Family Asked me What I do...(It was Awkward)

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I am another ordinary "Programmer" to all my friends and family .....they never understood internet marketing and how anyone can make boat loads of money when I tried to explain it to them earlier !

My parents vaguely have an idea of what I do... but they don't care, coz of the fat checks I send their way :)
 


That's not awkward... it's awkward when you're in HS like I was (8 years ago) and received your first check addressed to "Cute Wet Sluts" (a paysite I built along with an aol spammer). I had to have my dad cash it for me.
 
I maintain an easy 9-5 work IT support gig from home, and do this stuff on the side. But when I try to explain the AM stuff to my family, it goes right over everyone's head.
 
What's worse is when one of the granparents is suffering from dementia or plain forgetfulness and asks you 5 or 6 times in a night about what you do. I didn't want to be rude but after the second time trying to explain it I just left it at "I work on computers".

Otherwise be happy that not a lot of people understand or "get" what we do.
 
amateursurgeon said:
A bit like goebbels without the genocide.
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lmfao

i find it odd that anyone would think there friends or family should "get it." even if you have a 10 figure day keep your fucking ass shut because it builds character. once you start talking about what you do, you'll find yourself two years down the road saying "well i used to make thousands a day on the internet, until I started talking about it." People tell other people what they do at length because they aren't convinced of their own self worth. My friends drone on and on about how they hit this target, they got this client, this bonus, or they made this amount or that amount; whoopie fucking doo and it is not my job to correct their perceptions and let them know how small they are thinking either.

just shut your mouth and grind and if and when you're set, invite them to your cliffside mansion in the pacific northwest and take them out to dinner.

then when they ask, you can say: oh ya know just a little high stakes marketing.

for right now: oh i just get by generating leads for businesses.
 
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TheDean said:
lmfao

i find it odd that anyone would think there friends or family should "get it." even if you have a 10 figure day keep your fucking ass shut because it builds character. once you start talking about what you do, you'll find yourself two years down the road saying "well i used to make thousands a day on the internet, until I started talking about it." People tell other people what they do at length because they aren't convinced of their own self worth. My friends drone on and on about how they hit this target, they got this client, this bonus, or they made this amount or that amount; whoopie fucking doo and it is not my job to correct their perceptions and let them know how small they are thinking either.

just shut your mouth and grind and if and when you're set, invite them to your cliffside mansion in the pacific northwest and take them out to dinner.

then when they ask, you can say: oh ya know just a little high stakes marketing.

for right now: oh i just get by generating leads for businesses.
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+rep

I don't think I've given any serious effort to explaining what I do to anyone. The only person who even has a clue what I do is my wife. Most of her family and mine suspect I'm unemployed. I don't mind. It keeps them from asking for money.
 
TheDean said:
lmfao
once you start talking about what you do, you'll find yourself two years down the road saying "well i used to make thousands a day on the internet, until I started talking about it." People tell other people what they do at length because they aren't convinced of their own self worth.
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Absolutely right.

I was getting a haircut the other day and the guy was asking me what I do for a living and I realized that I didn't want to tell him that I work with websites because then he'd be all, like, "What's the address for your site?" and fuck if I'm letting anybody know anything about what I do anymore. The industry is competitive enough as it is without the guy's 14 year old kid overhearing me and setting up a competing campaign or something.
 
I too am sick of trying to explain to my family what it is that I do or explain to my arsehole father that I do indeed have a job. Several, in fact, considering that I do a range of things part time.

Anyone here get the "Oh, but you were so good at school. You could have become an -<INSERT HIGHLY TECHNICAL FIELD THAT REQUIRES 7 YEAR DEGREE AS A BARE MINIMUM TO ENTRY SUCH AS MEDICAL SCIENCES>- if you only tried a little harder" line?
That one's starting to drive me up the fucking wall.

Actually, if you get that line, what was your inserted term? Mine was Bio-chemist or something like that, even though I was doing an Arts/Comm degree.
 
HarveyJ said:
Anyone here get the "Oh, but you were so good at school. You could have become an -<INSERT HIGHLY TECHNICAL FIELD THAT REQUIRES 7 YEAR DEGREE AS A BARE MINIMUM TO ENTRY SUCH AS MEDICAL SCIENCES>- if you only tried a little harder" line?
That one's starting to drive me up the fucking wall.

Actually, if you get that line, what was your inserted term? Mine was Bio-chemist or something like that, even though I was doing an Arts/Comm degree.
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I was supposed to be an architect!
 
just say "internet advertising". Even though ive explained it a million times, no one ever gets it.
 
HarveyJ said:
I too am sick of trying to explain to my family what it is that I do or explain to my arsehole father that I do indeed have a job. Several, in fact, considering that I do a range of things part time.

Anyone here get the "Oh, but you were so good at school. You could have become an -<INSERT HIGHLY TECHNICAL FIELD THAT REQUIRES 7 YEAR DEGREE AS A BARE MINIMUM TO ENTRY SUCH AS MEDICAL SCIENCES>- if you only tried a little harder" line?
That one's starting to drive me up the fucking wall.

Actually, if you get that line, what was your inserted term? Mine was Bio-chemist or something like that, even though I was doing an Arts/Comm degree.
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I have yet to go to college. Graduating highschool in 14.5 days! woo. I'm studying CS so that might actually go hand in hand with IM if I ever decide to start an internet business. It's awkward as hell when my friends ask what I do to get these checks, but it's my fault because I'm an idiot and sometimes I can't help but brag a bit.

BTW, anyone here go to or graduated from University of Illinois at Urbana? That place is going to be my home for the next 6 years
 
TylerL said:
My dad is so behind the times he refuses to let me transfer money to his bank account directly because he doesn't trust "that damn internet." It might steal his money.
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LOL reminds me of the time my dad fell for a phishing page and actually said "The damn internet stole my credit card and bought a bunch of stuff from the amazon" (it was used at amazon.com)

I was laughing for days...
 
I say i sell ads on the internet and like most other people have already said, the convo usually stops there.
 
I'm having this problem right now...I'm moving to Canada (from the UK) in 2 months time, and the first question everyone asks me for some reason, is "so what are you going to do there, you know, job wise...?".

I did try and explain to a couple of people in very simple terms like "you know the ads you see online...?" etc but I still got confused blank looks even then so I gave up. Now my stock answer is that I intend to "play around on the internet full time" - that shuts them up, and the incredulous looks are just priceless!
 
edward_b said:
I'm having this problem right now...I'm moving to Canada (from the UK) in 2 months time, and the first question everyone asks me for some reason, is "so what are you going to do there, you know, job wise...?".

I did try and explain to a couple of people in very simple terms like "you know the ads you see online...?" etc but I still got confused blank looks even then so I gave up. Now my stock answer is that I intend to "play around on the internet full time" - that shuts them up, and the incredulous looks are just priceless!
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you don't worry about looking like an idiot with no future? make your self sound prestigious dude
 
SitPoMk said:
you don't worry about looking like an idiot with no future? make your self sound prestigious dude
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Hadn't really even given it a thought tbh and I don't really feel the need to bullshit/justify myself to people anyway, they can perceive me how they like. Why would I worry? It's more fun to see their bemused looks ;)

Close friends and family know broadly what I do btw, I was talking about my answers more to general people who know me.
 
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