gauche:

lacking social polish; "too gauche to leave the room when the conversation became intimate"; "their excellent manners always made me feel gauche"

This was the word of the day for my roommate a little while ago and so we have been trying to incorporate it into as many sentences as possible.

And you'd be surprised how many times you can slip it in; how many times people give cause to use the word, really.

See I meet a lot of people. Every day. It's fun, actually, since people are terribly interesting and altogether captivating.

But I run into some gauche conversations.

Like, the gauchest.

But I think the one that surfaces the most revolves around my salary.

Why is it that nobody meets a banker and five minutes later asks them how much they make?

No, apparently when speaking to a banker, people remember what their mother's taught them; i.e. they don't ask them their age, their weight, or how much money they make.

In other words, they try not to be gauche.

And yes, maybe it's just a normal curiosity that drives the conversation into the direction of salary, but still, it's private. I mean, right?

I've always managed to say something to the effect of I certainly get paid for what I do; this isn't the peace corp (okay so maybe I simply think that last part about the peace corp because I don't actually want to sound as patronizing and snarky as all that) and have left it there, successfully steering away from any sort of monetary denomination being divulged or further inquiries being made.

Which I guess is better than somebody asking me if I make money for what I do at all, which has happened as well.

But really, let's leave the topic of our salaries alone and not be so gauche.

Have you been involved in anything gauche lately?