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Do you know anyone in around their 40s that can't keep a job?

nightfly

Member
Anyone know anyone like this? Like always gets into arguments with their bosses/co workers and just can't keep even a job at fast food places even being 40+?
 

gothmog

Gold Member
I do. He gets fired less frequently than when he was younger. He comes off as a smart but undereducated man and that attitude only gets worse as his bosses get younger.
 

Happosai

Hold onto your panties
Plenty of people. Few are in modern society are willing to respect workplace hierarchies and/or chain of command. I had admin roles when I was only 19-years old and really let it get to my head. I stepped down, went back to school, restarted entry level marketing and climbed back up as a follower over the last 15-years. I respect the role because I let myself be disciplined, enabled growth, endured constructive criticism and was willing to integrate to a director role while not diminishing those beneath. I'm not quite 40 just yet.

On the other hand, I have a hand in overseeing new hire KPIs and recruiting. Some of the LinkedIn profiles we audit have a great education but have a string of 3 or 4 jobs they hop in and out of with less-than 6-months tenure at one. That's one early warning and some of these really embellish their profiles too. Yet, they're not team players, refuse criticism, cry to H.R. if they get docked a bonus for sanctioning and tend to walk out after a few months or less than a year. Many of them in their 30s, 40s or older too.
 

JCK75

Member
Yeah I have a friend from high school who's older than me by a year or two so I think that makes him about 49 or 50.. still goes from minimum wage job to minimum wage job.. back in his 20s I had to help him do his taxes one year and I shit you not he had 83 W2's
 

PSYGN

Member
My wife's brother is that way. He does gig jobs like uber and stuff nowadays, that seems to be his best bet at consistency.
 
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nush

Member
Some of the LinkedIn profiles we audit have a great education but have a string of 3 or 4 jobs they hop in and out of with less-than 6-months tenure at one.

My company hired someone like that. I suspected after the first phone call with him of about 20 minutes what I'd see on his linkedin. Yup.

He lasted 5 months. One of those twats that can run their mouth get put into high positions and can't deliver.
 

Happosai

Hold onto your panties
My company hired someone like that. I suspected after the first phone call with him of about 20 minutes what I'd see on his linkedin. Yup.

He lasted 5 months. One of those twats that can run their mouth get put into high positions and can't deliver.
When I was a manager the former director's would look at me like, "you never know. That one could be our underdog..." Then, they end up either walking out after their first infraction and pushing our recruiting to shuffle for a bsckfill. Glad I'm directing now. Yet, there's always one like that who slips through the cracks. I've got a supervisor now who came off presumptuous about climbing the ladder 6-months in, 9-months in multiple nc/ns' because "had to stop at the gym." He's on suspension now...
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
A family member of mine. She was a secretary for over 15 years. She worked for 3 different companies. For years she always thought her employees were out to get her. I didn’t question it until she got fired for sending an email to both branches of a law firm. She didn’t know what she was doing. Even worse she didn’t know how to make a header or envelope labels in Word. I was surprised as I thought most secretaries knew these kind of things. I had her watch a video series on MS Office and she started another job. She would call me and ask me how to do things in Excel and Word. It was odd cause most secretaries I know wouldn’t bat an eye if you told them to add a logo to a Word document. Over 15 years and she never taught herself basic Office skills. She worked for a short time after and proceeded to cash in on social security. She didn’t bother with honing in on those skill sets and I guess she doesn’t care either. It’s just shocking how she didn’t pick up on anything. I deal with secretaries quite often and they’re the ones creating emails, documents, and sometimes acting on behalf of their superior.
 
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nush

Member
When I was a manager the former director's would look at me like, "you never know. That one could be our underdog..." Then, they end up either walking out after their first infraction and pushing our recruiting to shuffle for a bsckfill. Glad I'm directing now. Yet, there's always one like that who slips through the cracks. I've got a supervisor now who came off presumptuous about climbing the ladder 6-months in, 9-months in multiple nc/ns' because "had to stop at the gym." He's on suspension now...

This guy I referenced here ended up walking out when he wasn't given 100% free reign over the company and then threatened the company owner that if he ever set foot in China again he'd arrange for him to be abducted. Despite being a fat, white, 40's British guy and ex-pat stereotype.
 

Batiman

Banned
I grew with a couple friends that just never want to work. Straight bum mentality. Always faking injuries at work just to play video games all day and smoke weed. His whole family is like that. He’s a good a guy and all but just never wants to be at work. Well most people don’t but he’s worse.

My place will never fire him though because he always has doc notes and whatever. His brothers are way worse than him. They probably had at least 50 jobs in their life . I dunno man some people just can’t work.

So he collects short term almost every year. He somehow has money for a ps5, rent, weed and food. This is an example I use when people say life is so hard. Life is only hard when you have ambitions for yourself and your children
 

Sakura

Member
My uncle. He also refuses to work any lower paying jobs because he thinks too highly of himself and now he's been unemployed for a few months.
 

