Hardly Anyone Can Guess this Indiana Man’s Age [HINT: He’s Not 30]

How I Met Ben McGill

When I met our new(ish) multimedia sales specialist Ben McGill a couple of months ago, I knew he was one of the good ones. We hit it off easily on our first meeting and though I was only supposed to explain to him what my job duties are and the products that we sell, we spent well over an hour shooting the breeze.

How Old is Ben McGill?

Now, I don't know about you but upon meeting someone, my mind immediately tries to figure out how old they are. I'm not judging them based on their age, I'm just processing how much we'd have in common. My mind settled on early thirties when I met Ben. He has a very chill demeanor, dresses well but not over-the-top, sports a very full beard, and seemed to understand most of what I was referencing. But then he mentioned something called a "hitclip." He also mentioned that it was his go-to song player in elementary school.

Hm. Never heard of a hitclip. I looked at him with a puzzled expression. He said, "You know, the little player that only played a clip of the song in the early 2000s?" Yeah, no. Apparently, it wasn't a thing that college kids in western KY were into. Or at least this college kid. I guess I had too many frat parties and Limewire to keep me in as much free music as I wanted. I watched this commercial and wow, just wow. Did I ever miss out.

Wait, What?

Then, it all hit me. He was in elementary school when I was in college? What the? He's 15 years younger than me! This old soul who stands before me, who had a real job in Indy but moved BACK to Evansville, who seems very adulty is fresh into adulthood. Technically, he could still be on his parents' insurance or gym memberships!

We didn't speak of it again until this week when he came to my office to pout a little that a girl at a local coffee shop told him that he looked like he was in his Thirties. I consoled him the best I could. But then... then... he asked me.

If you didn't know me at all and just met me how old would think I was?

The thing about me is that you shouldn't ask me a question if you don't want a straight (truthful) answer. So, I told him exactly what I had thought a few months prior.

Early thirties.

He almost melted right there. And, I get it. Twenty somethings are fun and fancy and free! I think back to being fresh into adulthood and I would scratch someone's eyes out if they said I was 30! But here's the thing, it was never meant as a "you look old" comment. It was more of a, you look like a mature adult who has your sh*t together comment. And AND 87% of his mature look comes from that beard. My guess is that under the fluff lies a smooth lil baby face. Luckily, other gals in the office told him that his baby face peeked right through the manly adult beard.

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More Photos of Ben

It's hard to tell how old someone is from ONE photo so I took a few more and lifted some from his Instagram.

The Internet Guessed Ben's Age - Only a Couple Were Even Close

We also decided to ask the audience. I took a couple of photos of Ben - looking back I should have used better light. And we posted them to Facebook to get a consensus. And holy cannoli - there were like 300 guesses. People came out of the woodwork to guess. And thankfully Ben has an extraordinary sense of humor.

The guesses ranged everywhere from 2 to 61.

There was this one, who might have forgotten the second digit or knows toddlers with copious amounts of facial hair.

This one, who tapped into their own personal experiences.

This one, who came with the jokes.

This one, who has no faith. I HOPE YOU ARE READING THIS ETTADENE. 

This one, who has a very positive outlook on things!

This one, who is just a kind soul. <3 DEB

This one, who apparently wasn't as taken with his age as I was. 

This one, who apparently looks right past that beard.

This one, who just came here to say hi! 

This one, who has no time for our shenanigans. 

This one, who noticed his quiff.

And this one, which is my favorite. 

At first, I tried responding to each person but after we got about 200 comments I knew I just needed to give everyone the backstory.

Enough. HOW OLD IS BEN MCGILL?

So, are you ready? Really really ready?

Ben is...

25! 

But he has a birthday next month, so he'll become an old fart just like the rest of us.

Thank you Ben for having such a great sense of humor. And everyone who guessed. Even you Katherine Conway. (Also, Ben asked me to tell you to meet him in the parking lot. He just wanna talk...)

And remember, age is just a number. And it 100% doesn't matter what age you look. It's life and how we live it that matters. And I am glad this spring chicken has joined us at Townsquare Media - he makes the office fun and is always up for a good chat.