OCCUPATIONS
In life you’ll spend a lot of time explaining who you are, who you affiliate yourself with, and how you contribute to society. This ultimately means telling people what you do for work and that hopefully you are satisfied with it.
Whenever I visit my hometown of North Miami Beach/Aventura in South Florida, I avoid all human contact for the sheer thought of having to explain my whole life in five minutes to people (mostly parents) from the neighborhood.
They quickly inquire about the major city you live in and how much you shell out for a toilet with WiFi. Whether you like it and if you’ve seen their niece/nephew who also lives there. Of course they ask what you do for work and here’s where it gets tricky.
They are all well versed in the following occupations: doctor, lawyer, accountant, real estate, and finance aka DLARF. If your job doesn’t consist or relate to these five fields, a baby boomer won’t necessarily judge you but they’ll be SUSPICIOUS!
Explain to me darling, I need some examples.
EXAMPLES:
Let’s say 30 yr old Joe Lowenstein is a freelance graphic artist/illustrator.
Baby Boomer: So what do you do in LA?
Joe: I’m a freelance graphic artist/illustrator.
Baby Boomer: So you color for a living?
Let’s say 28 yr old Elise Bromberg is an actress.
Baby Boomer: So what do you do in the NYC?
Elisa: I am a working theater actor.
Baby Boomer: You’re an actor, hmm, have you been in anything that I’M FAMILIAR WITH? Do you have any contacts for HAMILTON??!?!?
Let’s say 32 yr old Rebecca Glassman works in tech.
Rebecca: I’m a coder for a tech startup in Seattle.
Baby Boomer: A coder huh? Is that the reason why my grandson is on his iPhone all day?
I’m from Miami and we are naturally a hot mess. You are literally judge sometimes by what type of car you pull up with for any event. Which means saying you are a personal injury lawyer/ambulance chaser in downtown Miami will give you more credit then let’s say working for a non-profit helping underprivileged children get scholarships for college.
Which makes me want to confuse baby boomers even more and tell them that I’m a social media influencer for modern contemporary Klezmer artists.
In the end what this is about is baby boomers judging millenials and gen-xers on what they think is an understandable and fulfilling occupation. Though times have changed and the newer generation has different ideals. We’ve grown up with the internet which has led us to create our own individual path and value our creative freedom more, with less of a desire to be in an office our whole life.
Because of the 2008 recession, the younger generation has realized that you need a multitude of skills and assets to make in today’s job market. And because companies are constantly merging, consolidating and trimming their overhead, you never know what tomorrow brings.
So similar to many Jewish immigrants in the Lower East Side back in the 1920s, the side hustle and entrepreneurial spirit is becoming the new normal. The pushcart vendors are now online and take credit cards.
In all fairness, just be positive and enthusiastic when describing your career to someone and I’m sure they’ll understand it completely.
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