Why are Americans so upfront with this question to people they newly meet?
I never realised it till I stayed in the states for a while. It's one of the first things you get asked. Where I am from (and i believe most the world) that is almost rude to ask someone till you are way better acquainted.
What is the idea behind it, enlighten me? clearly it is cultural.
small talk
the most interesting thing you probably do is at work
Seems weird. Here work is the LAST thing anyone wants to talk about. we want ti dissociate ourselves from it no matter what we do for a living.
It's generally seen as boring at best, rude and invasive probing at worst.
If you really love what you do you never work a day in your life
good goy
Where you from user?
They're literally just asking "are you a loser?"
Seriously they have no interest in what your job is most the time, they're trying to judge how successful you are
It's the EXACT same thing when mutts ask "which college did you go to?" or "what car do you drive?", they don't actually care they're trying to judge your success.
The reason only mutts do this is cause its far more "competitive" than most of Europe
Also if you don't believe me reply with the following jobs too people you don't know:
McDonald's, call centre, plumber, teacher, accountant, doctor.
You won't get any questions about your work (apart from maybe doctor) just the impression that people are clearly judging you
The UK. It is considered extremely rude here and wont score you any good standing with others if you ask it.
It's definitely cultural. Everything in britain is "implied" without saying it. But i know the "what do you do?" thing is similar in the rest of Europe too.
he cute
exactly this. I just don't get how Americans can be so tactless wtf.
Mutts define themselves by heritage, they are obsessed with race and being whatever percentage of whatever trash bred.
I work with some of the most rich people in the entire UK, in the richest area. (my job is not that good, i just encounter them a lot).
They never do this weird shit. often you will converse with them about oddities, they may mention their car is in the repair shop, and it's inconvenient to get around right now. they would not mention that the car is a fucking Aston Martin ever, you would only find out if you saw it, and nobody would fucking ask either.
Find it so strange how much of this is upfront with USA culture.
I'm guessing most people over there are working for government beureaucracy by default, so the question is kind of moot.
Honestly, i don't even get where you are coming from with that answer, it's definitely a big culturally loaded thing.
Work is a status symbol in the US. Even worse, working long hours is considered a status symbol because it makes your time seem valuable.
This country deserves to be nuked.
Looking it up on Wikipedia, the public sector for employment is higher throughout much of Europe than in the US. This might make the question of who you work for less interesting.
protestant background, makes sense. Anyone know what it is like in asian cultures regarding this? i know how it is in Europe.
I dont think that means anything. asking what someone does prying. you can find out if they are interesting way easier otherways before going directly for that. USA culture just clearly places way more important on jobs as "interesting" than europe.
The job you do is a big part of you in the us.
Most people here a middle class no one gives a shit about how well you're doing unless you're in the top percent who are actually comparing themselves I'm terms of wealth.
Guess no one ever heard of cut to the fucking chase.
Americans have a desperate need to show off and to prove they're better than everyone else
its a west coast thing. you were probably staying in California right? those fucking savages...
he cute
>how can a nation of mutts that mutilate the genitals of their male offspring and worship mindless consumerism in all its forms be so tactless?
whoda thunk?
This. People treat you entirely differently based off this kind of stuff. It's depressing really.
>Guess no one ever heard of cut to the fucking chase
I respect people who are upfront about it but 3/5 of the time I hear this the people asking think they are being slick.
Yeah I was in California, and went into texas too and visited new york only briefly.
The indirectness is annoying in British culture though, everything implied, but I wouldn't appreciate getting asked directly things like where i work, what i drive. so crass.
Most Americans are bugmen with artificial interests, like Sports Team from Home City or Current Superhero Movie or Celebrity #7281. I say this as an American that loves sports, so it's not like I'm completely free from this cultural phenom either.
If you go to a big, division 1 college, you get sucked into that bugmen NPC mentality and are forced to conform or else you're shunned from things like good jobs or cute girls.
I fucking hate the US, will move asap
I just say I work construction. I don't talk about how I have a job where I spend most of the day shitposting and occasionally getting out of my truck to inspect the mexicans' work to make sure that they didn't fuck up whatever they were building too badly. I don't talk about how my hatred of "hard working" people has only grown, and how I wish they would realize that the "American dream" never existed and they would have better chances staying in their own countries and moving weight.
