Devaluing SHC Diplomas One Application at a Time
This post probably should have been written prior to my last one about the golden arches, but they are certainly related. If the time order really bothers you, just consider this a spin-off.
So I'm out looking for summer jobs. I'm fresh off my sales experience (see below) and ready to trade money for either dignity or, more likely, a steady summer job. I print out roughly twenty applications and hit the streets. There is nothing more humbling than walking into Bruno's, Wal-Mart, Winn-Dixie, Rite-Aid, McDonalds, and other similar establishment and having to fill out an application. Now imagine doing that twenty times and you have imagined how this day went for me. But that's not the point, really. This isn't about humility really. It's about irony and finding humor in life's interesting little situations.
So my day had been relatively uneventful. I'd hit stripmalls looking for work (good thing I practiced last Friday with my felon in a mini-van). I arrive at Bruno's at University and Airport. I pull in my parking spot and as I'm getting out, I see this little old lady backing out of a space two cars down. No big deal, really, except that a big green car was headed straight back for her car from the other side. This was one of those moments when the only thing I could thing was, "Yep...this is inevitable." And.....crunch. No major damage really--just a few scratches on the cars. I'm out of the car now, as is the old lady, and I'm wondering why no one has gotten out of the green car. Hmm...let me see. Well, it appears as if there is no one in the green car. That's in interesting development. I look inside and notice it's a manual and the break was left down. Being the proud owner of a manual, I understand that these things happen. Unfortunately for this car's owner, it happened on a rather steep incline.
So the green car has now stopped and the old lady is more upset about not being able to back out than about her car, which is understandable because she was driving a tank. I tell her to stay there and I'd go page the person whose car it was. So I go inside to the customer service desk and see a manager. I explain to her what happened and ask her to page the owner. She does so and I head back outside, assuring the old lady that she'll be on her way soon.
I'm now looking for bricks or a board or anything that I could find that would hold the green car in place. I could easily push it out of the way, but keeping it in its spot was another matter. So I run into this 16 year old bag boy/cart retriever in the parking lot and he wants to know what's going on. So I explain to him what happened and asked if he has anything to prop the car up with. He says he doesn't, but he'll go look. So off he goes, and the owner of the green car has still not arrived.
A few minutes later, the bag boy comes back with a second 16 year old bag boy (it must have been a busy day at Bruno's), and says, "Nope, couldnt find anything." So at this point, the old lady is really getting ticked off, so the three of us push the green car into a spot so she could leave, but now we have to physically hold this car in place while we wait for the owner. I made a little small talk with the baggers and eventually the owner showed up. It was her husbands car, she never drives it, yada yada yada...great. So she's gets in and off she goes. I now go back to my car and grab a resume and go inside to apply for a job.
So I just demonstrated good thinking skills, good customer service skills, and resourcefulness. I have a college degree, a strong GPA, and lots of good extracurricular involvements. In light of these facts, I would think my chances were pretty good of landing a job on the bag boy staff. As I'm filling out my application I'm carrying on a polite conversation with the manager who is commending me for helping the old lady, etc. I figured I was doing pretty well. I finish up the application and head out of the store. On my way out, I run into the bag boy and he notes that I didnt even buy anything after all that. I told him I was just looking for a summer job and here is my favorite part of the whole story. He says," Well, I'll put in a good word for you." Now I know it was a nice thing for him to say and he surely meant well by it, but even typing it now makes me laugh. I think most everyone can appreciate this statement for what it's worth. I quickly thanked him for what I'm sure will be the crucial testimonial I need to get this job, and I left.
Now that, in and of itself, I found amusing. However, when coupled with the fact that I never received a call back from Bruno's, it gets a lot funnier. So the question I have now is what exactly do you have to do to get a job there? Did I need to throw myself between the two cars intially, using myself as a human bumper? Did I need to drop myself down as a 130-lb wedge keeping the car in place? Surely they must have very high standards at Bruno's. Maybe one day I'll do something courageous enough to warrant a treasured position on their staff.
