Recently, while in Seattle to check out tech opportunities, I was at a noisy dinner where I only knew one person. I asked her to tell me the occupations of the others at the table; I meant to get my bearings and figure out who might be useful to talk to. A stranger overheard and objected, saying that I should be asking for something useful, like “who’s good in bed?” I said that wouldn’t be useful, since I’m married & monogamous.

“What do you do?” is often a boring default. But the occupation does tell you what that person’s doing with half her waking hours. I’m still angry at that stranger for assuming that I asked “what do they do?” because I could think of nothing better.