Title pretty much sums it up.

Do you tell strangers/people you just met or have some sort of cover/alibi job you tell people?

“What do you do for work” always seems to pop up in conversations and normally catches me off guard. This isn’t GD so I wouldn’t obviously tell people to f*** off or MYOB with the question.

I just say I work for the state.

"City Law Department"

I tell people I worked for the sewer department. They don't ask any further questions after that.

Have you not already been told what to say?

Have you not already been told what to say?

Sheriff's Deputy

I don't really care how they take it but most see it as a positive.

Ha!  I’ve been answering that question exactly like that since the beginning.  I does work well!

I’m not a cop.

No, I generally deflect the question back on what their occupation is.



18Z50

Don't tell them your an English teacher.

Do I look like a cop, asshole?

I just say doctor.  I'm Asian and drive BMWs so they believe it.

In LA I said engineer in MT - cop

Depends on who is asking and the context. I generally tell if asked but don’t volunteer the information. I have used “I work for the city” on occasion.

Ask, Tell, Make?

*you're
It is a contraction of You Are.  

I tell people I am the grammar police.

Public Service employee

I tell them I work sanitation & then tap the side of my nose & wink.  Like someone else said it depends on the people & conversation.  For 10yrs my barber thought I worked for the parks dept because that's what I told him when I 1st went there.  Usually I tell people I work for the city & if they push then I tell them the parks dept.

Nope garbage collector

Sanitation engineer

I do if asked. I don’t mind talking and trying to change minds. I think it helps to have those interactions and I find myself answering questions and getting “I never thought of that.”

I get asked that a lot. I always tell them, no, I am a security officer. Mostly because it is specifically spelled out in security regulations that under no circumstances should we ever misrepresent ourselves as police. Under state law, we are considered peace officers for duty purposes, but our similarity ends there. LEOs have vastly more powers than the average security officer, who has no more power than any average citizen, the difference being, that when we are assigned to a post, we act as agents of the owners of the property. So we represent John Q. Public.

Depending on the situation, we can be contracted to work for private individual entities, business, or government. As such, we protect the rights of whoever owns the property. While there are varying degrees of authority in that, depending on the situation, the job stays basically the same. We are trained to value human life, regardless of the situation, and would protect people in custody as we would protect anyone else. We protect the rights of criminals just as we would the rights of victims.

Most people who have security do so in order to avoid getting into a situation where enforcement becomes a necessity. Most of what we do is prevention, but due to the nature of our situation, we are normally there when something happens. Because we are considered peace officers, doing a crime in our presence can subject someone to arrest by the lawful authorities. Because of that, we normally default to doing everything in our power to ensure that people do not do anything that might put them in that situation. It takes an awful lot to get security to do act on something, and normally, it evolves from a situation where all other possibilities have been exhausted.

LEOs are paid to arrest people. We try our best to avoid that. Sometimes we don't see things eye to eye, but, we always do our best to keep it professional. The law dictates that the cops always have the last say, and we cannot prevent them from doing what they see fit. If necessary, we are required by law to assist. We do not act on our own when it comes to doing anything that might involve taking people into custody, or in doing anything else that might involve statutory violations.

Unlike law enforcement, we can enforce the rules that private owners have for their property. We can also file complaints as agents of the owners. Normally, we are governed by post orders, which are a legal obligation that we have to the people who contract us. So, while LEO are there to enforce the laws of the state, we are there in ensure the rights of private citizens. LEO work for the government, and we work to protect the people.

There's nothing worse than a fake security guard playing cop. Normally doesn't end well for anyone. Since the riots started, posers have probably done more significant damage out there than any other group of people. When all is said and done, it all rolls downhill.

It's a mess.

I'm in "code enforcement"

So that’s a “no”?

Waste management. Sometimes it's not that far from the truth.

Oh and I make $150 a day, $200 if I get bit by a rat.

I'm retired but when I was working, I didn't even tell cops I was a cop.

I sure don't tell anyone now that I'm retired.

