Son Admits Watching His Boomer Mom Struggle To Find A Job Is 'Cathartic'
New Africa | ShutterstockIt's no secret that the job market is a mess right now. Experts say it's currently stuck in a cycle of fewer new jobs being created, which makes it much harder to land a new role.
When people think of someone struggling to find a job, it's probably a young person just getting started in their career that comes to mind, not older generations who are more well-established. To one man's absolute delight, the frustrating market can affect anyone, regardless of their age or experience.
A son is finding it surprisingly enjoyable to see his mom struggle to find a new job.
This man admitted in a Reddit post that watching his boomer mom scramble to find a new job with little success has given him a sense of karmic retribution because she now has an inkling of what he's been going through. He explained that his 63-year-old mother was back on the job market, and he had very little sympathy for her.
“She’s finding out firsthand what it’s like to job hunt these days, and frankly, it’s cathartic,” he said. “Every single problem I’ve had job hunting in the past, and recently, the ones she told me were just excuses and not enough hustle, she’s experiencing.”
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His mom seems to be having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that job hunting is definitely not what it used to be. “She won’t accept that you can’t walk into a store for an application, or just talk to the manager and snag yourself a job (like she’s told me to do a million times),” he continued.
Despite the grief she's given her son about his apparent inability to find jobs in the past, he's still doing all he can to help her, from working on her resume to signing her up for job search websites. It's not doing her a lot of good, though, because she claimed that the primarily virtual job search most of us are used to "is too advanced for her."
It’s been nice to see his mom finally understand what he's been going through, but that doesn't mean this has become a bonding experience for them.
There's never been a moment when she's acknowledged how hard it must have been for him to look for a job before, or even an apology for showing a complete lack of understanding. Instead, her stress turns into anger at the one person offering assistance.
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“She takes out every bit of frustration on me, and I’m just trying to help,” he stated. “An attempt at trying to explain how something works now compared to then is met with, ‘Don’t talk to me like I’m a child!’ or ‘Why do you treat me like I’m stupid?’ or she starts crying and says I’m making fun of her.”
The son said his mom "has no idea how to handle rejection" because she was able to get hired easily 30 years ago and never left the company to look for something else before. Now, she's decided to quit because of burnout, but she has no backup plan or safety net.
Although it may seem like job hunting should be easier for the most experienced among us, jobs are increasingly hard to come by across the board.
Perhaps this man's mother can take comfort in knowing that she's certainly not the only person struggling to find a new job. Almost 2 million people meet the Bureau of Labor Statistics' definition of long-term unemployment. People are also much less confident in their ability to find a job now, if needed.
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These statistics are startling for anyone trying to pivot in their career, but the situation can actually be even more dire for older applicants who face ageism. Technically, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act makes it illegal for employers to consider a candidate's age as a factor in hiring them, but the process doesn't always work this way. Biases can still work their way in, whether they're intentional or not.
That means that this woman is really facing the worst possible conditions while job searching. It's not surprising she's having a hard time finding a new role. Still, it seems like the least she could do is be kinder to her son while she waits.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor's degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
