Tuesday, June 28, 2016

I was here...where were you?

I have now shared my story of how a few bad decisions (pursuing “do what you love,” relocating to Stinkassachusetts) combined with the worst economy since the 1930s has led to my being unemployable in the new America. Assuming you care enough to wonder, the question now is, where will I go from here?

I spent the early part of 2014 pondering what to do with my life. Beginning over with no career at such a very very old age (47), there aren’t many options; twenty years ago a former graphic designer with so many transferable skills would be able to successfully transition over to any number of marketing-type roles, but, those days are long gone. 

Doing nothing meant accepting a menial job with a salary out of the Reagan Administration era, going on food stamps, applying for government housing (or living with my retired mother’s basement), and eventually dying in poverty. 

Going back to college for another degree made no sense at all – I couldn’t get hired at 45 and with loads of work experience...who’s going to hire me at 50 with no experience in a new field? And do I incur massive debt at this late stage in my life for a gamble that most likely will not pay off? 

Then there was the option of simply ending my life, which I was going to do on my birthday.

Call it an epiphany if you will, but it was following the rejection by Target that I “snapped.” I pulled myself together and said “no” to all of those “options.” For years I have wanted to go overseas, prompted by our failure of a healthcare system – I could write a whole other series just on my bad experiences alone with this issue. So, in May 2014 I enrolled in a TEFL certification course, which I completed in August 2014. This opens the door for me to finding work overseas and, hopefully, a better life. (So, here’s a simultaneous “fuck you” and “thank you” to Target!)

In other words, in order to have a future, I have to leave America. Say that out loud a few times and tell me that doesn’t sound completely batshit crazy.

I don’t know what more to say or make of it all at this point -- that the best my country can offer me are minimum wage shit jobs...that having more than a decade of experience automatically disqualifies you from a job…that if I stay here I will NOT do as good as my mother who emigrated here 48 years ago for a better life...that I'm in the same boat as the steelworkers in my Pennsylvania hometown who lost their livelihoods back in the 1980s...that I have to move to another country for a job because America could offer me none...

Folks, there is something very wrong here. I am well aware that I have made some very bad decisions in my life. But having my ability to earn a living completely stripped from me is a punishment I never expected (seems like being sentenced to death for shoplifting).


My mom left her native Macedonia with pretty much nothing (my dad married her and brought her here, then promptly abandoned her after she had me). She got a job at the local steel mill in my hometown. Her English wasn't bad but she had no work experience or skills and no college education. The job wasn't exactly fun (lots of toiling in the cold winter night on the midnight shift), but she got paid damn good money. And we had it pretty good. Had a nice house in a nice middle-class neighborhood. And NOT ONCE did we have to live without the heat on in the winter the way I did in January 2014 because I couldn’t afford it. I’ll say it again, something is seriously wrong here.

This is not the future I was promised. Nobody told me 30 years ago that I would be too old at 45 for a career.

And that the reason I am unemployed is also the reason I am unemployed makes absolutely no sense in a sane world, and proves just how myopic and stupid the folks in charge of hiring really are – don’t they realize that by excluding unemployed applicants their only resource is to raid other companies’ talent pools – and that this will eventually bite their own company in the ass as well????

  
I’ve been offered no shortage of “theories” from those around me on what made me permanently unemployable. These include my posting opinions online (I’ve learned that Spokeo offers corporations special “packages” that permit them to get past your Facebook privacy settings and view your posts) and having my Christmas ornament hobby/business website and corresponding Etsy store show up in a Google search. Another friend pointed out that my being subpoenaed for a lawsuit against Dreamworks probably landed me on some nationwide “master hiring blacklist.” Another colleague has warned me that my posting this story here will ensure I never work in America again.

Whatever. I'm done analyzing this mess or trying to even understand any of it. I am hereby rejecting this sparkling new future bursting with minimum-wage “opportunities” like stocking shelves and scrubbing toilets; I will dismiss anyone who has the nerve to tell me that I should be grateful for that “opportunity” to scrub toilets; and I will forever dismiss twentysomething twit “hiring managers,” to whom I’d like to offer this one hard truth: someday every one of you will turn 40 -- I know, I know, it’s hard to believe but it WILL happen! And the best part is that it will happen a lot sooner than you expect it to. Just wait and see.
From the previous NYT article…I would correct the commenter in that the age of execution in the movie “Logan’s Run” was 30 (21 in the book)…

Oh, and I will NEVER again hand over my personal tax returns in order to be considered for a job.

In conclusion, I don't know where my path will lead me from here (other than far, far away...right now, it looks like China is where I'll end up). And when I leave, I see no reason to ever come back. I certainly am NOT coming back for minimum wage at Wal-Mart! (Remember, I’ve already been rejected by Target…) And here’s an economics lesson for you Chief Executive Jerks who continue to run this country into the ground with your “trickle down” pixie dust and salaries straight out of the Reagan Administration era: You are going to miss this former member of the middle class. I was a good citizen; I spent a lot of my income on frivolous stuff that I didn’t need, but it helped keep the economy rolling. Had you permitted me to find a decent job I would have (a) finished renovating my main bathroom, (b) purchased awnings for my deck, (c) fixed my painful cracked tooth, and (d) purchased a new car, just to mention a few things. Instead, I’m leaving America, and I’m taking my future spending power with me. Enjoy your trickle-down, Chief Executive Jerks. And when more people like me jump ship and you lament “where did all the skilled workers go?” I’ll share the observation that I was here…where were you?

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