Times they aren't a-changing

[bunn]

Filling in an online insurance quotation form, I note that I could give my occupation as 'abbot', 'acrobat', 'cobbler', 'coal man', 'weaver' or 'riverman', or as any of 5 different sorts of Bailiff. I cannot, however, have any kind of web or internet job, for those jobs still, in 2012, do not exist.

Agonising among the computer jobs, I have settled for 'Computer Operator'. Operator! With the emphasis on the last syllable, I think. But I kind of wish I was a riverman (what exactly IS a riverman? It sounds like it might involve a lot of messing around in boats).

The jobs in the list sound much more fun than actual modern jobs.

ETA: I struggle with questions like 'what was the name of your first pet'? When I was born, my parents had a cat, Tigger, who I suppose was sort of my first pet, although really he was my parents pet not mine. But when I was four, I was allowed to choose the family's new puppy, Hearthrug - so that was more my first pet in that I picked her, although I didn't do much to look after her, so maybe my first pet was the rabbit (Bunnel) that I got when I was 7? Though 7 is quite young, so maybe my real first pet was the kitten (Willy) that I adopted as a teen? Or Kebbo, the rabbit that I had when I was first living away from home on my own??? SO HARD.

Comments

[chainmailmaiden]

I have that problem with the category codes we have to use at work. They have one code for anything computer related which fits nothing we need to use it for and lots for things which date from the 50s.

I remember Kebbo, adorable and so huge! Made me wish I was living out so I could have a pet too.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

She was a dwarf rabbit! :-D Admittedly, dwarf lop rabbits are not as dwarf as you'd think...

[huinare.livejournal.com]

What if I'm an abbot who's an acrobat? =( Decisions, decisions..

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I have no idea how you would be insured, but I'd like to see it! :-D

[seascribe.livejournal.com]

The only job lists I have been looking at lately are immigration ones, and physiotherapists get all the love there. Not a single speech pathologist slot. But then, neither are there abbots or acrobats (acrobat! How much better would that be than speech pathology? Why is THAT not on the list?)

I adore that your first dog was named Hearthrug.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I think my Dad named her. Her mother was a big shaggy thing that liked to lie in front of the fire, and they were expecting similar - not counting on the fact that the father was apparently something roughly corgi-shaped, so Hearthrug ended up mostly collie with tiny corgi legs. :-D

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Now I'm imagining that they have Ways of finding out if your "first pet" answer is wrong. Insurance agents in time machines, maybe? "You lied! You said your first pet was a cat, but actually you briefly kept a caterpillar called Wiggle in a matchbox when you were three! You liar! You're not the sort of person we can possibly insure!"

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Oh, pif to you! :-ppppp

You know perfectly well that my problem is that if I decide Tigger was my first pet, I probably won't remember I decided that many years later when I actually need to know it, thus defeating the object of being a question to which only I know the answer.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Nowadays there must be precious few things that are only known to the person filling in the form. I've been asked for my "favourite food" in the past (which causes loads of dithering since I have several that I like, and I go through phases, anyway.) But I bet loads of people have public Facebook posts against their name in which they say things, "Yum! Eating a blueberry muffin - my favourite food ever!" or "here's a picture of me with my first pet, Spot"... or indeed unlocked blog posts in which they dither about the name of their first pet, and in doing so list all the candidates. :-P

[bunn.livejournal.com]

The favorite food one is baffling. WHO has one favorite food forever throughout their life???

I remember when I was about 7 having a passionate love of prawns, and making a resolution that when I was big and had my own money, I would buy a bag of prawns every day!

Turns out prawns are less delicious when you do that :-(

I did not use the first pet question, hence my willingness to reveal possible answers. Though I'm sure all sorts of people have access to the question I did pick, so perhaps I should have silently assigned a pet to First status and just recorded the answer in my password manager along with the other 500-odd passwords & other bits of secure info we are apparently supposed to keep in brain... As I no longer have a memory, only a search box, that's a lost cause for starters.

[demon-rum.livejournal.com]

I am fascinated and somewhat delighted that you could be an abbot or a cobbler, but not a web designer.

You should tell them you are a riverman and see what the say, or if they believe you.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Somewhere there is a whole team of web designers, developers, web usability testers, and web content people who put together a form which denied their very existence. I am wondering if this is a conspiracy of some kind...