Quote Originally Posted by Animeniax View Post
Why are people so unreliable, even for the smallest requests?

I'm filling out a job application that requires supervisor and coworker references. I've been trying every method possible to locate my supervisors and coworkers from a job I had more than 7 years ago. I've emailed them repeatedly, emailed others who might be able to get in touch with them, called their companies multiple times trying to locate them, and even emailed them on facebook... no replies. One of them even updated his profile picture since I emailed him, but didn't bother to reply to my email. Why are people so unreliable?
They probably don't want to be bothered so they're ignoring you. It's pretty assholish unless they're constantly bombarded with reference requests even from people they barely even knew in passing. This is why it's important to make and keep some kind of contact (i.e. fake friendships) with people you work with. This is true in particular of your immediate supervisor.

If you're finding yourself with no other option, you probably want to keep a-knockin' until they begrudge a response.