It seems very much that in US, where you went to college, what yo studied and how much money you make is all anyone cares about.
I know money rules in social status everywhere, but it seems even more cutthroat in the USA. Like I could imagine people changing instantly about wanting to talk with you depending how you answer, or women instantly changing from attracted to unattractive despite whatever you were talking about or vibing previously.(this holds true everywhere, just not as exaggerated).
Where I'm from, people "Do" interesting things. I for one like to hear what kind of companies and projects my new aquaintances have founded, so I can better bounce ideas off them. I know this capitalist positive sum mindset isnt as prevalent in Europe, or even from the disenfranchised Americans that make up Jow Forums, but it's actually possible for someone to derive self worth from what they "do" and not be merely another npc
We arent talking about that. it's more about how 90% of people asking are trying to judge you and determine where you stand. It is simply a surprise that USA culture has no problem being so blunt about it to strangers.
>what do you do
>Professionally or personally
>professionally
>For my safety I can't really talk about it
Mutt here. This is the truth:
America does not have a culture. To the extent that the individual has values, goals, and beliefs, they are inseparable from their careers, their money, and where they spend it. We Mutts do not, and cannot, define ourselves by virtues or experiences or ideals independent from our careers and the products we consume. For example, something like 30% of dating app profiles in America reference either Netflix or Starbucks (google it). “What kind of person are you?” is synonymous with “what do you do?” in America because we form our identities based on corporations and because we spend most of our time working, whether for a corporation or not, so we can give corporations our money and thus feel solid in our identity.
“Netflix and chill,” “rise and grind,” “what’s your beef?” “always a bridesmaid,” etc etc etc, all corporate concoctions. Hell, even love is contingent on a company now. “We met on bumble.” “We met at A Starbucks after we both swiped right, and now Bumble is giving us $ to use a #starbucks hashtag on our insta wedding page, and every hashtag gives you points on Amazon.”
You cannot find a single 18-30 year old in America who will answer the question, “what are you all about,” without some discussion of work, money, and corporate loyalty.
That's part of what I'm saying, there is no judgement for most people. Sure a lot of people with "high end" jobs will ask simply to inflate their egos, but for the most part this question starts a conversation where both parties try and find commonality. Plus the question's open ended. Suppose I ask a non-butthurt guy at a bar that happens to work at McDonald's. He's probably not going to self identify with burger flipping, he's going to say some shit like "I'm grinding for a bit while I work on my art portfolio" or self learning programming, or helping out with a sick relative. There's no ego clashing here, it's an effective method to start a common basis for a conversation. America has traditionally had class mobility and entrepreneurship as core values, this carries in to our conversations as well.
fucking normies, truly disgusting. Id rather live on the street and cut off one of my ears in a trash can at one point in my life than that crap. and yes, if you define yourself by your wageslave-job, your car, your consumerism or your material property you are a pig-disgusting normie
user, there is a third choice. Its not to be a normie or an outcast.
It's to redpill yourself on the way things are and leverage it with the advantage.
But if you look closely at what the "busy" mutts are doing its mostly sub par low quality work. Look at things such as mutt cars, code, buildings etc. Everything is low quality and falls apart which necessitates the customer who is purchasing these low quality products to come back to the manufacturer, which means the mutt gets more work and is thus "busy".
Because everyone in America is hustling
>euros wonder why they are poor
>don’t want to talk about work
Why do you think America is so productive?
Good goy. Even when amerilards aren't at work they're talking about work
>it’s depressing
So you are a poorfag looser?
Americans only want to associate with succefull people, stay rekt poorfags
>hustling
look at this cool guy with his street smarts
>i am super impressed bro
Boomer advice is literally the worse.
money printing?
He cute. And correct.
>associate with succefull people
That's a very roundabout way of saying "lick boots"
I'm American and I hate this question, even though I make $130k a year pooping software out of my butthole and somewhat enjoy the work I do.
