Old man, new job
Sense of humour helps Sydney senior find employment
A Sydney man who resorted to humour to end an unsuccessful year-long search for employment has found a job.
Following a recent story in the Cape Breton Post on Aug. 7 that recapped a humorous ad Don Dickson had placed in the newspaper looking for employment, the 74-year-old senior is ecstatic to have been hired by SPS Security Atlantic Ltd.
“I’m happy because a job in security was something I was hoping to land,” Dickson said.
“I’m happy to be re-employed, even at an older age.”
Dickson said following background checks he has since received his private security licence. On Thursday, he was undergoing training from the security company, including visiting industrial sites where he will be working.
The ad Dickson published in the Cape Breton Post Aug. 3 was headlined, “Old man seeks part time job’ and went on to read, “½ blind (Glasses), ½ deaf (Hearing aids), Responsible and honest, 50-years Sales Experience, Cannot live on seniors’ pension.”
After the story ran, Dickson said he received more than 50 emails, including about 15 job offers.
“I was surprised,” he said. “I got offers for everything and anything.”
However, the security job is what caught his eye, a line of work he was already interested in.
Druid stands for “driving under the influence of drugs” and Milburn created it as a way for people who use substances like cannabis, alcohol and prescription drugs to determine if they should be driving or not. No information is collected or stored by the app, so it can’t be used in legal cases against the person.
“Druid demonstrates that it is feasible to measure impairment reliably by the roadside, not just exposure to a drug, it could also be a way for cannabis users who have developed tolerance to show they are unimpaired,” Milburn said.
Using data he collected at different police academies across the Unites States and tests done on about 50 volunteers who drank enough alcohol to get their blood alcohol levels above .08 per cent, Milburn said he was able “to calibrate my app to the impairment associated with the legal limit of alcohol .08 per cent.” That is the legal limit in both the U.S. and Canada.
Milburn said he was first inspired to create the app based on discussions surrounding legalization of marijuana in Massachusetts in 2016. Then it became more of a “mission.”
“I realized that if I can persuade impaired individuals not to drive, I have potentially saved their lives, the lives of the people in the car with them or the lives of the people on the road with them,” he said.
The Druid app, available in the Apple App Store and Google Play, is for self-assessment only and it shouldn’t be used as a legal indicator of accurate intoxication levels. More information about the app, which costs $3.99, can be found at druidapp.com.