Nobody ever asks about your job.

They ask what you do. You give them the one word. They nod, and the conversation moves on to something else. The one word is never the part worth hearing.

So write it down for a stranger instead.

Tell your partner about your work. The job you’ve got now, or the one you had for eleven years and still dream about, or the weird one nobody believes you actually did. Your pick.

What does the day really look like? What do people always get wrong about it? What’s the skill you had to learn that nobody outside the work would ever guess you needed? What does the place smell like? What was the worst shift? What would you miss if you walked out tomorrow and never went back?

Retired counts. Laid off counts. Raising kids at home absolutely counts, and I’d argue that’s the job described worst to people who’ve never done it.

Can’t pick between six of them? Write about the one you’d tell a stranger about at a bus stop.

I did years as a first responder before I started writing for a living. I could give you shift rotations and call volumes, and none of it would tell you anything. What I’d write to you about is learning to eat a whole meal in nine minutes. And how long it took me, after I left, to stop doing it.

That’s what I’m after. The part you only know from having been there.

What to send your partner:

One handwritten letter, two pages at a minimum. More is better.

Don’t send anything you shouldn’t. No names, no case details, nothing that crosses an NDA or a confidentiality line. A lot of us work jobs with those lines. Write around it. The texture is what’s interesting, not the specifics.

Rules:

Handwritten. Typed is fine if handwriting is genuinely difficult for you, just mention it to your partner.

Mail within three weeks of assignment. If life falls apart, message me before the deadline and I’ll work with you. Silence is the only thing that earns a 1.

Rate your partner honestly and promptly once their letter arrives.

Minimum 4.5 rating to join. New members welcome; I just want people who finish what they start.

Deadline to sign up: Sunday, November 22 Mail by: Sunday, December 13

I’m swapping in this one too. Tell me what you do. I’d rather hear that than almost anything.