Now Hiring (Victoria, Steph, and Albert)

Good morning!  Is everyone ready for the weekend?  I am so ready for the weekend as I get to see my sister again and that is very exciting.

We are continuing on our quest through interviews to see if anyone will be a good fit to work at Portside Doggie Daycare.  We are going to be reminiscing about 3 more people who came in for interviews and looking into why they did or didn’t get the job.  Do you think that anyone will be getting a job?

This story is classified as Adventure.  So sit back and enjoy!

Now Hiring (Victoria, Steph, and Albert)

Seasonal work for Portside Doggie Daycare.  Starting at $10 an hour, part and full time positions available.  Must be able to work as a team and work well with other people and pets.  Feel free to come in and inquire about a job. We would love for you to join our team!

Victoria

I have interviewed thousands of people in the years that I have been a manager.  Interviews are a breeze. Either they go really well or they go terrible, there’s not really an in between.  So when I got a glowing resume and an awesome application, I thought this girl was going to be an all-star.

When I walked into the lobby, there was a girl with more makeup on her face than what I owned in my lifetime.  Now, I like a good eye shadow palette, but this girl’s face looked like she had 10 different palettes on her face.  I was taken slightly aback but makeup didn’t matter. As long as she was a good worker then she would be welcomed into the team.

I reached out my hand.  “Good morning. I’m Tammy.”

She looked at my hand and then back at me.  “I’m Victoria, and I’m sorry but I don’t shake hands.  There’s too many germs.”

“Okay…let’s step into the office and get this started.”  I showed her into the office and immediately noticed she pulled a can of lysol out of her purse and sprayed the chair.  I cocked my eyebrow. “Too many germs on the chair?”

Victoria cautiously sat down.  “Yeah. I hate germs. I never get sick because I’m always on the lookout for germs.”

“You know you are interviewing for a job to work with dogs right?  And the job includes cleaning up after dogs right?”

The girl looked flabbergasted, or more like I had just slapped her across the face.  “What? I thought I was interviewing for a lobby position. Like, helping the people.  I don’t want to work with the dogs. They’re nasty.”

I let out a sigh.  “Okay, well…I’m not looking for anyone for the lobby.  I’m looking for people to help in the kennel and work with the dogs.  You could still potentially work in the kennel and just wear gloves while you work if you still want to interview.”

“Are you serious?  I can’t wear gloves.  I am ALLERGIC to latex.  I will break out into hives if I wear latex gloves.  You know what…never mind. I don’t need this job anyway.  Have a good day.” She swung open the door and flew through it.  I watched as she stomped through the front doors and to her car. I had to snicker as she didn’t try to Lysol any of the doors as she walked through them.

Steph

I know we are in an age where people like to experiment, but I still don’t quite understand why people will come to interviews like that.  Like, I walk into the lobby and this girl is just spaced out of her mind. I thought she was going to fall over when she stood up to shake my hand.  “Are you okay?”

“Yeah man…I’m Steph…”

I could smell the marijuana on her breath as she spoke.  “That’s…good. Let’s go into the office and we can talk.”

“Is okay if I vape while we talk?”

“Uh…”  What? Was this girl serious?  “No…I’m sorry. That will have to wait until we are done.”

Steph shrugged.  “Whatever man. I get it.”

I led her into the office and immediately opened the window.  I knew she smelled like weed, but I didn’t need my boss’ office smelling like it too.  I cleared my throat. “So…tell me about yourself.”

She leaned back in her chair, revealing the bright tie dye shirt she was wearing under her hoodie.  “Well…I love smoking and I smoke weed everyday. I can’t imagine myself not smoking. And…I just want world peace and I want everyone to get along.”

My jaw must’ve hit the desk with how shocked I was.  “You do realize you will need to take a drug test before you work here, right?”

“What?  Why would I need to take a drug test?  I’m just here to pet the dogs.”

I shook my head.  “It’s a lot more work than just petting the dogs.  It’s cleaning up after dogs and making sure they eat their food and take their medication.  This job is not just petting dogs. So if you don’t think this is for you, I suggest you leave now before we go any further.”

