Day 9: It's All in the 'Tude

 Today I was reading a portion of the Axios Finish Line I received in email. In it, Mike Allen wrote that people begin to feel their youth slipping away when they are 42. They begin to feel old at age 52. He asked for input from the readers. When did I start to notice my age and how am I navigating it?

I am noticing my age now and am ignoring it. I did think about it during my efforts to find a part-time gig online. The advice I read from the AARP was that seniors could find jobs working from home. I began looking in August 2022. I applied everywhere my skills matched the employers’ requirements but was passed over repeatedly.

It must be my age, I thought. This year, I finally began working as an online tutor. I love it. I have an interview this week with our school district’s early childhood education program. I have an AA in Early Childhood Ed and years of experience tutoring children and assisting teachers. Yet, I wonder what my interviewers will think when I meet them. Will they see an asset to the team, or will they see the wrinkles on my neck and face?

I am sixty-eight. What does 68 feel like? I can’t say because in my mind, I am young. My body moves more slowly than it used to, and I have challenges with opening jars that I never had before. I have creeping arthritis and ache from time to time. Sometimes I need to nap.

The challenges don’t slow me down.

As for opening jars, pill bottles, and what have you, I have tools to help me when my fingers don’t want to cooperate. I have rheumatoid arthritis, especially in my fingers. I used to keep handwritten journals. Over the years, it’s become more difficult to hold a pen or pencil and write more than a few sentences. I got around that and use my laptop when I want to write. As for texting and instant messages, there’s a blessed thing called a microphone.

One of my favorite activities is walking, especially on park trails. When our grandson was small, Ted and I must have visited every park in southern New Jersey. I used to have to stop and take breaks because of issues with my spine. I have spinal stenosis and mild scoliosis. Despite that, being out in the fresh air and in the company of my husband and grandson was so invigorating and joyful. Last November, I had a minimally invasive procedure on my spine. Now I can walk a 2–3-mile trail without stopping for a break.

For me, navigating the years is all about attitude.

When I was forty-two, I still felt like a young person. I married and began having babies in my thirties. That year, they were 9, 7, and 3. I was working full time by day and my late first husband Rich worked nights to save on daycare. When I came home from work, Rich passed the children to me. I would take them on walks to local playgrounds or the library. We participated in scouting and school activities. I didn’t give a thought to being 42.

At 52, our grandson was two and living with us temporarily. Kids that age are highly active. I noticed increasing pain and had gained too much weight, but I didn’t slow down. My now husband Ted and I were like new parents all over again. We weren’t rocking chair grandparents to say the least.

At 55, we decided for the sake of our health to have bariatric surgery. Together, we lost a total of 350 pounds. What a difference it made. Now when we took our grandson to a park, we were happily able to get on some of the equipment with him.

It’s all in the mindset, despite any pain or physical limitations. It’s all in making adaptations to make activities easier. It’s all in staying in motion. If I were going to answer Mike Allen, these are the things I would tell him about navigating my senior years.

I am participating in the American Cancer Society’s challenge to write for thirty minutes each day in May. I do a lot of writing and I can meet this challenge. I plan to make a blog entry each day with what I’ve written.

I wanted to participate in memory of loved ones who fought cancer bravely but succumbed:

My brother-in-law Jeff

My sister-in-law Ann

My dear friend Kay

My Uncle Bob

My Uncle John

 

I also wanted to help raise money to support research and a cure for those currently fighting this vicious disease.

My Facebook to the fundraiser is here. 

Why is finding a remote job so damn hard?

 

It is so hard for this disabled senior citizen to find a decent remote job.

I am sixty-eight. I should not have to look for work, but we are on fixed incomes and the prices of everything have been skyrocketing. We were just squeaking by before but now it is hard to stay afloat. And so.

I became disabled in 2002. Since then, I have done volunteer work for the Retired Senior Volunteers Program in two programs and for three or four phone banks. Does that really count for anything? I thought it did, but now it does not seem to be true.

