AllenLowe Posted August 10, 2005 Report Share Posted August 10, 2005 (edited) I went back into the job market at age 47 after spending enough time running my own business (and taking care of my kids) to ensure that I had very little marketable career left. I consider myself lucky, as I landed a decent-paying job with an insurance company, with good benefits as well. I've just finished my third year at the company and, guess what? Though I've been a model employee, with all good evaluations, I am being turned down for internal jobs right and left, almost all of which have gone to MUCH younger people. Aside from the fact that I've contacted a lawyer and am thinking (with much trepidation) of filing a formal legal complaint, I have decided to write a book about this, as I suspect, from what I have heard, that this is a big problem in the wider world (working title: "Old Like Me"). I am looking for not only your feelings on the subject, but for people who would be willing to be interviewed for the book (and I am willing to protect names) - Edited August 10, 2005 by AllenLowe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted August 10, 2005 Report Share Posted August 10, 2005 I wouldn't hire me. Does that count? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harold_Z Posted August 10, 2005 Report Share Posted August 10, 2005 I was a professional musician for twenty five years before getting a day gig. I'm game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Son-of-a-Weizen Posted August 10, 2005 Report Share Posted August 10, 2005 (edited) Less than an hour ago, I bought a lb. of Kenyan coffee and, when the $10.66 total flashed up on the register, proceeded to jokingly ask the part-time Starbucks employee (and recent college grad) what famous event occurred in the year 1066? Her response: Pearl Harbor. She then said something about having just received a big promotion at her principal place of employment.....some large insurance company. Edited August 10, 2005 by Son-of-a-Weizen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Rat Posted August 10, 2005 Report Share Posted August 10, 2005 (edited) Less than an hour ago, I bought a lb. of Kenyan coffee and, when the $10.66 total flashed up on the register, proceeded to jokingly ask the part-time Starbucks employee (and recent college grad) what famous event occurred in the year 1066? Her response: Pearl Harbor. She then said something about having just received a big promotion at her principal place of employment.....some large insurance company. ← Did you get your senior citizens' discount on that? It looks awful low for a pound of Starbucks. --eric Edited August 10, 2005 by Dr. Rat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Posted August 10, 2005 Report Share Posted August 10, 2005 Yeah, the level of ignorance in the general populace is painful. I've asked AP students what event took place in 1066 and they didn't know. I've talked to GRAD STUDENTS who didn't know the significance of 1066! One Brianiac actually said that the Magna Carta was signed in 1066! It's tragic, really... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Rat Posted August 10, 2005 Report Share Posted August 10, 2005 Yeah, the level of ignorance in the general populace is painful. I've asked AP students what event took place in 1066 and they didn't know. I've talked to GRAD STUDENTS who didn't know the significance of 1066! One Brianiac actually said that the Magna Carta was signed in 1066! It's tragic, really... ← Well the magna carta guy at least had the right aeon. I used to do a little quiz before teaching 18th century lit., asking questions like "were there cars?" or "were there printed books?" About 20% got at least one slam dunk question wrong. --eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Posted August 10, 2005 Report Share Posted August 10, 2005 Yeah, the level of ignorance in the general populace is painful. I've asked AP students what event took place in 1066 and they didn't know. I've talked to GRAD STUDENTS who didn't know the significance of 1066! One Brianiac actually said that the Magna Carta was signed in 1066! It's tragic, really... ← Well the magna carta guy at least had the right aeon. Right landmass too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Son-of-a-Weizen Posted August 10, 2005 Report Share Posted August 10, 2005 It looks awful low for a pound of Starbucks. Not around here....Sumatra, Kenya AA & Ethiopian are all about $10.15 + tax. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost of miles Posted August 10, 2005 Report Share Posted August 10, 2005 Less than an hour ago, I bought a lb. of Kenyan coffee and, when the $10.66 total flashed up on the register, proceeded to jokingly ask the part-time Starbucks employee (and recent college grad) what famous event occurred in the year 1066? ← The 2,000-year-old-man turned 1000... right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert J Posted August 10, 2005 Report Share Posted August 10, 2005 Sumatra, Kenya AA & Ethiopian are all about $10.15 + tax. ← 1015 - the Great Council at Oxford Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alfredson Posted August 10, 2005 Report Share Posted August 10, 2005 She didn't really say Pearl Harbor, did she? That's really sad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost of miles Posted August 10, 2005 Report Share Posted August 10, 2005 Less than an hour ago, I bought a lb. of Kenyan coffee and, when the $10.66 total flashed up on the register, proceeded to jokingly ask the part-time Starbucks employee (and recent college grad) what famous event occurred in the year 1066? ← First rave at Stonehenge? