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Ron Jackson's Perspective
The Sunday Journal -
Think
Kankakee, Illinois
May 4, 2003
'Yo, check my
skillz out here' |
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I’m definitely
old fashioned now. I am not as cool as I thought I was.
I don’t speak common English anymore. Just the other day while
fueling my vehicle, I heard what I thought was a foreign language,
yet I almost understood it. A couple of young twenty-something
males were in front of me pumping gas into their car. A small
car with two very beautiful young ladies drove slowly by the pump.
“Yo, come back here and get some of this conversation,”
one of the males yelled to the women. While laughing at such
an outrageous, foolish attempt to get someone’s attention and
respect, my thoughts were interrupted by the sound of squealing
tires as the young women turned their car around in almost record
speed and screeched to a stop next to the young men. Both women had
smiles bigger than the Grand Canyon as they shouted, “Heyyyy,
whassup?”
The young men leaned in to talk to the women as I
caught myself staring in amazement wondering if life had passed me
by. Whatever happened to, “May I speak with you?” I can
only assume it went out the window with all the other magic words
like excuse me, please, thank you, and I’m sorry.
A simple request like “May I have your phone number?”
has been replaced with “Lemme get those digits.” Working for
spending money and asking parents for an allowance have been
replaced with, “Mom, I’m going to the mall. I need some money, ok?”
Instead of asking if a seat in a public venue is taken, we just flop
our inconsiderate butts down next to a stranger without even a
simple greeting. And forget about the antiquated idea of
smiling. This rampant lack of language and social skills would
be quite acceptable if it was kept on the playground or street, but
it’s not limited to just personal conversation. This same
language is used in school, social, and business interaction.
Communication skills are a must for every vocation,
from flipping burgers to launching space shuttles. I don’t
pity the Human Resource professionals who must interview hundreds of
candidates to fill one position. Imagine this scenario.
Interviewer: “So Mr. Young Jobseeker, why should XYZ, Inc. hire
you?”
Interviewee: “Yo, XYZ need to get some of my skills
up in here. Know what I’m saying?"
Interviewer: “Thank you Mr. Jobseeker. We will be
making a decision soon.”
Interviewee” “Oh, you mean you ain’t hiring me today,
right? You had me waste my time coming here just for this?
Well, here is my new pager number. Put in code 999 and don’t
forget, you need to get some of these skills I got.”
What a deadly combination: youth, arrogance and
ignorance.
Maybe more people would read my column if I started
yelling, “Yo, come get some of these words.” Then again, maybe
not. I’m missing the youth part of the equation. Know what I’m
sayin’? |
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