So, I finally got hired at a real job. For those of you that are just tuning in, I explained my troubles finding work in My Summer Conundrum. Either way, last week I finally got a call back from Wal-Mart (after I had already called them and they had told me there were no openings, but I'm not complaining). I went in on Monday for my first interview, and I must have impressed the people interviewing me, because they called me back the next day for a follow up interview on Wednesday.
On Wednesday I had a strange interview, which was only strange because I'm not really sure it could be considered an interview. Mostly it was me signing some papers and the manager telling me what my job description would be and then explaining that there would be a background check, which I had to sign to release, and that I needed to take a urine test. After all was said and done with the manager, whose name I believe was Margaret (sp?), I made my way to the front of the store to take the urine test at the new clinic thing they have now. Either way, when all was said and done, I was so confident that I was going to pass that I bought two uniforms and headed home.
Well, sure enough, on Friday the results must have came back because I received another call asking me to come in for Orientation on Tuesday. Here's the best part, unlike those other two jobs that I had interviews at, this training is paid! That means that, as of Tuesday, I will finally be making money again.
Oh, and I figure I should mention somewhere that I was hired to work in the Electronics Department. RadioShack can kiss my butt. They never called me back, even though I called them twice. Oh well, I'll just work at Wal-Mart and sell electronics there.
Okay, since I've been attempting to make some spare cash whenever I can, I've been offering my services mowing lawns. It is because of these offers that I have received my new name. I have been renamed Mowbane, slayer of lawn mowers near and far. The story starts at my dad's house on Thursday. I ordered a pizza and headed over to Dad's because I was going to mow his lawn. I grabbed the pizza on the way there, had a few slices, then went downstairs to get the lawn mower. I opened the garage door, put gas in the mower, pulled the mower outside, and attempted to start the mower. Unfortunately, the mower would not start. I pulled the cord more times than I could count, but I could not get the mower to start. The mower has a gas leak, and I'm thinking maybe the gas is leaking into the motor and flooding it (but really, I know nothing about motors so please don't take my word for it).
Then, on Saturday, I went to my Uncle Rick's house to mow his lawn. I got to his house, grabbed my sun glasses (which I had lost last year and Uncle Rick had found and left out for me), and headed out to the shed to get the lawn mower. I pulled the mower out of the shed, primed it, and started the engine. Unlike Dad's mower, Uncle Rick's started on the first pull. However, the motor was coughing and straining quite a bit, and when I hit the tall grass it shut off. I thought maybe the motor just needed to get warmed up, so I pulled out of the tall grass and pulled the cord to start the engine, and when I did, oil shot out of the exhaust. I immediately let go of the bar to shut the engine off, but it seems the damage had been done. Soon oil began leaking out of the air filter (which I thought at first was the oil filter because of the amount of oil leaking out of it), and despite my efforts, I could not find the source of the problem. I found a broken bolt, but Jeff (my step-father) does not think the bolt caused the problem. He thinks that a gasket blew or there was a problem with a piston. Either way, the lawn mower is completely screwed.
So, in the past week, I have killed two lawn mowers. Beware! Do not let me around your lawn mower, or it may mysteriously explode.
Well, I need to head to bed. I have to get up in the morning so I can go see the Hookstown Parade with the family for Memorial Day. Good night all.
Later,
Joshua
Monday, May 31
Thursday, May 20
My Summer Conundrum
So, I have been home for nearly two weeks now. I have run into some serious problems finding work. I have put in quite a few applications at many different places, but as of right now I have not received any call backs. I called a few of the places, only to be told that they had not reviewed any applications, or found that they were actually unable to hire new employees at the present time. Though I had planned to call the rest, I became disheartened, and combined with one other important happening, I found it difficult to call and face more rejection.
The other important happening was a company that contacted me after finding my resume on CareerBuilder. For those of you that do not use CareerBuilder, I don't really have much to say about it other than it got me this call. None of the places I found on the site that I applied for have contacted me, and at least two of them I was unable to complete the applications for strange, unexplained reasons.
Anyhow, needless to say, I was excited when I received a call from Bankers Life and Casualty Company, and decided to go in for what the woman called a "group discussion session." I was excited, until my mother told me that Rebekah received the exact same phone call, went in for the discussion meeting, and came out dissatisfied. Still, being desperate for a job (and secretly believing that Bekah wasn't happy because the job was probably more work than she was willing to put forth), I went to the meeting. After roughly an hour (which is about how long it took me to drive to said meeting), I left the meeting with new knowledge of this fantastic company that I could sell life insurance and other services to seniors, making commissions on sales and probably earning a great deal of money.
