I do other things

In one Seinfeld episode, Jerry wanted to get his parents an electronic organizer as a gift, but due to their cost, gets the knock-off Willard instead of the Wizard. Of course, Jerry’s parents don’t realize this for a while because they only want to use it as a tip calculator. That’s all they use it for, despite Jerry’s continued annoyance that it “does other things!”

This came to mind recently as I’ve been back in Georgia trying to find a job. When you’re unemployed, it seems like all anyone wants to talk to you about is why you don’t have a job and what they think you should be doing to find a job. It comes from a place of genuine concern and a desire to help and it’s certainly not fair to those people for wanting to try to help, but at some point I want to tell them that I do other things. I have other interests and every once in a while, I might even like to talk about those.

For example, just a few topics I wouldn’t mind talking about:

•      The NFL Playoffs (yes, even Tebow at this point)
•          Why it took me so long to start watching “The Wire”
•          Your kid
•          My kid
•          Someone else’s kid
•          The state of the Republican Party primary
•          My sudden disdain for Tostitos following their bizarre ‘talking bag’ commercials
•          Your favorite sports team, television show, flavor of ice cream
•          The fact that Community is on an indefinite hiatus while Whitney remains on the air

You may also have your own topics you’d like to discuss. I’m more than willing to talk about them as well. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the concern. I do, greatly. And I would love a job to talk about. But I do other things.