Thursday, June 14, 2012

Small town, no class

When we first came back to Penn Yan after living in another state for 7 years, we decided because of the lakes in the area, it might be nice to retire here.  I was just reading recently where Buffalo, NY is offering college students monies to help repay student loans in exchange for them moving there and residing there for at least one year.  Apparently Buffalo has been bleeding population for quite some time.  Well, gee, just like Penn Yan, but you'd think at some point mayors might 'get it' before over half their populations were gone.  Guess you don't have to be too intelligent to be a mayor in a lot of places.


Jobs went to the wayside, the few remaining in these Podunk areas went to 'friends, relatives, mistresses, so and so forth.'  The favorite motto in these towns for getting jobs is: "It's who ya know, and who ya b___ow!"  Emphasis on the last part.  It's still that way here in Small Beans ville.


First off, after returning, one of the local nursing homes ran an ad for a Social Worker.  Must have experience, blah, blah, blah!  I apply, get an interview and first off I could see the look on the staffs' faces when they saw I wasn't a Bimbo.  So they still give me a four hour interview, wasting my  entire afternoon, couldn't even offer lunch nor even a lunch break.  The interview started at 11:00AM and proceeded until 3:00PM.  I am not only qualified for the position, but I am more qualified than the young woman who was already working there fresh from college.  But either they age discriminate {Which is always good for a nursing home}  after all, what in hell would anyone over 40 know about older people anyway?  Yes indeed, 25 year olds have it nailed there.  Ahem!  But more than likely my last name isn't spelled good enough for provincial Penn Yan.  Now to add insult to injury, I not only didn't get a turn down letter, or phone call.  I get a turn down email. That is the epitome of having no class.  But it gets better with no class as I will discuss in further blogs.  Hope this all goes viral!  I am sure to never recommend this low class nursing home to anyone I know.  So word of mouth advertisements can make ya or break ya!  







Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Penn Yan blog

I'm trying a new font here, it looks good and seems to work well.

My new blogs will now, for a good while anyway, consist of small town, one in particular in NY, and the pluses and minuses of small town living in NY.

Living in America, almost anywhere, can be very pricy anymore, thanks to Corporate America and wayward politicians who care for nothing but money, the people be damned is their motto.  So small towns all suffer from:
A) Lack of jobs
B) Lack of decent stores
C) Lack of decent services of most any kind

Sure, sure, plenty of die hards will try to defend small town America, but they are delusional and would defend most anything.  Nice try.

This is the Penn Yan blog, of my own making.  I know from where I speak because I've lived in this town for about 35 years.  It is a pretty town nestled on Keuka Lake and would be much more pleasant if not for the bad Chamber of Commerce, lack of services, not great medical emergency responders not very good fire responders.  Good luck if you need either one in a hurry.  You will be SOL.  

I'm going to talk about all that is wrong in this small town.  Call me cynical, but I call it realistic and reporting all I have observed in 35 years.  Yes, it is a quiet place to retire, but if you need emergency medical help, you best jump in someone's car and head for the local hospital and hope for the best.

Small towns do not have to be provincial in their thinking or their ways, but I guess no one told this to anyone in Penn Yan because they are as provincial and narrow as they come.  Stay tuned for more.