I think that it's safe to assume everyone has to answer questions sometimes that we'd prefer we were never asked. For some questions, the difficulty in answering lies in some emotion or fear we'd rather not discuss with relative strangers, and for others the problem is in the tedium of needing to answer the same questions over and over again when the answer is both simple and unchanging. If I were to think about what questions I personally hate answering, two immediately come to mind. The first is a harmless question, but definitely one that fits into the 'tedious' category. Though I don't look hispanic, my last name is Garcia so whenever someone learns my last name, invariably, there is a pause where they stare directly at my face, grow visibly confused, and ask "Are you Mexican?"to which I must respond by saying yes, and that my great-grandparents on my father's father's side immigrated to the US from Mexico, and say that I am a quarter mexican. The question is a legitimate one, and I understand why people ask, but it gets tiring having to give an overview of my family tree every time I meet someone new.
The second question that comes to mind when I think of questions I hate answering is "Do you want to be a teacher?" Like the last question, this one is also legitimate but is, none-the-less, hard to respond to since I don't have a clear answer. When people hear that I'm an English major, almost always they want to know what career I want to put it towards and 'teacher' is by far the most obvious choice. Unlike the last question though, I don't have a good answer to this question. I don't know what career I want to aim for after college. I've tried thinking about it, especially when I was choosing my major, but I always come up blank. I chose English because I enjoy it and because I don't see any better choices right now, but that's hard to tell someone when they ask which is why this question, more than any other, I hate answering.
-Garrett Garcia
