I think "So...what do you do for fun?" or "What are you passionate about?" are far more illuminating than the day job a person holds. The exception to this is when the day job is basically synonymous with the person (like career politician... in which case: RUN.)

I was trying to parce out if my aversion to this question was that I used to have a job I never wanted to talk about, currently have a job I don't want to talk about, hate small talk, or some combination of the three.

Also, next time someone asks, just tell them you're an "accountant." I hear the kids say that's a catch all for "I'm not going to talk about it" and it sounds boring enough that no one will ask followup questions!