-> DB> -> I agree we are all interdependant. Unfortunately life IS very
-> DB> cruel.
->
-> DB> No Don, Life is not cruel in the process...it is the participants
-> DB> who make it so.
->
-> Obviously you don't watch any of the nature programs on the Learning
-> Channel or Discovery.  I believe it is called "Natural Selection!"
-> :)
What you are viewing and personally discerning in nature is not
necessarily what actually is happening, Don.  Nature is about the
business of developing ever-better & efficient forms of expression.
Animals are innocent; they do not consciously practice cruelty among
their group, they do what is necessary, automatically, according to the
instinctual impulse within.  Humans are a large step removed.  We
possess a mental capacity for abstract detachment to view what we do and
even why we do it.  We make conscious choices/decisions animals cannot
even conceive of.  For humans, there IS true cruelty because humans can
deliberately & insidiously work to hurt just because it is available to
do so.
-> economics. Administrative Assistants have a difficult time finding
-> regular employment as it stands. Do you really think there's a
-> consistent need for an assistant from outsourcing when there's an
-> extensive learning process just to get someone broken in and up to
-> speed with the corporation's needs. Fer crying out loud, market your
-> skills where they are needed or attain new ones.
Don, there is EVER a need for admin assistants; I do not know how you
can suppose otherwise. We are the clerical staff that actually does the
work to keep things flowing.  There may be some superficial arrangement
of duties a specific company/dept might desire, but the duties
themselves of an admin assistant are largely the same no matter where
you go. You must be computer-literate with several word-processing,
spreadsheet and database software packages [which I have] and handle a
variety of tasks at once, smoothly [which I can].
It all seems so "cut and dried" with you, Don--you acquire skills, go to
employers/agencies who have a need of your skills and expect to go out
to work.  It does not seem to occur to you that those employers/agencies
might harbour an irrational image of what a worker in a kind of industry
ought to be and how they ought to appear.  Perhaps if you had you would
have more empathy and insight.  I ENJOY working as an admin assistant
when I have opportunity; I feel I am making a necessary contribution,
that I am a needed part of a team.  I can earn a dignified payrate and
express myself.  This is [presently] what I wish to do and I cannot
allow narrow-minded employers/agency coordinators to arbitrarily deny me
opportunity.  Nor will I countenance another's ignorance, someone who
may not have experienced discrimination/bigotry without recourse, to
make light of my circumstances.  Do not downplay what you have not
actually lived out, Don.  There was once an act called Affirmative
Action, Don.  It was eventually done away with, but because it arose at
all might suggest that circumstances are not equal for all at the
workplace [and more], though all come with equal preparation.  To tell
you this is not "moaning", Don...it is relating bare fact with
equanimity.
--- WILDMAIL!/WC v4.12 
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