The U.S. has many laws- some might argue too many. We can sue a person if we slip on their side walk, or if we burn ourselves with their coffee. In fact, we could probably sue someone for just about any reason imaginable. However, I have realized that these laws have come about for a reason- and have been contorted and taken advantage of. However, they offer some protection- protection that does not exist in the organized chaos of Argentina.
While I could point to many things that exemplify this in Argentina, today I was reminded of a particular law that we have in the US to prevent discrimination. Greg and I went to a Spanish school to see if we could trade some Spanish lessons for English lessons. We spoke to the owner of the school for about an hour. At the end, she asked us to email our resumes to her. As we parted ways, she told us to remember to put our birthday- year, day and month- on the resume. She said that people fromt he US never do this, but that it is a must for her.
In the States it is illegal to ask a person to do this or even to ask their age in an interview. It is a law that is meant to protect job applicants from age discrimination. I explained this to the woman at the school- and she promptly replied " But how else can I know what sign you are and if I want to hire you? I know that certain signs make better employees and teachers than others, so I need to make sure that you would be an appropriate fit." I had to bite my cheeks to keep from laughing- but I went home with a new appreciation of the laws in the US- laws that I usually consider to be a bit too much most of the time.
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