Broken
I've been job hunting for quite a while now. Telling you exactly how long would make me look a little worse than I feel like appearing right now. But I can tell you that it's been a while. I don't get very many jobs. I rarely see anyone hiring around here and I've had no luck at the places I have applied for. It usually ends with them saying they'll call me and then not calling me.
The latest in my series of doomed attempts at employment was Fry's Electronics. It's this big computer/software/TV/CDs/Everything else having to do with electronics store that they have over here in California (and Texas, Arizona, and Oregon according to their site). They were hiring, so I filled out an application and turned it in. The day after I gave them the application, they called me. I like it when places I apply for call me. They said they wanted to do an interview on Monday (today) and to come in at 11:15 am. I don't like getting up that early, but if it meant I'd get a shot at a job, I was willing to tough it out. The girl who called also added that I should "dress professionally." This apparently meant I'd need some slacks, a button-up collared shirt, tie, and dress shoes. Shit. I have all these things, but it's been so long since I've had to wear them that they don't fit anymore. So yesterday, I had to go out and get some new ones. Then I went home and killed time until a few hours ago when I woke up and went to Fry's.
Now, I'm fairly well known around Fry's because several months ago I got into an argument with a customer support guy who didn't speak english. The argument turned into a fist fight when this guy made fun of my hair (I think he did anyway. I couldn't really understand him). Eventually, I pulled out a knife and tried to kill him but soon after that, I blacked out. When I came to, I was in jail facing assault charges.
Actually, only some of that happened. The rest is just wishful thinking. I had gotten into a small argument with a stubborn customer support guy who didn't speak much english, but it worked out okay. And I'm not well known around Fry's in any way, shape, or form. But none of this has anything to do with today so I'll get back on track now.
I waltzed into the store, sporting my uncomfortable shirt, a tie that was slowly choking me to death, and some decent pants and shoes. Some guy who worked there told me where to wait, so I waited there. The first thing I noticed was that "dress professionally" meant a different thing to a some of the other people who were waiting than it did to those who said I needed all this crap. Luckily, there were still a few people who had outfits similar to mine, so it didn't feel like overkill anymore.
One of the guys who was doing interviews came out and handed me this little sheet of paper with some questions I needed to answer. Bullshit questions like "What does the phrase 'Good service is the lowest level of acceptable service we have' mean to you?" It means you guys are full of shit because your service is average at best. Of course I put something else since I still sort of wanted a job. I've found that you just need to deal with these kinds of cheesy questions if you want to get hired somewhere like that. Fortunately, most people probably have a much easier time answering them than I do. I usually manage to spit something adequate back at them though. I don't think my answers sound too sincere, but how the hell am I supposed to give an answer to these things that doesn't sound equally laced with bullshit? Oh well, they don't look at those anyway. The REAL problems come with the actual interviews.
I just don't like job interviews. One reason is that I'm not a very social person. I can usually talk to people when we're talking about something I'm comfortable talking about, but if I'm forced to talk about something else, the results aren't as good. My biggest problem is that I can't find the right words to use. And I always find myself in this situation with job interviews. They ask some question that I just don't have an answer to and I can't think of a way to dance around it, so I trail off or something like that. How well I know a person is a big factor too, and obviously, I don't know these guys very well. And they rarely do anything that would make me want to. I don't do much either, but I'm bitching about OTHER people here, not me.
Even if I was able to give decent answers, I'd still have another problem with interviews. That other problem being that they just don't feel right. I'm not sure how exactly to describe it, but I just don't like the atmosphere. They ask you a question, you start answering, then they just look down and start going through their papers, giving you an occasional "mhm" or "yeah." That's pretty much exactly how the second of the two interviews I had today went. It didn't look like he was listening to a thing I said. Although in this case, I kind of hope he wasn't because my answers weren't very good at all. The first interviewer was sort of like that too. But I guess it's more forgivable with him since he didn't seem to have a very tight hold on the english language. That seems to be a pretty popular trend over at Fry's.
That's not to say all are like that though. I've had a couple interviews by people who weren't robots. They seemed to listen, asked follow up questions, and didn't come off as insulting. One guy in particular (at a local Circuit City) went over things very well. Too bad they didn't hire me. All would be well and I wouldn't have felt the urge to write all this crap, but no. I got as far as the goddamn drug test and was waiting for this "call" they were supposed to give me but it never came. A week later, I called back (they had told me to do this if I didn't hear from them after a week), they again told me they'd call, and then nothing. Moral of the story: don't believe anything anyone tells you, ever.
Anywho, back to Fry's. Another thing I didn't like about them is that it didn't seem like they read my application beyond my name and phone number. It's like they just pick up a random application out of the pile and call that person in for an interview. I didn't have much past job experience. My last job was sometime in 2000 for a county fair. Technically, I do have more job experience than that, but that was the only one I could really put down (and no, that doesn't mean I'm in the mafia or anything). I was kind of surprised they even called me since I think it's my lack of listed previous work that turns off some of these places. I personally don't think it's too big a deal, but some of these guys do, and I guess I can understand why. But anyway, I had assumed that they had read that part of my application and still decided to call me. Maybe they had, but the guy who did the first interview was sure shocked by it. That was kind of annoying because I was hoping that that part of the application wouldn't come back to haunt me this time, but it did. I'll bet that customer support guy had something to do with it.
But at least I haven't been forced to take a psychological evaluation (aka "questionnaire") yet. Most big stores make you do this and it takes forever. And these things go pretty deep. I'm pretty sure they're violating at least some rights here. I guess they feel it's necessary, but I just can't imagine how the number of pets I've had has anything to do with my ability to stick a DVD onto the correct shelf. And the guys who I did the last one with (Target) lost mine so I had to do another one (I was at that place a total of around 5 hours). And if Target does it, I'm sure Fry's will too. So assuming I get that far in the hiring process (though it's not looking too good at this point), that's not something I'm looking forward to.
Anyway, I started this rant earlier today but I took a break from it and came back several hours later, so I can't remember a lot of what I originally wanted to say. I guess I should start wrapping up. Basically, I don't like the hiring process. Any of it. I don't sell myself very well, but I think that if given the chance, I could do at least as well as half the people I see at these places. Maybe I should tell them that next time. Unfortunately, there's really no way to back it up. Maybe I should aim a bit lower. Like mall stores, or fast food.
So that's about it I guess. If you see any mistakes in this thing, feel free to correct me. Although I really didn't make an effort to state any facts or statistics (this is mostly just my limited personal experience), I'm sure there's something wrong somewhere up there. I guess the main thing I'm trying to say here is that my local Fry's sucks. If you don't get anything else out of this rant, at least remember that. Later.
