Why is being asked, what do you do for a living.....(rest in details)

Once again, I wouldn’t say I know what “the majority of people” feel. For myself, I have no problem stating my occupation to anyone; I do consider my income something I won’t reveal casually.

If someone knows my name, they can google my salary because I am a public employee. If they don’t know my name or my salary, I’m not about to reveal it on an internet site.

@jca then I think we somewhat agree, not on the internet to random strangers?

I usually tell people that I am an engineer. whether or not I give further details depends upon the person asking. When I was traveling in China I would tell the friendly spooks pretending to be students studying English that I worked at Goldman Sachs. I gave them all sorts of “interesting” info.
Salary is confidential.
Age is confidential online. When pressed for a number I always overstate my age.

@SQUEEKY2: Yes, we agree not on the internet to random strangers (illogical to do that IMHO).

Simply put, I don’t ask other people about their business and I appreciate them not asking about mine.

The age thing doesn’t bother me. Even on the Internet. But there are ample reasons for not disclosing one’s earnings, holdings or financial status. The sad truth is that if you have ANYTHING of value, there is someone ready to deprive you of it. Looking back, it’s amazing how seldom I was pestered when I was broke.

This is one of those question where only one, very simple answer suits…because it is.

People nowadays are way to materialistic and everything it seems is based off what you own or income. For those prying ears I keep to myself those answers.

I’m happy to share my occupation and my age but I wouldn’t share my salary. The only people who know how much I get paid are my employer and my SO.

I’m happy to tell people what I do in real life. I don’t want to put what I do in this forum because I want to maintain anonymity but normally, I’m fine with people knowing what I do. Unless you’re a police officer, tax collector and might attract negative attention or you do a job where people might try to exploit your skills, why would you hide your occupation?

Like @jca, people can find out what I earn fairly easily.