BUZZURRO

Today I used my American bought software called Resume Maker to help make my resume. I ended up making 2. It was so nice to make a resume without having to list place of birth, nationality, sex (it was obvious in the words I used, americanO for a male, and americanA for a female) marital status, and the dreaded Date of Birth which shows my age.

As I have mentioned in other posts. Age discrimination is the norm in Italy. Most jobs list a maximum age, and if you are older than it, you need to look elsewhere for employment.
Today as I wrote my resumes WITHOUT listing my age, I was smiling because I knew in the US I would avoid the humiliation I endured due to the maximum age last summer.

Let me explain what happened.. In April I left a resume (CV) at a large supermarket. After months of not finding an office job I thought I should try a supermarket. I used to be a cashier, so I left my CV at the desk.
At home that day I looked up the supermarket’s website, and saw the dreaded age maximum for cashiers was 34. I was 36 at the time. “Oh well” I thought unhappily. “That’s another job in Italy that I am considered too old to do.”

2 months later I received a phone call from a third society telling me that the supermarket that I applied at is hiring and would like to interview me. Remembering what the website said, I asked “Hiring for what position ?” The response was “Mainly cashiers, but other positions too. I don’t know what they all are.” So when the representative told me their address and what time I should go for the interview, I went.
When I got there I found a room full of people. Some were young, but at least 1 man looked older than me.

For the next hour I filled out all kinds of paperwork. Then the representative started calling for individual interviews.
She was sitting at a desk. She called my name. I went to her.
I saw that she had nothing but a copy of my resume on her desk, as I handed her the rest of the paperwork as I saw all the others ahead of me do.

She looks at the paperwork I gave her and then says in an irritated voice “You are 36 years old. You have to be under 34 to be a cashier. We are hiring for cashiers! You are too old!” as if I was a complete idiot who only wanted to waste her time. Of course she being a little upset at my ‘inconviencing’ her, she spoke in a very loud voice. Everyone in the room turned their heads to look at us, the interviewer and the 36 year old hag who didn’t make the cut.

I was mad. Humiliated and mad. I replied in a loud voice too, “Well, YOU called ME ! You had my CV in front of you. You knew how old I was. When I called this office they said that they were hiring for several positions, not just cashiers, so I’m sorry if I’m too old but YOU called ME !”
After my little discorso (speech), the representative quieted down and said “Well, maybe there will be other positions available. Who knows ? But for now, this interview is done.”

To make a long story finally over, I did not get the job. I repeat, it is SO NICE to not have to list my age on my resume. (CV)

J.Doe ed io ci trasferiremo negli Stati Uniti entro poche settimane.

In un altro post, tratteremo piu’ in dettaglio delle motivazioni che ci hanno spinto a questa decisione.

Per il momento, diciamo che ci stiamo trasferendo li’ allo scopo di migliorare la nostra vita.

Invece di fare come tanti, che si lamentano, e basta, delle cose che non vanno nella loro vita quotidiana, noi cerchiamo di cambiarla in meglio.

Quindi, tra un po’, i post del blog Buzzurro verranno sparati non dall’Italia, dove siamo attualmente, ma dagli Stati Uniti.

Ciao ciao

Now in English:

J.Doe and I are moving to the United States in a few weeks.

We will discuss more extensively the reasons of this choice.

Now I will just say that our move is aimed at improving our life.

We are not acting like many who just complain about things that don’t work in their lives, without doing a thing, instead we try to improve ours.

So, in a short time, Buzzurro’s blog posts will be published not from Italy, where we currently are, but from the U.S.

Ciao ciao