Looking for a job at fifty five, a story (english version)

His old shoes betray him...

Despite having been out of work for three months, he never lost faith in himself, he got up very early, he cleaned up, rewrote his resume with new ideas he had found on the internet, launched himself with a smile on his face to search, he had already verified that the newspaper's work guide was useless, they only hired people under forty years of age; however, there he was, waiting for more than two hours to be attended by the human resources department of the company; he had been studying hard, his mission, his vision, his values, his products and services, he had even structured a plan to improve the Customer Support; the noise of his stomach betrayed him also because he had not had lunch that day, he was beginning to get nervous, if he did not find work he would soon have to ask his son to leave the university to help him, but that would mean that he would be reproducing his own story, so he was determined to "grab" a job of any kind.

His efforts were in vain, his truncated bachelor degree was not enough, the fact that he speaks both english and spanish, was not enough, his thirty-five years of experience as a human resources assistant either, age did not help him, at his fifty-five it was very difficult to accommodate, he still had to work ten years to retire, his son was in the middle of the bachelor degree and he was an excellent student, it would be a shame to leave him with the career half-way as had happened to him, the head of human resources of the last interview had given him a few courtesy passes for the employees' bar that was crossing the sidewalk and decided to drown their sorrows; -worth three courtesies- said the pass.

-Good afternoon, Miss, he kindly greet the attendant.

-Good morning-, she answered with a smile.

-I went to ask for work there and I have only obtained these three courtesies, I only have one question.-

-tell me-, she asks

• What kind of company also has a bar for employees? -

-oh no, this is not an employee bar, we only have an agreement with them, what do you want to drink? -

A beer please. What am I going to do now? he asked himself as he slowly drank his beer, until it was almost hot, the bar was a very quiet place, he noticed that most of the people there were older, there was a jukebox, tables to play dominoes, many old pictures hung from the walls, ceiling fans that constantly rattled and were practically useless; then an idea occurred to him for not to arrive at house with empty hands.

Miss, he spoke again to the person in charge.
These fans make a lot of noise and do not work properly.

Yes, they are very old, but the owner does not want to get rid of them, because he says they are "vintage"

Ok, perhaps you would be interested to have them cleaned and oiled so that they work well, didn't you?

Let me see, she answer, the boos is back in his office.

Minutes later, an old man that looks very severe and tired, but still very strong appears.

-Good afternoon, young man, says the old man.

• Carmen says to me, that you want to give maintenance to these fans - it adds.

-Yes sir, they would give better service with proper maintenance-

-Very well, then, start with this one and we'll see, in the back is place to work, tools and oil-

Without wasting time, he climbs into a chair with a screwdriver in his hand, after disassembling it completely clean and grease it, it looked quite different, the metal parts really shone, the wooden parts had been treated with a special cleaner for fine wood and the motor almost did not make noises, apparently all those hours of dedication to his pastime for old gadgets had paid off, he knew how to disarm motors, take care of the patina of ancient artifacts among many other skills. The old man, seeing the quality of the work was really impressed, he had carefully observed the hands of the "young man" and did not think it was someone who dirtied them very often.

-Very good job, you have left me pleasantly impressed-
-what did you work on before? -he asked

-I was a human resources assistant, for thirty-five years, until they fired me- he answered.

-Very well, perhaps you would like to work with me,- asks the old man.

-I want you to take care of the human resources of the bar and the hotel that is in front of the square that is in the next block-

-But I'm only an assistant, and I only did half of the bachelor in administration- added the "young man",

-Look, I think you're the perfect candidate, you do not mind getting a little dirty so that things are done correctly, you have experience, you're very young and I think you could finish you bachelor degree in two years if you apply-

-Well, maybe I look young, but I'm fifty-five, I do not want to fool you-

-Fifty five? I'm almost seventy and I'm also going to go back to university to finish my bachelor degree too, tomorrow we will talk to my godson who is the university rector, "added the old man while he was smiling hugely ...