Why don't people want to say what they do for a living?

[Exige77]

I make pencils for a living.

There, I've said it know

[OldSkoolRS]

Exige77 said:

I make pencils for a living.

There, I've said it know

Could prove useful...that means you can rub out the 'k'.

[Monkeylegend]

Exige77 said:

I make pencils for a living.

There, I've said it know

Wooden or propelling?

[anonymous-user]

I am a compliance manager for one of the UK's biggest social housing providers.
I also own commercial and residential property which is leased/rented out.
I also own an automotive paint shop and garage, painting stuff like Porsches etc.

I fully accept that is quite a random selection of things.. But I got mad multitasking skills yo!

[Mike22233]

NinjaPower said:

I am a compliance manager for one of the UK's biggest social housing providers.
I also own commercial and residential property which is leased/rented out.
I also own an automotive paint shop and garage, painting stuff like Porsches etc.

I fully accept that is quite a random selection of things.. But I got mad multitasking skills yo!

So A has allowed you to do B/C (funding?)

[WestyCarl]

"as little as possible"

[Exige77]

Monkeylegend said:

Exige77 said:

I make pencils for a living.

There, I've said it know

Wooden or propelling?

Wooden,

Not sure where the extra "K" came from ?

Must be a special K

[Monkeylegend]

Exige77 said:

Monkeylegend said:

Exige77 said:

I make pencils for a living.

There, I've said it know

Wooden or propelling?

Wooden,

Not sure where the extra "K" came from ?

Must be a special K

Didn't notice it till you mentioned it

I saw a short documentary on pencil mfg some time ago, thought it was fascinating. One of the everyday objects we take so much for granted without realising what goes into the making of them.

I bet you are sick of people asking you if you have any lead in your pencil

[JonRB]

Blown2CV said:

it says nothing about me.

Sorry - I guess I thought that, since you were making sweeping generalisations based on not much data and a whole load of prejudice, that I'd join in.

Blown2CV said:

So, why do you say contractor then?

I don't, on the whole. I prefer the term 'freelancer'. But the generally accepted term for how I work is "IT Contractor".

A Consultant is generally brought in for a short time in an advisory capacity to give guidance on how to do the work. A Contractor is generally brought in to actually do the work.

I'd feel quite pretentious if I called myself a Consultant.

Edit:
This seems to be quite a good article on the subject, even though the author is based in Canada rather than the UK: http://www.cyberlis.com/Blog/Post/83/

Edited by JonRB on Tuesday 28th July 08:59

[Cotty]

Exige77 said:

I make pencils for a living.

There, I've said it know

I won't draw any conclusions

[turbobloke]

Exige77 said:

I make pencils for a living.

There, I've said it know

2B or not 2B? That is the question.

[JonRB]

turbobloke said:

Exige77 said:

I make pencils for a living.

There, I've said it know

2B or not 2B? That is the question.

That question is like a broken pencil; pointless.

[Exige77]

Monkeylegend said:

Didn't notice it till you mentioned it

I saw a short documentary on pencil mfg some time ago, thought it was fascinating. One of the everyday objects we take so much for granted without realising what goes into the making of them.

I bet you are sick of people asking you if you have any lead in your pencil

They are very complicated to make with such a low value product at the end of it.

We adopted Lean principles about 15 years ago.

There are 1000's of pencil makers around the world. Barriers to entry are low.

They get to a certain size and just can't grow any more and get stuck.

It becomes too hard to manage everything and not get in a mess.

We produce about 15M pencils each day.

The average Asian pencil maker needs around 45 days to make a pack of 12 coloured pencils.

Advanced factories like 2/3 Famous German producers need around 25 days for a pack of 12 coloured pencils.

We can do it 7.5 Hours using Lean. (Mini Factories, Pull, Kanban, Kaizen, one piece flow)

[4941cc]

037 said:

I find it bizarre when people want to know what you do for a living.
Why swerve any conversation towards work?

It's the British way of asking how much money you make, whereas Americans will tend to ask more directly.

If online, people are cagey because they don't want internet randoms turning up at their doors at work/home and hounding them like there's some special connection because they share one particular interest via a web forum.

[Cotty]

4941cc said:

It's the British way of asking how much money you make, whereas Americans will tend to ask more directly.

I wouldn't equate what someone does with how much they earn. I work with a grad, I can guarantee we are not on a comparable salary.

[4941cc]

Cotty said:

4941cc said:

It's the British way of asking how much money you make, whereas Americans will tend to ask more directly.

I wouldn't equate what someone does with how much they earn. I work with a grad, I can guarantee we are not on a comparable salary.

But a lot of people do make the assumptions (usually inaccurately) anyway.

[Thankyou4calling]

Monkeylegend said:

Didn't notice it till you mentioned it

I saw a short documentary on pencil mfg some time ago, thought it was fascinating. One of the everyday objects we take so much for granted without realising what goes into the making of them.

I bet you are sick of people asking you if you have any lead in your pencil

Slight detour from the topic into the world of pencils. Somebody must buy them but I find a ready and free supply at both Argos and IKEA. They are a bit stubby but you can't complain :-)

[Exige77]

Thankyou4calling said:

Monkeylegend said:

Didn't notice it till you mentioned it

I saw a short documentary on pencil mfg some time ago, thought it was fascinating. One of the everyday objects we take so much for granted without realising what goes into the making of them.

I bet you are sick of people asking you if you have any lead in your pencil

Slight detour from the topic into the world of pencils. Somebody must buy them but I find a ready and free supply at both Argos and IKEA. They are a bit stubby but you can't complain :-)

I think you'll find that Argos and Ikea buy those ones.

We don't make these kind of low end pencils though.

We have made the Ikea ones in the past but no margin there.

Edited by Exige77 on Tuesday 28th July 10:09

[anonymous-user]

Mike22233 said:

NinjaPower said:

I am a compliance manager for one of the UK's biggest social housing providers.
I also own commercial and residential property which is leased/rented out.
I also own an automotive paint shop and garage, painting stuff like Porsches etc.

I fully accept that is quite a random selection of things.. But I got mad multitasking skills yo!

So A has allowed you to do B/C (funding?)

Absolutely correct.

Money from the 'day job' has enabled me to get into B and C, to the point where I am about to resign from A, hopefully forever, and turn all my attention to C, which is my real passion.

B doesn't take much time to manage.

[Impasse]

I think we've found another good reason not to ask what someone does for a living. The answers are, almost without exception, terminally dull.