# Job Hunting Bullshit **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 16, 2009, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunting-bullshit/481632 "2009-01-16T18:53:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunting-bullshit/481632/141 "2009-01-23T18:00:48Z")
> [@BlinkingDuck](#): > > Don’t take it personally. Don’t go in with a chip on your shoulder. That is why everyone hates Corporate America. Because no one is expected to take anything personally. Except that it is personal if you are the one who lost their job or trapped in a dead-end job you wish you could leave. And people develop chips on their shoulder because they are asked to meet with a company over a period of weeks or even months in good faith that they are seriously being considered for a job opening. In reality, the company may have no intention of hiring anyone, unless they happen to be some mythical dream candidate. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunting-bullshit/481632/142 "2009-01-24T05:16:12Z")
I don’t get all this stuff about not being able to get _any_ job _anywhere_. I don’t disbelieve you all, I just find it hard to comprehend. I have very few marketable skills, yet within the next month I’ll likely be in the position of choosing between two job offers. I just make sure I’m in the place where I’m needed at the right time. Anyway, even if you stoop to minimum wage, $800 a month is twice as good as $400 a month, right? I really don’t mean to threadshit or doubt anyone’s efforts, here. Believe me, I’ve been there–you should see the pictures of me when I was suffering from malnutrition, and that was when I _had_ a job. I feel for those of you in that position. Hell, I more than feel for you; I have about a quarter of my current traffic ticket cost available in my bank account right now, so I’m hurting hard until I get an actual paycheck. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_Stream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@Carol\_Stream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_Stream)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunting-bullshit/481632/143 "2009-01-24T05:50:16Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Fuck off, bitch - that’s the first post beyond the OP I’ve contributed to this thread. CLEARLY your only purpose in being here is to shit on my head. Perhaps also to shit on other people. Um, what’s the point of starting a Pit thread, if you’re not going to post in it? Maybe you should try [www.livejournal.com](http://www.livejournal.com) ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_Stream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@Carol\_Stream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_Stream)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunting-bullshit/481632/144 "2009-01-24T05:55:28Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Who let this **Stream of Idiocy** in? There, is that bitchy enough for you, you piece of shit? Why am I insulting shit? That’s not even clever. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunting-bullshit/481632/145 "2009-01-24T06:11:08Z")
Since you’re quick to criticize, I’m sure you can come up with something much wittier in her native language, right? ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_Stream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@Carol\_Stream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_Stream)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunting-bullshit/481632/146 "2009-01-24T06:13:45Z")
> [@Hostile\_Dialect](#): > > Since you’re quick to criticize, I’m sure you can come up with something much wittier in her native language, right? Why should I? This is an American message board, and we post in English, here. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunting-bullshit/481632/147 "2009-01-24T06:33:55Z")
So, nothing? OK, yeah, that’s what I was expecting. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunting-bullshit/481632/148 "2009-01-24T06:34:41Z")
> [@Carol\_Stream](#): > > Why should I? This is an American message board, and we post in English, here. _We_ post in English, _you_ post in dumb cunt. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunting-bullshit/481632/149 "2009-01-24T06:49:09Z")
> [@Carol Stream](#): > > Why should I? Why should you what? Threadshit? Troll? Give me a clue, here. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunting-bullshit/481632/150 "2009-01-24T07:09:05Z")
> [@Carol\_Stream](#): > > Um, what’s the point of starting a Pit thread, if you’re not going to post in it? Maybe you should try [www.livejournal.com](http://www.livejournal.com) **Carol** , like I asked up-thread, since you take offense at its placement, did you report it? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunting-bullshit/481632/151 "2009-01-24T10:58:25Z")
> [@Hostile\_Dialect](#): > > I don’t get all this stuff about not being able to get _any_ job _anywhere_. I have gotten jobs, just nothing permanent, steady, or full time. In other words, not enough to live on. If I didn’t have some savings I’d be homeless right now. Getting a day or two of work here or there is better than nothing, but what most folks mean by a job is something steady where they get a reliable paycheck of a predictable amount. It’s also not just a matter of feeding and housing myself - I have another person I have to support, too. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunting-bullshit/481632/152 "2009-01-24T11:00:27Z")
> [@Carol\_Stream](#): > > Um, what’s the point of starting a Pit thread, if you’re not going to post in it? To annoy YOU, personally. Is it working yet, cunt? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunting-bullshit/481632/153 "2009-01-24T11:51:45Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > To annoy YOU, personally. Is it working yet, cunt? 😃 It might be prudent for you to post a disclaimer to the effect that your post was a hostile rejoinder intended to insult another Doper, and is in no way to be construed as an admission that this thread is an attempt to troll. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunting-bullshit/481632/154 "2009-01-24T12:47:26Z")
