Better questions than "What do you do?
"What do you do?" might be the worst question to start out a conversation with a new person and yet it's the one we all seem to ask at the outset. It's our default question. It's our "go-to." It's frustrating to ask and frustrating to answer so why do I keep falling into that trap every time? I suppose it's easy and it cuts through that lengthy silence right after, "Nice to meet you" or maybe it's just a matter of habit in modern conversation. It's what we do.
It's been hard for me to answer the "what do you do?" question over the years because I'm self-employed, because I'm a stay at home mother, because I "do" a lot of things, who knows. When it's asked of me I find a way to muddle through eventually. Usually I just say, "Laundry. I do a lot of laundry." But no matter how well I answer the question or how much of a chuckle I get from my conversation partner, I find I am still unsettled by it.
Recently there have been articles floating around the interwebs dedicated to the psychology behind asking "What do you do?" Some say it's a leveling maneuver, some suggest that it's elitist and demeaning or that it's all about positioning. For most people though, I'd say what we're really asking is "who are you?" and then "how are we connected?" I like to think to ask what a person does isn't merely a function of placing them into a box or jockeying for position but rather a desire to understand how we can best relate to each other.
Unfortunately, the question itself as an opening to a conversation is more likely to lead to stalled answers and the awkward shuffling of feet. So while learning how to answer the question better is one step in the process of evolving in this whole "get to know you" dance I'd say that what we need to do is learn to ASK better questions. Otherwise, we're just part of the social status quotient problem after all.
How do you know (insert name here)?
When we ask what someone does we're trying to figure out how we're connected and so asking about the human relationship in the room can be a great way to know that connection without relegating someone to their job.
By defining "relationship" in the first few minutes of a conversation, we bring everything to a human, personal level. Another way to put it might be "what's your connection to (this place, this event, this pep rally) if you don't actually have a personal connection at that moment. Even this question develops connection rather than setting up a job-based hierarchy.
What's a nice girl/boy/person like you doing in a place like this?
This gives people a chance to place themselves rather you placing them according to their vocation. And at the same time it opens the door to a smorgasbord of follow-up questions related to this place, this setting or this location. What we're after in asking about the location and a person's connection to it is to build some connection through a sense of "place." This can be a great foundation for the rest of the conversation and help people to connect at deeper levels.
I love that scarf (hat, coat, eyeliner) where did you get it?
Now, this question is a little tricky. First off, don't give a compliment that isn't true, that's like offering someone a counterfeit quarter. Choose something that really does strike you about that person and pay that compliment with real sincerity.
Asking more about a trait or fashion choice shows you are taking an interest in them and, of course, that's what we're aiming for when meeting new people. What works well with this question is that it might begin as a surface observation but again, it opens doors to other topics to discuss and that can help to bring about more engaging dialog.
That was an amazing speech (concert, pep rally) earlier. What did you think?
This works best when you're having a shared experience. The danger is that your conversation partner might not think it was an amazing speech (concert pep rally) at all, certainly but it's worth the effort to at least test the waters and get a conversation going.
And even if they don't agree with your perception of the event, it may help you to expand your own perception of what's going on. Asking what people think is a good way to get to know them but also a way to keep an open mind in general and that's a good thing especially when getting to know new people.
Okay, I admit this works against the premise of this article but honestly, at some point in the conversation this will most likely surface. It's not ALWAYS a bad thing to ask about someone's work, it's just not always the most expedient way to know him or her better at the outset.
So that being said, it's not a question to be completely taken off the table; it's just a better question to save until after dessert. Most of the time starting with one of the other four questions will answer this fairly easily and in a more natural and authentic way but if it flows with the conversation, this is a perfectly fine thing to ask someone new.
So for those of us who hate "what do you do?" let's make a social pact to stop scratching the surface of conversation and find the deeper connection waiting underneath. Why not? Let's walk into new situations and new introductions with an eye toward knowing more than we knew when we walked in. We might learn something amazing. We might realize the person before us is like lost kin or a potential best friend. Maybe they have hiked Mt Everest. Maybe they have swum the English Channel. Maybe they know the secret to the very best chocolate chip cookies. These are important things, people.
The best way to discover all of this is to be interested and curious. Don't fall into the easy trap of simply asking first where someone fits (or doesn't) into the workforce. Take an interest, channel your inner Sherlock Holmes and learn to ask better questions. It's worth the effort!


This article originally appeared as a segment of an NBC Bay Area investigation into California's Workers' Compensation System. The original article can be read in it's entirety here: NBC Bay Area Workers Compensation Investigation Part III .
