*This letter was spurred by a depressing day of job-hunting. I became angry and depressed at my lack of options and my increasing feelings of hopelessness and I needed to let out everything that had been building up inside of me, even if it was just by writing a letter than no one would read. Thus, this began as a hypothetical angry letter to all the employers who I felt never gave me a fair chance... then it turned into a more general rant about the sick and twisted dynamic that exists between companies and employees/potential employees. Maybe someone will stumble on this and derive some catharsis from these words I have written. Or maybe it will linger unwritten. In any case...
Dear No Longer Potential Employer;
I am writing this letter to you today to thank you for the “chance” to work for you. I sincerely hope that you found the perfect candidate for your position since you have so readily chosen to dismiss a qualified and competent candidate such as myself.
I have so much to offer, so much I want to give in terms of my time, skills, intelligence, and dedication, yet you, like so many others, have (seemingly arbitrarily) chosen to dismiss me, to write off my potential, and I am left a person (yeah, we peons are actually people) with no place in this world, with much to give, but with apparently nothing anyone wants. You continually choose people who are under-qualified, unskilled, unknowledgeable, and flat-out incompetent. I know this, because I’ve seen it in so many of the people that you and others of your ilk choose to employ. It seems that no matter what I do- no matter how many times I overhaul my resume or rewrite my cover letter- you always choose vapid, mediocre candidates whose qualifications are akin to mere window-dressing on an otherwise vacant house.
I am not denying that your position gives you the “right” to make whatever decisions you choose in terms of who you employ, but I cannot help expressing my anger and frustration at your omnipotence and the power it gives you to brand me as worthless, as someone to be relegated to the dust bin of society. Do you realize that I will soon be without a place to live? Do you realize that I can’t afford to eat or maintain my health as I ought to? No you don’t, because clearly if you did you wouldn’t look down your nose at me if my interview clothes are a little worn or my lack of a salon-perfect hairstyle and expensive handbag. When a person can’t afford to buy a gallon of milk, do you honestly expect that they’ll be able to maintain your ideal image for a job that they don’t even know you’ll give them? Do you? Food for thought as you sit in your Lexus during rush hour tonight.
You can write me off as a disgruntled “kid” (I’m 26!) who likes to whine about all the injustice in this world while still being relatively privileged, and I won’t dispute that I am luckier than a great many people, but I write this letter not only on my behalf, but on the behalf of others whom you have marginalized and kicked aside for petty and often arbitrary reasons. I write this letter for those who have families to support, for those who are dangerously close to living on the street, for those who are not just going without food, but are starving. I write this letter for those who are sick and can’t even afford to go to a doctor. I write this letter on behalf of all those who have struggled to live. I write this letter for all those who must take soul-crushing, spirit-stealing, time-wasting, abusive, low-wage jobs in order to eke out some semblance of an existence only so that they can come back the next day and churn out profits to feed your selfish extravagances.
You complain about the “welfare queens”, the people on government assistance, the unemployed. Those whom you see (despite reality being much different) as sucking our economy dry, as lazy good-for-nothing human beings who do nothing but lie around in front of the TV eating Cheetos for 15 hours a day and expect the rest of society to take care of them. You say poverty is one’s own fault, for not working hard enough, for not being smart enough. You say people make their own problems and should take responsibility. You think that this absolves you of any responsibility. Well I’m here to tell you that the only way that people can take care of themselves is if they have the means to do it. In this society that means securing gainful, steady employment for a wage that a person and their family can realistically live on, and yet you so callously turn up your nose at these people, hold the golden carrot every farther away, and then turn around and complain.
I have news for you: you may think you are in power, and indeed right now you are, but when you marginalize, abuse, and dismiss an ever-increasing group of people, you are putting yourself in a dangerous position. It has been proven throughout history, that the less people have to lose, the more likely it is that they will rise up and fight. You can kick aside me and everyone else, but you are creating a group of desperate, angry, hopeless, marginalized human beings, that when left with no options and nowhere to turn, will not be afraid to band together and take action against those who have put them in that position. We will make our problems your problems and we will resort to forcefully pulling your head out of the sand if we must. It is only a matter of time. Are you prepared to face the repercussions? We are like caged animals and you are poking us with sharp sticks- it is only a matter of time before even the most complacent among us will lash out with a fiery viciousness. I know. I used to be one of the complacent. And I was the sweet, even-tempered animal who kept getting kicked around. Now spurred by my anger and the seemingly hopeless nature of my situation, I will lash out with vitriol and rage. How dare you deny me?! How dare you say I have nothing to give? How dare you make me feel a worthless human being? I am not! Nobody is, and I am using the little I have left to make that abundantly clear.
In conclusion, fuck you and fuck your company.
But please do not hesitate to contact me regarding future job opportunities.
Sincerely,
AnonaGirl
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