Fuck you, boomer

Recall that, back in January 2015, I had just received my first offer to head overseas and teach English in South Korea. At the time, I was still "in mourning" over my dead American life and still a little shell-shocked from it all, so I foolishly shared my story on a public forum, the Over Fifty and Out of Work website, as they were still receiving daily comments from desperate out-of-work older Americans about their plight -- mostly baby boomers, many suicidal. The website owners would then share that message over on their corresponding Facebook page, and this would always bring out all kinds of sympathetic messages of condolences and “me, too!” remarks from its followers. Except, of course, when I did it.  

You see, having been in that dark place of debating suicide myself, I thought I’d post my story as a way of giving poor folks in my situation a light to reach for, i.e., go teach English overseas, so you won’t have to kill yourself. But, quite a few clueless commentators appeared accusing me of the usual “being too picky” and “maybe you should look for jobs outside your field of design” stuff routinely hurled at the unemployed. Amongst the comments appeared one seriously sick reply from someone by the name of Lauri Tilka-Palmer who took offense at my story and said that I should be “grateful” to have my mother’s basement to live in – I had meant to take a screenshot of it, but that comment was deleted (strangely, the majority of those other “clueless” negative remarks are also now gone). So, I attempted to clarify things a bit:

As I read through the comments I found it quite baffling how many chose to zero in on and complain about my “insensitive comment" about “lowly jobs.”  

And then the aforementioned lunatic made a reappearance (which remains posted today):

Whoa.

So, let me see if I’ve got this straight here…you live a life of misery due to your advanced age having relegated you to a shitty low-paying job (like secretary, delivery driver, security guard, customer service rep – yes, those are *shitty* jobs today, because they PAY SHIT), you regularly visit the Over 50 and Out of Work Facebook page to wallow in your misery with other equally miserable baby boomers about how miserable your life is due to the aforementioned shitty job…but, the instant someone says that shitty job you have is a shitty job, you get offended...? Well, gee, if your life is so great then why are you wasting your time on a website which served no other purpose than to be an outlet for boomers to bitch about their shitty life situations due to having shitty jobs and sometimes even confess suicidal intentions? 

I simply could no longer resist the urge to reply un-anonymously (which I eventually deleted because what’s the point):

I am the writer of the original post. I offered the follow-up information only to address what a few had insinuated in the comments in that I might have been too "picky" and should have "expanded" the job hunt to other areas. That's all I was trying to do here. Lauri Tilka-Palmer, I can now see "lowly" was a poor choice of word, and I merely meant it was lowly in salary -- I worked as a secretary the first years out of college. I earned around $13/hour 23 years ago. When I began applying for the same job last year (which I had no problem with since I had done it before), I discovered the salary range was $9 to $12 an hour. LESS than what I earned in that job two decades ago. So, yes, I'd call that salary lowly. And a single woman who lives alone cannot continue living alone on that salary, even with government handouts -- this is what forced me to move into my mom's basement. Again, I find a 47yo adult having to move back in with their parents a very LOWLY situation! I'm sorry you can't see that, Lauri Tilka-Palmer. I came to this site just to share a little of my pain so others can see they are not alone in this mess. I have nothing to be ashamed of -- and I am a firm believer in karma as well. So, good riddance to you, too, as you can be certain I will not be returning to this site. (And thanks to everyone else who left kind and supportive comments, I pm'd those who wanted more info on what I've learned about tefl, anyone else is free to msg me as well -- but Ms. Tilka-Palmer, I will report you for harassment if you msg me.)

I kept my restraint as doing otherwise would have just resulted in my comment being removed and my Facebook account potentially being suspended. I will now address a few of her “talking points” in a more uncensored fashion as I'd like to have done the first time, starting with the SHOUTING IN ALL CAPS part:

THIS IS TO THE 47 YEAR OLD WOMAN THAT IS MOVING TO SOUTH KOREA! GOOD RIDDANCE!

Good riddance to you, too, you miserable excuse for a human life form.

Sorry, but there are a lot of us over 50 that are looking for jobs.

Yes, and they’re not succeeding in finding them, and facing homelessness/suicide/etc. I wanted to offer that there's an alternative of which perhaps nobody had been aware.

I find it offensive that you call jobs lowly.

Who are you, the jobs police? If I want to refer to “secretary” as “the female ghetto of administrative work” (as dozens did here) then that’s my choice to do so.

If you need a job, you take whatever comes along and be glad that God led you there.

Oh, boy, now I see what we're dealing with here, another stupid bible-banging member of the American Taliban.

I'd be glad for anything. There is not a lowly job in this world when you don't have one. Someone has to do the job. There is nothing wrong with being an Admin. Asst., Receptionist, Customer Service Rep, Data Entry Clerk, delivery driver and even something that pays minimum wage. At least you would have something coming in.

I never said it was “wrong” to be a receptionist, et al. As I've written elsewhere on this blog, I spent the first decade of my adult life working in secretarial jobs. I merely stated the FACT that “something coming in" often ain't enough to keep one from going homeless (40% to 60% of our homeless population are employed, d'OH), in which case one has every right to blast those jobs as being shitty jobs, because the pay *stinks*. Perhaps she should work on her reading and comprehension skills.

Maybe that's why you're in South Korea, for your unkind words and calling people's job lowly.

This woman is clearly unhinged. And, no, I was on my way to South Korea because America doesn't have jack shit to offer a large proportion of us anymore, and I'd rather DO SOMETHING to better my situation rather than spew hateful nonsense towards strangers on Facebook.

BTW, I took a quick glance at her Facebook page which seemed to indicate she's some kind of military brat, meaning that she's been brainwashed her entire life to believe that "We're Number 1!" nonsense, so any facet of reality that flies in the face of that illusion is going to set her off. No doubt my "Enjoy the mess you've made, America" comment is what sent her into a tizzy. Sorry, but America is no longer the “land of opportunity,” I wonder if she’s seen that recent report from the United Nations about poverty in America. Perhaps if closed-minded dolts like her opened their minds a bit and considered jumping this sinking ship, they wouldn’t be wasting time on some depressing Facebook page -- and wouldn’t be reduced to begging for money from strangers online to help pay their medical bills:

At least now you are blessed with a job. You should be ashamed of yourself.

Yeah, how DARE I share this story on a page full of suicidal people which could inspire these people to take the same path and thus NOT commit suicide! Seriously, what exactly am I supposed to be “ashamed of” here? YOU should be ashamed of YOURSELF for this sociopathic display of toxic slop spewed at me over absolutely nothing.

I wonder what KARMA will bring you next to deal with. I will say a prayer for you and you should ask God to forgive you for thinking you are better than anyone else with those jobs.

Take your fucking perverted concept of a “god” along with your "prayers" and shove 'em up your hateful ass, you beastly babbitty bougie bitchy bible-banging baby boomer. What I posted was a sincere and genuine effort to help people, and it’s not my fault you misinterpreted that with your diseased mind and soul.

They know they are blessed to have them. I can't believe you said all that you did. Shameful. There will be a lesson learned from what you said to others on here.

The only lesson here is that American baby boomers have earned their reputation.