But what does he do?

I’ve been married for 9 year.  For 9 years, people have asked me “what does your husband do?”.  For the first 6 years, I answered “he’s in graduate school”, which was of course met with the “what’s he studying?” question.  I would answer “chemistry” and then usually awkwardly say something about polymers or shear or x-ray spectography, and then I would laugh and admit that I really have no idea what he studies all day.  Now when people ask me, I say he’s a research chemist, and of course, the next question is always “what does he research?”  I pretty much give the same answer as before, minus the spectography part because I’ve come to find out that I sort of made that part up.

The other night at dinner, I had to most classic conversation with Derek ever.  I’m not sure if Ryan (Derek’s bff) still reads this, but I really think he’d appreciate this.  He knows how maddening it can be just having a simple conversation.

M-“Okay, random, but I just remembered that Juli Beth asked me to ask you if you could please invent a Swiffer that actually works.”

D-“I have nothing to do with the Swiffer.  That’s Procter and Gamble.”

M-“Well, I know.  But I thought you did research on the stuff that Swiffers are made of.”

D-“No.  I don’t do anything with the swiffer.”

M-“No, you’ve told me this.  I thought you worked on the very basic particles of the Swiffer.  I thought you invented that stuff and then sold it to Procter and Gamble, and then they make the Swiffer.”

D-“No, I make pellets that are used to make better non-woven materials.”

M-“And then what will you do with the better materials?”

D-“Make a better swiffer.”

We both just cracked up.  So, JB, don’t worry.  He’s on it.  But let’s just be perfectly clear that he does not work with the actual Swiffer.

6 Replies to “But what does he do?”

  1. Hey girl! Glad I found your blog! You are so funny! I think we are SO alike! You see, I like to ramble too! Anyways – I didn’t realize how close ours babies were to eachother. Well, maybe I did and then forgot again. Highly likely! Yep, I think that’s the case. Kasen is crawling!!! Army man, but that still counts! He’ll be 6 mths next week! Hope you guys are all healed now! There’s some yucky stuff going around! Talk to you later. Oh, this is Becky Cox – Megan’s Becky friend! : )

  2. I am laughing right now because I can totally relate. When people ask me what Andy does, I just tell them he’s some sort of refining specialist. I have no idea what that really means. I have actually called him from the pediatrician’s office to ask him what on earth I’m supposed to put as his occupation. I always say that when he talks about work, all I hear is Charlie Brown’s teacher. I’ve stopped even pretending to understand. But I totally speak swiffer, so tell D thanks for me.:)

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