Time is Money

It seems to me that, in our little corner of the world, we take a lot of time telling folks what we do for a living. Now, mind you, I've not made a study of it, but in my line of work, knowing what someone does for his supper is important (that whole financing thing) so we are forever asking.

Now in those climes more simple, perhaps say Kansas, when one asks about the "line of businss" one is apt to hear, "Carpenter", "Salesman", or some such singular appellation.

Here in our out of the way corner of America, when asked about the "job", one hears something more like, "I work for a small start-up on the 128 belt that puts together summation reports on internet traffic and then attempts to dialog with those report subjects to expand the marketing base..." and so on. Now, readers, the just quoted dribble is easily summed up like our Kansas cousins in one word: "telemarketer". So it is with most of our jobs titles -- we take too much time to tell folks what we do.

One is a "Physical Organizational Rectifier", and that is a file clerk.
One is a "Room Parent Advisor", and that is a class mother.
One is a "Web Publisher of an self-indulgent web site like Bostonmamas.com (it is not worthy of a link)", and that is an unemployed housewife.

Our problem is we are ashamed of what we do. We produce nothing, so we call things that are as thin as air, "Products" (The Bostonmamas product is INFORMATION about overpriced junk that most new parents should not buy but will BUY because they are too embarrassed to admit they have naught pot in which to "___". Forget about the downpayment -- buy the stupid gunny sack for 85 "samolions" that holds 25 diapers even though a Shaw's bag will do the trick just as well).

Perhaps we feel that if we can keep a listener on the edge of his seat while we expound on the logistics of our paychecks, it will, in time, come to mean something to us.

But in that meantime, I must say, "I am a Salesman". I am not ashamed of it; neither do I expect to win the Nobel prize because of it. It is what I do -- short, sweet and one word. I sell homes on behalf of folks who want to sell their homes.

And...I can sell yours in an instant.