I have two degrees from Memphis State University. I worked hard for both of them. I made major personal sacrifices for both of them. For the first one, I stood in the rain, rode the city bus, and had nothing to wear (and lots of times, went without meals in order to pay bus fare), in order to pay tuition and books. I had to balance and figure out how I was going to make it work.
Nothing has changed. It’s now 40 years later and I’m still trying to figure out how to make everything in my life work and fit. Honestly, I’m exhausted. It never gets easier.
According to my daughter, who I think is correct, my two degrees are so old they’re not even valid anymore. So I can’t hope to get a good job with either of them. I’m out of date, my education is out of date, my experience is out of date.
And, yet, my education manages to work against me. This was especially true at my last job. I worked seven years in medical manufacturing for Buxtard Healthcare.
Management was not happy with my education. But no one ever approached me to ask me if I had plans to move up there. By and large, well, I could actually say “most of the time” there people move up by “recruitment”. That is to say, a supervisor or assistant supervisor approached them and said, “Hey, ever thought about applying for ___________ position? Hmmm. Maybe you should think about it!”
Lo and behold, when application time came up for a position, they got the job. Another example of this workplace is there would be an opening for a position. Say, Q-line’s operator moved to 1st shift. Our assistant supervisor moved one of us into Q-line to train them “until someone could be chosen to replace the one who left”. So that person was now trained for Q-line. When a pplication time came for Q-line, guess who got the job. Yeah, the person who had been chosen and trained “into” the position by the assistant supervisor.
Were applications submitted? Yes. Were people interviewed? Yes. Was the result a foregone conclusion? Yes. Did other workers understand this? Yes.
There were so many complaints to corporate they took the review process away from the little screw-up factory. Did this solve the problem? Of course not! There’s ALWAYS a way to skew the possibilities so that the “choice” one wins.
In fact, when time came for the next person to be chosen and trained for a position, I was skipped over in blown film and the guy that I trained was asked if he wanted the position in Q-line. Guess I was too stupid to consider.
I specifically went to the manager of my department to discuss possibilities for advancement for me. My supervisor was in the room with us at the time. We reached no conclusion. He would not lift the phone to call anyone. In fact, he asked me if I would do an “internship” with the engineering department, since I possess a bachelor’s degree with the word “engineering” in it.
I actually took the time to look up whether I even COULD do an internship. Of course, I couldn’t. Not with this stupid shitty company. You had to have at least one more semester of college left in order to be considered for an internship. .
I can’t tell you how many nights I worked and wondered how in the world I could have ended up where I did. Running machines in a factory in a god-forsaken small town in Arkansas. Jesus. I have failed in so many ways I can’t even begin to enumerate them.
So, yay me. I’m overqualified for most everything unskilled and my degrees have died so I can’t even consider applying for a professional position. I’m dead. Just dead.
Tears and Catharsis 