Hidden Tax
Z and I met K. near Emory for lunch today, and we ran into a mutual friend at the restaurant. This friend was with another person we didn't know, so he decided to introduce us. It went like this: "This is K., she works at the Health Department...and this is, um, Joyce." (My memory wants to insist it was more like, "um, just Joyce," but I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt.)
This is someone whom I've known for several years, in many different contexts. We have lots of things in common. Isn't it interesting that he chose to introduce K. by describing her job, and when he came to me he had nothing to say?
Now, I'm not insulted or angry with him, bc he was taken by surprise at seeing us at all, and I'm sure he didn't even think about what he was saying. I'm just more sort of irked at the pervasive assumptions that a) people are defined by their jobs, and b) if their jobs don't pay, they're not worth mentioning.
(As it happened, I was busy *doing* the job I don't get paid for at the time, so I didn't get a chance to give him the hairy eyeball then and there--that's why you get to read about it in LJ.)
This is someone whom I've known for several years, in many different contexts. We have lots of things in common. Isn't it interesting that he chose to introduce K. by describing her job, and when he came to me he had nothing to say?
Now, I'm not insulted or angry with him, bc he was taken by surprise at seeing us at all, and I'm sure he didn't even think about what he was saying. I'm just more sort of irked at the pervasive assumptions that a) people are defined by their jobs, and b) if their jobs don't pay, they're not worth mentioning.
(As it happened, I was busy *doing* the job I don't get paid for at the time, so I didn't get a chance to give him the hairy eyeball then and there--that's why you get to read about it in LJ.)