Why is it that every time I tell someone I love programming the immediate question that follows is: "So you can hack?". And when I tell them that I can't, the conversation is over.

Because, you see, People kinda have a very warped perception about what a programmer or software developer is.

There is this special kind of people who thinks we are do some kind of high-level IT wizardry and can do whatever seems imaginable at will.

When you burst their bubble about that perception they don't want to feel dumb / think more about it and just leave...