Jury duty: Voir Dire

[Make Donuts]

Today, I was involved in voir dire (picking out potential jurors to serve) they started by asking some pretty standard questions such as Occupation, marital status etc.. So this lady, which was complaining earlier in the day because one of the vending machines stole a quarter, gets called on next and she states that her occupation is a "Domestic Engineer"... Seriously? The thing is we actually had an actual engineer in the room, a Mechanical Engineer! At that moment I could already imagine him rolling his eyes in disgust... Even the judge scoff at her by saying "so your a stay at home mom?". It just blows my mind how self-deserving this lady was.

That's my little rant guys.. I'm sorry if i offended any "domestic engineers" out there.

Anybody else have some voir dire quirks?

 

[eternlgladiator]

That's awesome. I've never heard that before but probably would have paid $5 to hear that lady lady say it.

 

[imaketouchtheme]

I had to Google that term to even know what it meant. I've never heard that used before.

 

[Make Donuts]

I had to Google that term to even know what it meant. I've never heard that used before.

The guy next to me gave the "what the f&%k? is that" look.

 

[Mousse]

Domestic engineer. Talk about putting on air. Sheesh... which reminds me of having to deal with Gob'ment workers.

They always want the title of the person answering the question (invariably me). I usually answer, "Company Clerk." This doesn't go over well with them. They don't want their bosses thinking they dealt with a peon; gotta deal with a manager or better. I have to compromise and say "Chief of Staff" or "Office Manager," which is technically true, since *I AM* the staff and *I AM* the only office worker. Fancy new title, same pay.

 

[Gav2k]

Might be something to do with the term 'house wife' being classed as a derogatory term.

 

[mobilehaathi]

Silly titles are not limited to individuals who take care of the household.

When people start to look down their noses at you, sneer, and judge you based on your occupation to the point where the name of your occupation itself becomes a derogatory term, you inevitably expect people and employers alike to start coming up with bizarre euphemisms as job titles.

 

[Tomorrow]

The thing is we actually had an actual engineer in the room, a Mechanical Engineer! At that moment I could already imagine him rolling his eyes in disgust... Even the judge scoff at her by saying "so your a stay at home mom?". It just blows my mind how self-deserving this lady was.

That's my little rant guys.. I'm sorry if i offended any "domestic engineers" out there.

I'm not a "domestic engineer," whatever the hell that means, but I am a mechanical engineer.

In Texas and many other states, it's quite literally against the law to refer to yourself as an "engineer" of any type unless you're actually registered and licensed to practice engineering in that state. This has caught a number of "network engineers" and "computer engineers" and such unawares, and fines have been levied.

 

[Designer Dale]

Engineers are designers. Mechanical engineers design machines and mechanical systems and electrical engineers design electronic systems. What does a domestic engineer design? Family manager would be OK with me, but this politically correct stuff is beyond me.

Dale

 

[tech4all]

So what? Running a household is no easy task. Maybe the wrong term but she has a right to such a title. Just because you don't get paid doesn't mean its not a hard job.

 

[joeybuckets]

she could of just said she's a "homemaker"

 

[filmbuff]

From some quick googling it looks like the people calling themselves "domestic engineers" realize that it is ridiculous and say it jokingly. I doubt any of them actually think they deserve that title over "stay at home mom/dad" but it's just more fun to say.

So what? Running a household is no easy task. Maybe the wrong term but she has a right to such a title. Just because you don't get paid doesn't mean its not a hard job.

So we should just make up new names for jobs thousands of years old to make them sound more glorified? Okay, maybe it's more fun to have a cool title but "engineer" implies years of schooling and a license in the subject.

 

[chown33]

So we should just make up new names for jobs thousands of years old to make them sound more glorified?

Sure, I'll play...

"Freelance legislator" - a law unto himself, aka troublemaker, sociopath, delinquent.

"Independent free-market support specialist" - buys things on a whim, aka mindless consumer.

"Canine refuse collector" - poop-scooper. (If wearing rubber gloves, add "sanitary".)

 

[smithrh]

Just as some background, a couple 'o decades ago, "engineer" wound up getting appended to a boatload of what would normally be pedestrian job titles.

I think the worst one was "Sanitation Engineer" for the guys taking your trash away.

"Domestic Engineer" was another one.

 

[mobilehaathi]

Where is all the disdain for those "vice-president" titles being thrown around at the corporate level?

 

[Carlanga]

I have had garbage man tell me they work as sanitation engineer and many other 'jobs' w/ engineer at the end. I always joke that anyone can be an 'engineer' in this day & ago so this doesn't surprise me. (No disrespect to real engineers though)

 

[Mac'nCheese]

Sounds like she was joking. I hope.