When you tell someone you are a pilot, why do they do that hand gesture?

[User546]

I once had someone make the comment, upon me telling them I was a Flight Instructor: "Ohhh, so you must really be making the big money!" Uhh, yeaaa...

I read the first couple of posts to my wife and she was laughing hard. She says when she tells people that I'm a pilot, she gets asked some of the stupidest questions as well. I think the part about people just can't related, so they have to tell you something relatively stupid, hit the nail right on the head.

 

[Carl_Spackler]

"this one time, on American, we hit an air pocket..."

 

[XGmaninGA]

I usually just tell people that I'm a rabbi.

 

[Resume Writer]

No, I have the best one. I told a guy that I was a flight attendant at one time. He said, "Did you travel?"

Here's your sign......

What I should have told him was that I just went from plane to plane pre-flighting emergency equipment, but never left the airport!

 

[Headwind]

I don't tell people what I do for a living. If they ask I tell then I work for a Mfg. company. They don't need to know what I do for the company.Most people have no idea how or why a corporate flight Dept. operates and trying to explain gets old. I usually change the subject.

HEADWIND

 

[8inMan]

"this one time, on American, we hit an air pocket..."

Yes! Everyone feels compelled to tell you their scary flying experiences. "We were getting bounced all over the place! Have you ever had that?"

 

[1973Arrow]

Yes! Everyone feels compelled to tell you their scary flying experiences. "We were getting bounced all over the place! Have you ever had that?"

Or the time their luggage got lost in Kalamazo...

 

[RichardRambone]

Usually they always say "Oh there's some good money in that." Give me a break. I keep trying to explain that its not the case but the explanation could end up into a 30 minute conversation. So yeah I usually go with "I'm the manager at the Geek Squad."

 

[SkyBoy1981]

I don't tell people what I do for a living. If they ask I tell then I work for a Mfg. company. They don't need to know what I do for the company.Most people have no idea how or why a corporate flight Dept. operates and trying to explain gets old. I usually change the subject.

HEADWIND

Agreed. I used to do the same when I flew corporate.

 

[agpilot34]

When I used to fly ag and tell people I was an ag pilot, I got the same old standard response; "Oh, you're one of those CRAZY pilots". That occasionally was followed up by "I saw a cropduster almost crash one time...", usually uttered by someone who had never set foot on a farm, and wouldnt know an ag aircraft from a Bonanza. Of course, living in a small town, EVERYONE knows what you do for a living. People here know I fly pipeline patrol, and I swear I hear this one no less than 3 times a week; "was that you that flew over my house yesterday?"

 

[AA717driver]

"Do you ever get scared?"

Yeah, whenever I look at who's running my airline... TC

 

[180ToTheMarker]

"Do you really know what all those buttons do?"

 

[sky37d]

My favorite is how far can you go.
I tell them 3 hours, then I get out and go to the bathroom.
Of course, if it's a good looking woman, I say, all night.

 

[avbug]

I've never seen anybody do the hand gesture.

I was flying with the VP of a company, and on a day off we took a ride down a river. A girl in the boat asked him what we did, and he told her. She asked if we ever wanted to fly commercially. He politely said yes, we were commercial pilots. She asked him if his goal was to fly for the airlines. Bearing in mind he was the owner and VP of a tanker operation, and he was well into his career and unlikely to change, he looked embarassed about how to answer.

He finally replied, "That would be...a...step...down."

I started laughing so hard I nearly fell out of the boat.

He was right.

When people ask what I do for a living, I have to be honest.

"I'm still not sure."

 

[Carl_Spackler]

My favorite is:

"Have you ever been to an airport for the first time?"

No Joke.