You?

JHD - do you get to take your bike with you? doing circuits on one of those would be 'different'

i don't but on the big oil tankers we have "ships" bikes to get from one end to the other!

they look a bit like this:

except they are single speed with a basket on the front and a box in the back to put your tools in etc.

I did that for 8 months - respect!

Been doing it for the last 12 years, its like groundhog day!

JHD - do you get to take your bike with you? doing circuits on one of those would be 'different'

HeHe cross winds could be problem.

... but I just get tired of how most people in life seem to include what they do into the definition of themselves.

actually i totally agree with this... however, i hate it most within the first ten minutes of meeting someone. i know its an easy questions to break the ice, but its fucking unimaginative and irritating if you arent massivly proud of where you are in life. BUT, seeing that i've been here a while and never been asked before, i have no real problems with it.

So, i am a...
cycle instructor,i teach kids.. dont fuck with truck. (and i ride fixed at work, sweet),
rickshaw rider,
occasional delivery (big white) van driver,
occasional sales person for a clothing company, we do sample sales brick lane style,
occasional labourer/handiman,
little bit bored of still renovating two flats for the family.

but what i really want to do is.. retire at 30. live closer to the equator, pick fruit and eat it, learn new stuff, volounteer loads blah de blah.

nah, it's only little. this, on the other hand, was a ball ache to park and needed a bit of "planning:"

I rode a hire bike like that in Barcelona.

graphic designer & a fiend

part-time shitmid worker

postgraduate architecture student.

Spreadsheet jockey (accountantger)

researcher on project on post-war architecture; lecturer on architectural modernism

What the fuck is tortology - the study of tarts?

I'm not sure there was anything tautologous about 'professional fakenger'. The courier is the professional, the fakenger might be unemployed, or a student, or whatever. Reference to the the professionality of a particular fakenger adds information that genuinely modifies the noun i.e. someone is paid to be a fakenger.

Like your good self :p
PWNED in two threads :(

I am Scarlett's grammar bitch :(

At least you've got a job.

On the other hand, you're getting pwned by someone who can't even get a job :S

jobs are overrated, S.

I might (have to) give mine up sometime next year.

@ teenslain: I edited the post slightly - it's not completely off limits if falls into pub conversation but I just get tired of how most people in life seem to include what they do into the definition of themselves. Maybe i just haven't had a job I'm proud enough of or that links in enough with my identity yet, but I get by socially. Anyway I've been really into the fact that at drinks and on rides we very rarely talk about what we do for a living. I really like that I don't have a clue what most people do, it's irrelevant to me. In this way you appreciate the person for being nice or a dick regardless of what they do; I've met an estate agent who's incredibly nice for example....;)

• infinity
  I don't care what any of you do, as long as you're good people it stops there... The whole 'And what do you do?' thing makes my skin crawl...
  

• infinity
  I don't care what any of you do, as long as you're good people it stops there... The whole 'And what do you do?' thing makes my skin crawl...
  +1 more.
  

But then we have a shared interest in bikes, so we don't really need to make small talk.

Asking what someone does in a social situation is similar to that 'warm up chat' you have when you arrive at the in laws - 'journey good?' / 'weather bad for time of year'. Neither of you give a fuck about the question or answer but it eases you in to the conversation.

Somewhat tangenically, it's like taking the piss: you never take the piss out of someone you really dislike - these are the people that you are most careful to be polite around. (I'm not sure that stretches to internet forums tho ;-))

• infinity
  I don't care what any of you do, as long as you're good people it stops there... The whole 'And what do you do?' thing makes my skin crawl...
  
  

Actually, one of the reasons I kind of like threads like this is that they make you realize it really *doesn't *matter. I'm always vaguely surprised to find out what other cyclists do for a living, because it seems so out of keeping with what I already know about them. I've often hung out in the pub with (for example) an engineer, a law student, a pianist, a squatter and a waitress, and felt amazed when I realized how 'different' they all were, because people all seem much of a muchness when they're in the pub or on the bike. I suppose this means that bikes are a great leveller or something. Whaddayathink?

but some people hate their jobs and don't want to talk about them.
it's a bit different if you do something you really like then you are happy to talk about it.

i'm an estate agent. (foxtons in Islington)

it's only the UK and america where this shit matters.
If you are in France, for instance, you'll find the town Mayor in the local bar having a drink with a plumber, a doctor and an unemployed musician..none of them look up of down at the others, they are just some blokes having a beer or cognac.

this "so what do you do?" is often the first thing people ask, and they judge you on it.

I prefer to get to know a person before I have any interest in their day job

What's a better alternative for small talk then?

I'm a freelance classical musician......guessing I'm the only one on here!

I prefer to get to know a person before I have any interest in their day job

Yes, that. In the end, someone's day job is just a pleasant curiosity compared to the rest of their character.

*professional *fakenger

...actually that's a tortology

media whore

'tautology'

science bod.
ex-lab monkey. now working in science publishing.

*professional *fakenger

...actually that's a tortology

media whore

What the fuck is tortology - the study of tarts?

I'm not sure there was anything tautologous about 'professional fakenger'. The courier is the professional, the fakenger might be unemployed, or a student, or whatever. Reference to the the professionality of a particular fakenger adds information that genuinely modifies the noun i.e. someone is paid to be a fakenger.

Like your good self :p

'tautology'

Well, you're post is certainly redundant.

Well, you're post is certainly redundant.

'Your'