Buddy, You’re Next

If you haven’t seen the movie Logan’s Run, a sci-fi film released in 1976, I suggest you rent it. It’s a hoot.

It stars one of my favorite English actors, Michael York. It was also billed as Farrah Fawcett’s first major film role. Though as I recall, she had about three lines before she and her hairdo were blown to bits.

Many are the reasons to watch it: it’s awesomely cheesy special effects (compared to today’s CGI extravaganzas), drapey, barely there ‘70s-era fashions, and prescient messages.

In what way was it prescient? Well, for starters, it presaged Tinder. (The movie is set in the 23rd century.) Specifically, the Michael York character meets his leading lady via some sort of hook-up service in which if a person were feeling a bit lonely or horny he or she just dialed up a partner (a stranger) for the evening. Don’t remember clearly how this happened, but it was something like when one of the Star Trek characters was beamed down to another planet. All very convenient, like having takeout delivered to your door.

That isn’t what makes this movie relevant to today, however. What does is the movie’s basic plot, which is that all people in this futuristic society must die by age 30. They are exterminated, in fact. Some people rebel, and they are chased and caught.

Why do I cite this movie? What relevance does it have to today’s society? Because every time I read an article about how older workers are disappearing from the workforce, whenever I hear former colleagues my age tell me no company will hire them; each time I get a rejection email, I’m reminded of Logan’s Run.

Oh, no, we’re not killing people over age 55, at least not overtly. Instead, companies are terminating older workers through layoffs, indirectly and slowly killing them by denying them access to employer-sponsored or affordable health care. How many unemployed workers who have exhausted unemployment benefits can pay for COBRA or even premiums (and those high deductibles—ouch!) under Obamacare? Not many. I should know; I’ll be one of them soon.

Without health care, older, unemployed workers forgo routine tests that could possibly detect and treat a serious illness at an early stage. So I do believe that by laying off older workers in droves, companies are condemning them to a premature death. But don’t take my word for it; it’s been proven.

I’m also reminded of Logan’s Run whenever I enter an office for a job interview; when I’m greeted by a sea of dewy faces yet to crack their 35th birthday. Seriously, if a recent college grad cannot find a job, it’s because he or she isn’t really trying, prefers to work part-time, or has a trust fund.

The reasons are pretty obvious: Employers covet young people for their (supposed) tech skills and low salaries.

It’s not only obvious in companies’ hiring practices, but their lay-off policies as well. At my former former workplace, anyone who had been there 10 years or more was laid off. At my former workplace, five of us were laid off; four were over 50. What does that tell you?

It tells you that when upper management decides to cut salaries and expenses, they target older, veteran employees who are mostly likely pulling down a fairly high salary (or whatever they deem a too-high salary). Therefore, it’s out with the “expensive” old and in with the “cheap” new.

I not only saw this happen to former colleagues, but I was personally a victim of this shameful practice. When I was let go from my former former workplace after 16-plus years, I was essentially replaced by a younger colleague (who later plagiarized my work).

Even more recently, a former boss at my former former workplace was laid off after being with the company for over 25 years. Now, I didn’t like the guy; he was a total douchebag who was personally behind a lot of layoffs (including mine). Personal feelings aside, however, this was a man who worked for that godforsaken place for over 25 years. He conceived and launched the best and most successful product in the company’s history (though that’s not saying much considering the mediocre output of that horrid place). Like me, he was maneuvered out of the company by a younger colleague (a nasty boozy bitch) who wanted him gone.

So anyone who doesn’t think U.S. companies are dumping older workers is simply not paying attention.

Know who else should really be paying attention? It’s the 40- or 50-something middle managers that interview me for jobs. Every time they walk into the room, I can see it in their faces: “Oh, no, we can’t hire her. She’s too old. She’ll want too much money.”

I’m not angry with them for thinking this way. But I am a bit bemused and befuddled by their attitude.

What makes them think they are immune to the same fate as so many others? Oh, no, they are too competent and smart, they smirk to themselves. They’ve been with the company for so long. They are too vital to its operations. “I would never be laid off,” they must smugly think to themselves.

Oh, you think that, do you? Well, I’m here to tell you are wrong, wrong, wrong! Only a delusional fool or a class A narcissist would think like that.

What makes you think you are so special? When a company decides it must cut expenses, the first place it looks at is salaries. No matter how good an employee you are, no matter how many years you have toiled for a company, if you have a higher salary, you will be cut and replaced by a younger, cheaper worker. Just like that. With no warning. It has nothing to do with you; it’s all about the bottom line. Shockingly swift is your descent from valued employee to corporate refuse.

What makes me even angrier is that this is clearly and blatantly age discrimination. Companies are not even trying to hide it. Why should they? What do they have to fear? No government agency is doing anything to stop it, and it’s rarely mentioned except in a few news articles. Companies can always argue that an older worker’s production is no longer up to snuff, or that an older applicant didn’t have the right skills. Age discrimination suits are notoriously hard to prove.

What of the young people? To them I say this: Enjoy your career while you can. Stuff your 401(k) or IRA with as much coin as you can, while you can. Because you see, your work life has an expiration date. It’s about, I’d say, age 55, or thereabouts. Oh, sure, you'll live to 89, but your work life ends at 55. Good luck funding that retirement.

Your employer may adore you and your cut-rate salary now. But what happens when you start to move up the corporate ladder and demand a higher wage so you can get married, buy a house, start a family, and finally pay off those student loans for chrissakes. Or when you want enough earnings so you can send your kids to college. Just when all your hard work and experience is paying off, when you finally know what you are doing in your chosen profession, and maybe, just maybe you can enjoy a comfortable life…you will be taken into a room and told to clean out your desk and leave. You will be trashed to the dustbin and replaced by the next wave of 22-year-olds that have the tech skills employers covet and who are willing to work for a measly salary.

So to all those young people who are taking jobs I could easily do with a hand tied behind my back, or those middle-aged middle managers that routinely reject me for employment, I say this:

Buddy, you’re next.