Steph laughed at herself.  “I’m really dumb. I thought this was going to be a super easy job that wouldn’t require too much work.  I just wanna smoke weed and pet dogs all day. And I can’t even do that.” She stood up and made her way out the door.  “Sorry man.”

She slowly walked out the door and into the parking lot.  I watched her walk to her car and race out of the parking lot.  At least she had been honest during her interview.

Albert

I want you to imagine someone that just doesn’t get it.  You know the type. People who think they are high and mighty and that they are untouchable.  That was Albert.

The moment I saw him I knew something was a little off.  He was dressed in a full 3 piece suit and looked very sharp.  Maybe too sharp. Like, I understand if you want to make a good impression, but this was a little too much.  It was almost a little too good to be true. I walked up to him and held out my hand. “Hello. I’m Tammy.”

He stood up and shook my hand.  It was a firm hard grip. “Hello.  I’m Albert Octavious. It’s a pleasure to meet you ma’am.”

He was very cordial.  It threw me off.  “It’s a pleasure to meet you as well.  Let’s go into the office and we can start this interview.”  I couldn’t help but think that there was going to be something off since this guy was so nice.  What was wrong with him?

The interview started off well.  He answered every question without hesitation and his answers were flawless.  I got to the mandatory question about his past job, which happened to be at a vet office that we worked very closely with.  So I had to ask him. “So. I see here that you used to work at Myers Veterinary Clinic. Why did you leave?”

He cleared his throat.  “Uh…I left because the other staff didn’t get me.  They totally disrespected me and didn’t listen to what I had to say.  It got to the point where I got to work and everyone would hide.”

I felt my eyes starting to widen.  “And why was this?”

Albert shrugged.  “I don’t know! I just started working with them and I thought I was getting into the groove of things and they just stopped talking to me!  I didn’t do anything wrong. They didn’t understand my humor and they didn’t understand my lifestyle and they just didn’t like me. I tried to make them understand where I was coming from but it didn’t help.  They all just decided to gang up on me and I decided to leave. Can we stop talking about this? I would rather move on in the interview.”

“Of course.  I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”  The rest of the interview went off without a hitch.  I would’ve hired him right there if I didn’t have a nagging thought that I should call the manager at Myers to see what was going on.  I thanked him for his time and told him I would be calling him.

After Albert left, I scurried into my office and quickly dialed the number for Myers Veterinary Clinic.  I felt my foot start tapping as I became more impatient. The phone picked up and someone answered. “Myers Veterinary Clinic, this is Samantha.  How can I help you?”

I swallowed.  “Yes. Hi. This is Tammy Shorberg, manager at Portside Doggie Daycare.  I was wondering if I may speak to your manager about a past employee of yours that came in for an interview here.”

There was a pause on the other end of the phone.  “Yeah, one moment okay?”

“Thank you.”

I waited for a few minutes before the phone was picked up.  “Hello this is Michelle.”

“Hi Michelle this is Tammy from Portside.  I had a few questions for you about a past employee of yours.”

I heard a sigh from the other end of the phone.  “Please tell me it wasn’t Albert.”

“Should I be really worried?”

Michelle cleared her throat.  “Yes. He is nothing but trouble.  I don’t know what he said in his interview but when I interviewed him he said that he didn’t get along with the people from his past job.  I didn’t really think much about it and hired him. But oh boy I was wrong. I swear he wanted to get with every girl here. He flirted with them and when they turned him down he would get angry.  And I don’t mean like leaving the room in a huff. I mean like throwing a temper tantrum like he was 2.”

I was shocked.  “You can’t be serious…”

“I’m completely serious!”  Michelle laughed. “I wish I could make this kind of thing up but this guy was crazy.  I had almost every girl here complaining about him always hitting on her. And when I finally talked to him about it he basically told me that all the girls had been ganging up on him and he was the victim.  I was completely taken aback. Like seriously? How out of reality do you have to be?”

“Well…I think it is safe to say that I should definitely dodge this bullet.”

“Yes please do.  And if you have any other questions about him let me know.  Because I would hate for you to hire him and immediately fire him.”

“Thanks Michelle.  I really appreciate it.”  We hung up the phone and I sat back.  I was so glad that listened to my gut and called Michelle.  I could only imagine what would have happened if I had actually hired him on the spot.