Why is it(most) people assume everyone works in a office?

I don’t know if you’re much different. Your office just has lots of wheel, travels over highways, and brings us our goods doesn’t it?

OK but what about welders,plumbers,electricians ,those types of workers.

Their office is their workplace, a building, a ship, a basement, where ever their work requires them to be. It could be outside on a skyscraper, or a crappy old house basement.

My office these days is often my lap.

I’ve never heard someone ask, “where is your office located?” Maybe because I worked retail and then worked from home. I have been asked if I work from home once they find out I work for a vendor or ask if I have to go into an office at all. Some people asked my territory if they really understood the type of work I did when I worked for a vendor. When I did work in offices people would ask if I worked close to home or in RTP (an area in NC that a lot of people worked) that sort of thing.

I think people who work in offices are more likely to think other people work in offices. I also think if you seem intelligent, responsible, and very capable, people assume office worker or some sort of professional. I woman I know who is an accountant once said to me, “I had to get a college degree, I wasn’t going to wind up working at the mall, it would have killed my father.” I’m sure she felt awful when I said, “most of my career was at the mall.” Many of my close friends who stuck with their mall careers are almost all making more than her most likely. My point is, she never would have guessed I didn’t work in an office from what I surmised, because I think she had a positive impression of me, and looked down on people who did my type of work. The two did not fit together in her head.

They ask that because most people who don’t sit at a desk to work still have an office where they check in once in a while. They might show up once every six months, but it is a place they go to file a change in their W4 or add or drop a dependent, or change the direct deposit on their paycheck.

And most people don’t ask that kind of question first, they ask it as a secondary question once they have an idea of what work one does. More common is “where do you work?”, not “where is your office.”

I understand the question and do not agree that “most” people assume this. If anything certain circles of acquaintances may assume this. Where I live is very upscale and white collar and it would be a very big surprise to “most” if anyone in this circle did not work in an office or own it for that matter.

And just the opposite would apply where I grew up as a child in the inner city of Chicago. There, anyone who worked in an office would be a huge surprise as again “most” worked a blue collar job.

I would agree with @zenvelo. It does seem curious since the workforce participation rate is 63% which leaves 37% of working age adults with no job at all, let alone an office.

Here’s a tangent thought to consider:

It’s no secret that decent day care is expensive and difficult to find or keep. But, few people understand that there’s no such a thing as “night care.”

Many jobs take place outside of the office day (restaurant work, security, janitorial, retail stores, 2nd and 3rd shift jobs, etc.). If someone’s sincerely trying to be gainfully employed and support his/her household, that person might need to take a position that isn’t 9-to-5. Unless the individual has a spouse who’s home during those hours, or a kindly relative or neighbor who’ll help, the situation’s impossible.

Here, the standard line is: “So, what kind of work do you do?”

I have never heard “where is your office located?”. And in my town it’s not that people are assuming there is a good chance you work in the trades. Rather, having an “office” is not as common as it used to be. Many people work from home or are on the road much of the time. It would be an odd question to ask.

I will usually say “where do you work?” I don’t assume most people work in an office because I represent many workers who work in the field or in a hole or in a sewage treatment plant or prison or places like that.

When people ask where I work, I always simply say I work in the field. I don’t pay attention to their assumptions.

I’ve never gotten that. I’m always asked, “So, what do you do (for a living)?”

Pretty much what @cookieman said. Can’t think of a single time anyone has asked for my office location.

@filmfann: You’ll have to change your answer, now that you’re retired!

It does appear that many entities such as magazines, tv shows, songs, etc do assume that most people work 9 to 5 office jobs, when the reality is that most people work odd hours at some factory.

Of about 130 million employed Americans as of the last census, over half of these or about 77 million are office workers. Its the single largest work environment in the US today, more so for women than men. See the breakdown on a chart here:

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-types-of-jobs-do-americans-have.htm

(I got the 77 number from the sales and office, professional and related, and mgmt. and financial business categories in the chart).

There is no job related advice on the internet for anyone who doesnt work in an office.. how to dress, what to ask at interviews, what to put on a resume, how to deal with annoying co-workers, workplace bullying, corporate events, all advice for the office worker and nothing for anyone else. Perhaps a person is going to interview for a cooks job..where is the advice for him/her? how do you dress for a blue collar interview?..nothing. crickets.Assuming no one who doesnt work in an office environment doesn’t need advice..is wrong on all levels. To add insult to injury, the media also just assumes that everyone has the weekends off. Most people who dont work in an office dont usually have full weekends off.

Nice answer there ^^^^^^ @cookiegirl1957 .

I would love to socialize here and have some fun with the questions and answers, but if no one responds to my posts, then there isn’t any real point of me being here.

@cookiegirl1957: You did get a response from @SQUEEKY2 above — which is a win considering this question is from 2014.

Try responding to the new questions that come out daily under the General, Social, and Meta sections. You’ll see a lot more action on the newer questions.

Welcome to Fluther fellow cookie-person!! Hope you stick around.