Re: What do you say when someone asks how much you make?
Hi everyone,
How do you respond to someone (say, a family friend) who insists on knowing how much salary you earn and who just won’t give in despite you dodging the question?
My parents have known this one family from Pakistan for many years now. They came to Canada around the same time as us, and we used to see them regularly back then but then they went back to Pakistan after getting citizenship and we haven’t really kept in touch.
They’re back in Canada now that their children are high school/university going. So my parents invited them over for dinner and their oldest daughter started interviewing me and my siblings on what schooling process we went through to get to where we are now and how much each one of us makes exactly. It was easier to change the topic with her because she is younger than me. But then her mom started asking me the same.
At first, I just smiled and gave her a weird look. But she started giving me actual figures then, wanting to confirm if I make above a certain pay grade. I felt really trapped and finally just said ‘alhamdulillah, isi range main hai’. Then she started joking with me, okay good good, so when are you taking us shopping? Again, I tried to laugh it off but she kept pressing, ‘aray, smile baad main kar lena, pehle batao kab shopping leke ja rahi ho’.
I was very annoyed to say the least. I don’t know why some desi people don’t have any boundaries. It is one thing to try to get information about a career line by asking in general how much one can expect to earn and what their options are. But to be so specific and nosy, knowing fully well that you’re irritating the next person and still not stopping.
How would you have responded in this scenario without being rude?
Do you really think that she wanted you to get her to shopping?
