We are defined by our relationships and our occupations.
I often have to identify myself as a father, a husband, a son, an in-law, a neighbour, or a friend. We all do it. And that relationship shapes another person’s perspective or impression of us. They size us up in terms of the person they know. So, I always get a very favourable response when I tell people I’m Erin and David’s dad. I’m no doubt viewed with envy when I’m introduced as Anne’s husband.
Thanks to my family ties, I am held in higher esteem than I may otherwise deserve. It’s a different story when it comes to my chosen occupation. When I tell people I’m a journalist they squint reflexively and say “Oh…who do you work for.”
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All the while they’re trying to “place me”, wracking their brain to recall whether they’ve seen me before, thinking I must work in television (which I do.). But for the first 25 years of my career, I worked in radio, so it was unlikely that they would know me to look at me. Then they feel it necessary to tell me I have an interesting job (They’d be right.). That’s about the time they want me to answer for everything that’s ever been said or presented on the air – radio or television. I actually spent months deflecting complaints about Howard Stern when I worked at Q107 in the 90’s – as if I had anything to do with what that clown said. Of course, I faced the same challenge when it came to Bill Carroll’s rants, Jesse and Gene’s cold call comedy bits, the Motts’ commercials, John Moore’s vocabulary, and even my laugh. My television experience has been no different. I get blamed for “his tie”, “her hair”, “that suit” I am to blame for all of it. That’s when I try to get back in their good books and remind them “I’m Erin’s dad!”. I dare not tell them she’s a journalist.
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