I'm No Longer Relevant

For about a year I've been doing this telephone music survey. I got suckered into it one day ("My opinions on today's music? Sure!"), and by the time I figured out who it was for (Q101), I was signed up to answer them regularly.

Every week or two I'd get a call from them, and I'd have to listen to about 25 snippets of music, rate them from 1-5 and then say if I was "tired" or "not tired" of hearing the song. Once we finished with that, there were usually a couple of questions about Q101 that I needed to answer. Not surprisingly, I started listening to Q101 a little more. Hey, it doesn't suck.

The surveys were usually fun to answer, though like most telemarketing calls, the surveyors tended to call at times where I really didn't feel like sitting on the phone with them. But I stuck with it because I thought maybe my opinion would actually count--after all, I did hear a few different songs on the radio.

This all changed the other week. I got a call on a Sunday, and instead of the full-blown survey, the questioner just gave me a couple of questions. Then I got another call the next day, which was really odd because they were always spaced out.

Surveyor: Do you have time for a music survey now?

Me: I just had a call last night....but it wasn't a full survey where I rated the songs. She just asked a couple of questions.

Surveyor: That's odd....but let's do a survey anyway. How old are you?

Me: 35.

Silence.

Surveyor: Uh, when did you turn 35?

Me: (feeling self-conscious) About a week ago.

Surveyor: This will be your last survey.

Me: I'm not 34! I don't matter anymore!

Surveyor: Sorry....

Yes, I have officially moved out of the all-important 18-34 demographic. What sucks is that I don't feel like I've gotten my shit together yet, so now not only do I feel like I'm not living life right, but now I also don't matter in the grand scheme of our culture.

Of course, the Boy will probably say, "Why do you even care what a bunch of marketers think? They only want you for your money anyway." And he's right. I shouldn't care about people and companies who only want me for my money. I just feel like not only am I not part of the "right" generation (fewer Gen Xers out there than money-filled Baby Boomers and Millennials), I'm no longer part of the "all-important" demographic that gets stuff tailored to them.

I should probably just say a big "fuck you too!" right back to them and live my life the way I want to, not caring what they think of me. [of course, this would be better with a larger bank account, but maybe I'll get there too.]