Before I get to the point of this I would like to tell you a little bit about my mother. She grew up on Chicago's South East Side, just a few blocks away from the steel mills. Her mother had 10 children, with 5 different men. And I got to tell you, my mother's life was as rough as anyone could imagine. She would tell me the stories about how she would visit my Grandfather in the taverns while he was getting drunk. In fact, I live across the street from the old tavern he used to frequent after working long hours in the mills. My mother's home life was anything but conventional. Because my Grandmother had children from different men, my mother's brothers and sisters were scattered throughout the neighborhood. Her brother, a man who I will call "Miguel" was raised in Mexico for the first 15 years of his life. Her older sister, a woman who I will call "Rosa" was raised by my Great-Grandmother, who lived just 5 minutes away.
Like I said, it wasn't conventional. I wouldn't even call it odd. I call it sad.
And whatever brothers and sisters that did live with her, my mother was responsible for raising them. My mother would tell me that she would miss an entire month of school just so she can look after her young sisters and younger brother. And to make things even more complicated than what it was, her stepfather was an asshole. If you got out of line with him, he would take an extension cord, dip it in water, and would beat with it. My mother would often recall the time when he would take her in the car and drive up to the house where my Grandmother staying with one of her boyfriends, and if my mother didn't give him the right answer, he would beat the shit out of her.
Looking back at all this drama that went down I can see why my mother got married at 15 years old. It wasn't just that she loved my father, but she wanted to leave South Chicago in the worst possible way.
Even though my mother never received her High School Diploma, she is a very sharp minded lady. Strangely, though my other Aunts received their High School Diploma but they don't even come close to my mother's intelligence. If you go by resume you would think that she could get any job at her disposal.
That's sounds easy. But not quite.
Yesterday was my mother's birthday. She turned 57.
Today she got fired from her job. The second time in 4 months that she's been fired.
The first time she got fired was totally expected. Her supervisor was making it completely difficult for my mother. She didn't talk to her, she talked down to her. The arrogance from this supervisor was put on full display when my mother informed her that she needed to train her on how to run a certain system, the supervisor told her, "Well, if that's the case I shouldn't have hired you in the first place." There was something that told me that my mother wasn't long for this job and my fears came to fruition when she was told that she was being let go. Mind you, my mother learned the system without the supervisor's help, and she wasn't even there a month.
When my mother asked her why she was being let go, the supervisor couldn't find the answer. It left me wondering could it be her age, or the fact that my mom has high blood pressure, for which she has to take medication for? You tell me.
Now, fast forward to March of this year. My mother got a job as an administrator for a landscaping company here in Chicago. Again, my mother pick up their complicated system as fast as she could, but then something happened the first week that started the snowball effect which eventually led to her firing today.
While she was in the lunch room one of the account managers asked her, "aren't you too old for this position?" To which my mother responded, "you know, what you said can get you in trouble with EEOC."
Again, my mother found herself in a situation where she was met by a supervisor who instead of working with my mother, wanted to humiliate her in front of everyone. My mother had a calendar in her system that details the priorities set for a specific day. On Friday, this account manager deleted the her priorities for that day and told her you're going to do exactly what I tell you. Prior to that this account manager who said my mother was too old for her position was training her on the masterbuilder system. During the evaluation this woman told my mother she wasn't getting the hang of it. To which my mother replied "how are you going to judge me after one hour of training? Plus, during our training session you were too busy walking away and talking on the phone. Can you explain the logic in that?"
Friday was the last straw and yesterday my mother filed a grievance with the EEOC. Even though my mother was being fired, she told them that she already filed the grievance, but they still said that she was being let go anyways.
I guess I'm rambling too much but the point I'm going to make is, the two individuals who were responsible for my mother being fired, were people who were at least 15 to 20 years younger than her. It seems to me that people of my parents' generation are getting the shaft. If that's the case. If that's true, I would like to pose this question to people of my generation (generation X) and maybe to those of my brother's generation (generation Y)
What the fuck did the baby boom generation do to piss you off?
Seriously.
I don't want to get into some generational warfare. But when I see someone I love get the shaft for no other reason it leads me to the question I'm posing. Plus, the fact that village idiots in D.C. write columns that we should gut Social Security so we won't burden the younger generation. Plus, the fact that these so-called "Education Reform" morons want to get rid of tenure for teachers, which really means get rid of the older and more experience teachers, it makes wonder what is this animosity towards people of my parents' generation?
I mean the arrogance of a young woman telling my mother she's too old to work at a certain place really stuns me.
If that's the attitude people of my generation have well then fuck it. I don't want to part of a group of people who can't and won't get along with people in the same soapbox just because they might be a tad intimidated. No generation is perfect, but it seems to me that it's hunting season when it comes to the people of my parents' generation. And when you see someone you love struggle, then your perception on everything changes.
So, again those who are pissed off by my parents' generation tell me what they did? Because I surely want to know, and I know my mother is dying to know.
I know I'm starting a generational warfare here, but that's too bad.
Flame away.