As I handed in my application to the Assistant Manager of a retail store, I realized that I was probably older than she was. At twenty-four, I don't exactly consider myself an antique. Yet, I felt quite depressed about applying for a "mere" Sales clerk position. I suppose the fact that I'd recently separated from the military didn't help - the transition from such a rigid lifestyle to one where I was free to waste away my day, where I governed my own actions without being told what to do by a superior, is pretty difficult.

My cousin once told me that being in the military was not a job, it was a lifestyle. You lived in the barracks, you ate in the galley. The people you worked with were the same people you hung out with. Have a cold? No problem! Go to the military hospital, conveniently located in the base. Need groceries? Let's go to the commissary, also conveniently located in the base. Pulling yourself together after separating from this type of life can be a painstaking process.

Take me, for example. I just recently moved to Maryland and enrolled myself in the Spring semester in a community college. But before then, I'd like to find a j-o-b. So I typed up a resume, citing my skills with electronics and troubleshooting wiring deficiencies using schematics, but I realized that I really didn't want to do that anymore. In fact, I really didn't know what I wanted.

Enter the retail store.

I wanted a part-time that could tide me over till the semester started, but it seemed I was under qualified for being a Manager (didn't have that kind of experience) and overqualified as a Sales Clerk. My friend told me she ran into the same problem applying for a part time job in New York. In fact, they even told her, "You're twenty-three. What are you doing applying for a retail position? Shouldn't you have a college degree by now?"

Maybe I'm missing something here. I thought equal-opportunity employers didn't ask questions like that. She was finishing her college at the time and wanted a part-time job so she could have pocket money, a situation I find myself in today. What does being twenty-something have to do with it?