Ghosting

I realize I am quickly becoming a dinosaur from another era when it comes to things like manners and common decency in public places. I am by no means perfect, but I try very hard to be a gentleman in public, and in all things for that matter. 

One source of irritation that seems to have become a chronic problem in America in the last 15 years, give or take, is the phenomenon of "ghosting." Perhaps it has been going on for longer, but it was not to my recollection a societal problem until about 10 to 15 years ago. Ghosting is, of course, the social phenomenon of scheduling a face to face meeting (whether in real life or via Zoom/phone) only for one person to just not bother showing up. No notice, no text, no call, no e-mail to say I am not interested in having this meeting or I'm running late or whatever. They just never show and never give a reason why and just "ghost" you. Often, you try to track them down after the fact, only to find they have completely disappeared. They have unfriended you on social media, they've blocked your phone number...completely and utterly become a ghost to you. No reason given. They just ghost. 

As I understand the sociological beginning of this phenomenon, it seems to have evolved in the hyper-connectivity era of Social Media/Internet/Cell phones in almost inverse proportions. As technology has evolved to contact people instantaneously and effortlessly, the courtesy of using such technology to send a "I have decided to not come to this meeting, my apologies" message has gone down exponentially. In fact, we used to wait until 8 pm to get free minutes to call people on our early cell phone plans. Now, you can pretty much call or text anyone anytime for the same rate, and no one even bothers answering their phones when people physically call. People can no longer be bothered to actually talk to others. 

Ghosting started, as I understand it, on the dating scene. Thank the good Lord above that I got married before the modern social media "swipe right/swipe left" dating scene was a thing. Ghosting started when people would set up a date from some online dating app, and then one person or the other would just not show up for whatever reason: cold feet, getting weird vibes, too tired, whatever. It morphed into people setting up interviews for a job, and the applicant just ghosts the company and doesn't show up with no warning or reason given. 

Now, ghosting is just everywhere. I have been in the process of searching for another job, and I can't tell you how many times I have been called in for a face to face interview, and then the company just up and ghosts me. No "Sorry, the position has been filled" e-mails or calls. Nothing. I try calling or e-mailing after a reasonable person of time...nothing back. In one instance, I texted back to a number of the interviewer who had initially texted me and found out I'd been blocked. 

It's one thing if you submit a resume and they never act on it or call you or anything. But, to call you in for an interview and then ghost you. That's extremely unprofesional.  

Is common courtesy really dead in professional circles?