The Method of Madness

I think there’s value in feeling sorry for yourself.

Right now I’m feeling sorry for myself for a variety of things, which has placed me into a mindset where I want to do the following, in exactly this order:

1. Crawl up in a ball with a blanket;
2. Turn on the TV to some History/BIO/Science channel and focus on whatever special they’ve got.

I feel like a lot of bloggers spend a lot of their time advocating using every moment that you have to do something – start a business, find a job, change your life – but sitting on your duff and being depressed? There simply isn’t time! Turn that frown upside down! And so on. Simply put, the American lifestyle does not want to permit you to be sad.

People are like this partly for selfish reasons. Emotions are contagious, so if you’re unhappy, you’ll tend to make others unhappy when they’re around you. Hence, they want to make you happy so they can feel happy. Feeling sorry for yourself, though, to me is like grieving: it happens. It’s a natural part of life. You eventually move on and move forward. People pushing you to “get happy” need to “get fucked” because they’ve been in the same boat of self-pity before.

If you’re feeling sorry for yourself, wallow in it; it’ll get better. If you’ve got a friend or family member in the same condition, support them and help them work through it. There’s no harm in indulging in self-pity every once in a while.

Discriminating against the unemployed. Since when did this make sense?

Apparently it does to some people. The Huffington Post featured an article on a company who noted that the unemployed need not apply in their requisition. This sparked a fairly heated debate on there and several reactions across the blogosphere, and this is what I’ve gleaned:

1. Most recruiters are morally sensible enough to know that not hiring someone based on employment status is dispicable;
2. Those that do justify it are douches and tools of the highest order;
3. Somehow, this all has to do with something financial (wee ha, huge surprise);
4. Somehow, this will lead to a disparate impact case. I would hate to be that hiring manager.

I can’t wrap my head around this at all. Maybe it’s because I’m not a recruiter – or maybe I’m just not this stupid – but what does employment status say about a person, especially when so many are unemployed right now? This is infuriating, depressing, and just plain pathetic all in one. It’s maddening to know that there are recruiters out there who would literally not even look at my qualifications because I was laid off. Are you saying the only talent worth employing is the kind worth stealing?

There are those recruiters that tow the line of “Well, it’s what my client wanted, and it’s not discriminatory so…” This line of thinking didn’t work in Nuremberg, and it’s a boat of bullshit here too. Recruiters, have the common (and ethical) sense to tell your client that disqualifying unemployed people is probably a very bad idea. Do you want to be that company or that recruiter? You reap what you sow, folks. If you aren’t willing to help people, and choose to hide behind policies and bureaucracy, don’t tweet your tears when you’re unemployed and nobody wants to help you.

Thank you to the recruiters, hiring managers, and others who understand that for many of us, unemployment wasn’t a choice or something that came about due to bad performance. It’s good to know that there are plenty of good people out there who are willing to help those in their time of need.