Feeling pity for me?

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My contract at my current job ends in a few weeks.

My mum said to me the other day "when you were not in employment and people saw you cycling around town all the time not working people will feel sorry for you/pity you".


Why might some people take pity on me if its very obvious to them i don't have a job and am cycling around all day doing nothing?

Because you don't have a job, not receiving income, not supporting yourself, and probably look sad cycling all around town.

I don't think it's true that people will feel sorry for you, because most people simply don't care except about themselves. I think your mom meant that comment either as some kind of misguided effort to convince you to find another job, or she's feeling worried that people will attribute your jobless status to her and this embarrasses her.

It's better for a person to have a job...than to not have a job.

That's what I would think, too.

My mom used to tell me that if I sat apart, reading instead of making chit chat, people would feel sorry for me.
Made no sense to me. How could she know what strangers think when she didn't even know what I think on a regular basis?

~shrugs~

That said, I've always worked more than one job, but, only because I knew I couldn't depend on my parents to take care of me, so I needed money to pay others to do so.

They might think that you are poor, too uneducated/unqualified to get a job, or tired and suffering from cycling because you can't afford a car.

Oh, good point.

In America, it's "weird" not to have a car.
My sons have friends who ask them why our family doesn't have cable TV and a second car, like it's strange?

I think it's strange one family needs to spend that much on more vehicles and mindless entertainment. (Netflix is much cheaper than cable and sufficient for leisure time, IMHO.) Luckily, I married someone who is not american and also finds the car culture here a bit inefficient.

There are groups where I live that take cycling quite seriously. It's a healthy sport.

In New York City, many people don't have cars. It's impractical to own a car in Manhattan. I wouldn't mind cycling to work--but I find it dangerous.

Just in Kingston I find it terrifying. Still though, it's handy. There are a lot of elite cyclists around here. I can only imagine how much their equipment costs.