Discrimination

Once upon a time, the word “discrimination” had a very positive meaning; it indicated the ability to detect differences, sometimes subtle, with great skill. For example, someone with a discriminating palate might be able to tell the difference, blindfolded, between food items with similar texture or feel. Any fan of television cooking “reality” TV has seen Gordon Ramsay administer palate tests of this type to many a would-be chef.

It’s sad what happens to things when government gets involved. A word with a perfectly good meaning like “discrimination” has been perverted to mean nearly the opposite of its original intent. Rather than detecting subtle differences in similar individuals and using this sense to make the best choice, discrimination often involves generalizing people, or even animals, into large groups without taking the time to get to know each enough to make the best decision. Whatever happened to not judging a book by its cover? Even as laws to “protect” us try to turn the meter the other way (with such misguided attempts as “affirmative action”), the person making the choice often uses the most obvious and sometimes least important criterion to exclude entire groups.

The other day while getting most of my news from Facebook (as I do daily), I got a feed that I felt compelled to pass along to all my Facebook friends. It was from an animal advocate page called “Shifting the Odds” and was an article from the online Examiner entitled “Black shelter dogs face tougher odds for adoption”. I had actually become aware of a bias against black dogs quite by accident in St. Louis Missouri, shortly after we adopted our black dog, Jack, who is truly the best dog either of us has ever owned in our lifetimes. The Humane Society started sending us newsletters inviting us to join meetings of something called the Black Dog Club, and making us aware of the bias against black dogs. At the time I thought “how strange” – but let’s face it, people are strange in their choices for “discrimination”, aren’t they? Anyway, after recently sharing the article on my Facebook page, the overwhelming majority of my friends indicated that their experience with black dogs has been quite the opposite; in many cases, a black dog was the best dog they had ever owned. I know that’s true of my own experience with Jack.

My Facebook status proudly lists my employment as “UNEMPLOYED!!!!!” – yes, in all caps with five exclamation points – and everyone who knows me also knows that it’s not necessarily by choice. The fact is that I want very badly to work, preferably for a paycheck, since it costs money to live. But let’s face it: a woman over 50 who is overweight is automatically given certain labels by potential employers. Maybe they don’t know my actual age or weight in the interview, but appearance does give some things away. And while they don’t normally put me on a scale anywhere but the doctor’s office, it’s amazing to me how many job applications REQUIRE date of graduation from college as well as the degree and the institution name. If that doesn’t get them at least close to knowing how old you are, their ability to do basic mathematics is lacking.

Today while driving back from the airport in Orlando, I was “surfing” the AM dial for talk radio that sounded interesting. Along with all the usual dire information about what’s happening to our once-great country, there was an item of personal interest: Employers are showing a tendency to “discriminate” (there’s that word again) against the unemployed when hiring. In a normal economy, I could see their point: if you’re not working, you might just be lazy. But in this economy, there are so very many reasons why a closer look at someone who appears to have been “unemployed” for any length of time could be an excellent choice. Here are three reasons to consider.

1. A person who is living without a paycheck has to get very creative to survive.
Even those of us who have some savings know that we can’t live indefinitely on that without any income, so we do odd jobs like writing or proofreading on Craigslist, or we drive people to the airport for pay.

2. A person who is not working at a job has to figure out ways to structure his or her days to give them meaning.
Contrary to popular belief, there are MANY of us out there who would truly love to have someone giving them money just to show up somewhere and do what they are told for a certain number of hours a day. Imagine the mind-numbing boredom of every week day seeming the same as every weekend. Every day is a vacation – yes – but without any budget to spend on entertainment or diversions. There are only so many hours many of us can scour the internet job boards searching for places we can send resumes and cover letters so that we can be ignored or at best receive those form rejection emails. It’s very hard to stay upbeat under these circumstances.

3. A person who doesn’t have a job might just be more appreciative of being given a job than someone who already has one.
I know in my case, the one paying job that I had for two months got every bit of effort, dedication, reliability, ingenuity and energy that I had to give during the hours I was there. It was a hard decision for me to reach that I just wasn’t able to meet certain performance criteria to the level they demanded, but I certainly gave it my best shot.

The bottom line for employers should be this: Ask those probing questions to discover the reason for the long term unemployment before assuming the worst. A person who bought a small business that turned out not to make the income that the prior owner indicated, and then worked very hard to make it something much better, but still didn’t make a living at it, may have learned some extremely valuable life lessons during his or her time of unemployment. Look beneath the surface and you might find your next great employee: well-rounded, hard working, and extremely grateful to be hired.