PERSEC is just a good way to live.

Some yes.  Some no.  Depends situationally.  I normally just tell them I am a pilot and feel them out from there depending on who is asking.

Nope, I don’t. I’m lucky enough to be in a plain clothes unit where I was told to not look like a cop when I came to the unit.  I’m allowed relaxed grooming standards so longer hair and a beard helps with that. I usually tell those that ask, if it’s ever asked, that I work for the County. A few of my wife’s friends know what I do, so if we are out with them I get bombarded with questions, but most thought I had quit LE after they saw me looking scraggly.

Generally no. I work for the "insert government body here" is usually adequate

I'm a parent for grown-ups.

When I worked for the state, the agency was under the Dept of Revenue
If pressed about my job, I told them I went out and collected unpaid taxes.
That was the end of the conversation
(Motor carrier inspection)

At the college, I told people I was the a on call crisis resolution councilor
I help people resolve their problems
(Univ Police Officer)

Before I retired from the county, I just told them I worked for the road and bridge dept
(Sheriffs Office)

No I told people I was a Dog Catcher.

Excellent. That's what I say too.

I think my brother (fed) just claims he’s in finance (which is actually his degree). Sounds boring enough to dissuade people. Our buddy (local) usually uses the “waste management/trash collector.”  

Frankly, I’m honest with people. My response is usually something like, “Don’t take any offense, but I don’t like to talk about work when I’m not there. I spend enough of my life there, I don’t need to dedicate a single minute more to it. And I don’t define myself by my job; what I do has very little to do with who I am.”

Alternatively, I’ll just say, “I work in *insert city*.” If they insist following up with “oh? Where?” I then respond with “On *insert street*” and change the subject. If that doesn’t work, they get the above, but more as a lecture than polite conversation.

And I’m not a cop.

That's a really long response to a question of "do you tell people you're a cop?", coming from someone who isn't a cop. Class G/D isn't certified law enforcement.

Depends where I’m at, but most of the time I say I work systems integration for John Deere, and when they ask what that means, I say “computer stuff”.  But I also have some tractor and farming knowledge.

Business owner (which I also am). I don't want to be the "cop friend" because you can see someone's demeanor change the second some idiot tells them I'm a cop. "Let me tell you about how this cop was mean in me in Bumfuck, KS." Here we go.

Why are people who aren’t even in law enforcement going into detail about what they tell people?  Isn’t the thread specifically asking what LE tell people?  Sort of like having a thread asking about the weather in Omaha and instead getting responses from people in Seattle stating what their weather conditions currently are.

It's varied over the years, usually I tell them I do some sort of construction or I'm a boat mechanic. Having a garage full of old outboards helps with the latter.


"I run a crew of illegals that install drywall."  Has always been a conversation stopper.

It's raining in Texas.  

I was a garbage man for the first ten years.

The last nine, which require travel, I have been pretended to be a pre-need funeral salesman.  An hour of research online has saved me countless days of conversations with strangers.  It is amazing how fast people at restaurant bars, hotel lounges, airports/airplanes, sporting events, community events, etc... will leave you alone if they ask "What do you do? and I say "I am a salesmen who sells pre-need funerals.  Have you thought about your death ands it financial impact on other? I would like to talk to you about it sometime.  What do you do?"  And when they tell me, I follow that right up with something tying it back to an untimely death and the importance of not causing a financial burden on their family.  Not one in the thousand times plus I have deployed such has anyone taken me up.  They are so uncomfortable with my comfortability talking about their death they disappear and leave me alone.

I rarely told anyone what I did, except I worked for the city. The last 24 years of my career I was UC so I played the part 24/7/365 (With respect to who I worked for).

Jim  

I want to change my answer.

Trash removal services.

But seriously, I work part-time at a residential home with lower-functioning teens, so I just tell people I'm residential staff. Technically not lying.

On call legal aid.


Stealing the funeral guys shit though....

Garbage Man.

You should lecture that at Academies all over the country.

Better yet...is that actually a job?