Taking it Personally
There does come a time for you to take a stand
It happens every time someone mentions they’ve been the victim of some type of “-ism” – racism, sexism, ageism. I immediately have my doubts. Not that I don’t think that type of thing exists. I know all too well that it does. I just want to – in my heart of hearts – believe that most people have finally moved beyond that type of thinking.
But here was this smart, funny, engaging woman sitting across from several of us, sharing a story of how she had been a victim of ageism. To make matters worse, all four of us sitting at restaurant patio table already had surpassed the 40 mark – one of us on that particular day.
The more she shared, the more indignant all of us started to become.
When she finally finished, there was no doubting she had been majorly slighted. And, most likely, it had plenty to do with her age. To make a long story short, she had returned to a recently opened restaurant for the “nth” time, only to be given excuse after excuse about why applications weren’t available.
During the last trip to the restaurant – after waiting about 30 minutes to bend someone’s ear – she noticed that the 20-something waitress who previously snubbed her moments before had just handed one of the aforementioned applications to a young applicant. These were the same applications that didn’t seem to exist whenever she walked into the door.
Apparently, only the young need apply.
As it turned out, it didn’t take us long to move on in our conversation. After the initial shock at how she had been treated, the discussion took a quick turn on how we – particularly as women – should react to such obvious slights.
Well, the great thing about passing the 40 mark is you’ve finally arrived to the point where you’re no longer willing to stand there with a smile and take it – like “nice” girls are supposed to do or so we’ve been told. All of us had advice on the countless ways we would have given the waitress a piece of our mind. We all got a kick out of that part.
We were glad to hear our friend basically shoved back the application to the waitress – after finally being offered one – and basically said, “You know what? No thanks.” Hopefully, it’s a lesson the 20-something waitress won’t forget.
It may come in handy when she inevitably encounters her own experience with some type of “-ism.”
