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[Tired of the comments!]

 I did my Ph.D. in bio at a top-tier university and took a job at an unranked regional campus in an area many might think of as undesireable. When colleagues from my campus and sister campuses learn where I earned my Ph.D. they inevitably do an extended riff on "ohmigod! Why on earth did you come HERE?" While it's probably just a reflexive or even defensive off-the-cuff comment on their part, I'm becoming exasperated (and a bit paranoid!)

I took the job b/c combo of wanting it AND because I needed a job! So far it's been great but for this.

I've tried explaining ("because I believe in the mission of outreach to historically underserved" which I do believe), doing a metaphysical "when a way opens, etc." Has anyone else encountered this? Any good responses that aren't exhaustive/exhausting or blatantly rude? I want to be congenial and collegial, but damn I'm tired of this!

[anon]

It's probably a defensive comment based in experience with other candidates who have come from powerful institutions and left rather quickly. I say hang in there, be polite, and if you hang around long enough the curiousity and comments will die a natural death.

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[Asa]

You can always respond with humor.  "It's because I love the nightlife here in Provo."  or  "I took one look at the northern plains in January and fell in love.  And then my eyes froze shut."  or  "Being here in south texas helps me run my illegal smuggling business." or "I grew up on the Dukes of Hazard and wanted to see eastern Kentucky for myself."

Answering a stupid question with a stupid answer is only fitting.

[Tired of the Comments!]

Hah! Those are funny and not too far off what would fit for my rural area
8 * )  I'm glad someone else thinks these constant comments are stupid and that perhaps I'm not being over-sensitive.

[anon]

I wouldn't worry about what others think.  As long as you are happy at your school, that's all that matters.

[Claudia]

How about: "Oh, you are way too modest! I love it here!"

[pedant]

Ha!  I'm not really pedant.  Just messing with you.

[millie]

How about:  When I signed my contract I didn't realize they meant the regional branch campus... I thought I was going to be living in Madison/ Ann Arbor/ Bloomington/ whatever.

[boyo]

why not say, "oops, I didn't realize that you were also up for that job... there were many fine candidates... better luck next time..."

[snippet]

I think the funny answers are the best.
But if you want to be devious, you could reply, "Oh, I always thought I came here for the same reason we all did.  Why did you come here?" And then see what they say.  They may just lay it on the line: "I came here because I couldn't get a job at Bigtime U, and this is the place in the boondocks closest to my spouse's relatives."  Or they may feel that they have been put on the spot by a rude question, one they ought not to have posed themselves.

[Snarky]

How about:  "What the  %^&* do you care?  What &$9@ing business is it of yours?"

That should cover it.

[Langprof]

You could invent an elderly relative in a nearby town.  

"I came to be close to my dear greataunt Bertha, who adopted my poor-orphaned mother after her parents went down in the Titanic.  She's getting up there now and I wanted to be close enough to help her out in her golden years."

It would make you look very virtuous!!!

[Me too!]

I'm in the same boat.  I studied at quite strong schools and ended up a lower-tier university.  

I personally love it here, and feel that there is very little that I could do at a top-tier institution that I can't do here.

What bugs me the most are the forwarded job ads sent by former colleagues.  I appreciate that they think I "deserve better", but I honestly am remarkably happy right where I am.  The constant offerings of sympathy regarding my "plight" are both amusing and annoying.

[rattus domesticus]

Well, I didn't move "down" in the tiered system, but I did move from California to southern Indiana... and people in an out of academe often ask me, "Why would you ever leave California for this??"

I'm never sure how to reply. After too many questions on one day, I told a sales clerk, "Well, if you'd like my tiny studio apartment I left in San Francisco, you can have it for $1,100 a month. Comes with traffic noise just outside the window and rude neighbors." To colleagues, I often say something about being grateful for moving from full-time adjunct to full-time contract--but I'm not sure they look convinced.

[Californian As Well]

I also moved from Cali after 17 years  to the Midwest (in my case a rural university) and I am thoroughly, thoroughly sick of all the comments. Yes, SoCal is paradisical in many ways (and I'm not saying that I don't miss it terribly, and often,) but there's no way in Hell I would have ever been able to buy a house or put any money in savings as an adjunct slave.

People tend to subscribe to the TV and Hollywood version of California, especially SoCal where I came from, as sun, sun, sun and everybody drives a BMW and lives in a mansion. I was working four adjunct teaching jobs and negotiating hours of gridlock everyday just to skreek by. Even assistant professor's beginning salaries at the UCs suck.

I've started to tell people I'm from a small town in Montana, where I grew up. That usually stops the conversation from going to the point where I feel defensive and want to poke people in the eye.

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