The UR/IMR system is biased against injured workers and their doctors. While proponents of the UR/IMR system would claim that IMR's upholding 90 percent of the denials is evidence that most treatment requests were unnecessary, those who witness the results of the denials of treatment on a daily basis know differently. Medical professionals understand that the practice of medicine is an art that should not be reduced to arbitrary standards of "old" medicine. UR/IMR prevents the physician from treating his patient effectively.
The bizarre irony is that in a majority of instances, the cost of denial of treatment is more than the cost of the treatment denied. The big savings to employers and insurance companies is found in the area of denials of medications and treatment for the chronic pain patient and in the denials of surgical treatment and effective after-care.
Most physicians simply desire to treat their patients as effectively as possible. Most injured workers simply want effective treatment that will return them to their jobs as soon as possible. Under the UR/IMR system, frustrated physicians are looking elsewhere for patients to treat and undertreated injured workers are often unable to return to work, at all.
But employers benefit and insurance company profits are at record highs.
Donald Fraulob and Melissa C. Brown have been nominated for Sacramento Magazine's list of "Top Lawyers" in the Sacramento region! A big CONGRATS to both of them. Make sure you pick up a copy of Sacramento Magazine when they publish the full list in their August edition.
When you're injured at work, you expect that your employer's insurance carrier will dutifully provide you with proper medical treatment for your injury. After all, future medical care is one of the "benefits" injured workers are entitled to in California. Denial of medical treatment is the number one frustration we hear from our clients on a daily basis.
What injured workers quickly discover is that their medical treatment is strictly controlled by the insurance carrier and their medical fate is in the hands of a doctor who has never treated them and may not even have their complete medical records. This process is called Utilization Review (UR). Under UR an outside physician gets to decide whether or not the insurance company should authorize the medical treatment prescribed by your primary treating physician. This doctor doesn't even have to be licensed in California.
If the medical treatment prescribed by your physician is denied, your only recourse is to appeal the decision to an Independent Medical Reviewed (IMR). In California, MAXIMUS is the company contracted to conduct IMR reviews. Like UR doctors, the IMR doctor deciding your fate, has never met you or treated you and does not need to be licensed in California. In fact, their identity is protected. If your medical treatment is denied by UR, your chances of IMR overturning the decision are not good. California Workers' Compensation Institute, an insurance research group, found that 91% of IMR decisions uphold the UR denial. If the treatment is denied by IMR, absent a change in circumstances, the denial will be in effect for one year.
While an injured worker has the right to appeal an IMR determination to the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board, the only legal bases on which to appeal are fraud, conflict of interest, or mistake of fact. However, even if your appeal is successful the WCAB still cannot overturn the IMR doctor's decision. If an appeal is granted, the remedy is referral to a different IMR for another review. Yes, you read that right, your award is to go through the IMR process again!
Many injured workers end up seeking treatment for their work related injuries through private insurance, Medicare or Medi-Cal. A study by J. Paul Leigh, a health economist at the University of California, Davis, estimated that only 1/3 of necessary medical treatment and lost wages is being paid for by workers' compensation insurers.
The lack of adequate medical care for injured workers today is the result of Senate Bill 863, which was passed on August 1, 2012 and signed into law by Governor Brown on September 18, 2012. This law was the result of lobbying by big businesses and insurance companies, who have influence over the State Legislature and the Governor of California. We remind our clients that you also have a political voice. We recommend you go to Voters Injured at Work (www.viaw.org) for information on how to become involved with fixing this broken system.
To read more about the dismal state of medical treatment for injured workers all over America I encourage you to read Insult to Injury by Michael Grabell at https://www.propublica.org/article/the-demolition-of-workers-compensation.
According to the California Highway Patrol, 223,128 people were injured in motor vehicle accidents in California for the year 2013. If you were injured in a motor vehicle accident you probably have already thought to hire a personal injury attorney. However, if the driving or presence in the vehicle was related to your work, you may also be entitled to workers' compensation benefits.
Your employer pays you for your travel time between your home and office.
I had a case where an employee who did work from home was traveling from the office to her home and suffered an injury in a car accident on the way from the office home. She received workers' compensation benefits because she had work files in her car and was planning on doing work from home that evening. Generally, if you sustain injuries in a car accident that occurs on your way to or from work, this falls under the "coming and going" exception and you would not qualify for benefits. But as you can see from my example, there are always exceptions.
