Man sparks debate after mother calls him ‘lazy’ for not having a job

A man is questioning whether or not he should be upset with his mother in the middle of his job-hunting process.

In a recent Reddit post shared to the popular “Am I The A**hole?” subreddit, the man explained that he was laid off from his job one month ago with “no promises of returning.” He has now applied to 30 different jobs in a six-week time period while his mother is also helping him look for a new job.

“I’ve had no follow-up phone calls and can’t believe it’s this hard. 8 years ago you could just walk in anywhere, hand in a resume, and get an interview the same day. Now everything is online. No personableness at all. The only place that called me back was an entry-level stocking position and they called and told me that they had other more qualified candidates,” the post read.

His mother had noticed how upset he was getting with the lack of responses from job applications and decided to start sending him application links to nearby places that are hiring.

“The problem is my mother is much [more] old-fashioned (she’s in her 60s) and just thinks that I’ll get hired anywhere because I have a bachelor’s degree,” the Reddit post continued. At one point she sent him a job listing for a supervisor position thinking he’d be “at the top of the list of candidates” because of his education when similar jobs have told him “they had more qualified people to stock the shelves.”

“She gets upset when I say that I’m not gonna even apply because I’m wasting my time,” he wrote. “She feels that I’m being lazy. We got into it and I thanked for the help but told her that times are changing and it’s just not easy to get a decent job anymore.”

“I can appreciate my mother’s help, but don’t like being put down for being lazy, when it doesn’t make sense to even waste my time.”

After posting people turned to the comments section with different opinions varying from being rightfully frustrated to those who think he should give his mother the benefit of the doubt and keep applying.

“I understand your frustration. Everyone these days has a bachelor’s degree. Work experience counts for far more in this day and age. That having been said, it wouldn’t have hurt to apply. I know it’s disheartening to get yet another rejection, but every once in a while one of these long shots may actually pay off,” one comment read.

Other commenters pointed out a discrepancy in the Reddit post where the poster originally said he applied to 15 jobs in six weeks and not the 30 that he claimed in the amended version.

“Judging from the comments, YTA for editing your post to say you applied to 30 places rather than 15,” one comment began. “Also, I’m a bit perplexed at your claim that 8 years ago walking in off the street with a resume in hand was enough to get a job. You sure you don’t mean 80 years ago? Like, applications have been online-only for a lot more than 8 years. Ten and fifteen years ago we were making fun of our parents for telling us to walk down the street with a paper resume in hand.”

Another commenter agreed, writing, “YTA. I noticed that after people called him out for only applying for 15 jobs in 6 weeks, he changed his post to say 30 jobs. Trying to change people’s judgments by lying is not a good look.”