"If it's provable we can kill it."
If it is, and I am, I really will sue someone's ass off...
Published on July 21, 2006 By EmperorofIceCream In Misc
As some who write here might know my most recent contract of employment came to an end May 11th of this year - a little over two months ago. In those intervening months I've been busy. I have a couple of hundred job applications on file, for jobs in just about every region of the USA from California to Ohio to South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama (I'm willing to relocate). I've also had four face to face interviews (all for positions very well within my capabilities and experience). And I've begun to notice a common thread that has me more than a little perturbed.

Before every face to face meeting I've had, be that with an immediate employer or with technical recruiters, all those with whom I've had such meetings have, to coin a phrase, been hot to trot. "Oh we just love your resume" they say. "Your experience is pretty much ideal for this vacancy... we're looking forward to interviewing you" they say. Or the most recent case in point, an interview with a technical recruiter working for A*****K (let's not be hasty and libel anyone here...)

This young man contacted me a couple of days before my trip to New York, having received a copy of my resume through Thingumajob (one of the dozens of online recruitment services that have copies of my resume). This young man (we'll call him 'Bob') was a fountain of enthusiasm; apparently there were at least a half dozen CAD-based opportunities in Richmond, all with employers who'd be delighted to talk to me. His enthusiasm, even after my telling him that I'd be unavailable for a week while in New York, was highly infectious and put me in a very positive frame of mind for the trip - at least as regards the possibility of rapid re-employment once I got back home.

I got back in contact with Bob almost as soon as I got home and we arranged an interview for a few days later - he had business commitments that prevented our meeting any sooner. The day arrives, I get to the local office 15 minutes ahead of time, I'm well groomed and well prepared, and to all apparent intents and purposes all goes well. Agencies such as A*****K like to meet with possible contractors to make sure they're not idiots who will provide a poor impression of the agency itself. At which point Bob, like everyone else, becomes aware that I have a physical deformity of the left hand and arm.

The arm itself is six inches shorter than it should be and at the end of it is a flipper (my flipper is called mademoiselle an' she speaks wiz a French accent). It's grotesque, because it's a contravention of one of the basic rules of conformity - how many functioning limbs you're supposed to have. And there is undeniable shock and discomfort in the faces of those who encounter it for the first time.

I'm not disabled, I'm deformed. I've never allowed myself to be spoken of as being disabled, nor allowed myself to be classified as such, nor claimed to be such in official documents that allow one the opportunity of saying that one is disabled. Simply considering the possibility that my persistent failure to gain employment for which I'm qualified and in which I have extensive experience is due to any kind of discrimination makes me deeply uneasy. Because there's nothing I can do directly to change the situation. If I have a bad attitude I can change it. If I'm lazy I can be industrious instead. But this? I'd far rather attribute my lack of success to poor interview technique.

But the trend I've noticed is startling in its consistency. Those who prior to meeting me were all agog as to how soon I was to be employed, and how excellent a candidate I am, immediately take the opposite position after doing so. Like Bob. A week after meeting me the 'dozens' of opportunities once available have vanished. Apparently no one in Richmond is currently hiring after all. Which is a patent lie, as can be discovered by searching Craig's List for current CAD vacancies in Richmond.

Why not just use Craig's List and apply direct? I have. I do. That's not the point. The point is that this... situation... pertains whether I work with agencies or apply direct. All is sunshine and roses before a meeting: all misery and disaster afterwards.

It's long been my position that 'the disabled' too often use their deformities and conditions as a justification and an excuse for the limitations of their lives (just as Blacks do) - and merely raising the possibility that I am being discriminated against on the basis of a repugnance that I myself feel makes of me, in my own mind, a hypocrite. At the same time I've never allowed my deformity to function as an excuse for not doing something (as in rock climbing, caving, or eventually getting employment in my chosen field) or as a justification that others do something for me. So great is my aversion to even the appearance of such things that I've deliberately foregone benefits to which I was legally entitled in Britain in order to do, for myself and by myself, what I have it in me to do.

I loathe dependency, whether on agencies of the state or on other people.

I am an absolute believer in meritocracy: the man most able to do the job gets the job, irrespective of any other consideration. Be he Black, White, or Martian, with one head or four: if he has the necessary qualifications, ability, experience - and if there is no other better qualified, more able, more experienced man available or willing to do the job for the money - then the four-headed Martian guy ought to get the job, as a matter of simple natural justice. And if there are those who, through being subject to a natural repugnance, refuse to accept that natural justice in my own case then they ought to be held to account for that natural injustice.

As yet I have only a suspicion - and a tendency in events that seems to substantiate that suspicion. So I've devised a modest test to see whether there is any kind of ground at all to that suspicion. I shall simply fold the end of my left shirt-sleeve around my flipper and pin it back, after the manner of an amputee. Everyone is familiar with amputation; amputations may excite sympathy, but they rarely excite that repugnance, or disturbance of mind, that results from encountering something unnatural and improper - which is what a deformity is.