It's just a boring fucking question. The mood changes as soon as people talk about work. They generally tense up, get more serious, and try to put a positive spin on it even though they probably hate it.
I try to steer the conversation to something else as quickly as possible.
Ah ok, it is an invitation to open up. See that is the thing, there is a huge cultural gap between angle countries which is rarely discussed. I would not have gotten that.
Here, you can simply ask someone something like "what have you been up to lately?" or "what do you like to get up to in between *context relevant thing here*?
they're sizing you up so they can decide whether to treat you like a human being or not
Much worse in Asia.
how so? I was told that in asian cultures, people tend to judge more on family background etc
M8, Asians are the most blunt...
They'll straight up ask how much you have/make.
For all the reeeing in this thread it does honestly give you a decent idea of where someones interests generally lie also. If you're dealing with a construction worker he's fairly likely to be on a spectrum from druggy degenerate to hunting and handiwork family man to varying degrees. If it's a more white collar guy they tend to like golf and travel a lot. There's no hard and fast rules but I think we've realized your job does give a pretty reliable window of off time interests even if we get absolutely assblasted at the idea of stereotypes. Exceptions always exist but most construction workers aren't spending their time at the symphony and the white collar guy probably doesn't have a project motorcycle in pieces in his garage. It does vary a lot by location, for example a highly paid rural lawyer is going to be quite divergent with his New York counterpart, but if you know where someone lives and what they do you can get a pretty accurate general image of what their days are like and fill in the details as you interact with them more.
this makes me not want to live here anymore. how did we get to this point? why do we suck so much corporate cock?
Lmao, how the fuck do you handle that constantly, i'd lose it
>this
was just working with some older chinese guy on a temp job and he straight up asked me how much I make a month shortly after meeting him.
This thread is full of insecure losers. I ask because I'm a freelance copywriter and by advertising for your business I can make you millions of dollars. I assume you would be comfortable making millions of dollars?
Sorry eurofags, you're just not that interesting otherwise. I'm not going to ask you what your hopes and dreams are when I first meet you, fucking hell.
Yes, because answering "I'M ALL ABOUT FAMILY AND FOOTBALL MATE, GO ROTTINGHAM SHIRE CLUB SCORE SOME FAKKIN GOALSSSS" is SO much more refined and elegant.
In britain you can tell someone's general background from their accent, so you just need to hear them talk. Unless you have some sort of hick-tier southern accent, in America you can't tell shit about a person unless you ask for more info.
Don't know about Adriana in general. But Chinese mainlanders are the absolute fucking worst when it comes to unfiltered shameless judgement based on what college you went to, what degree you got, your career and accomplishments etc. Visited my extended Chinese family last Christmas and I kid you not about 80 percent of conversation is related to one of those things. My cousins and I aren't even in college anymore and they still bring it up. Maybe it's like sports for normal people: a common struggle to gel around.
Not once was I able to have a good discussion about something really interesting. They just just have opinions on anything not related to personal success. Well, politics a little: shitting on blacks and Mexicans, larping as Trump voters.
I was willfully unemployed around that time, they were flabbergasted and could not stop asking me "why why why, what is your plan, what is wrong with you?"
why though? do people answer it honestly normally?
Asians*
Incidentally phone posting from work
Kys europoor before our military has to come over there and do it for you
This thread reminds me how much I hate the poor
idk probably some attempt at small talk but he seemed genuinely curious. I don't get asked that very often and I honestly do think its rude especially if you don't know the person very well. Last time someone pestered me about what I did and how much I make I told them I was a contract killer and make 6 figures a month.
How's the wall doing?
not true, maybe not always from accents but slang and the way people talk you can figure out what kind of background they’re from
>people from shit parts of the US (e.g. coasties, southerners) think they know what culture is in all of America
lol
as expected of wogs
tfw when this isn't a silver thread
>normal fag asks me "what do you do"
>tell him "I do nothing"
>"what! What do you mean?"
>tell him I don't have a job or need one.
>"how do you survive ?" "what do you do all day?"
Can normalfag sheep only see themselves as slaves their whole life?
