Tuesday, June 24, 2008

occupational hazards.

new career areas i'm looking into, to get me out of impending jury duty*:

- the medical field
- the dental field
- the volunteer rescue squad field
- the legal field
- the caregiver field
- becoming a stay-at-home mom
- becoming a member of the clergy

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for the past 2 days our receptionist has been wearing a blue surgical mask. as i've mentioned before, she is big on health tips, so yesterday i assumed she was ill and thoughtfully did not want to infect the rest of us. or, that the dead mouse smell permeating from my side of the office was too much for her to bear.

but then this morning when i walked in and saw the mask again, i began to panic. what did she know that i didn't about the air in the office? nothing, apparently...

turns out she is replacing batteries in calculators.

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i've been trying to write this last part for more than a week now. so at my reunion two weekends ago i was yet again reminded that people do not quite 'get' what i do - BUT, that there is a great pop culture way for them to figure it out. thank goodness!!!

i personally don't think it should be that hard in the first place - teachers teach. farmers farm. publicists publicize. - but maybe i'm biased because i've been studying the communications industry since college, and am supposed to know what a publicist is and does, while the rest of the world is kept in the dark about this mysterious occupation.** in any event, being friends with teachers and lawyers and people in other such 'no need to explain' professions, i find sometimes when meeting people that when its my turn to say what i do their eyes just sort of glaze over.

this happened in chicago. at a memorial day family bbq of the friend we were staying with, it was our (chrissy + fellow nyc friend) turn in the spotlight to tell the friends and neighbors what we did back home (as well as the requisite question from people who've never been here before: is it really that dirty?!). friend says she's a lawyer, gets into entire discussion with neighbor about the sort of law, etc etc. the man shows a super amount of enthusiasm for the legal field.

then its my turn, and i give my little spiel about book publicity. neighbor seems confused, and for the first time during the entire bbq he has absolutely nothing to say. conversation turns to something else, and we all carry on. about 20 minutes later, neighbor gets the ol' lightbulb! face on, points at me and says "i know! you're samantha!"

he then proceeds to explain to the table that i'm samantha from sex and the city. everyone knowingly chuckles. i proceed to tell him yes, he's correct, but in profession only. more chuckles.

fast forward to the high school reunion - talking with a married couple, they ask what a friend and i now do - she says "teacher" - they smile, nod, ask questions - i say "publicist". crickets chirp. about 2 minutes later, the husband announces "oh, you're samantha!!"

really, people. really? please do not make me resort to SATC stereotyping of myself. and stop making your husbands watch the movie!!



*and why do all these people get out of it in the first place?? no wonder the stupid juror selection bureau stalks me every year - there's no one else left to serve.

**i basically know that this isn't the case, because i found out about publicists long before college when watching Another World back in my early teens soap-opera-watching phase and seeing Lorna Devon run around as a public relations director***, but i'll give everyone else the benefit of the doubt.

***yes, i hope as much as you do that i did not subconsciously pick my career based on a soap.

3 comments:

soulspeak23 said...

is calculator battery replacement a particularly dangerous task? I've never heard of this before!

And I feel for ya. I get the same blank stares when I tell people "Financial Analyst".
See? There's those crickets now!

P H said...

calculator batteries...OF COURSE! The ending to that story was perfect.

Also -- I'm with you w/r/t regailing others about publicity. Even for those people who know what it is, I feel like it's one step up from saying "insurance salesman" or "IRS agent" in terms of how much they want me to go on and on about what I do.

But yes seriously -- let's everyone stop watching Sex in the City, yes?

missyandchrissy said...

ss23 - same here...i've replaced many a battery in my life and never felt the need to wear facial protection when doing so!

and so you analyze financial things then? see - i get it!

ph - knowing her, you had to figure that the story was going to end somewhere on the higher end of the ridiculous scale...

and thank you for your support in stopping people from seeing that movie. even though i think among us and our combined 8 readers we'll only get so far.