I'm vividly reminded, in all of this, of an interview I had years ago in the UK. It was for yet another mapping job, this time mapping fibre-optic cables for a telecomms company (telecomms experiencing a wild boom at that time in Britain). All seemed to be going wonderfully - until I made the mistake of letting the interviewer know that I'd noticed the unbroken fascination (and the unwilling attempt not to reveal it) with which he'd been staring at my left 'hand'. I said something to the effect that he should feel free to ask about it - at which point he turned chalkwhite, then blushed violently. He brought the interview to an abrupt end shortly afterwards and I heard no more concerning that job.

Which, I suppose, is the origin of my strategy of not mentioning it at all in such situations. Which, I can equally well suppose, may lead to some unconscious attempt at concealment on my part - which might, conceivably, further lead to body-language that could be interpreted as aggressive or hostile, which might in turn reduce my chances of getting a job.

I'm feeling charitable at the moment, so I'm willing to entertain such a suggestion. We'll see how I feel after my little experiment. If I get a job on the basis that I'm an amputee, not a mutated freak, I'll know what to think, and what to do, in the future.

One thing I already know, quite clearly. This is an extraordinarily litigous society - and there's always a lawyer willing to take a case on grounds of discrimination. If it turns out that I have some basis for my suspicion after all I shall be contacting Americans with Disabilities and the EEOC. And if they tell me I'm right, some of the fools I've dealt with so far are going to regret they ever had anything to do with me.

Comments
on Jul 21, 2006
. appearance dot
on Jul 21, 2006
Why not take up a truly modern and 21st century job and become a professional litigant? You have unique qualifications for that kind of work and the pay is excellent. What with punitive damages and their ilk you could knock back 200 grand a year with a passable legal team and some research into discrimination law.
on Jul 21, 2006
Try Ageism.  It is actually probably more to the truth.
on Jul 21, 2006
The thing is how is this proven. You may very well be being discriminated against but how do you ever know for sure. I hope you find the job that's a good fit for you out there somewhere.
on Jul 21, 2006
It's long been my position that 'the disabled' too often use their deformities and conditions as a justification and an excuse for the limitations of their lives


This may very well be the same experience the people interviewing you have had in the past. They may see your arm and think you are one of those you cited.

I don't know.

From everything LW has said about your credentials I can't believe employers aren't beating down your door.

I hope things work out for you soon though.
on Jul 21, 2006
To: Cactoblasta

What with punitive damages and their ilk you could knock back 200 grand a year with a passable legal team and some research into discrimination law.


There's only one thing I hate more than work - unemployment. And I hold very seriously to the opinion that while work actually is a curse in itself, it's also necessary to the mental, physical, and even spiritual, well-being of men and women. If I can't at least contribute to the maintenance of my family and home how can I have respect for myself? If I can't contribute to my community through my tax dollars (and yes, I'm perfectly well aware that there all kinds of contribution, by no means all of them financial - but so what?) then what point is there in waking up? Other than to be a parasite?

To me at least, a definable task for which I am paid, carried on somewhere other than the home and for at least eight hours a day, is a cardinal point in my being here at all.

It would be wonderful if the world of work that Karl Marx envisioned - where each of us could labour with our minds in the morning, with our bodies until midday, and with our spirits until evening - could be brought into being. Even more wonderful if each of us labored to the fullest extent of our abilities and was rewarded not according to market price but according to the full extent of all our needs.

He was too much the Romantic and the Utopian Visionary, was Marx. But he was right in this much: that it's through work we create ourselves as human beings through engaging in future-directed acts and in seeing the purpose of those acts fulfilled.

Which is why I cannot and will not, even if it were to prove feasible, engage in the kind of unrestricted parasitism you recommend (facetiously, of course).
on Jul 21, 2006
To: Dr. Guy

Try Ageism. It is actually probably more to the truth.


I've considered that, and you may well be right. I'm fortunate that in this particular field (drafting generally, but especially GIS drafting in a utility-type environment) there are actually very few qualified workers. In most cases, once you've secured a permanent position you never leave - which is why there are so few permanent positions offered and so much demand for qualified contractors to work short-term contracts. And that's another reason I find my current situation disconcerting.

I'm good at what I do, and I can prove it - when given the opportunity. My recent trip to New York was a serious enhancement to my repertoire of skills and I have absolutely no doubt that I can become a high-value worker once employed - and I ought to be employed by now considering what I have to offer in an area of high demand. Qualified draftsmen are in short supply - whatever the age of any given digitizer.
on Jul 21, 2006
To: Locamama

The thing is how is this proven. You may very well be being discriminated against but how do you ever know for sure.


