My job counselor, my Armani, and me

 

This morning was my day with my job counselor. Thinking what to wear for the interview, I looked  outside from our window and I knew at once that it was cold- about 10°C maybe. I shivered realizing that it would be a temperature difference of 16° in just a span of two days .

 

I was tempted to wear my brown, leather Armani jacket hanging in my wardrobe to keep me warm outside. But then I decided against it.  It would look so flashy going to the unemployment office: jobless people are supposed to be poor. So I put on my ordinary-looking gray viscose jacket, instead, with a matching  gray-violet checkered Oxford under it. But then for pants, I couldn’t resist my old Armani jeans in purplish color, it looked good together with the new shoes of the same color tone that my wife gave me on my last birthday.

 

My Armanis are actually relics from my metrosexual past working in Düsseldorf, one of the most metrosexual of German cities. When in Rome be a Roman, they say, and  I did just that there, where I then had a high-paying job. Like other young people having good income,  I used to enjoy window shopping in the city’s fabulous boutiques looking for bargains. In summer, after office work, I liked to sit in one of the outdoor cafes along its fashionable Königsallee sipping cappuccino, discretely eyeing what other promenaders wore.  Often, I went out with colleagues to drink wine in the city’s famous Spanish Quarters, the favourite hang-out of yuppies, discussing politics- and, yes, German literature. And, at least once a week, I pampered myself in the sauna and had my whole body rubbed with organic honey. Ah, the world was then at my feet: I had money to burn and plenty of time to spare; my family was then living 300 km. away and I saw them only at week-ends at the time.  

 

But that was some years ago. Today I found myself knocking at the unemployment office’s door. The man who welcomed me in was surprisingly very young and was just wearing a red body-hugging t-shirt and a faded, blue jeans. I expected a middle-aged German bureaucrat wearing a gray suit and a tie. I suddenly found myself feeling old and- with my semi-formal attire- overdressed. Ah, why didn’t I come wearing shorts and slippers, instead!

 

He shook my hands and introduced his name, a foreign-sounding one, which looks even more foreign written on his shield. Might be Serbian, I told myself, but his German is perfect, with hardly any accent. After some small talk about the weather and his Croat parentage, he opened my file in his computer and said to me smiling, “you’re over-qualified”.

 

I’ve heard that word said to me several times already to know that it is just euphemism for, “hey, you’re too old to find work”. Germany has one of the world’s most highly regulated labour market. Workers are paid according to tariffs; and usually, the older you are, the more expensive your wage becomes. Because of this, many companies wouldn’t hire people like me who are already in their 40’s. 

 

The night before, my wife and I were discussing again our bottom line in my search for work: 1) Martin and Anna have priority, so  2) no job that requires beyond one-hour driving time from home. 

 

But, again to my surprise- Mr. Dragicevic -yes, that’s my job counselor’s name written with matching apostrophes in at least two bowels which, unfortunately I cannot find in my keypad- was full of understanding when I presented my case.

 

Two years ago, I was also in a similar situation and I had a bad falling out with my job counselor. She forced me to immediately get a German citizenship- for me to be easier to find a secure job as development worker abroad, she argued-- even when I told her that my family didn't want to live again overseas.

 

Maybe times are changing in Germany. Chancellor Merkel’s grand coalition government has lately been under intense  scrutiny for not taking enough care for the poor and unemployed like me. But that’s another story.

 

Smiling again, Mr. Dragicevic told me that he'd enroll me in a 6-month intensive coaching program, where I’ll have a case manager to help me plot my career. What's interesting for me in this program is that,  it is flexible in a way that I can control my own schedules- not to mention, that my social security time is secured.

 

Six months in that program is a wonderful gift: I may not earn money soon for a new Armani, but it buys me time to be at home longer for my family.