At my age, there are any number of career tracks with sphincter issues due to age discrimination. Around forty-five people seem to wonder if you are too old for a job. I now have the satisfaction of being acquainted with several individuals who have passed the significant milestone. Some twenty or more years prior, their comments about me being over the hill were unwelcome. My condolence cards celebrating their redundancy have not been popular. I took one of my former colleagues to lunch a few months ago. It was interesting.
His career plans are now askew. Being that he considered himself to be safe, he never invested in plan B’s. Many of us older compatriots were eagerly working on “just in case” plan C’s and D’s, having learned bitter lessons about how plan A can go wrong.
I told him that in his prior employment, he may have been a top-of-the-pyramid predator; a raptor stalking the flock. But now he was another newly unemployed with issues. It hurt when they told him that he was not promotable. I mentioned that his job now is to be a staunch supporter of himself as a human being, not as a piece of meat on the job market.
After talking about him for an hour, he asked what I’d been doing. Well, after two years of unemployment, I went to work at an awful place – but it paid full benefits for my family. I started two small businesses as a videographer and as a woodcarver. Eventually, I moved from breaking even to doing well. Currently, work is very low-stress. I have almost no meetings or video conferences, the people I work for appreciate what I do, and I no longer bother with a resume. I want to return to journalism or maybe teach again, but those plans are still developing.
You see, I tell him, you learn to be flexible; in Bob Dylan’s words, “…he who is not busy being born is busy dying.”
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I’m so happy I no longer am in the job market, having to look behind my back, concerned about plots and subplots to thwart my advancement, and enduring the general BS that is what corporate work is all about!
Exactly what I like about my current situation, Doug. You said it very well.
Perfectly said.
Older employees should be respected and valued!
Mike, you are correct. But very often they are not, not promoted, not retained, and not given pay equity.
That is unfortunate. Labor in general is struggling right now in the U.S. People have lost the will or ability to form unions and as a result pay and working conditions continue to decline.
As a former Teamster, I can only agree
I am actually a union rep for my school and we did some picketing this week for the first time. It felt really good to be a part of. I wish more workers would realize they have power if they stick together and look put for each other.
It seems to be coming back after years of decline.
I agree, it is good to see!
I remember well in 2014 when I was shuttled out. The department to which my classes had been given had grad students to teach the classes I’d taught for 14 years. Although it wasn’t said outright, it was said. I just thought, “Great. You send those hot-looking fledglings into the lion’s den of kids who were born competitive and disrespectful of education and see how that goes.” That said, I loved teaching business communication but it was NOT like teaching Rhetoric and Writing which is what those grad students had been prepared for. I was grateful and surprised that my retirement + social security was enough to live on.
I still miss working as an anthropologist, but like you I moved on. I am grateful for the years I had, working in the field, doing research, creating programs, and occasionally teaching. You hang onto the positive.
Very nice.