Youth are just not up to the job

Jul 23 2009 By Maureen Messent

THOSE professional troublemakers shouting that all oldies must continue to retire at 65 to make way for the young miss the point.

The up-and-coming from the so-called working classes who would, in happier times, fill the shoes of retiring 65-year-old artisans aren’t up to the job.

They haven’t learned the ethic of service. Their communication skills are poor. A request across a counter is seen as an affront to their idleness.

A couple of weeks ago, I tried to order the war novel From Here to Eternity from a telephone book-seller.

“It’s fiction,” I said. “What’s that?” said the young voice. I explained. She didn’t know how to spell Eternity, so I sang it out – “E for egg, T for Tommy” etc.

What arrived was a copy of poet Andrew Motion’s collection Here to Eternity.

Tell me honestly, was this girl worth her wage and the confusion her poor literacy causes?

Make way for the young? Don’t make me laugh.