That's on purpose. They can't envision it because they have never SEEN it. I know someone that is young, and in charge of his section of older people. When they tell other people their age, one of the biggest things they can't fundamentally understand is HOW. They always say "well did everyone leave?" or "who do you know then?" They can't understand someone just being well-suited to a job and being picked over older/senior people. Their job has decently tight entry requirements, but once they are met, to the victor goes the spoils so to speak.
Think about the jobs they work. Retail, wanna be the manager? Wait for everyone above to quit in a year. Waiting tables, hope you can get big tips. Office work, in or out of your field, well everything is rigid and expect maybe in 20 years someone will retire and you can fight to be one of the 15 people wanting that one job. Teaching, hope you get tenure early enough to outlast all the budget cuts and get a union gig. In a city and even by extension nation wide, there's VERY few chances to get a "field" job where your own skills will have you sink or swim. And the ones that ARE around are "beneath" them because you only need skill and/or experience not a cripplingly expensive piece of paper they were all pushed to sell their futures to get.
That's on purpose. They can't envision it because they have never SEEN it. I know someone that is young, and in charge of his section of older people. When they tell other people their age, one of the biggest things they can't fundamentally understand is HOW. They always say "well did everyone leave?" or "who do you know then?" They can't understand someone just being well-suited to a job and being picked over older/senior people. Their job has decently tight entry requirements, but once they are met, to the victor goes the spoils so to speak.
Think about the jobs they work. Retail, wanna be the manager? Wait for everyone above to quit in a year. Waiting tables, hope you can get big tips. Office work, in or out of your field, well everything is rigid and expect maybe in 20 years someone will retire and you can fight to be one of the 15 people wanting that one job. Teaching, hope you get tenure early enough to outlast all the budget cuts and get a union gig. In a city and even by extension nation wide, there's VERY few chances to get a "field" job where your own skills will have you sink or swim. And the ones that ARE around are "beneath" them because you only need skill and/or experience not a cripplingly expensive piece of paper they were all pushed to sell their futures to get.