I am hellaciously late in getting a blog written. I reread
the previous year’s Christmas blogs and thought, “Oh, so much has changed, I
ought to write about…” Obviously I did not, as the last blog posted was in
November. It isn’t that I don’t love to blog, it is that the other writing and
authorly stuff that I do is occupying a lot of my brain space, and I don’t want
my blog to be about writing. It is supposed to be about me reinventing myself.
One could easily argue that the writing stuff is about my reinvention, but let’s
face it, you only want to hear so much about that!
So, let me tell you an amusing story about a young woman who
loves to write, sometimes feels a little isolated, and thought it would be fun
to get a job that pays actual money. This girl was in the grocery store with
her family and saw a sign with employment opportunities on it. “Hmm,” she
thinks, “This could be fun, easy work, get me out of the house, and pay for a
few things.” She returned home and filled out the on-line application. Since it
was a Saturday afternoon, she went about her life, forgetting all about working
at a grocery store, until she received an email first thing Monday morning with
a request for a job interview. She was excited. Nervous, but excited. “Do I go,
don’t I go?” She spent the morning talking herself in and out of the job
interview.
Two hours before the interview, she showered, donned some
professional looking clothes and made her way to the nearby grocery store. Up a
long flights of stairs to the Employee Lounge she went, to enter the holding
pen of many a nervous beefy young man! The nervous young woman found a seat and
surveyed the motley group, struggling to remember the other positions
available. One by one, the young men disappeared into the manager’s office, and
one by one, they reappeared looking confident. At last it was the young woman’s
turn.
The manager politely shook her hand, gave her “the good
chair,” and sat down on a metal folding chair. Scanning her resume, he asked
his first question, “Do you know which job you applied for?”
Caught by surprise, she held her breath for a brief moment
before replying, “Courtesy Clerk.”
Smiling at her, the middle-aged balding man nodded his head.
The young woman felt relieved. She hadn’t marked the wrong box! “Do you know
what a Courtesy Clerk is?” The manager asked her, looking doubtful.
“Isn’t that the person who helps out at the Customer Service
desk? Helps customers find things, sell cigarettes and lottery tickets?” She
ventured the guess, based upon her observations at her local grocery store.
“No! You’d be good at that. A Courtesy Clerk bags groceries,
collects carts, and cleans the bathrooms!”
The young woman smiled broadly and decided to be candid, “Er’,
not what I am looking for.” All those beefy young men were starting to make more sense. “If I wanted to clean bathrooms, I’d be at home.”
The manager, who had introduced himself, but whose name she’d
long forgotten, laughed heartily with her. After they settled down, he scanned her resume for a moment
before admitting aloud that he had wondered why a young woman with more than
enough academic qualifications would be looking for a job at a grocery store
bagging groceries and cleaning bathrooms. She answered cheekily. “Do you have anything else?”
At this point the manager tapped away at his keyboard and
flipped through a couple different windows on his computer screen. Turning the
monitor towards the young woman, he showed her the list of job opportunities. “Fish
Clerk?” he asked in a hopeful, perky voice.
“What do they do?” She asked, wanting precise information.
Wrinkling her nose after he explained the knife wielding, pungent details, she
said, “No thank you.” To which he quickly countered, “Cake decorating?” While
it sounded like fun, she admitted she’d never done any. “Deli?” Was his
response to her admission. Apparently experience was necessary. “What are the
hours?” She asked, starting to feel hopeful. “Noon to 9:00pm.” The manager at
this point appeared genuinely eager. Ruminating for a split second, the young
woman said, “I thought the job was for the day shift. 8-5 or some such.”
Shaking his head, looking at her somewhat bewildered again, he replied
patiently, “No, grocery stores don’t have that kind of scheduling.” She looked
at him, at the computer screen to see if any other jobs were listed, but was
unable to make out the small font. “Alright then, no. I have to be home by
5:00.”
Still utterly patient, the manager dashed a glance at the
computer monitor. “What kind of position do you see yourself holding?”
“Customer Service Clerk or cashier! 8:00-5:00. Are those
ever available?”
After the manager and I shared a long laughter filled
moment, I shook his hand, apologized for taking his time, and then boldly
asked, “How long do you keep resumes on file?”
Hence I sit here quite happily and type this blog. All in
all, everything worked out for the best.
Happy New Years! May 2015 be full of dreams, successes and
laughter.
