Seem to you like everyone is being discriminated against these day? Just ask and they'll tell you I'm sure. Gays, racial "minorities," large folk, small folk, transgendered, the religious, the non religious, the wrong religious, etc. etc. ad nauseum. What one does not often hear so much about is age discrimination. Perhaps it is because a lot of those older folks who are being discriminated against in the workplace (ie let go, outsourced, downsized, whatever) just tend to say "the heck with it" and move along. Perhaps that is fine and good for a few, but for a great many it is a life altering event and likely very seldom for the better. At least from a financial stand....
I have mentioned before that I work for a mid level chemical trucking firm (it looks very promising to be changing hats within a couple weeks) and I may, I repeat may, have seen some of the very age discrimination I am speaking of. I certainly have my suspicions. Read on.....
A while back my firm hired an old friend of mine from another firm with a pie in the sky package. This man has been around this business since the dawn of time and is well into his sixties. As a fact of business, he trained me back in the mid early nineties. Fact is, this man knows more about this industry than any six of the young folk that seem to be in charge put together. What he was not real adept at apparently was generating some rather nonsensical reports due to his lack of computer (Microsoft Office type crap) skills. He was working on upgrading, attending training sessions in fact, but I suppose his progress was not quick enough for some. Oh he did come down with the bonafide flu and was out for a few days also. Let us not forget that.... This gentleman was unceremoniously (or perhaps ceremoniously) escorted out one fine afternoon.......
There was an older gentleman in Pennsylvania who had been with the company for years. Knew more than anyone about chemical freight in that neck of the woods (The Philadelphia and NJ chemical complexes) and he suddenly found himself unemployed. Not sure the circumstances there and I should perhaps not comment further.
Another instance I am familiar with is a gentleman in our central dispatch who was apparently let go last week. He had been with the firm for going on thirty years I believe and knew the business inside and out from a national perspective. That knowledge certainly is not something that can replaced over night. Can't be replaced in a matter of years likely. He knew more than anyone about this business in our firm. We are now in deep. A few girls in their early twenties and one young arrogant "manager" who is likely no more than twenty eight are at the helm of a multi million dollar business. One of the major problems it seems were that when some business to conduct with our central dispatch, it was often those of us in the satellite offices would deal with him (the "let go guy) and when given the choice of working with a kid who has no idea what is going on, would just deal with the issue ourselves. As noted, a couple of these kids were literally folding clothes at Old Navy (or something similar) just a few short months ago.
Now we come to the issue of drivers, mechanics, clerks, etc. etc. of a certain age. There has been, I have noticed, a good deal of letting some of these folk in an older age group go. A driver, as most know, has to pass a Department of Transportation mandated physical to remain in business as it were. If it can't be passed satisfactorily then the company has no choice but to take a driver out of the truck. What I have noticed is that some of these folk who have passed their DOT physical have still been let go. There are other reasons given of course and perhaps in some instances these "firings" are justified. A company does have to protect themselves from a road menace or a possible health issue behind the wheel. Folks are getting downright tired of having big rigs crash all over the place. Funny thing though on this particular issue, is that our company has retained a man with major documentable health issues, a man who has had numerous major incidents (running over parked cars, being rescued by ambulance on the yard and on the road a time or two, and I believe another spectacular crash early in his career with the company). He is still behind the wheel and I believe him to be a truly a menace to both himself and the motoring public. However, he is a man of certain girth and I would imagine that the "legal team" is somewhat afraid of a "fat man" lawsuit. Just a guess. Hard to say the true motivation there. A good many of lessor girth (but in a certain age group) are now with competing firms........
These are just a few of the odd occurrences that I have noted during my tenure with this group. Something is bad wrong in my opinion with the "management team." There is a lot of amorality and some downright immorality in corporate America and I would certainly put some of those in this firm in one (or both) categories. Whether or not they are systematically practicing age discrimination is something that I won't accuse them of at this juncture (with apologies to George I). I will note that there have been some rather startling episodes concerning folk in this aforementioned certain age group. It is all very interesting.
Very interesting indeed.
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