Happosai

Hold onto your panties
This guy I referenced here ended up walking out when he wasn't given 100% free reign over the company and then threatened the company owner that if he ever set foot in China again he'd arrange for him to be abducted. Despite being a fat, white, 40's British guy and ex-pat stereotype.
Oh, we've had some interesting ones who didn't go down quietly. I remember this guy who passed internship and suddenly...he doesn't remember how to use the company software. He'd flip out, hit his computer and say, "I've got my lawyer, so don't even think about writing me up again." He got sanctioned for insubordination and retaliation a week later. I got a text from him which pathetically read, "I've got 3 pitbulls and if you were at my place, I'd sic em on you." He ended up getting fired after a fellow manager caught a sexual harassment complaint. He was hitting on a 20-year old new intern and this guy was like 53 but pervin in the workplace.

I only have the one now but anytime a new team joins, I have to oversee the projects. I'm not as close to the intern ops which at least has made my org less chaotic.
 

Hoddi

Member
Yep, I have this old friend who is an actual compulsive liar but is also a really good talker. He just lies on his resumes and then tells his friends how he's about to be promoted to executive positions after a few weeks. I've never known him to last more than a few months.

Last time I heard from him he told me that he had just had his heart catheterized. I'm so used to his bullshit that I just chuckled and he didn't even notice it.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Yup. Gets fired from each job every 2-3 years. Known the guy for 20 years. Been fired from every job except one.

At the beginning all of us were like, "Ah shit, he got burned with a bad boss and got fired". But when a guy is fired for the 5th time in 6 jobs, all of us who know him are like "He's a good guy and our buddy, but I don't think it's bad bosses anymore" when the rest of us have been fired or laid off no more than once. And some of us none. And we all work in the same kinds of companies.

He'll always claim it's a bad boss and out to get him. Grapevine talk says behind closed door meetings, he's a dick bickering back and forth with bosses. That's a big no-no. A surefire way to get axed.
 
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KrakenIPA

Member
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IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Yep. Wouldn't say we're friends, but I know him and he must be 40 or at least approaching 40 now. In 2008 we worked in the same technical support contact centre. Since then I know he's probably worked in 5 different contact centre roles across my city. Last week I saw he started a job in my company in another entry level contact centre role. Maybe he just likes the contact centre life as it's full of young people and he still acts like he's in his early 20s, or maybe he just hasn't found the right employer yet that has given him a chance to grow.
 

BadBurger

Is 'That Pure Potato'
My best friend, I love him to death, has a habit of getting a new job, rapidly rising in the ranks, then leaving after about a year over what I consider petty or unchangeable reasons. What can I say, he's a rebel.
 
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thief183

Member
Yea me, I hate the idea of having a fixed job and so I change it every 5 years, no matter what no matter my position, my actual boss even know about this and he is raising the wage to keep me here :)))
 

Billbofet

Member
My sister.
Somehow lands job after job teaching, only to always be fired within months. What blows my mind is she always convinces my mom it was someone else's fault, and I am talking 25-30 jobs at this point.
Another head scratcher to me is none of these schools taking even a moment to check her references and realizing she is a liability day one.
 

MudoSkills

Volcano High Alumnus (Cum Laude)
It's amazing how far some people get in life without having the 'maybe I'm the arsehole' conversation with themselves.

I've moved around a lot but it's relatively normal in my industry (8 places in 14 years). Only once was I desperate to get away from somewhere because I fell out with my boss, and got myself in a sticky situation.

If it happens every time, that's definitely a you problem.
 
I've been paid by 6 companies my entire working life, I can't imagine living like this. 8 years on with my trucking company, and I'll likely retire from them.
 

Thaedolus

Member
Does not even trying to get a job and still living with our parents count? Because I got a sister in that category
 
Up until I was thirty I went from job to job lasting barely a year in each job, sometimes less due to struggling with mental health issues that have plagued me since a child. After high school I went to college to better myself multiple times getting distinctions and merits etc but led to nothing unfortunately.

Then at thirty I went to college to study Forestry and Aboriculture and took to it like a duck to water. After collage I obtained the necessary licences and spent seven years in the game.

Both my parents passed away sadly during that time and left me separate estates, so I retired and moved away August 2018. I liked aspects of the job but eventually the stress was grinding me down.
 

Ownage

Member
Yup - dunno how you have 20 yrs exp, and cant get hired for a senior role, or intermediate role even
Hard to manage, may not want the responsibility which comes with the work, or it may be ageism. Or, most likely, a combination of all of the above.
 

BossLackey

Gold Member
Yeah, I definitely know people like that.

There are a ton of reasons why, but I know some people just cannot accept direct authority over them.
 
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