Q: I think the error in announcing the winner of Best Picture at the Academy Awards 2017 brought attention to the far-reaching problem of age discrimination in the workplace. I worked at a small company where only two of us were in our early 20s. Everyone else was about 40 to early 50s. Everyone was sharp, focused and efficient. We needed a temp for a short-term job, and a retired woman was sent to us.

Upon seeing me, she rudely complained about having to take direction from someone young. I was speechless. She knew nothing about me. She was slow to catch on and carry out the administrative tasks I assigned. I am polite, but soon got annoyed by her repeated complaints. I finally decided to lecture her on age not mattering, that intelligence and efficiency is what made the difference. I could have been rude to her in return, but I wasn't. I graduated from a high-level university, but I thought it was senseless to rub it in her face.

At the awards, I saw Warren Beatty hesitating after reading the card. He knew it was the wrong information, yet he did nothing to correct it. He handed it over to Faye Dunaway who read the movie title without paying attention to the entire card. Sorry, but younger actors would have remembered that the Best Actress category has already been done and would've immediately taken action to correct it. Do you agree?

A: It's possible that younger actors would've caught and corrected the error, avoiding the wrong movie from being announced, assuming those actors were alert and able to quickly react. Though age might have slowed Beatty's reaction time to the error, as well as not realizing how to correct it, it is not the only factor to consider. Other determining factors to a person's reaction time are gender, hand preference (right, left, or ambidextrous), sleep amount, diet and intelligence — which relates to problem-solving ability among other things.

The average age for the onset of dementia is around 80, while early onset is around 60 to 65. Checking for mild cognitive impairment is high on a doctor's checklist. Though Beatty didn't seem to know how to handle the error he discovered, no one will know for sure his reason for not doing so.

In an office setting, a younger person may forget to complete a task for the same reasons as an older person — a late night out resulting in too little sleep, a meal that disrupts healthy digestion or an argument. All that can distract the person from business at hand, as well as sheer forgetfulness. So many reasons can disrupt a person's lack of performance, it's simply too easy to blame it on one's age.

Stereotyping helps sociologists study various groups, but beyond the purposes of those studies, it creates a harmful aftermath for all concerned. Small companies that rely on an employee's dependability may shy away from hiring millennials, refusing to hire and train a person who may miss every paid sick day, have a baby and take the legally allowed leave of absence (which is certainly allowed but not appreciated by the company), or routinely decide to leave the job after a year. Medium-sized companies may refuse to hire Baby Boomers, fearing slowed reaction times, low energy, poor memory retention, or insurance premiums are to rise due to the increased chance of health problems. The list of excuses for not hiring people due to stereotyping could continue indefinitely, as people will always find ways to rationalize their decisions.

There is a way to avoid being victimized by stereotypes in the hiring process; talk about the "elephant" in the room. If a company is known for not hiring people over 40 or 50, list your "against-the-odds" attributes in your resume and cover letter. Don't rely on adjectives. Give remarkable examples featuring what you have done and what you are capable of accomplishing. If you're a Millennial who wants to commit to a company long-term, explain your desire and reason for it. Handle the stereotyping by answering the questions companies can't ask but worry about. Just keep it positive.

Email all questions to LindseyNovak@yahoo.com. For more about her, visit www.lindseyparkernovak.com or follow her on Twitter @TheLindseyNovak and Facebook at Lindsey.Novak.12. For past columns, visit Creators Syndicate Website at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2017 CREATORS.COM