Did you ever experience ageism?

PeppermintPatty said:
No! I donā€™t tell people how old I am and they should know better not to ask
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I don't know about where you live, but here every time I am in contact with the medical care system as a patient, they ask for your date of birth and your full name, to make sure who you are, and to be sure you are getting the right treatment or medicine. I have NO problem with that safety measure, at all. Your age is not a secret.

Those who are called for Ontario Provincial jury duties are normally sent home if their age is above 70, or if they state that they cannot hear or see properly. Its not a matter of their age, its their ability to see and hear and take in the evidence that will be presented in the court room. I have no problem with selecting jurors who are capable. JimB.
 

People are over kind to me. Not complaining. When/if it turns to condescension I'll put a stop to it, immediately.
 
George1959 said:
According to Mail Online ageism is "the most common form of discrimination in the UK".
We need to change the way we think about ageing: here's how
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absolutely correct...

''advertising sells us ways to defy the ageing process rather than embrace it. Older people are underrepresented in ads, and when they are featured it's often to sell products linked to death and decline, such as funeral plans.''

I've never been told I can't have a job because of my age because that's against the law here, but they get around it other wayss when they think you're too old.

The one thing I have noticed very much is how I'm ignored in shops where you have to buy things directly over the counter.. like a bakers shop , or something similar where it's not a checkout.. for example... and there's a queue, and they'll rotinely serve people before me who are after me..

Drives me nuts.....
 
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jimintoronto said:
I don't know about where you live, but here every time I am in contact with the medical care system as a patient, they ask for your date of birth and your full name, to make sure who you are, and to be sure you are getting the right treatment or medicine. I have NO problem with that safety measure, at all. Your age is not a secret.

Those who are called for Ontario Provincial jury duties are normally sent home if their age is above 70, or if they state that they cannot hear or see properly. Its not a matter of their age, its their ability to see and hear and take in the evidence that will be presented in the court room. I have no problem with selecting jurors who are capable. JimB.
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I know all that Jim. I was just joking
Of course officials need your age. Any type of government service needs your age.
Whenever I call to get doctors services, I supply my identification which has my date on it. I have zero issues with it.

I was, more or less, referring to people who ask who shouldnā€™t ask. Friends and acquaintances donā€™t need to know your age. That can be a secret if need be.

Jury duty Iā€™ve never done so hadnā€™t thought of that but youā€™re right.
 
No but I was accused of ageisam not to long ago by a cashier at Kohls.

I was buying some shirts and she rang one up twice so I told her, she starts arguing with me that she didn't. I say it shows right here on the credit card screen, she looks back and sees the mistake but had to get a manager to remove it. Then she tells the manager that she would have caught the mistake at the end but because "I'm an old lady he doesn't think I know what I'm doing".

Which made me laugh so I had to point out we are probably about the same age.
 
PeppermintPatty said:
No! I donā€™t tell people how old I am and they should know better not to ask
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That's OK to do, but I'm the complete opposite. My mother never told her age. I thought it was weird. I didn't know how old she was until I saw a copy of my birth certificate, she was 36 when I was born so I just added my age. I'll tell anyone my age, I don't care.
 
C50 said:
No but I was accused of ageisam not to long ago by a cashier at Kohls.

I was buying some shirts and she rang one up twice so I told her, she starts arguing with me that she didn't. I say it shows right here on the credit card screen, she looks back and sees the mistake but had to get a manager to remove it. Then she tells the manager that she would have caught the mistake at the end but because "I'm an old lady he doesn't think I know what I'm doing".

Which made me laugh so I had to point out we are probably about the same age.
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well in a way it was a backhanded compliment, meaning she thought you were much younger
 
It definitely occurs in hiring and promotion, though the trend may now be flipping. Until recently younger workers were favored as cheaper, now there is a growing labor shortage of reliable workers and a rediscovered value of life and work experience.
 
C50 said:
No but I was accused of ageisam not to long ago by a cashier at Kohls.

I was buying some shirts and she rang one up twice so I told her, she starts arguing with me that she didn't. I say it shows right here on the credit card screen, she looks back and sees the mistake but had to get a manager to remove it. Then she tells the manager that she would have caught the mistake at the end but because "I'm an old lady he doesn't think I know what I'm doing".

