Killing your grandmother…

Before you wonder what this is all about, let me quickly explain that this is not a primer on killing your grandmother – the poor dear.

I have a recruiter friend in Canada who used to come down regularly to hire young engineers from India. At the end of each visit he looked distraught and at wits’ end, over the kind excuses young job aspirants came up with. Especially when they missed an interview date, or didn’t take up a firm offer they had accepted.

The excuse that topped the list was, “Sir, my grandmother died.”

Strangely, he said that grandmothers were the most dispensable in the family. Out of maybe 50 “grandparent died” excuses, one or two picked on their grandfathers. One of them actually said his dog died and the entire family was in mourning. Things can be low, when you lose a pet, but you can’t miss out on an important job interview because of that. Especially an opportunity that could take you to a new country, a whole new experience.

Another HR friend who shares the frustration had this to say: “Unfortunately, most young job aspirants take this casual escape route well into their jobs. The whole objective is to get out of a sticky situation and any excuse will do, as long as it sounds deathly serious.

Are there any lessons to learn from this?

I think a lot of the blame here – sorry about this, parents – lies with us. Our kids can’t give us a grandmother story, but they can easily come up with a hundred (questionable) excuses for low attendance at college, or doing poorly in exams.

It’s important to teach children early in life to accept difficult situations and face up to consequences or repercussions. A quick escape route is not the kind of behaviour pattern they should grow comfortable in.

I must add here that my cook is the most “in your face” when it comes to excuses for not turning up. And she’s got the most complex family tree you’ve never seen. She’s already finished 16 aunts, 22 uncles and yes … she’s killed her grandmother six times over the last five years. (Must check out the nine-lives theory on grandmothers.)