Again, needless to say, I was truly excited when I received a call back from Bankers the next day, saying they wanted to have me in for a second (and final) group interview. I went in on Monday, expecting it to be an explanatory meeting, but the man talking to us really only explained two things. The first thing he explained was the pay (which had already been partially covered in the first session and really didn't need such crucial explanation, especially before any of us were even offered a job). The second thing he explained, after sitting us through another boring PowerPoint Presentation and going into all of his success stories, was that we needed roughly a thousand dollars to "start our business." You see, it turns out that we wouldn't actually be employees of Bankers; we'd be subcontractors. This really meant three things. One, we'd be required to pay for our own licensing, Errors and Omissions Insurance, transportation, and any other expense incurred while selling this insurance. Two, the company would offer us no benefits other than "quality pay" (that is, if you were "willing to put forth the effort."). Finally, the company would require us to PAY THEM a start up fee (after paying for licensing and for the E&O Insurance). Needless to say, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. I was told that if I had the thousand bucks to "start my business," they would provide me unpaid training next month sometime, after I take my licensing exam. That being said, I promptly wrote on my response paper that I would prefer not to receive any more calls from Bankers, and left the building, extremely dissatisfied.
So, I was, again, jobless and hopeless. Until I found an add in the newspaper for summer work. Most of the people that asked me about it were skeptical because the add said only that it was summer work with good pay, flexible schedules, and no experience necessary; no where in the add did it mention a company name, or a job description. Either way, intrigued by the idea of having summer work, I called the number. When I first called, I spoke to a woman that said she was having computer problems and would call me back the next day. She called me during the fateful second interview with Bankers, and I was not really in the mood to call back after that, so I waited until Tuesday to call her back.
Immediately I was set up with an interview, though I had sent in no information about myself. Again simply excited that I had the opportunity to get a job, I went in for the interview. The place was shabby and looked like it may have been tossed together overnight, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt. I filled out an application and was called into the manager's office, where I sat on a folding chair and he asked me why I wanted to work for Vector (though at this point, I still had no idea what that work entailed). I made up some bull shit and the guy seemed happy, so I went back into the conference room where I was instructed to wait for a group interview. (At this point I should have been leery. The group interview thing is no longer something I'm willing to get excited about.)
The manager came in a few minutes later, gave us a flipping sales pitch, then explained why his company was so great and how we could make tons of money selling CutCo knives to people in their homes (but we won't sell door to door). After that, we were each called back into his office and he asked us what we liked most about this job opportunity, then he said, and I'll never be able to forget this, "Well, Josh, you know I can't hire everybody...but I really think you'd be a great fit for this position." He went on to compliment my resume and tell me that he liked me because I kept great eye contact with him and laughed at his jokes during the group interview, which showed that I'm a "down to earth guy" who's willing to be himself around others. Again, by now I should have been ready to bolt, but something about how he went through the whole script caught me off guard. So I scheduled some unpaid training with them to start today at one.
The good news is, I am not going to the training. Last night my rational mind finally got the better of me and made me do some research online (which I usually do before I even apply for a job but really had no time to do in this case because I was given an interview as soon as I called). I typed "Vector Marketing" into the search bar, and the search assistant tried to tell me that I really wanted to search for "Vector Marketing Scam," (by the way, "Vector Marketing Scam was number one on the search assistant, even before "Vector Marketing Corporation") but I went with my original search anyhow to avoid bias. The first five links were Vector sites, none of which really said anything other than exactly what the manager said during my "interview." The sixth site was Vector Market, Scam or Not? It turns out, after searching nearly fifty sites on two search engines, and reading about Vector on Wikipedia, that I've come to the conclusion that Vector is pretty much a scam. Basically, they hire unsuspecting, unknowing high school graduates and college students to sell these knives, which, while decent knives, are not worth the price, as outlined on this consumer review.
Anyhow, I decided not to waste my time and gas money going back out there. I thought about going in and asking some really tough questions and trying to get a few other kids to see the light, but, to be honest, it's just not worth it. Still, that leaves me, again, jobless. Anyone have any good ideas for work?
The other important happening was a company that contacted me after finding my resume on CareerBuilder. For those of you that do not use CareerBuilder, I don't really have much to say about it other than it got me this call. None of the places I found on the site that I applied for have contacted me, and at least two of them I was unable to complete the applications for strange, unexplained reasons.