So I'm out looking for summer jobs. I'm fresh off my sales experience (see below) and ready to trade money for either dignity or, more likely, a steady summer job. I print out roughly twenty applications and hit the streets. There is nothing more humbling than walking into Bruno's, Wal-Mart, Winn-Dixie, Rite-Aid, McDonalds, and other similar establishment and having to fill out an application. Now imagine doing that twenty times and you have imagined how this day went for me. But that's not the point, really. This isn't about humility really. It's about irony and finding humor in life's interesting little situations.
So my day had been relatively uneventful. I'd hit stripmalls looking for work (good thing I practiced last Friday with my felon in a mini-van). I arrive at Bruno's at University and Airport. I pull in my parking spot and as I'm getting out, I see this little old lady backing out of a space two cars down. No big deal, really, except that a big green car was headed straight back for her car from the other side. This was one of those moments when the only thing I could thing was, "Yep...this is inevitable." And.....crunch. No major damage really--just a few scratches on the cars. I'm out of the car now, as is the old lady, and I'm wondering why no one has gotten out of the green car. Hmm...let me see. Well, it appears as if there is no one in the green car. That's in interesting development. I look inside and notice it's a manual and the break was left down. Being the proud owner of a manual, I understand that these things happen. Unfortunately for this car's owner, it happened on a rather steep incline.
So the green car has now stopped and the old lady is more upset about not being able to back out than about her car, which is understandable because she was driving a tank. I tell her to stay there and I'd go page the person whose car it was. So I go inside to the customer service desk and see a manager. I explain to her what happened and ask her to page the owner. She does so and I head back outside, assuring the old lady that she'll be on her way soon.
I'm now looking for bricks or a board or anything that I could find that would hold the green car in place. I could easily push it out of the way, but keeping it in its spot was another matter. So I run into this 16 year old bag boy/cart retriever in the parking lot and he wants to know what's going on. So I explain to him what happened and asked if he has anything to prop the car up with. He says he doesn't, but he'll go look. So off he goes, and the owner of the green car has still not arrived.
A few minutes later, the bag boy comes back with a second 16 year old bag boy (it must have been a busy day at Bruno's), and says, "Nope, couldnt find anything." So at this point, the old lady is really getting ticked off, so the three of us push the green car into a spot so she could leave, but now we have to physically hold this car in place while we wait for the owner. I made a little small talk with the baggers and eventually the owner showed up. It was her husbands car, she never drives it, yada yada yada...great. So she's gets in and off she goes. I now go back to my car and grab a resume and go inside to apply for a job.
So I just demonstrated good thinking skills, good customer service skills, and resourcefulness. I have a college degree, a strong GPA, and lots of good extracurricular involvements. In light of these facts, I would think my chances were pretty good of landing a job on the bag boy staff. As I'm filling out my application I'm carrying on a polite conversation with the manager who is commending me for helping the old lady, etc. I figured I was doing pretty well. I finish up the application and head out of the store. On my way out, I run into the bag boy and he notes that I didnt even buy anything after all that. I told him I was just looking for a summer job and here is my favorite part of the whole story. He says," Well, I'll put in a good word for you." Now I know it was a nice thing for him to say and he surely meant well by it, but even typing it now makes me laugh. I think most everyone can appreciate this statement for what it's worth. I quickly thanked him for what I'm sure will be the crucial testimonial I need to get this job, and I left.
Now that, in and of itself, I found amusing. However, when coupled with the fact that I never received a call back from Bruno's, it gets a lot funnier. So the question I have now is what exactly do you have to do to get a job there? Did I need to throw myself between the two cars intially, using myself as a human bumper? Did I need to drop myself down as a 130-lb wedge keeping the car in place? Surely they must have very high standards at Bruno's. Maybe one day I'll do something courageous enough to warrant a treasured position on their staff.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home