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgraham333 Posted August 10, 2005 Report Share Posted August 10, 2005 Ask the 1066 question to an employee of this company for a slice of irony. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BERIGAN Posted August 10, 2005 Report Share Posted August 10, 2005 (edited) Ask the 1066 question to an employee of this company for a slice of irony. ← They hire nothing but the best, don't they? Someone told me about them when I was selling a lot on ebay, and not wanting to drive 25 miles for nothing, I called them to see if they had any bargain cds , the friend just mentioned they had used ones. The stoner I got on the phone said no, just used cds. So I wasn't going to go, but my curiousity about the used cds got me to go a week or so later...First thing coming into the store was a huge cardboard dump of bargain cds, 49 cents!!!! There were a few more of these around the store. I looked for someone with half a brain working there, and they said the cds had been there for months, that dope on the phone had to walk past them dozens of times a day and it never registered! Edited August 10, 2005 by BERIGAN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Son-of-a-Weizen Posted August 10, 2005 Report Share Posted August 10, 2005 (edited) She didn't really say Pearl Harbor, did she? That's really sad. Truthfully......yes. At first I thought she was just ginnin' me.....but then... Got back in the car and told my kids. Even the 8-year-old knew there was something seriously wrong with that answer and was only off by a century with her PH correction. Edited August 10, 2005 by Son-of-a-Weizen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted August 10, 2005 Report Share Posted August 10, 2005 Sumatra, Kenya AA & Ethiopian are all about $10.15 + tax. ← 1015 - the Great Council at Oxford ← Is this a shoe joke? Is that when wing tips were invented? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Son-of-a-Weizen Posted August 10, 2005 Report Share Posted August 10, 2005 Either that, or the year that Robert the Bruce first jammed a penny in a Loafer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest akanalog Posted August 11, 2005 Report Share Posted August 11, 2005 you are giving some young girl flack for not knowing the battle of hastings was in 1066???? i am all for making fun of stupid people but this is a little unfair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert J Posted August 11, 2005 Report Share Posted August 11, 2005 The "young girl" will be selling insurance policies. Some of her customers may be paying premium payments for 1000 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Son-of-a-Weizen Posted August 11, 2005 Report Share Posted August 11, 2005 you are giving some young girl flack for not knowing the battle of hastings was in 1066???? Um, it's really about a college graduate tossing out Pearl Harbor as a response. It's not at all unfair to have a laugh about that on a bulletin board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted August 11, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2005 wait - wasn't 1066 the year that George W. went on that ship and said " Mission Accomplished" ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wesbed Posted August 11, 2005 Report Share Posted August 11, 2005 Maybe it's because I live in and grew up in the USA? Maybe it's because I attended college in the state of Arizona? I don't know. However, I didn't know the significance of the year 1066 till I checked it via Google. Now, 1776... I'd get that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Posted August 11, 2005 Report Share Posted August 11, 2005 To me, 1066 is just one of those things that you KNOW. The way you know your multiplication tables or that Charles Dickens wrote "Great Expectations." I don't remember learning about the Battle of Hastings or the Norman Conquest, but I know that I know it. One thing education has lost is the idea that there are some things you should just KNOW in order to be culturally literate. There are certain dates that should be automatic, like knowing your own name. 1066. 1215. 1517. 1619. 1776. 1789. 1792. 1812. 1865. 1876. 1914. 1917. 1929. 1938. 1941. 1945. etc, etc. If you don't know the significance of those years, you can't call yourself an educated adult. I would certainly expect any college graduate to know all of them and a high school graduate to know most of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Fitzgerald Posted August 11, 2005 Report Share Posted August 11, 2005 When I was teaching high school I was astonished to find that kids did not know the sequence (reverse) of recent US presidents - they could get maybe 3. MAYBE. Not even with hints like, "well, what happened in the 1960s" or "OK, so you know WWII was in the 1940s - well, who usually gets elected president after a war"? BTW, 1066 was indelibly etched in my memory when I was in the *fourth* grade, studying the Bayeux tapestry. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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