Jean and I innocently walked into a local Target Store and at the front of the store they had a table with three young ladies recruiting new employees to work this Christmas season. The store was pretty empty and there were no prospects in sight so I walked up and said I would like to be an elf for them and I hoped they would not discriminate against me because of my age. I just turned 90 recently. One of the ladies asked me answer a few quick questions. The other two ladies joined in. “Where had I worked before?” I told her in all 50 of our United States and six Canadian Provinces. Then the youngest one asked, “Who have you worked for?” And I replied, “General Motors, AT&T, DuPont, Toyota, British Petroleum, Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Consumers Energy, Grand Trunk Western Railroad. The United States Army, Navy, Air Force and the Marine Corps and a few hundred, maybe nearly a thousand other places.
“How long did you work for that railroad?” the pretty redhead asked. I replied From 1948 to to 1983. That was 35 years.
Then the oldest one, maybe thirty I’d guess, asked, “Did you work as an elf at all of those organizations?” “Oh no, never” I admitted. All three of them said, “Aw, too bad. We are looking for cashiers mostly, why don’t you check back with us again next year at this time.” I tipped my elf hat and went on with my shopping. I thought about what happened for a few moments then I understood. Diversity. That’s what it is, Diversity. A white male just doesn’t stand a chance of getting hired these days.
Actually, they were very polite and most of that conversation wasn’t spoken out loud. I’d left my hearing aids at home.
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