At one of my first training days at the library, someone told us a story about a man who needed some help filling out a job application on the computer. The staff member helped him find the application he needed, then moved on to another customer. When he came back, the man had filled in the application on the screen with a Sharpie marker.
Most everyone in the room laughed, as if it were simply a funny, instructional customer service anecdote. I didn’t. I couldn’t. I felt my chest constrict. All I could think about was this man who’d been in manufacturing for his entire life, who knew his business, and was respected for it, now reduced to this. Bumbling around on a machine that he never thought he would need to understand. Watching kids, teens, punks tapping keys, hitting buttons, weaving a mysterious brand of magic that means nothing to him…
Today, a beautiful elderly couple came in. They asked for information on filing for unemployment. He was laid off last Friday, after 30 years of work with the same company. She was outgoing and articulate, the kind of person who gets things done. He was quiet and deferential, someone you instantly feel at home with. They both were intelligent, sociable, and not about to let this get them down. After a bit of a tech battle, they filed their online application. These noble folks obviously are far beyond many others in terms of capability to deal with life.
But still… my heart ached. This should not be happening. This is not right. So many people are drowning in the same sea right now, all clinging to splinters of life rafts, all struggling to stay afloat. I think of this, as I sit here, in my comfortable job that I love, as I think of my children, and how I cannot be there to tuck them in tonight.
But I have it good. So good.
Update 3/21/11: This same couple came into the library last week and made a point to come and let me know that he was offered his old job back!!!! I could have cried I was so happy for them.
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