I'm glad I'm not an accountant

 

First dates, awkward bar conversation, small talk....all these settings usually result in the same question: "so.... what do you do for work?"
I don't love this question. Not because I don't love my job, but because I know what I'm about to see. I usually take a deep breath, prepare myself and say, "I'm an Irish dancer."This is wear the conversation gets interesting. First, the person who asked the question gets up from wherever they were sitting, moves chairs and tables out of their way, and flails their limbs around for an uncomfortably long time. "You mean like this?!" They always ask, pleased with themselves. Some of them are frighteningly serious about their interpretation.
"Yes," I think, "people pay me to teach their children how to do that. Sometimes, if I'm not feeling adventurous, I tell them I'm a ballet teacher (I do that to). Not once has someone shown me their adaptation of Swan Lake. Hard to believe, but it really is that simple. I just put on some Irish drinking songs, tell the children to put their arms down, and then just move their legs in interesting patterns. When they are good enough at that, they move to the advanced level, it's very similar to the beginning level, but they wear loud shoes on their feet."
Of course, this is not what I say. I laugh with them, humour them. Allow them to mock my lifestyle in front of me.
I wonder if people in other lines of work have similar encounters. Sometimes, if I'm not feeling adventurous, I tell them I'm a ballet teacher (I do that to). Not once has someone shown me their adaptation of Swan Lake. I am grateful for what I get to do every day, and having someone make fun of me (maliciously or otherwise) at a bar is a small price to pay for getting to live a life that I cherish. And, let's face it, watching a grown man hop around at a bar is a lot less painful than attempting to make accounting sound interesting.