I also find this question grating,and I assume that it is a lazy way of sorting other people into "white collar, has money" versus "not worth my time." Try something the next time someone asks "What do you do?" Tell them you work at McDonald's or make up some other minimum wage job, and see how long the conversation lasts after that.

I used to do alumni interviews of high school students applying to my alma mater. I would never ask about their achievement test scores, their grades, or their course load. Because once I knew the answers to those questions I would be predisposed to have a positive or negative opinion of the candidate, and my role as an alumni interviewer was to find out about the kid as a person, not as a resume - which the admissions office already had.

It was harder work, finding out what they were like as PEOPLE. But - more interesting, ultimately.