I think that Transformers 3 illustrated the point most clearly for me in all of its CGI glory. I know, this above sequence of words should never actually be written or said in any utterable language. Not sure what an ‘un-utterable’ language would sound or look like. Just another thing to add to my ‘must-Wiki’ list of things I want to know enough about to impress others with random trivia, but not so much that people feel they could have an actual conversation with me about. For example, I’ve always wanted to know how a black hole works. But I refuse to discuss the temporal ramifications of passing through an Einstein-Rosen bridge (Notice insertion of random name-drop for academic impressiveness.). Anyway, back to the frustrating life-lessons learned by Michael Bay’s third installment of “Your Childhood Means Nothing to Me and My Insatiable Lust for Giant Fireballs,” also known as TRANSFORMERS!!!! I add the exclamation marks and capital letters throughout because I’m quite certain that Mike screams out the name when he talks about it. He may also try to say it like James Earl Jones or Mufasa, but that’s neither here nor there.
What I’m really trying to talk about here is finding a job. For those of you who subjected your senses to Mr. Bay’s embarrassing riches of wasted Hollywood talent, you will have noticed that Sam’s (Shia LeBouf) plight at the start of the movie is his inability to find work. How he manages to land a British diplomat that also looks like a Victoria Secret model (because she actually is) was never fully explained. One would think that if he could somehow bridge the enormous beauty, brains, and height gap between them, he would also have used these skills to convince an HR rep at Bank of America that he deserves a chance as a teller or in the mailroom. Alas, Hollywood blockbusters have once again found a way to relate with Americans, and it seems to be saying that none of us have a job.
Me personally, I have a job, but not much of one. How has the economic and social condition in our country deteriorated so quickly that even having a graduate degree does not qualify you to be a receptionist? I have literally applied to a dozen secretary positions in Fort Worth, and not a single one has called me back. I wish I could blame short-sighted employers or even myself (at least that would be an answer). But the more I talk to people my own age, the more I hear over-and-over again that having a college degree and a few years of work experience just isn’t enough these days. I mean, I spent a year in CHINA teaching English and learning another language that over a sixth of the planet speaks, and no one seems to find that the least bit attractive.
This is the example that KILLS me. Megan and I were in Costco, mostly because Megan loves Costo and I felt the urge to buy fifteen tons of JIF Creamy peanut butter and a three-story house to eat it in (I think they sells those now, too). Anyway, we’re pulling up to the counter with the six-bed, four-bath fixer and my tub of PB when Megan and I start talking about my job search. Her unrelenting love for Costco inspires her to suggest I work here, not a bad proposition I respond. So, as we’re getting rung-up she asks the cashier, a guy in his early thirties, if he likes working at Costco. “Yeah,” he answers, “I actually quit my teaching job to work here full time.” I think my eyes almost shot out of their sockets. My bulging retinas must have caught his attention, because he went on to justify this seemingly backwards change in profession. “As a cashier you can make as much as $22 an hour, and on Sundays I get time-and-a-half. Plus, their benefits are great, and now that I’ve been with them for five years they just give me a $6000 bonus every year.” Hard to argue with that monetary logic.
Has becoming a teacher really been pushed into near extinction by our lack of respect and compensation for this profession? Or has consuming industrial size containers of Cheetos become our national past time, and thus more profitable than shaping the young minds future leaders of this wonderful nation? I regretfully assume a little of both is at play. More to come…
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