I’ve noticed this a few times when you ask an american “what do you do for work?” they will answer with “I work for (company name)” rather than “I am an IT consultant for (company name)”.
Why do you do this?
Saying the company doesn’t answer the question, and I may not have even heard of the company!
Comments
Usually we would say it like that, assuming that we want to actually discuss what we do for work.
So because a couple people acted one way you think making a generalization about a country of 346 million is warranted?
I don’t act think this is common? I definitely wouldn’t start out with telling people what company I worked for because I don’t think most people would have heard of it.
I think the people you’ve encountered doing this have personal quirks, you should probably ask them.
I think I’ve talked to more Americans than you probably have and I disagree with your premise.
I think we are much more likely to say what we do than where specifically we work.
Or, if nothing else, we’ll combine the two.
I’ve had a pretty varied career and it’s often the case where people have a better idea of what I do when I mention a company or organization’s name (if they’ve even heard of it) than if I rattle off a very specific title for my current job. Often even when people knew what my employer does they’d get lost on what I do if I mentioned a specific job title.
Asks a question – immediately followed by being rude.
I’m sorry that the few Americans you spoke to answered a question in a way that you didn’t like. Please keep in mind that they’re 350 of us. They don’t speak for everyone.
I’ve lived in France for many years, I can assure you some people here answer the question the same way.
Why do people from the nation of MyCountry make these kinds of generalizations based off of a singular interaction?
Usually it would go something like “I’m a forensic accountant for RDG Filings”.
lol consultants always just say which of the big companies they work for because even they don’t know what they do
I reckon chances are that if you recognize the company, you’ll at least understand what field I’m in and sort of what I do; if you don’t recognize the company, if you want to know then you’ll just ask.
For quite a while, I worked at a couple of companies whose names most people would recognize. It would actually take a lot longer for me to describe what I really did (my job titles would mean nothing to people–I was an “operator” in one job, a “platform operations specialist” in another). But if I gave you the company names you would kind of have a better idea–maybe not so much what my job entails, but at least the “field” I was in.
Ive always heard people refer to their job title, unless they work for a very exclusive company. In fact I feel like most people don’t even list the company. They will say things like
“I work as a computer scientist” if they work for a not well-known company.
But if they work at a well known company they might say
“I work at apple as a computer scientist”
The only time I could think they might just say the company/industry is if they don’t have a cool sounding job title. Like if someone was a Janitor (no disrespect to janitors yall do amazing work) at Microsoft they might just say they work at Microsoft to strangers to sound a bit cooler. But I have not experienced that.
Because most people don’t actually care what you do for work…and also because not saying your role right away allows for further conversation/small talk. I work for Doritos…oh what do you do there…I’m a cheese sprinkler..oh that’s interesting
Vs I’m a level 2 distributor of cheese blend emulsion at Doritos
Your premise is not correct, IME.
> I’ve noticed this a few times
How many is “a few” out of how many times total?
This is not an American thing, this is a “people you happened to talk to” thing. Both types of answer are pretty common.
But as to why some people answer a certain way – Conversations aren’t charged by the word interrogation sessions. Usually, casual conversations aren’t even about conveying information. Just humans humaning at each other to increase mutual feelings of humaness. And so people answer however they think to answer, often without much thought, and usually without pre-planning for efficiency. If you want to know more, you can ask.
If they only tell you the company, it’s probably a sign that they don’t feel like explaining their specific job or don’t think you would understand it.
Just accept the answer and move on.
If you work for a company with senseless titles and have a senseless title that doesn’t directly map to something commonly known, it’s usually best not to lead with the senseless title.
I’m not sure how bad this is outside the US.
>I’ve noticed this a few times
so clearly this is a thing all Americans must do, right?
I just say my general profession. If anyone wants more details, they can ask. I don’t think it’s common for people to say only the name of the company and not their job. Maybe pretentious people if it’s a prestigious company but their job is not at all impressive? Or if they are really high ranking but don’t want to seem like they are bragging?
I do this because I’m not an IT consultant for (company name), and because I worked for UPS. If you haven’t heard of UPS and you’re in the US, Mexico, Canada, or Europe, you’re the one with the problem. UPS still serves many more countries, but I don’t know all of them.
Also, I’m now a programmer for the county. Which county? It doesn’t really matter because it’s a local government job, and they’re all kind of similar. Also, that’s not my job title, but it’s commonly what I do. I could tell you I was a Systems Analyst 1, but my title would just leave you with more questions than answers.
The only context I’ve ever heard this in is when job titles are assumed. Even that is super rare.