Wanted: One Magic Wand
One of my Bangladeshi-born neighbours stopped to talk to me as I was on my way home a couple of evenings ago. After exchanging how-are-yous, he said something about a job. I thought he'd finally managed to get a job, but after a couple of go rounds he managed to make it clear that he was asking me if I knew of any openings and if I could let him know if I heard of anything. It wasn't an entirely comfortable conversation.
I'm not sure what bugged me about it. The fact that I'm much younger than he is? Knowing that I won't be able to help much? It's obvious the guy is getting desperate for a job, but as demonstrated above, I think his English might be a problem. Not that you need much if you're going for security guard work or similar, but you still need some.
The other thing is that (some of) the Bangladeshis, including this jobseeker, think that if you've been to university, you're some kind of superior being. Both Wingnut and me are presumed to come from "good families" on the basis of this. There was an air of that around this conversation. I should be used to it as it's merely a variation on how some people react when they learn how many languages I speak (not that many, really). Instead, the more time goes by, the more this kind of thing bothers me.
I'm probably over-analysing this, but I'm a bit sad for him. He's long-term unemployed in an area which has relatively high unemployment and I don't rate his chances.
I'm not sure what bugged me about it. The fact that I'm much younger than he is? Knowing that I won't be able to help much? It's obvious the guy is getting desperate for a job, but as demonstrated above, I think his English might be a problem. Not that you need much if you're going for security guard work or similar, but you still need some.
The other thing is that (some of) the Bangladeshis, including this jobseeker, think that if you've been to university, you're some kind of superior being. Both Wingnut and me are presumed to come from "good families" on the basis of this. There was an air of that around this conversation. I should be used to it as it's merely a variation on how some people react when they learn how many languages I speak (not that many, really). Instead, the more time goes by, the more this kind of thing bothers me.
I'm probably over-analysing this, but I'm a bit sad for him. He's long-term unemployed in an area which has relatively high unemployment and I don't rate his chances.