Do you like your job?

So my alma mater called last night. They wanted money (why else would they call?). Every year when they call, twice a year actually, once for the college of arts and sciences and once for the university as a whole, they follow the same script. First they try to be my friend by asking me a few hi, how are ya sort of questions. Then they confirm my address. Then they talk about campus a little bit and ask for $500. I say no. Now if I let them continue along this path, they will babble a few more lines and ask for $250. If I say no again, they blab a bit longer and ask for $100, then repeat to $50. Now I just save them some time when they start the $500 speech by interrupting and offering them fifty bucks or saying no a few times and having a sudden attack of Tourette's syndrome (okay, I don't really do that last part).

Anyway, last night during the "be my friend" part of the call, the girl says, "so how do you like your job?" I told it was pretty good. Then she said that was great, I was the first person she'd talked to all evening who liked his job...

Wow. I knew a lot of people didn't like their jobs, but damn. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I only said it was "pretty good" because I took the question like a "how are you?" from someone passing by. They don't really want a truthful answer. They're just being polite. So you automatically say something like "okay" or "fine" or "pretty good", no matter what the reality is. I'm grateful for my job and recognize that it's a lot better than many of the alternatives, but saying I like it would be going too far. But who wants to contribute to crushing the poor college undergraduate's hope for the future? Well okay, sometimes I might, but I wasn't feeling quite cynical enough yesterday.