Anyhow, needless to say, I was excited when I received a call from Bankers Life and Casualty Company, and decided to go in for what the woman called a "group discussion session." I was excited, until my mother told me that Rebekah received the exact same phone call, went in for the discussion meeting, and came out dissatisfied. Still, being desperate for a job (and secretly believing that Bekah wasn't happy because the job was probably more work than she was willing to put forth), I went to the meeting. After roughly an hour (which is about how long it took me to drive to said meeting), I left the meeting with new knowledge of this fantastic company that I could sell life insurance and other services to seniors, making commissions on sales and probably earning a great deal of money.
Again, needless to say, I was truly excited when I received a call back from Bankers the next day, saying they wanted to have me in for a second (and final) group interview. I went in on Monday, expecting it to be an explanatory meeting, but the man talking to us really only explained two things. The first thing he explained was the pay (which had already been partially covered in the first session and really didn't need such crucial explanation, especially before any of us were even offered a job). The second thing he explained, after sitting us through another boring PowerPoint Presentation and going into all of his success stories, was that we needed roughly a thousand dollars to "start our business." You see, it turns out that we wouldn't actually be employees of Bankers; we'd be subcontractors. This really meant three things. One, we'd be required to pay for our own licensing, Errors and Omissions Insurance, transportation, and any other expense incurred while selling this insurance. Two, the company would offer us no benefits other than "quality pay" (that is, if you were "willing to put forth the effort."). Finally, the company would require us to PAY THEM a start up fee (after paying for licensing and for the E&O Insurance). Needless to say, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. I was told that if I had the thousand bucks to "start my business," they would provide me unpaid training next month sometime, after I take my licensing exam. That being said, I promptly wrote on my response paper that I would prefer not to receive any more calls from Bankers, and left the building, extremely dissatisfied.
So, I was, again, jobless and hopeless. Until I found an add in the newspaper for summer work. Most of the people that asked me about it were skeptical because the add said only that it was summer work with good pay, flexible schedules, and no experience necessary; no where in the add did it mention a company name, or a job description. Either way, intrigued by the idea of having summer work, I called the number. When I first called, I spoke to a woman that said she was having computer problems and would call me back the next day. She called me during the fateful second interview with Bankers, and I was not really in the mood to call back after that, so I waited until Tuesday to call her back.
Immediately I was set up with an interview, though I had sent in no information about myself. Again simply excited that I had the opportunity to get a job, I went in for the interview. The place was shabby and looked like it may have been tossed together overnight, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt. I filled out an application and was called into the manager's office, where I sat on a folding chair and he asked me why I wanted to work for Vector (though at this point, I still had no idea what that work entailed). I made up some bull shit and the guy seemed happy, so I went back into the conference room where I was instructed to wait for a group interview. (At this point I should have been leery. The group interview thing is no longer something I'm willing to get excited about.)
The manager came in a few minutes later, gave us a flipping sales pitch, then explained why his company was so great and how we could make tons of money selling CutCo knives to people in their homes (but we won't sell door to door). After that, we were each called back into his office and he asked us what we liked most about this job opportunity, then he said, and I'll never be able to forget this, "Well, Josh, you know I can't hire everybody...but I really think you'd be a great fit for this position." He went on to compliment my resume and tell me that he liked me because I kept great eye contact with him and laughed at his jokes during the group interview, which showed that I'm a "down to earth guy" who's willing to be himself around others. Again, by now I should have been ready to bolt, but something about how he went through the whole script caught me off guard. So I scheduled some unpaid training with them to start today at one.
The good news is, I am not going to the training. Last night my rational mind finally got the better of me and made me do some research online (which I usually do before I even apply for a job but really had no time to do in this case because I was given an interview as soon as I called). I typed "Vector Marketing" into the search bar, and the search assistant tried to tell me that I really wanted to search for "Vector Marketing Scam," (by the way, "Vector Marketing Scam was number one on the search assistant, even before "Vector Marketing Corporation") but I went with my original search anyhow to avoid bias. The first five links were Vector sites, none of which really said anything other than exactly what the manager said during my "interview." The sixth site was Vector Market, Scam or Not? It turns out, after searching nearly fifty sites on two search engines, and reading about Vector on Wikipedia, that I've come to the conclusion that Vector is pretty much a scam. Basically, they hire unsuspecting, unknowing high school graduates and college students to sell these knives, which, while decent knives, are not worth the price, as outlined on this consumer review.
Anyhow, I decided not to waste my time and gas money going back out there. I thought about going in and asking some really tough questions and trying to get a few other kids to see the light, but, to be honest, it's just not worth it. Still, that leaves me, again, jobless. Anyone have any good ideas for work?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)