Even if you file a claim for workers' compensation benefits, you still have the right to sue the person who is at fault in the accident. The opposite is true as well. If you have both a workers' compensation case and civil lawsuit, we call the civil lawsuit the "third-party case". If you receive a settlement or award in your civil lawsuit, the insurance carrier in the workers' compensation case is entitled to a take a "credit" for the money you receive in your civil lawsuit. For example, if you receive $20,000.00 in your civil lawsuit from the at-fault party and you receive an award of $50,000.00 in the workers' compensation claim, the workers' compensation insurance carrier gets to take a "credit" for the $20,000.00 you already received in the civil lawsuit and only has to pay you $30,000.00. This is done to avoid double collecting.
There are benefits to filing both a claim for workers' compensation benefits and a civil claim against the other driver and their insurance company. Workers' compensation does not cover damages such as the loss of your vehicle or pain and suffering. In workers' compensation you receive medical treatment, temporary disability (partial lost wages due to the injury) and permanent disability. Also, workers' compensation is a no-fault system, unlike the civil system where you must prove that the other driver caused the accident. Even if you are found to be at fault in the vehicle accident you are likely entitled to workers' compensation benefits.
Your workers' compensation or personal injury attorney should be able to refer you to another attorney who specializes in the other field. Some firms handle both types of cases or have a good working relationship with other attorneys who do specialize in related areas of law.
Is a nanny entitled to workers' compensation benefits?
As a mom with similarly situated friends and an attorney representing injured workers the topic of workers' compensation and household employees inevitably comes up. You may be an employer wondering if you need workers' compensation coverage for your nanny/babysitter or housecleaner. Or perhaps, you are a household employee who has suffered an injury and wants to know whether you can file a claim for workers' compensation benefits.
Unfortunately, this isn't a straight yes or no answer.
We can also look to the Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) which defines Household Occupations as: "All services related to the care of persons or maintenance of a private household or its premises by an employee of a private householder". Examples include gardeners, house cleaners, tutors and companions.
California Department of Industrial Relations, Industrial Welfare Commission, Order No. 15-2001 defines "personal attendant" to include babysitters and "any person employed by a private householder or by any third party employer recognized in the healthcare industry to work in a private household, to supervise, feed or dress a child or person who by reason of advanced age, physical disability, mental deficiency needs supervision." This would include your babysitters, nannies, and personal care attendants for elders or the disabled.
Ok, so after reading the above, you can determine whether you or the person you hired falls into the general category of "employee". Now we need to determine whether you or your employee is excluded as an employee from Workers' Compensation.
Has the person worked 52 hours or more during the 90 days immediately prior to the date of injury, or for a cumulative trauma injury, during the 90 calendar days immediately preceding the date of last employment? If no, that person is not an employee.
Has the person earned less than $100 in wages from the employer during the 90 days immediately prior to the date of injury, or in the case of a cumulative trauma injury, during the 90 dates immediately preceding the date of last employment? If no, that person is not an employee.
If you answered "yes" to the above questions and are a household worker, it's likely you qualify to as an employee and may file a workers' compensation claim if you have been injured through work.
If you answered "yes" to the above questions and are an employer, first contact your homeowner's or umbrella insurance carrier to determine whether you have existing coverage for domestic employees. If you do not, inquire about a "rider" policy. Or, you can purchase a freestanding policy through an insurance company or the State Compensation Insurance Fund.


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Letter to the editor: Middlebury Airport is bad investment
Dec 22, 2022 | Op/Ed
By Andrew Sambrook
Last Wednesday (Dec.14), VTrans' consultants presented the final draft of the Middlebury State Airport Master Plan. One might expect that after 30+ months and almost $350,000 of consulting fees, that this plan might prove to be a concise, data-backed and realistic business case for the continued existence of the State Airport for the next 15-20 years. It was not. Instead the Master report continues a slow development creep for an airport that is desperately trying to justify its own existence, and continues the Vermont taxpayer burden which supports its operational losses year after year.
Listening to the presentation, we felt like the Queen in Alice Through the Looking Glass —, "sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
So what did we learn about the Airport Master Plan? Here are VTrans' "six impossible things" that they want you to believe.
First, the Master Plan recommends development at the Airport that totals more than $10M of public funds that would be spent on the capital improvements at the Airport over the next 20 years. This includes over $1M for a 1,500-square-foot terminal building for use as a pilot lounge. At a time when local residents are struggling to find affordable housing, this is at the very least tone deaf. We suggest that $10M of public investment in Middlebury for housing and childcare could really make a substantial difference to the Town infrastructure and economic development. The projected public investment works out at a shocking $360,000 per hobby plane (n=28) that is actually "based" at the airport.