Because in the USA, the job defines the person and their role/status in society. The one thing Americans are obsessed with is status, so it’s seen as a shortcut to getting a lot of insights into a person and his life.
Looks like (((they))) won with this one
I never realized this wasn't the case until I left for awhile. It's a weird question to me now.
>...is literally the worse
The phrase is 'the worst', you speaka da English like an utter pajeet-tier shit monkey.
But what do you do??
its not that. They are trying to see if they are more important then you/make more money
Where do you get money for rent and food?
You don't live with your parents do you user?
In America jobs are weirdly fetishised because modern American culture is the byproduct of weird creepy boomers who are obsessed with shit like their lawns and their jobs and their cars.
I spent half my life in America and half in Britain and some of the shit Americans do is plain weird. For example Americans think it’s totally normal to tell all your friends you got a promotion, whereas no one in Britain would ever do that.
Why the hell would you feel the need to keep a promotion a secret?
Yeah that is a bit weird to me. I'd tell family an'd thats it.
In Britain, tooting your own horn is really frowned upon too
HE CUTE
Mostly this.
Social comparison is a large aspect of American life.
Europoors out in force today. You can have your safe space. Your irrelevant countries don't impact the greatest nation on earth anyways.
Why can't take any criticism? Sometimes it's like it must be USA national pass time to get offended by any negativity and criticism
He cute
For NPC types especially, they only attach value to certain labels and can't see the human bean as anything else
the interesting thing, is that where i live in Scandinavia, its perfectly normal to ask how much someone earns in a year (its even public information and you can google every single persons income online), whilst when i was in the states they went apeshit angry when i asked.
The best answer
I've noticed that girls ask this usually the first time they meet me and once I answer that I'm a very low level gov' employee, whatever attraction for me they seem to have drains away instantly. It's very demoralizing and I wonder how wealthier people view this type of interaction with women.
>Your irrelevant countries
You mean the largest single trading block in the world? The largest economy in the world? That Europe?
I guess in the europe its because you get handed a job from the central planning committee. So a job doesn't mean much.
However in the US of A you can do whatever you want so how you choose to earn a living and support humanity as a whole says a lot about who you are
as a person...hope, dreams, etc.
KEK, am gonna use this
Asian kill themselves or retreat from societies when losing jobs
Anglos can't stay a day out of job
Euros try to work as little as possible and to steal as much as possible from the compnay/office they work from
the problem here is evident: cuckoldry.
We Euros know how things go and we don't necessarily get excited about. There are powerful people who gets to decide what normal people can do. Think about king/plebs, pope/believers etc... We are used to this since the beginning of time.
On the other hand, USA are really young and they are so fucking naive it's unbelievable. They cheer, they wag their tail for every insignifcant little thing, they blindly execute things and don't realize that, at the end of the day, they are just serving their master, like we do, like everybody does on this world.
Asians are peculiar: they are also used to this, but given their individual traits, i am sure they are scared as fuck of any physical harm, more than rugged euros. They ve been cuckolded into oblivion and they will never recover, giving their whole life to some motherfucker who happens to be a businessman lol.They even die at their work place lolololol
anyway, non Euros have a long way to go to understand how the world spin, and you'll probably get it after several wars on your soil.
>all of these europoors who have never gained valuable business partners and hundreds of thousands of profit by shooting the shit with randoms about business and earnings.
Disgusting.
>Engelhard
A boomer with good taste
>discussion of work, money, and corporate loyalty
>even if you shun those things and refuse to worship them you're still talking about it
It's asked because American culture, you are defined by your job. In other societies, other things about a person are more important. Americans have been brainwashed to believe the title you carry is all that matters.
Rich people view that interaction as an ego inflating experience. Why do you think rich and famous people become delusional? Everywhere they go they are treated like god.
it's because americans are shallow as fuck and quick to judge people to make themselves feel better. i live here and that is my opinion
>Obsessed with race
>go on to insult them for being mixed race
Always hilarious
thank god I have a job that's respected and impressive to normies
>leverage it with the advantage
how so?
I can talk about what I'm all about but I'm also a socialist who doesn't make being a socialist a huge part of his personality.
Not all Mutts are helpless you know.