Nerdiness in your daily life. Are you "out"?

[merithyn]

I'm mostly in the closet except with close friends because I see no reason trying to explain my extra-curricular activities to those who don't understand and/or care about them. I know a Geek when I see one, and to those people I may open up a bit more. Otherwise, I talk only about my more mundane areas of interest, or I don't discuss my hobbies at all.

This includes my family, by the way. I've been known as the "nerd" of the family since I was very young, and I learned then not to bother trying to talk about my hobbies to anyone I'm related to. (Their definition of nerd, by the way, was "one who reads a lot". I'm rather proud of that demarcation now, but it's still not something I trumpet at work or to acquaintances.)

[dps]

I'm mostly in the closet except with close friends because I see no reason trying to explain my extra-curricular activities to those who don't understand and/or care about them. I know a Geek when I see one, and to those people I may open up a bit more. Otherwise, I talk only about my more mundane areas of interest, or I don't discuss my hobbies at all.

This includes my family, by the way. I've been known as the "nerd" of the family since I was very young, and I learned then not to bother trying to talk about my hobbies to anyone I'm related to. (Their definition of nerd, by the way, was "one who reads a lot". I'm rather proud of that demarcation now, but it's still not something I trumpet at work or to acquaintances.)

When I was fired 9 years ago from the job I had held for 14 years, the reason my employer gave was that I didn't relate well enough with my co-workers.  I had actually been warned about that several times, and at one point I was told that I shouldn't allow my co-workers to see me reading a newspaper, because most of them didn't, and it made it harder for them to relate to me.

[Malthus]

That would make me stabby.

[DGuller]

I'm mostly in the closet except with close friends because I see no reason trying to explain my extra-curricular activities to those who don't understand and/or care about them. I know a Geek when I see one, and to those people I may open up a bit more. Otherwise, I talk only about my more mundane areas of interest, or I don't discuss my hobbies at all.

This includes my family, by the way. I've been known as the "nerd" of the family since I was very young, and I learned then not to bother trying to talk about my hobbies to anyone I'm related to. (Their definition of nerd, by the way, was "one who reads a lot". I'm rather proud of that demarcation now, but it's still not something I trumpet at work or to acquaintances.)

When I was fired 9 years ago from the job I had held for 14 years, the reason my employer gave was that I didn't relate well enough with my co-workers.  I had actually been warned about that several times, and at one point I was told that I shouldn't allow my co-workers to see me reading a newspaper, because most of them didn't, and it made it harder for them to relate to me.

WTF?  It sounds like you couldn't relate to them, or at least the people who fired you, because you weren't a dumbass.  Unless there was more to this than that, like for whatever reason nobody in your department liked working with you, and they just sugarcoated it.

[Ed Anger]

West. Virginia.

[merithyn]

When I was fired 9 years ago from the job I had held for 14 years, the reason my employer gave was that I didn't relate well enough with my co-workers.  I had actually been warned about that several times, and at one point I was told that I shouldn't allow my co-workers to see me reading a newspaper, because most of them didn't, and it made it harder for them to relate to me.

I have considered not putting my college degree on my resume for this very reason. It marks me out as "different" in the secretarial pool, and has come up several times in discussions about how I'm not fitting in well in my current job. I sure as hell never mention that I'm taking graduate classes, nor do I show the books I'm reading (right now, it's a re-reading of Pride and Prejudice because Riley is reading it).

When you're working a relatively menial job, one does not trumpet one's educational accomplishments. 

[dps]

I'm mostly in the closet except with close friends because I see no reason trying to explain my extra-curricular activities to those who don't understand and/or care about them. I know a Geek when I see one, and to those people I may open up a bit more. Otherwise, I talk only about my more mundane areas of interest, or I don't discuss my hobbies at all.

This includes my family, by the way. I've been known as the "nerd" of the family since I was very young, and I learned then not to bother trying to talk about my hobbies to anyone I'm related to. (Their definition of nerd, by the way, was "one who reads a lot". I'm rather proud of that demarcation now, but it's still not something I trumpet at work or to acquaintances.)

When I was fired 9 years ago from the job I had held for 14 years, the reason my employer gave was that I didn't relate well enough with my co-workers.  I had actually been warned about that several times, and at one point I was told that I shouldn't allow my co-workers to see me reading a newspaper, because most of them didn't, and it made it harder for them to relate to me.

WTF?  It sounds like you couldn't relate to them, or at least the people who fired you, because you weren't a dumbass.  Unless there was more to this than that, like for whatever reason nobody in your department liked working with you, and they just sugarcoated it.

I think it was more my employer being out of touch than anything.  I think he really thought than none of my co-workers were, for lack of a better way to put it, sharp enough to care about following the news, and that reading the paper would set me apart.  In point of fact, most of my co-workers liked that I read the paper, 'cause I would leave it in the breakroom after I finished with it, so they could read it without having to pay for it.

[Jacob]

Am I the only one getting a feeling that whenever Drakken goes uber-macho on us, he's seriously over-compensating for something?

No.

[jimmy olsen]

It depends on the shifts in social acceptability of an obsession: in my circle of friends/acquaintances there's still people who see comics as a lower, almost ground-level form of brainless entertainment, the same can be said for science fiction and fantasy literature; when this people see the part of my library devoted to comic books, they raise an eyebrow: I don't even start a discussion about it 

Yeah. See, I understand why people do this since most people aren't very open minded even if it's in vogue to claim you are, but I will never be able to accept it.

[katmai]

To answer the poll question, I guess I'm not out per se.
I mean my friends know that I dabble in comics, play video/computer games, but the people I work with change often (a lot of out of state people for shoots, with just a few other locals I see from job to job) it doesn't often come up too much. Though have become good friends with some be ause of shared interest in comics and sci fi.

[garbon]

Meh, I am what I am. I don't hide anything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj8C43r4zm0

I am what I am, I am my own special creation

[Capetan Mihali]

Meh, I am what I am. I don't hide anything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj8C43r4zm0

I am what I am, I am my own special creation

My personal fave rendition, in glorious Hi-NRG:
http://youtu.be/Az6Wx-CDXiM

Life's not worth a damn,
Until you can say: hey, world, I am,
What I am!

[Slargos]

It depends on the shifts in social acceptability of an obsession: in my circle of friends/acquaintances there's still people who see comics as a lower, almost ground-level form of brainless entertainment, the same can be said for science fiction and fantasy literature; when this people see the part of my library devoted to comic books, they raise an eyebrow: I don't even start a discussion about it 

Yeah. See, I understand why people do this since most people aren't very open minded even if it's in vogue to claim you are, but I will never be able to accept it.

See? You're not very open minded. 

[Caliga]

When I was fired 9 years ago from the job I had held for 14 years, the reason my employer gave was that I didn't relate well enough with my co-workers.  I had actually been warned about that several times, and at one point I was told that I shouldn't allow my co-workers to see me reading a newspaper, because most of them didn't, and it made it harder for them to relate to me.

That smells like bullshit to me.  That's the type of thing you say as a substitute for "I just don't like you, and I'm the kind of douchebag boss who only promotes and retains people I like because I'm a loser and have no friends outside of work and therefore need to surround myself with my 'friends' at work so I feel less pathetic." 

[merithyn]

That smells like bullshit to me.  That's the type of thing you say as a substitute for "I just don't like you, and I'm the kind of douchebag boss who only promotes and retains people I like because I'm a loser and have no friends outside of work and therefore need to surround myself with my 'friends' at work so I feel less pathetic." 

You've met my boss??