Second, the authors of the report also agreed that there is no reliable data about actual flight activity at the airport. The report presents projections that are little more than guesswork. For example, the much-vaunted GARD system that VTrans' Ms. Brassard mentioned in the Addison Independent article of Oct 13, ("VTrans explains flight counts at Middlebury airports") is, according to VTrans, no more or no less reliable than other counting systems like FlightAware, which shows considerably less activity at Middlebury than the GARD count. But VTrans chooses to use the more "optimistic" number — I wonder why?
Third, VTrans admits that there is no waitlist for hangars at the airport and that they have "never claimed there was." And yet the Master Plan includes space for almost 50,000sq feet of additional space! The consultants also agreed that the current plan for the North Hangars — which more than doubles existing size of the hangar space at Middlebury — would not have been planned nor placed where they are shown in the Master Plan if VTrans had not insisted on them being included. They were included because VTrans had initiated Act 250 proceedings to get hangars permitted before the Master Plan was even started. In other words, the consultants did not independently verify that hangars were needed nor that they were in a preferred spot. In an uncharacteristically frank admission, a VTrans employee months ago agreed that "they are not even where the pilots want them."
Fourth, there is no environmental plan or plan for development at the airport which addresses the biggest challenge to the State and Federally — the climate change crisis. The plan, for example (and despite a direct mandate from the Vermont Legislature) does not include any electric charging stations either for planes or local cars.
Fifth, VTrans stated that there is a cost limit to the efforts that VTrans will address quality of life issues for the Airport neighbors — so they have not included any noise reduction berms, there will be no change in annual herbicide usage to control weed growth and little to no reduction in leaded fuel use is included in the Master Plan.
Sixth, and perhaps the most deaf to community and Town concerns, was that despite being above the sole source water supply for Middlebury and East Middlebury, VTrans see no reason to test either the current or future impacts of this proposed development on water quality, instead relying on the Act 250 process to mitigate any risk.
It's time to change the paradigm. Middlebury State Airport has outlived its usefulness. I fear, like Alice, we may have gone through the looking glass, but it's not too late to stop VTrans' venturing into Wonderland!
Andrew Sambrook
Andrew Sambrook, Letter to the editor, Middlebury Airport
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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The agricultural production in 2008 was valued at 39.7 trillion won and the value added was worth 20.1 trillion won. The sales amount of the food industry in 2008 was about 120 trillon won and food manufacturing took up about 46% of that amount. The total amount of the food industry's value add was 35.5 trillion won, and of this amount, food manufacturing accounted for 58%. This indicates that food manufacturing has a higher added value ratio than the eating-out industry. Since the intermediate input ratio of agriculture is low compared to food manufacturing or the eating-out industry, its added value ratio is relatively high.
With over 1,500 South Korean companies registered in the Kompass B2B worldwide database, the food & agriculture sector represents medium activity sectors within our database. This family includes animal husbandry (not only cattle, goats, & poultry but also bees, silkworms and insects – which will soon become a key protein source), sea or freshwater fishing, aquaculture, agriculture, horticulture and forestry with associated equipment - tractors, irrigation systems, sprayers, and all types of agricultural equipment – as well as the food and beverage sector , including organic products, and finally equipment for the food industry.


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The Sanctuary was the brain child of late local tycoon Lek Viriyapunt. Unfortunately both Lek and his son Pagan passed on before the completion of their dream. The Virayapunt business empire was built on insurance, banking, import and export, commodities trading, and the distribution of expensive foreign cars.
From 1981 an army of sculptors were employed to create the Hindu and Buddhist images that adorn the immense entirely teakwood structure.Segments of the building are still 'under construction', using only aged and seasoned wood.
On arrival at the main gate , you are obliged to pay a fee of 500 Baht, before you are ushered onto a horse drawn carriage which will trot you to the Hilltop Cafe. From here there are fantastic views of the Sanctuary and Pattaya Bay. This is an ideal spot to relax awhile with a cold drink before descending to the Sanctuary itself.
You will now have a pleasant walk down a winding lane, through a leafy copse, down the hillside, until the entrance to the Sanctuary looms into view.
Donning a hard hat, you can now view the interior of this wonderful building. The quality of the carving is beyond excellent.The whole edifice was constructed without the use of metal screws or fastenings. It is held together with intricate systems of joints and wooden wedges, made by really skilled carpenters.The play of light within the building from large unglazed windows is truly magnificent.
Outside again, you can opt for a walk along the beach, which will give you a great view of the complete Sanctuary, or take an Elephant or boat ride.
Many visitors feel after their visit that this place of staggering beauty should be a contestant for a 'Wonder' of the world'.


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