When you apparently work for Evil Inc.

[Allyson]

I was thinking tabloid journalist!

The next time someone starts attacking your work, you could say something like, "I know, a lot of people feel that way. It's an interesting discussion, but I'd rather not talk about my work off the job!" The 'I know people feel that way' lets them gently know that they aren't the first person to bring up these concerns, you've heard the POV before so they aren't giving you new information.

[kglory]

When I was about 5 years old, I asked my dentist (who I honestly really liked), "How can you be a dentist?   Isn't it gross to put your fingers in people's mouths all day?"

He replied by asking me calmly, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"  I said, "A writer."  He said, "But isn't that gross to write stories about people all day?"

The irony was lost on me.  But I realized that I had said Something Bad.   And my mom later explained to me how what I said was very rude!

I'm sorry, that's what that thread makes me think of   But in my defense, I was 5 years old!  Past that, I can't see polite adults asking each other this kind of question -- and, from this thread, for apparently every career there is out there!

[girlysprite]

DH and I both worked for Evil Oil Companies.  We finally decided our stock answer would be, "...and how did you get here today?"  When the challenger would sputter about BART, AC Transit, or carpooling, we'd reply, "...so our point is made" and walk away.  In all this time, only one person challenging us actually rode a bicycle to the party.

It reminds me of a story of a farmer and his wife who had dinner at the house of another couple. The couple launched into stories about the evils of how farm animals are bred and grown these days. The farmer got up, went to the kitchen, checked the package from the chicken they were eating (raised on the same kind of farms the couple was railing against), took it back into the living room and told them to put their money where their mouth was. At least the couple had the decency to act embarressed after that.

[Giggity]

So my question is how does one reply to those who seem to believe you work for the center of evil?  I don’t want to set anyone off but I also don’t want to leave them with the sense that what they’re saying is right.

I work for an oil company. You have a few choices.

You laugh at them, which isn't very nice; you inform them politely just how much value your industry adds to their daily lives and invite them to try and do without it; or you take them at face value and get really, really concerned about possibly having made a pact with Satan when you thought you were just signing paperwork to change your insurance now that open enrollment is here.

[Virg]

hobish wrote:

"It sounds like EHellions could form our own little Evil Empire"

Wait, we haven't yet?  I thought that was in the fine print on the signup page.  I mean, there's even a "Hell" in the name!

Virg

[miranova]

I can certainly think of a few careers that I do actually find to be immoral/unethical etc.  There are some careers that exist that are distasteful enough to me that I don't think I could be friends with someone in that line of work.  To be clear, the things I'm thinking of are nothing like the examples in this thread, but examples do exist.  However, and this is a big however, there would be no reason to ever express my distaste to anyone in that line of work.  If we aren't going to be friends anyway, then I can say "how interesting" and change the subject when I hear what they do and simply not be friends with them.  It's that simple.  I don't know why anyone feels the need to INFORM someone that their entire career is wrong. 

I have to laugh at some of the examples in this thread.  I was definitely imagining something much worse than photo retouching.  I'd like to know the jobs of the people making these judgements.  They can't all be handing out soup to the homeless all day long.  Every industry has its share of controversy.

[Sirius]

I have people telling me my job is being rendered obsolete by computers.  Not yet it isn't.

[JennJenn68]

Oh, lordy, I understand this... My poor DH works for an oil/gas company.  He seems to say the same thing all the time--"I work for EvilOilCompany but I have nothing to do with setting the price of gas and in fact work in a completely different part of the industry."  Sometimes it helps; sometimes it doesn't.  He's learned to be pretty laid-back about it and is the type of guy who will just walk away from someone who decides to be rude to him.  (And I mean "walk away".  When the other person is in mid-rant.  Have I mentioned that I love him completely and worship the ground he walks on?  More people should do this.  Do not engage the crazy, at all.  Walk away and maybe, just maybe, they will clue in that there is someone whose buttons they cannot push...)

Sometimes, ignoring and walking away is the only solution.  It's not rude when the other person is acting like a spoiled toddler who must have agreement or he will stamp his widdle foot and pout.

[faithlessone]

I think there are some people out there who can find something negative to say about any profession. Even in the case of some jobs, which have got a bad rap either generally or specifically, it's rare to find a person on the lower rungs who has any say in how that business is run. And the straight fact is that without these big, BAD industries (banking, oil, journalism, taxes etc.) society would collapse.

I have a friend who's fiance is in investment banking. He's only a fairly recent graduate, and he's still mostly at the filing/fetching coffee/data-inputting stage. But ask him, and he'll tell you all sorts of horrible things that people have said to him. His advice is just to let it roll off you. 9 times out of 10, the people who insult you don't know what they're talking about.

[whiterose]

I have people telling me my job is being rendered obsolete by computers.  Not yet it isn't.

When I was in upper elementary school, I had said that I wanted to be a cartoon animator. Class bully said "that is done by computers now". Well, guess what, I have friends who are animators. Someone has to design the cartoons using the computers.

I am a librarian now. Libraries and librarians have not been rendered obsolete by the internet either.

[KimberlyM]

I understand this completely.  I work for an ambulance chaser, I hear it all the time, but, it's a paycheck.

[jmarvellous]

Mass media, finance and law -- I guess my plan is to hit all the hated career paths in one lifetime.
 
I mention my journalism background and I get 10 minutes of everything that's wrong with politics, crime, celebrity culture and so on, as well as news-outlet-I-never-worked-for hate.

I mention finance, and it's, "Why would you work for scum-sucking people out to destroy the good people?"

I mention going to law school, and I get tales of how crazy and dumb lawyers are.

And I laugh through it all.

[AustenFan]

Don't forget insurance. Apparently people in insurance are so evil we use Hell as our recruitment centre.

[Flora Louise]

When I was about 5 years old, I asked my dentist (who I honestly really liked), "How can you be a dentist?   Isn't it gross to put your fingers in people's mouths all day?"

He replied by asking me calmly, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"  I said, "A writer."  He said, "But isn't that gross to write stories about people all day?"

The irony was lost on me.  But I realized that I had said Something Bad.   And my mom later explained to me how what I said was very rude!
. . . 

Your five year old self was channeling Cole Porter!

"If you become a doctor people face you with dread,
If you become a dentist they'll be glad when you''re dead . . ."

From Be A Clown

[alis]

Husband and I both use general terms and change the subject.

I'm a stay at home mom (true) and he works in childcare (he's a police officer - it's the same thing - because I used to and called myself a babysitter too when I didn't know people HAH).