I can remember rolling my eyes and sighing when an "old" person started a statement with something like, "When I was young.....!" And then everyone had to listen to a detail-laden rant about whatever the topic of the hour happened to be. Why were they always so MAD, I wondered?
Ah, time......it adds perspective, I'm finding. But the fact is that the world is going to explode from its own insanity and it will probably be soon. After all, it started way back with the elders among the cave folks complaining about methods of berry-gathering and skinning mastiffs and how their kids only wanted to shoot each other with rocks instead of helping out, you know the drill. Just insert time-appropriate details through the ages and then track it through your grandparents and their grandparents. Older people have been alerting everyone for hundreds of years to the upcoming apocalypse, and no one has ever paid any attention, other than the eye-rolling and sighing.
So, why would anyone listen to my rants? You know, the one about the computer voices we have to endure when we call, well, just about anyone these days. I just spent 6 minutes (I timed it...I'm old, after all) listening to information I don't need in order to get to an actual human being who first asked me if I wanted to take part in a survey when we were all done with our business. A survey?? Are you kidding? They actually want to hear my opinion of the ridiculous "customer service" system that answers the phone for them? Oh, wait...if you've ever taken one of those surveys, it's a computerized voice interacting with you, and the choices offered don't even come close to offering me a choice that I really want to give. Not even close, believe me.
Or the article I read, in a real hold-it-in-your-hand magazine that comes in an actual outside-my-door mailbox, that reported this apocalyptic fact: More and more employers are refusing to interview unemployed people for jobs the company has open. If you haven't heard about this yet, go ahead and re-read that statement. I'll wait for you.
OK, did you throw things at the screen when you read it again? I just about threw the magazine across the room. The impending explosion of the world as we know MUST be near, don't you think?
When I was young, employers put a job posting in the newspaper and welcomed the unemployed who starting lining up at their door on the right day. According to this article, the unemployed are now viewed with mistrust and are not allowed to apply. After all, what transgression did they commit to be without a job? Well, if they're politicians, the article might have a valid point. But let's assume the article was talking about normal folks who really work for a living. That's what the article reported. More and more employers only want the employed to apply for job openings. And when I mentioned this fact (OK....it was more than a "mention"....it was a rant) to someone at a gathering the other day, they had heard about it, too. I didn't conjure the whole thing up on my own in an exercise-induced trance. It's actually happening, in this recession when good people, millions of them, have been downsized, "offered" early retirement, and otherwise booted out the doors of businesses all over this country.
And then to be told, "Sorry...don't apply here unless you already have a job." ?
So, YES! I might be "a wonderfully mature woman" (or old to some readers), but I'm sick of computer voices and store "associates" who have the maturity of 12 year olds telling me I have to call an 800 number to get a refund and idiots not offering people work when they have it to offer.
Go ahead and roll your eyes, people under 40. I know you don't get it, or us, yet....but you will. Oh, yes. Someday you will.
Ah, time......it adds perspective, I'm finding. But the fact is that the world is going to explode from its own insanity and it will probably be soon. After all, it started way back with the elders among the cave folks complaining about methods of berry-gathering and skinning mastiffs and how their kids only wanted to shoot each other with rocks instead of helping out, you know the drill. Just insert time-appropriate details through the ages and then track it through your grandparents and their grandparents. Older people have been alerting everyone for hundreds of years to the upcoming apocalypse, and no one has ever paid any attention, other than the eye-rolling and sighing.
So, why would anyone listen to my rants? You know, the one about the computer voices we have to endure when we call, well, just about anyone these days. I just spent 6 minutes (I timed it...I'm old, after all) listening to information I don't need in order to get to an actual human being who first asked me if I wanted to take part in a survey when we were all done with our business. A survey?? Are you kidding? They actually want to hear my opinion of the ridiculous "customer service" system that answers the phone for them? Oh, wait...if you've ever taken one of those surveys, it's a computerized voice interacting with you, and the choices offered don't even come close to offering me a choice that I really want to give. Not even close, believe me.
Or the article I read, in a real hold-it-in-your-hand magazine that comes in an actual outside-my-door mailbox, that reported this apocalyptic fact: More and more employers are refusing to interview unemployed people for jobs the company has open. If you haven't heard about this yet, go ahead and re-read that statement. I'll wait for you.
OK, did you throw things at the screen when you read it again? I just about threw the magazine across the room. The impending explosion of the world as we know MUST be near, don't you think?
When I was young, employers put a job posting in the newspaper and welcomed the unemployed who starting lining up at their door on the right day. According to this article, the unemployed are now viewed with mistrust and are not allowed to apply. After all, what transgression did they commit to be without a job? Well, if they're politicians, the article might have a valid point. But let's assume the article was talking about normal folks who really work for a living. That's what the article reported. More and more employers only want the employed to apply for job openings. And when I mentioned this fact (OK....it was more than a "mention"....it was a rant) to someone at a gathering the other day, they had heard about it, too. I didn't conjure the whole thing up on my own in an exercise-induced trance. It's actually happening, in this recession when good people, millions of them, have been downsized, "offered" early retirement, and otherwise booted out the doors of businesses all over this country.
And then to be told, "Sorry...don't apply here unless you already have a job." ?
So, YES! I might be "a wonderfully mature woman" (or old to some readers), but I'm sick of computer voices and store "associates" who have the maturity of 12 year olds telling me I have to call an 800 number to get a refund and idiots not offering people work when they have it to offer.
Go ahead and roll your eyes, people under 40. I know you don't get it, or us, yet....but you will. Oh, yes. Someday you will.
If the Apocalypse comes, beep me.
Buffy, the vampire slayer
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