You are wrong. You know that your assumptions may be off-base, but that's not it. You are wrong.
Being wrong is a great way to understand how much you have to learn.
I have a friend who is British, and one of our first conversations was about how Americans always talk about work, we ask "What do you do for a living, how was work today, etc" she was very irritated by this sentiment, while I felt quite the opposite. The difference was in understanding what was being asked.
She took "What do you do for a living?" as code for "How much do you make? What class of person are you?" Whereas I take it as code for "Hey I'll bet you do something different than me, what can you teach me about it?"
Now I am sure some people interpret it as the former, and others as the latter. But the important lesson was that we were both wonderfully wrong and we both got to walk away with a different perspective we wouldn't have gotten to see if not for being open to the idea of being incorrect.
I typically interpret that question the same way you do. I guess it depends on the context and tone though.
I had a friend that would often ask strangers at a party, "Why are you here?". I always enjoyed that one because the interpretation alone can tell you so much about a person. Do you answer to Why are you here at this party? Why are you here in this city, continent, universe, time? For someone like me a question like that can get existential pretty quick.
I am having a quarter-life crisis[1] and I have decided I am going to start writing smut novels (or any kind of novel) in my off time so I can get those mad dollar bills yo.
This is related because I dislike the question of "Work/occupation?" when it's straight off, as a "getting to know you" question, because a) my work is very boring to talk about and b) telling you what I do tells anyone very little about me. I don't mind if it works its way up in the conversation organically. Then it can even be interesting.
But anyway, if I start writing smut in my spare time (or better - I'll write this book but I'm going to make it a million times better) then I guess I can tell people I write books. "Blogging and poetry" is so clearly income-less that it doesn't fly as a response. Then someone will ask, "No, but what do you really do?"
You know if someone likes their job if they come home with good stories about work, or with little snippets that they enjoy sharing. In that way I'd say "how was your day" is a better soft open.
It would be delightful to tell people I wrote smut but - I don't think I could do it justice. I think I'd get all amused and satirical.
[1] Bah, really? Not really, probably.
So who is right and what is the secret meaning of "What do you do for a living?" (Is it just a better question than "What's your sign?")
You are probably right, about the "How was your day" but I want to dig deep fast too, so maybe "Tell me something about your day that would surprise me". I don't know humans are weird.
I appreciate that people might not have a job, I think that makes them far more interesting.
"Hey what do you do for a living?"
"Think about my existence and my cats"
"Whoa, that's cool, do the two ever overlap?"
etc etc etc
Here's one of my favorites, in a similar vein:
It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.
-Thomas Sowell
It sums up, for me, the reason I enjoy hubski. I can learn from others and expose my limited perspective and shortsighted judgements with little harm to others.