Member-only story
On Being Invisible
On being invisible: Have you felt this?
Several years ago, I was in a restaurant in Branson, Missouri with my beautiful, vibrant, and 25 years younger, friend. She is one of those women who attract men like butterflies to their favorite Black-Eyed Susan flowers.
This was a common occurrence for us…men flock to her, barely noticing that I am at the table. Pheromones, I’m told. They affect the behavior of the opposite sex. My friend has lots of pheromones. I, apparently, do not.
One day I attended a book signing. The author is handsome and young-ish. Most of the women in line were smiley, flirty, and obvious…I remember acting and Being like that. The author was smiley, flirty, and very talkative with those younger women. When it was my turn, he took my book, asked my name (almost without looking up), signed his book and handed it back to me. Next.
Wow! That was fun…not!
You know, I’ve done this. When I was younger and hiring employees for my company, well, back then it was still OK to ask a candidates’ age. I’d look through the pile of applications and almost immediately dismiss anyone whose age exceeded 40. In my opinion, they were most likely not trainable, set in their ways, and overly opinionated.
Of course, I senselessly overlooked potentially tremendous employees. Back then, they…
