A housemate many years ago was laid off from a government agency. He said that it was a sure conversation-killer when someone would ask what he did and he would

A housemate many years ago was laid off from a government agency. He said that it was a sure conversation-killer when someone would ask what he did and he would reply, Nothing. I don't talk about work--theirs or mine--with my neighbors, yet curiously I know what an awful lot of the adults on my block do for a living.