this too. Retail/fast food/call centers/etc. may not be the everyday $30,000/year 9-5 jobs behind a desk, but it's still a job! Sure it's a crappy one that pays peanuts but it's still a real job. Do I need to show you my w-2 and w-4 forms to prove it!?

[bean]

I do manage to get away with more than your average checker, but...

Twice now, when someone pulls the "real job" line, I've turned the register keyboard around to them and said we were trying the self checkout process, and said I was there to supervise. They were more than welcome to figure out the register on their own! Our registers are incredibly easy to use too, I picked up about 75% of what I needed to know on them just from bagging before I got cashier training.

Of course, one time it was an asshole coworker who wound up completely flustered and had no idea what to do. The other time it was a regular who knew I wasn't 100% serious, I wound up having her toddler press the "Customer Tender" button though.

[Sunflash]

UGH. I hate idiots that do that. I don't usually get much of it since I work the early mornign shift (read: old people who don't care shift), but every now and then I have to cover an evening shift/work a party.

Without fail, when I'm desperatly pacing back and forth trying to keep an eye on 40+ people at once in a place that echos so loud you can't really hear anything clearly, I'll have some bright young idijit ask me how much I get paid 'for this fake job that seems so easy a grade-schooler could do it'.

And without fail, it's all I can do to keep from throwing 'em out. :|

[jedimaster91]

"Actually, sir/madam, I have been to school and I hold a degree in Nuclear Medicine Technology from one of the top programs in the country*. However, with the economic downturn and the Chalk River reactor in Canada being down for maintainace since the early summer, our supplies of Technitium have been VERY short. Ergo, doctors are having to cut back on ordering our tests, so hospitals are unable to hire new staff. Plus the school saturates the market in this area. We're all praying Chalk River comes back online by March since the Dutch reactor HAS to go offline then. If Canada's still down, everybody's screwed."



*We went through the reaccredidation process my last semester and our instructor told us our program was on par with the likes of Harvard. So stick that in your pipe and smoke it, SCs.

[Sheldonrs]

...From now on when they ask me what my "day job" is I'll tell them I'm an astronaut or an investment banker.

Tell the idiots you're a cop. Or an IRS agent. :-)

[EvilEmpryss]

Although I would much prefer my children to become something that requires a PhD, I always hold their cousin up as the shining example of how to excel at a retail service career. He started working at fast food place when he was sixteen. By the time he was thirty he was a regional manager with a salaried job, benefits, and beau-coup respect from the family for how hard he worked.

Even "lowly" burger flippers and cashiers (as others think of them, not me) are needed to make the world go round, so why the hell would people insult the ones making their lives easier?

[Seshat]

"Well, sir/ma'am, I'm actually a sociological epidemiologist doing an empirical study on stress conditions in the service industry."

[mikoyan29]

I did 3 years as a cashier at Kroger. It was my senior year in college and 2 years after that while I was pounding the pavement for a job somewhat related to my degree. While I didn't like the job and wanted out, I was glad that I had something that paid fairly well. As a result, I have nothing but respect for people that do that job. One thing that alot of people don't realize is that places like McDonalds like to hire from within. YOu have to do your time on the line before you can move up in the company. So while there are alot of slackers, there are also alot of people that doing that until something better comes up.

And I for one am glad that there are people willing do those jobs.

As for the person that says, "Why don't get you a real job?", I think the proper answer for them would be, "would you prefer I'm a drain on your tax dollars as I draw welfare?" or something to that effect. Or better yet, just a nod and a smile.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Yeah, because with the economy where it is right now, all these people coming out of school are having jobs just fall into their laps, right?

You should tell them you had to drop out of school and come home to take care of a dying family member who lost their job and disability and now you're trying to keep them home in their last days.

[Andara Bledin]

Just ask them this:

If all of us service staff went and got "real jobs" then you'd have to flip your own burgers/ring up your own groceries/draw your own beer/etc, now, wouldn't you. How about I do my job, you do yours, and we go about our day?

^-.-^

[zara1269]

I hate that saying more than anything.

I dare someone to say this to me. I just recently went back to the restaurant I worked at when I was just out of high school and through college. I have a bachelor's degree in business and had a job that paid over $40K/year that I quit to go back to said restaurant making significantly less b/c my happiness is more important than a huge paycheck. Plus I'm back into school for nursing. Even when I was making a decent salary at the office, never would I have the audacity to ever dream of saying this to the person serving me my coffee or my meal. That is just rude as you never know what someone's story may be. Heck we have a former dentist (retired) who bags groceries at the grocery store but I'm sure people who don't know his story probably would think that he probably should have done something more rewarding with his life than bagging groceries.

I can say this without a doubt that those office workers that I used to be jealous of are probably the most unhappy individuals you will encounter. At least that was my experience in the two offices I worked at. Being a cubicle jockey is not all it's cracked up to be.

Sorry to have derailed the thread with my little rant. I hate it when other's look down on what someone else does for a living.

[LillFilly]

I figure if you're getting paid for it it's a real job!

I also hate when they assume you must be uneducated to be doing what you do. Graaaarrr!!!

[LadyAndreca]

I'm lucky I can still use a cheerful "College tuition doesn't pay for itself!" That flips most of them around to "oh, she's working through college, good for her". The rest are the type to ask what I'm studying, hear I'm studying music, and decide I'll be working at the Orange Apron for the rest of my life. (Gee, thanks.)

[Midorikawa]

I'm lucky I can still use a cheerful "College tuition doesn't pay for itself!" That flips most of them around to "oh, she's working through college, good for her". The rest are the type to ask what I'm studying, hear I'm studying music, and decide I'll be working at the Orange Apron for the rest of my life. (Gee, thanks.)

Heh. My brother is a music education major at a major Texas university. He hasn't had a "job" in about 5 years. He's a string bassist for several concert orchestras, repairs and sells hippy busses on the side, and is easily making twice what I make. I just wish I had half the talent my brother does...Love music, but not that great at it.

In addition, while I never worked a cashier job, I've worked my share of crap jobs (been a tech support agent for 5 years, a table busser for a few years, and a few other miscellaneous jobs.) As others have said, I have the utmost respect for those working in the service industry.

Being a cubicle jockey is not all it's cracked up to be.

Hear hear! Been there, and it rather sucks. I'm much happier lugging 100lb servers around all day than I ever have been stuck at a desk all day.