An acquaintance called, said "I have a friend who really needs a job can you oblige?" I said sure and proceeded to give up a lunch to interview a very interesting young woman who's life is kind of a, well, I guess, mess would suffice. I did not hire her because I think it is bad form to be asked for a payroll advance during the interview. I kid you not.
It got me thinking about the scope and ease with which life messes can occur a how, all things considered I've managed, as have my kids, to avoid most of the pitfalls of modern society, drug use, excessive personal debt and not having a place to call home. The party in question suffers from all of these maladies and does so either because she continually opted for the easy way out, or more likely does not pay enough attention to her own well being.
I can hear the left wing, go crazy to suggest that just because someone smokes dope at 9:00 am, couch surfs and uses hotmail as a fixed address, that I should not give such a person a job and entrust them with a hundred thousand dollars worth of delivery truck. After all, just because you go to an interview stoned doesn't make you a bad person does it?
I believe the cure for poverty is a job and that the self respect gained by earning a steady paycheque far out weights the effort required to earn it. But not all would agree apparently.
You can hear it in the tone of voice, blame chats; now I am pretty sure that not all police or doctors are bad people but to hear this through a filter of three hours since getting high it's easy to understand why some people are functionally unemployable.
It's nice that the interviewee has a friend willing to help steer her in the right direction but it's unfortunate that the young lady cannot see that the help being offered is not something she was entitled to, rather was a gift.
When I told the acquaintance about the interviewee being stoned and telling me some rather outrageous stories of recent adventures at Diamonds Gentleman's Club, the acquaintance was mildly shocked.
Shocked but evidently not surprised.
In a tight labour market there is a temptation to look the other way when it comes to things like behaviour, drug use or attitude, often we are just glad to have a bum in the seat despite the fact we often end up with bums in seats and no more.
I do my part to help those who need a hand up, but always draw the line at a hand out. I'm wiling to hire a labourer who can pass a drug test even if that person needs to be taught which end of the shovel goes in the ground. Hire character because you can teach skill.
But sadly the lesson seems to be lost on many people that it is better to HAVE character than BE one.
