I think really, people are just trying to strike up conversation when they ask this. If you respond to this question with any of your hobbies instead of your pr

I think really, people are just trying to strike up conversation when they ask this. If you respond to this question with any of your hobbies instead of your profession you'll probably get a more engaged reaction than, say responding with "I'm a doctor/lawyer/engineer". If you respond with "I don't have a job" or "I just work at Walmart", then well, yeah, you've just made the conversation harder to keep going.