The purpose of high school is not to prepare you for a specific role in life... that's what college is for. High school is to prepare you for college, and also provide those basic skills everyone should have.
I find calculating area to be very useful in everyday life. Knowing the combined area of my lawns helps me purchase the right amount of fertilizer or insecticides. My wife has taken up the hobby of making clothes, and calculating area helps her buy the right amount of fabric.
I also find myself infrequently calculating the volume of a cylinder, because I can never remember the capacity of my above-ground pool, and this bit of information was critical when I needed to buy a new pump. It also helps me figure out how much chlorine/acid/algaecide to add.
Bottom line: just because a skill doesn't have immediately-obvious uses doesn't mean it won't be useful.
I remember when I was growing up how often people liked to say, "You'll never use algebra after high school." I'm using it right now.