If, after my little test, I still have my doubts I shall present a case of possible discrimination to Americans with Disabilities and EEOC. EEOC has power to investigate and their presumption, apparently, is always one of guilt until innocence is proven. Apparently they look at hiring figures over a given period: how many Blacks hired, how many women, how many people with disabilities. And if they don't like the figures they take the Company concerned to court.

I don't actually have to prove anything, merely invoke the activity of the EEOC and await their determination.
on Jul 21, 2006
To: Tova7

From everything LW has said about your credentials I can't believe employers aren't beating down your door.


Neither can I lol. If I am actually being discriminated against I don't believe it to be conscious, in other words I don't think it's done (if it's done) out of malice directed at me personally.

Prejudice is too strong a word, a word that implies too much of consciousness to me, for me to think it applicable. I think what's happening is that people are surrendering, perhaps unconsciously, to an entirely natural repugnance that I experience myself whenever I encounter a deformity that deviates from what I've learned to expect of the rest of you.

That you should be normal - that is, one head of a certain general size and shape; two eyes; two ears; one nose; one mouth; two arms and hands; one trunk; two legs and feet.

It wasn't until I was nine years old that I encountered another individual whose body shape didn't conform to those general rules, who was in fact deformed in a way very similar to myself. My first reaction? Shock, followed by repugnance, followed by a desire not to be around the boy in question. Actually, it was rather stronger than that if I'm honest - I wanted the unnatural thing not to exist, it offended me so much.

I understand perfectly well what the whole-bodied feel when they see my deformity for the first time - because I've felt it myself. In fact, I used to exploit that understanding as a form of revenge, to make the discomfort of others as intense as possible.

Up until I was twenty-one I had a rudimentary 'thumb' attached to the left side of my flipper by a neck of flesh. Actually, it was a ball of meat surmounted by a 'parrot's-bill' nail (it looked exactly as it sounds). I had it removed because it began to be susceptible to increasingly painful infections, a consequence of a lack of sensation that led me not to notice when I injured it. It wasn't until the infection was deeply entrenched that I noticed the pain - by which time, once noticed, it was excruciating. It was actually in the process of dieing when I had it removed.

As a child and a teenager I'd sit in public places (such as a bus), wait until I was certain I had someone's sneaking attention (only children ever say anything outright - much to the mortification of their parents)then I'd rotate my thumb, anti-clockwise, through 360 degrees - and let it spin back. It caused me no pain but endless glee to watch them turn slightly green and still be unable to look away.

So I understand, and even sympathize to a certain extent. But that doesn't mean that, if there is a case to answer, I won't make someone answer for it - I will.
on Jul 22, 2006
To: little-whip

How can such a hard-ass be so sweet? Smooch. I love you too.
on Jul 23, 2006
Which is why I cannot and will not, even if it were to prove feasible, engage in the kind of unrestricted parasitism you recommend (facetiously, of course).


I know. But you would be surprised how much work it can be picking marks, finding their particular prejudices and then ruthlessly exploiting them in a court of law. Why, it's practically a full-time job but with better hours and sharper suits!

To be totally honest I think I would probably be freaked out if I saw you on the other side of the interview desk. Difference is really, really hard to deal with. I personally never realised how prejudiced I was until I shifted to another country where people neither looked nor acted like me. And that was just language and culture. Small differences, like a flipper, are even harder to cope with - with people who seem utterly foreign we search for similarities; with those who are slightly foreign we search for differences.

Making like an amputee's probably the best move because then you can say that your 'injury' won't affect your work without the interviewer feeling awkward and freaked out.
on Jul 23, 2006
Ask Gideon what it's like to be discriminated against. Although he lacks your reasons, he's a pro...

of course, if you take his advice, you'll be an insufferable douche with more kids than you can take care of and a royal sense of power because of your virility.

but the short answer, which I made you read through all that shit to get to is this: yes, you're probably getting fucked.

sorry, mate, i'll help ya burn them down.

cheers.

JU's resident fucknut
on Jul 23, 2006
I've considered that, and you may well be right


Each of us are kind of right. Yet, I have been in my field since 1984. Long time. Yet when I was laid off 3 years ago, I had a dozen (roughly speaking) interviews. I got 3 offers. All from the state. Why? Because State law requires that they pick the most qualified candidate. With out regard to yada yada yada (and age).

Private industry, while being denied explicit discrimination, does not have that requirement (most qualified). So they can black ball you.

So why am I the most qualified for 3 state positions (I only applied for 4, and yes the 4th was a stretch), yet not for any private ones?

I know how to play the system. My age was the factor.

I hope whatever reason they are snubbing you, that eventually one sees the merit of experience and wisdom.

A few (not a lot) of private businesses have a neophyte running critical systems. They may do fine. But then we have heard enough melt down stories to know that is not always the case.

But hey! They saved some money!