Posted by
AudiR10TDI on Thursday, March 26, 2009 9:27:52 AM
Toronto (March 26, 2009) -- My dear young niece: I have sat here in this coffee shop booth for over an hour listening to your sad tale of woe, which comes down basically to this: The world is a howling wilderness and you have decided to howl, too. For the first time in your life you are hearing the word NO, and you can't figure out what it means. "What can I doooooo?" you wailed to your old Auntie, clutching your bevy of shopping bags filled with goods unpaid for, bought on credit you no longer have funds to cover. "Auntie, what HAPPENED to my WORLD?"
Allow your old Auntie to explain. No, shut up, Kimberly dear. You had your innings. Sit still or I'll slap you.
The first thing you Generation Yners need to learn is that this recession is NOT all about you personally. The reason your resume does not get any nibbles is NOT that "They Don't Like Me." The reason you flunked bookkeeping is NOT "the teacher doesn't like me." The reason you got fired from your secretarial job is not "My boss doesn't like me."
The reason is that, whether you like it or not, You Are Not In Charge. Contrary to what your Mommy told you, Someone Else IS the Boss Of You.
You didn't get the job because you sat down, crossed your legs, and started interrogating the interviewer about his "sustainable energy" plans, about "work-life balance", and about how much time off you get and how many perqs; and because you told him "I GOTTA leave at 4:00 to pick up my kids at daycare" even though the clearly advertised quitting time, if any, was 5:30.
The reason you flunked bookkeeping was that you didn't show up for class, your work was incomplete, you failed most of the exams, and you persisted in standing at the teacher's desk and whining that your F grade was "unfair" because you TRIED SO HARD ... when you and the prof both knew that the only thing you tried hard to do was pass the class without doing the work.
Your resume was rejected because half the words were misspelled, and the cover letter used was written in text message gibberish (e.g. the word is PEOPLE, not ppl.) A person who cannot spell, punctuate, paragraph, or recognize poor grammar in a letter of application is a person who cannot be left alone to do the job; and a person who needs a nanny to watch her work is depriving some useful person of a chair, a desk and a job.
And from what you have told me, when you finally did get a job, you were fired because you couldn't do the work, or even worse, you WOULDN'T do the work. When telephoned from the boardroom to bring your pad and pen and take lunch orders, you sniffed, "I'm not a waitress!" When you were called from court at 4:55 and asked to get a boardroom and order coffee and snacks from the kitchen because your boss and the clients were coming back and by the way, stand by to take instructions because the Judge had decided to hear argument on damages tomorrow instead of Monday, you whined, "But I go home at fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive!" and you spent the next five minutes frantically trying to find someone else to do your work before you shut off your machinery and shot out the door.
And the next day when you came in, a 59 year old woman had your job ... because she could read, write, spell, punctuate, take lunch orders, run to the mall for nylons when your boss ripped hers right before a meeting, address clients with deference and stay til the work got done.
True, your aunties and uncles, and your Mom, were lucky enough to have parents who taught us these things, and who toiled in the factories and the fields so we would not have to. And it is true that you had four fathers and three mothers before you graduated from university. But your biggest problem is, was, and always has been that you believe that the world was your oyster and everything revolves around you.
Now you know it doesn't.
So you have a choice. Will you continue to sit on the kerb and whine that it's not "fairrrrrrrrrrrrrr" and vote for the next demagogue or puppet who tells you he'll take stuff from others and hand it to you ... or will you save us all a world of trouble and just starve to death now?
Or will you gratefully take that job at Wal-Mart and enroll in night school to learn those basic reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic and speaking skills you should have been taught in Grade Five, and go back to your Mom for a refresher course in "Please", "Thank You," "Yes ma'am," "No, sir," and "Right away, boss" with a big eager smile on your face?
And by the way, when you get to Wal-Mart for work every day, take a good look at that sign out front and remind yourself that you don't give the orders until the day you look up and that sign says "Kimberly Smith."
The ball is in your court.
Your move.
Let's see what you can do.