Admit it. WE all do this

More like: "I barely know you and that's a question I can ask anyone to pad out a conversation."

F.o.r.d.
And I don't tend to start at f or d also d must be metaphorical unless you're sleeping with them
(Family occupation recreation dreams is the acronym)
- recreation
  Did quite well with online dating but I never once got a reply after asking, "What do you do for fun?"
  Did they think the question was coded? Any ladies can explain this? Still puzzled.

I'm just asking because I know literally nothing about you and I'm not interesting enough to come up with an original question.

Its a flawed yet broadly applicable conversation starter that is statistically less depressing than talking about the weather (climate change) or politics these days.

There are better options, but its not typically about cynical "How useful are you?" probing unless its like a business coded social event.

No, it's just one of the usual questions people ask to allow others to introduce themselves. Unless I'm in terrible pain and in the middle of nowhere and you're a doctor, what immediate use could I have of you? 🤷

It’s just a US American thing. It is a question less frequently asked when traveling abroad. Many Europeans and South Americans have mentioned it to me over the years as a reliable way to ‘spot the American’.
Our culture is broken and we are widely considered to be gauche and rude by others in the world.
- In The Netherlands this is pretry common as well, heck in even abroad I have been asked the question

what a weird way to look at people. i never even thought about people's professions being useful to me. does no one look things up on the internet? if i need a handyman I'm gonna look for one, not hope I'll eventually bump into one at a party.

Or just asking to see if they're more successful than you

I feel like that'd be a reason to not ask. But I suppose it depends on the person.
- Certain people really want to know where you are on the totem pole. I've definitely gotten some barely contained disdain at formal events when I've told people I haven't gone to full university.

I was just asking for the small talk.

Been a while since I saw Savage Chickens!

I'm not lame so I won't admit to anything. Anyone who asks me that (at a party) is an immediate red flag to me. "Hey we are all trying to unwind and have some fun, what could make that better? I KNOW! LET'S TALK ABOUT WORK!!!" ugh the worst people. Get me the fuck out of that party.

On one hand, I get it. I don't really want to talk about work either. But on the other hand I can't entirely blame some people if they work a lot that might be something that's been floating around in their head or they're just curious.
- Fight it. Don't be lame. Don't let the conversation turn to mush. Say something shocking, open up about an out-of-left field belief you hold. Remember what fun feels like. Discussing work is never fun.

This is all "networking" is. I refuse.

I've always tried to phrase it as "What do you do?", skipping the "for a living" part. That opens it up to more than just work. It could be "What do you do for a hobby?", or "What do you do for fun?", or "What do you do in your free time?", etc.

Sure, it's not the best conversation starter, but when I know nothing about someone, it's a good way to get the ball rolling.

Best answer for that is: suffer
Really makes a person stop and thing lmao
See my comment here:
https://old.lemmy.world/comment/18418113
Got ghosted every single time I asked what they did for fun.
- Huh, weird. I haven't dated in a looooong time, so I cant say if anything would be off about that.