Which made me laugh so I had to point out we are probably about the same age.
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That sounds like someone who can't be wrong. And those people are people you don't want to deal with.

I had this happen once at a store. I was over charged. I was right, but the b. never admitted it or apologized. Just gave me the change I was due. But practically threw it at me and glared.
 
When I went to CA in 1997 to marry my now late husband, I looked for a job. My next door neighbor was the head secretary for the school district and she told me there was a job opening so I got an interview. I was 50 at the time and had lots of office/finance experience so I was confident about getting that job. Well, I didn't. My neighbor told me they hired some young girl and the thing that made me laugh was she only lasted a few months. She didn't show up for work half the time and when she did, she didn't do her job. She was good looking and young. That's the only thing that got her the job.

I actually got a job with a medical billing company that ONLY hired "mature" women. They said they didn't want to put up with girls being off with cramps or having babies or just not showing up. It was one of the best jobs I ever had. They took us on cruises. We went to Disneyland. Just a lot of perks that I'm sure the school district wouldn't have offered. It worked out for the best for me.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
I think agism may happen when one is between 50-65+. Once you retire, you're not in competition any longer.
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I agree, I think it is a real problem for older job seekers. I can see a valid argument for not hiring someone 60+, because a lot of jobs take years to become truly competent, and even though young workers are more likely to change jobs, I'd guess a higher percentage of them would be around ten years later than 60 yr olds would.
 
Yes. Laid off at 50 years old at one job and then, surprise, surprise, laid off at 60 years old, at another job. I was so stressed!!! I could not believe it!! I thought God was playing a joke on me! And I could not afford to retire at 60 and I had to find someone who would take me on. I worked in educational institutions all my life, so I finally got a temping job at a college (which turned out full time for the last 2 years) and retired at 67. My replacements at both jobs were brand new employees who looked about 25 years old, more or less.
 
I've told this one before...

Me at the Thrift Store cash-

Young Clerk: "Discount sir?"

Me (big smile across my face): "Sure! I'll take a discount!"

Young Clerk: "You're over 65 right?"

Me (deflating like an old party balloon): "Er...actually I'm 57."

It wasn't ageism per say, but dang I wasn't sure if I was going to laugh or cry!
 
Some of the media biases preferring or focused on younger people are quite understandable due marketing and physical attractiveness. I'll address what I experienced here in Silicon Valley hi tech with employment.

There have always been well known reasons younger people were preferred for many jobs like less company medical insurance costs, lower wages due to less experience, easier to force working overtime, sometimes a better social fit if other young workers, and a perception most younger workers are innately mentally sharper.

But after the rise of the Internet, corporate bean counters conspired with Ivy League universities to hire their trained Human Resources managers that would then instruct their teams to only allow interviews for publicly posted jobs via online resume submittals. In doing so, experienced persons could no longer receive face to face interviews with hiring managers simply by walking in the door of corporate offices as had been done for decades.

That allowed HR departments to just toss any resumes from experienced people without worrying about being legally exposed for discrimination that would be difficult to legally prove.

Accordingly by 1990, many of we highly skilled and experienced people were being blocked by the Wall Street bean counters that instead had their HR people hire cheaper recently college educated or H1-B foreigners while keeping around just a few high salary gurus that they would force to train these low to no experienced people.

Additionally, the HR heads would craft up job descriptions with college degree education requirements only someone recently in school might have because the courses were so new in whatever fields. Despite the fact there would be perfectly skilled older workers that instead had those skills from on the job experience.

Yet another reason I have a low opinion of Wall Street.
 
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Ageism is subtle but pervasive. I have seen young new hires treated preferentially on the job to people who have worked there their entire careers. The assumption seems to be that the young have the latest training, and that the latest is inherently the best, trumping experience. The young are energetic, can be paid at the starting point on the pay scale, and besides, are easy on the eyesā€¦

Itā€™s easy to experience ageism on the internet. Go onto other forums and especially ā€œchatā€œ sites, and you may immediately be badgered by the A/S/L question before other people will even interact with you; some sites are essentially ā€œmeat marketsā€ filled with roving people on the prowl, little better than ā€œhook upā€ sites. They define and categorize you by your age; forget about the quality of your ideas or thought. If you are middle aged or older, you are worthless to those who frequent such locationsā€¦
 
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