For twenty years, I was an interpreter for the Deaf. I was also a sometime tutor of school subjects for Deaf students and of American Sign Language for beginning interpreters. To supplement my income during slow times, I worked as a market research interviewer/supervisor. I trained new hires.

Before I became a certified interpreter, I was Secretary to the Executive Director of the National Center for Law & the Deaf when it was located at Gallaudet College (now University). I would secretly voice interpret for my boss when he met with Deaf people because his receptive skills were not top notch. He did not fool all the Deaf people. One took me aside and asked why I was making coffee when I should be interpreting.

Before that, I was a unit secretary at the Maryland Rehabilitation Center. My first job was clerk typist for one of the large insurance firms in Baltimore.

You see, I have a lot of experience. I am a very proficient typist and I have worked with MS Office for years as a writer/blogger. I am empathetic and use active listening skills. I make connections with people easily.

I would be an asset to somebody, but employers do not consider me. I have more polite rejection letters from employers than I have from my story submissions.

Too long unemployed?

Too old?

Sucky resume?

There must be an employer out there that would see me as a valuable employee.

My Short-Lived Career As A Market Research Interviewer

Like many seniors on fixed incomes, my husband and I find ourselves increasingly squeezed by inflation and rising costs.  Robert Reich reported not long ago that working people’s salaries aren’t keeping up with inflation but at least are receiving some sort of raise, even if inadequate.  We are stuck with social security and a small pension.

So, I thought to supplement our income with one of those work-from-home jobs.  While I was an interpreter, I’d supplement income during slow months by working as a part time market research interviewer.  I worked for several research companies from 1983 to 1992 and they were all fine companies to work for.  Before becoming an interpreter, I was a secretary.  Even before that, in high school, I became a proficient typist.  So, I began looking for remote jobs.

It didn’t take too long before a human resources manager from X Group saw my resume and called me to interview me for a market research position.  She gave me a bare bones overview: my shift would be 5p.m. to 1a.m. and I would call across the country according to time zones.  Well, I was used to that.  At my earlier companies, we’d call the East Coast until 8-8:30, change to Central Time until their 8-8:30, move to Mountain repeat and then to Pacific.  I was cool with it all and looked forward to giving us extra income for the things we need.  Like dental work.

Training was scheduled for two days from 3-9 p.m.  I liked the trainer but we sure moved like gangbusters learning the rules and then taking a crash course in one of the complicated dialing systems.  We were moving pretty fast and although I took notes, I found the dialing system confusing.  We practiced logging in a couple of times and then we were thrown onto dialing system.

Literally.  Thrown on.  In my previous experience, all the interviewers would go over the script together.  Old news.  We were expected to utilized a huge very busy message board chock full of items and search all over for the job briefing sheet.  We’d then look to see who we were calling, where, why and how long the survey was supposed to be.  Under the schedule item, I saw a scolding message toward the interviews that they were using too much idle time and they weren’t “rebutting”; that rebutting was required and they’d better start doing a better job of it.

Rebutting?  That means pestering a reluctant respondent to keep going and finish the survey until they just hang up on you.  Oh dear.  Well, I thought, I can use my persuasive skills and then just let them go before they blow their gasket.

I was assigned to a political survey.  Of course.  The midterms are coming up and there were multiple jobs covering multiple candidates.  I began calling, fumbling around a bit like any newbie, but did talk to people.  I was a little taken aback by how many tRump supporters I was reaching.  Later, my daughter Heidi commented that they were the ones dumb enough to answer a call from a number they didn’t recognize.  Democratic voters would just let the phone ring.  Ha, I wish.

The following evening, we trained on the other dialing system. That one was easier to use.  We spent just 2 hours in actual training and then, again, we were thrown onto the phones.  Another political survey.

I had my husband Ted print out as many of the relevant articles from that message board as I possibly could.  On Saturday night, I went into it cold.  We had a contact person (supervisor) and tech advisor assigned to us but there were a lot of people they had to watch/help.  I had a hard start but the tech guy helped me get under way.  He was very funny to chat with.

