Types of ‘what are you doing?’ people

‘What are you doing?’ is a question most commonly asked in my country and it would do you good to be ready with an impressive answer. Especially in the cases of fresh graduates (like me), this question is asked by every person my age or older than me.  Even before knowing how I’m doing, people want to know what I am doing.  By now, you might’ve figured out that saying “I’m talking to you” or “I’m enjoying my free time” would do nothing but earn disgusting stares from the person asking you that question.

The question is a constant. Everybody asks the same question. What matters is the motive. Each person that asks you what you’re doing differ in why they’re asking you that. For instance, there are the curious people. They usually have a database in their mind of what everybody is doing. By everybody I mean students because those are the ones that matter. Adults are boring! They ask you what you are doing out of sheer curiosity and are satisfied with whatever answer you give. People usually go to the curious ones if they really want to know about a particular person but don’t want to go and ask them directly. And also what you are doing is always a topic to gossip about even though it isn’t that juicy. There’s nothing like a juicy topic and a not-so-juicy topic for gossip. Because of their good rapport with everyone in the neighborhood, they gather information and make it a part of their everyday gossip.

Then, there are the smug people. They usually have a really well settled son or a daughter (‘well-settled’ according to them and all the neighbors around). So most of the conversation is focused on how well their children are doing. So even they don’t bother about what your answer is, because they really don’t care. They just for the sake of manners.

There are also the know-it-alls. Ok, it so happened that their son or daughter chose a particular career, went in a particular path and were successful. Their parents know all about what their child went through and supported them through it all which is really nice. So they really have commendable knowledge of the career path their child chose. But they don’t stop at that. They think they know everything, from how to correctly raise a child to the theory of relativity. They’re sitting there listening, like a predator waiting to pounce on prey and the moment you finish your answer they pounce! They immediately start giving you reasons why you shouldn’t be doing what you’re doing and even go on to give parenting lessons to your parents.

And finally, there are the scared people. Scared, because they are really afraid that you might be better than their child. Now, nobody listens to your answer as closely as they do. That is usually because they have a son or daughter of your age and the answer you give is for comparison purposes. They usually don’t give out any emotion or expression to whatever you’re saying. But inside their mind, they’ve heard every single word and are processing, calculating and comparing the answer with the answer their child has ready. If they think you are better off, they go home, sullen faced and continue urging their kids to do better than you and everybody else who is doing better than them, which they’ve been doing their entire lives. If they think you’re not doing so well, they go home, all happy and cheerful and might even treat their kids for being the best!

A very close observation of people asking me the ‘question’ has provided me with all these details. There might be people who don’t fit into any of these categories and deserve a category all to themselves. J