Yes, that post was aimed personally at Cunt Stream. In any case, genuine trolling would be too much work - you have to keep coming up from under the bridge, going back down, coming back up, dealing with those annoying Billy Goats Gruff… As for the thread - once I did the OP I could sit back and watch the show, I didn’t need to contribute to keep it going. I have since learned that there are annoying bullshit things that I haven’t yet encountered on my job search. Always something new to learn, ay? The amusing thing is that she is apparently now bitching that this should have been in MPSIMS or something and she’s pissed that no matter how much she stamps her annoyed little foot the people running this board don’t obey her every whim. The nerve! She bitches that those nasty, jobless poor people are raising her taxes and depriving her of her money (not to mention getting free analog to digital TV converter boxes on her dime!) … then she comes here and shits on people who are looking for employment. Maybe she’s just mad it’s illegal to kick puppies or something. She reminds me of some of the emo drama-queens I’ve worked with over the years who are never happy unless everyone around her is unhappy and she can rub their faces in it, telling them the deserve whatever horrible thing is happening to them at the moment. Sort of an incarnation of Bad Karma Gone Wild, spreading misery everywhere. I’d start a thread just to pit Cunt Stream, but I’ve better things to do with my existence. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunting-bullshit/481632/155 "2009-01-24T13:25:59Z")
Indeed. I hope the job interview went well. And remember, you’re on my short list for personal pilot when I win the lottery. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunting-bullshit/481632/156 "2009-01-24T15:17:19Z")
> [@catsix](#): > > Setting the maximum age (aka age ceiling) for a position as an engineer, such as a software engineer like me, at 25 would definitely discriminate against those over 40. Right, I agree. And by my understanding, this would be illegal in the US. (Though I think it would be perfectly legal, if inadvisable, to post “Applicants between 25 and 39 need not apply.”) What I was responding to was this statement: > [@](#): > > I was under the impression that other than requiring that an employee be over the age where it is permissible to operate the required machinery for the job, it was not legal to make age a requirement for any job here. Which is overly broad, though in retrospect you might have been only referring to the “maximum age” concept. In which case, we wouldn’t even be disagreeing. > [@](#): > > Mandatory retirement age for commercial pilots in the US was slated as of January 2007 to be raised to 65. Ok, I’ll take your word for it. I was recalling something like a 60 Minutes episode, and did a quick search, in which I found [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_Discrimination_in_Employment_Act) (apparently) outdated Wikipedia . > [@](#): > > Do you have any information regarding the practice of corporations forcing their executives to retire? What sort of information do you mean? I have [this](http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/adea.html), which observes that it’s actually part of the law to allow for corporations to enforce mandatory executive retirement ages. [QUOTE=EEOC] (1) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prohibit compulsory retirement of any employee who has attained 65 years of age and who, for the 2-year period immediately before retirement, is employed in a bona fide executive or a high policymaking position, if such employee is entitled to an immediate nonforfeitable annual retirement benefit from a pension, profit-sharing, savings, or deferred compensation plan, or any combination of such plans, of the employer of such employee, which equals, in the aggregate, at least $44,000. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunting-bullshit/481632/157 "2009-01-24T15:21:26Z")
During my many years investigating fraud in newspaper advertising, the only exception I ever found to age discrimination, besides the above posted by **Do Not Taunt** , was apprenticeship programs. I verified this very carefully. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunting-bullshit/481632/158 "2009-01-24T16:17:45Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > I hope the job interview went well It did, thank you. If someone here has never applied for a Federal job, it’s a bit different than the private sector. Mostly what I did was paperwork and skills testing, although I also got a lead on another possible job. I was actually surprised there weren’t _more_ people there, given the economy. But, as we all know, the interview can go well and you still might not get what you want… > [@](#): > > And remember, you’re on my short list for personal pilot when I win the lottery. 😉 I haven’t forgotten 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunting-bullshit/481632/159 "2009-01-25T00:50:57Z")
> [@Carol\_Stream](#): > > Yes, we know. I didn’t know. Why do people assume everyone else reads and remembers everything everyone else posts? I have to say, one of the worst things about being unexpectedly unemployed is being forced to take a job you hate just to pay the bills. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunting-bullshit/481632/160 "2009-01-25T03:55:13Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > I didn’t know. > > Why do people assume everyone else reads and remembers everything everyone else posts? In her case, it’s because shitting on certain people is apparently her hobby > [@](#): > > I have to say, one of the worst things about being unexpectedly unemployed is being forced to take a job you hate just to pay the bills. No kidding. The other reason I haven’t been posting that much in this thread is that my family is now facing a problem even worse than unemployment which I’d love to rant about but thanks to a certain asshole poster I don’t dare post on the Dope because, frankly, I could NOT handle her particular brand of threadshitting on a life or death matter. I’ve been playing catch-up on posting tonight because I have a few hours to myself for a change, but I may well drop out of sight entirely for a week or three if I have to up and make an emergency trip to Detroit. (I’m sure the bitch is looking forward to my having that sort of misfortune, damn her to hell) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunting-bullshit/481632.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunting-bullshit/481632.md?page=9)