As it got toward 9, I began to wonder when we’d move to Central time.  People were getting testy.  “Don’t you realize how late it is?”  In the beginning, they were still civil.  I’d apologize and let them go their way.  Supervisor’s message was to tell each caller ‘I’m sorry I’m calling so late but we just need one more in your area.  Please stay on with me so that my supervisor doesn’t send me home for not making the quota.’  That’s a rebuttal.

I didn’t like it.  I didn’t want to do it.  I think it’s rude to call anyone late in the evening, especially for a survey that would be meaningless to them.  I want to treat people the way I want to be treated so that means being considerate and kind.  Calling this late and then trying to guilt/strong arm into doing a survey is not kind nor is it considerate.

The supervisor’s response was just something like, this hour is really hard but we just have to get through it and keep calling.

Hour?  I was calling East Coast voters until 10 p.m.?  OMG.  What have I gotten myself into?

At 10, we were switched to Central Time jobs.  Yes.  In Central Time it was already 9 p.m. and these potential respondents were VERY peevish.

Somehow, I survived my first weekend of shifts.  I had Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday off but in the back of my head was that Friday shift.  Friday night, I had two respondents drop the F-bomb on me several times when I called.  I was shaken but I wasn’t angry with THEM.  Yes, they were very rude and didn’t need to curse at me but, after all, I might’ve woken them up or interrupted some pleasurable activity with my intrusive late-night call. 

I reached out to the supervisor.  Again, the response was basically: yes, it’s bad but suck it up and call.

I was being switched from one dialing system to another and getting fouled up remembering what to do when.  I read the notes and moved along slowly but they expected I would switch in five minutes.  I couldn’t.  The instructions on my cheat sheets weren’t all that clear and I had to carefully go step by step, like a toddler.

Last night was the corker.  It started really well.  I was speaking to an 89-year-old woman who still voted but tended to ramble as old people do.  We were at the closing questions when the supervisor’s voice was in my ear to hurry up and end the call.  When we were done, she said the job was bid at completing a survey in 15 minutes and I’d taken 25.  Oops.  Next time I should interrupt the respondent and say I have to move on or I’m going to get into trouble.  OKAY.

The following survey also went 20 minutes but that was because the respondent was very expansive during the open ends.  During training, the supervisor repeated over and over, “get down what they say verbatim.  Ver-ba-tim.  VER-ba-tim.”  So, I did.

I was switched from one state to two others.  As it got later, I still managed to connect with people and felt really good although I was discouraged to hear from so many tRump supporters.

Then I had to switch from one dialing system to the other, the difficult complicated one.  I got completely lost and tried to log in a couple times.  I finally succeeded but wasn’t receiving calls so I contacted tech.  It was the same guy from a week before but he was no longer jolly.  He took over my computer to fix whatever was going on and messaged me that I had too many of the sign in window open, and I did this wrong and messed up that and this should be easy, not hard.

Some of the stuff I was expected to know hadn’t been covered in the training at all.

So, he manipulated my screen as I sat there with my face burning and guts churning.  He messaged me: “Now go sign in.”

Um, no.  I don’t think so.  I’ve had enough.  So, I told him no, I’m signing out.  He was totally shocked and asked, your shift is over?  And I answered no but I’m signing out. I’ll contact HR.  So, I closed everything down just before 10, emailed the woman in HR I’d spoken to originally and just said I stopped early, didn’t feel well, unhappy here and this isn’t a good fit for us.  I didn’t go into all my grievances, just said this wasn’t a good fit.

She wished me well.

So, I’m looking for something part time, not full time, and not a job where I’m expected to call people so late at night.

I was really totally dismayed by one more thing:  of all my completed surveys about ¾ were with tRump supporters.  Even reading statements about the evil things Rethugs want to do did NOT sway them.  One doctor said to me: “I don’t care what they do.  No matter what, I’m voting the Republican line.”

A doctor.

It’s scary.

Why didn’t I get more Democratic voters?  There were tons of answering machines and wrong numbers.  Were those the Dems?  Were the no answers and busys because Dems were busy doing Other Stuff?

I have to hope so.  I have to hope.