Now Hiring (Dante, Latoya, and Jamal)

Good morning!  It’s Friday and I cannot wait because I have a 3 day weekend for my birthday!  I am turning 25 tomorrow which is absolutely crazy to think that I am a quarter of a century old.  But, I very excited for a 3 day weekend to get more writing done.

And we are continuing on our Now Hiring series.  I’m glad you are coming back and reading each part of this story to see it to the end.  We still have a couple parts of this series and then we will move onto something new.  Is there anything you would like to see after this series is over?

This story is and Adventure so enjoy!

Now Hiring

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!

Dante

Being the manager of a small business, we do get people who need the job and are willing to do anything for the job.  Like, they tell us everything that we want to hear just to get the job.

I remember seeing this well dressed guy sitting in one of the chairs in the lobby.  He was wearing a three piece suit, shined shoes, and his hair was gelled back to perfection.  I stepped up to him with my arm out. “Good morning. I’m Tammy.”

He stood up and shook my hand.  “Good morning. I’m Dante, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

I nodded.  “It’s a pleasure to meet you as well.  Shall we get started?” I led him into the office and he sat down opposite from me.  I smiled at him. “So, tell me about yourself?”

Dante cleared his throat.  “Well…I have been kinda struggling with a job.  I really want to be open with you to make sure that I am being open and honest.  I am willing to do whatever you need me to do just to keep the job. I could clean the toilets if you needed.  I just really need a job.”

I nodded.  There was always at least one or two people every season that desperately needed a job.  I usually tried to get them a job, but sometimes it just didn’t work out. I started paging through his application and resume to see if there was anything that I should be aware of.  “Okay. So it looks like your last job was Red Shell Game Center. Why did you leave?”

He nervously giggled.  “Uh…I wasn’t really given a choice.  I was told that I had to quit or be fired.  So I decided to quit. It looks better on a resume.”

I felt my eyebrow start to lift.  “Is that so? Why did you have to quit?”

Dante tugged on his collar.  “Uh…I…uh…I took some money out of the cash register.  But it was only like…$20. And I planned on giving it back once I was paid.  But unfortunately my boss didn’t really agree with me and thought I was lying.  So he told me that I had to quit or be fired.” His eyes fell so he was looking at the floor.  “I did end up paying him the money back.”

“Well that’s good.  But I am so sorry to say that I cannot hire a thief.  I know you had good intentions and you planned on paying it back, but I cannot, in my right mind, hire you to work.  I am so sorry. But I do wish you the best and I hope you can find something that works for you.” I smiled, trying to make him feel a little better.

He looked like he was about to cry.  “Please…I need this. I haven’t been able to have a job in months because of something so minor.  I try to be so open with every interview that I go into because I need this. Please. Give me a chance.  I promise I won’t let you down.”

I stood up and walked to the door.  “I’m so sorry Dante. But I have to say no.  I will show you out. Thank you.”

Dante slowly stood up and walked out of the office.  I watched him walk to his car and sit in the driver’s seat.  I watched him start to cry, his hands flying up to his face. I had to leave; I had to go back into my office and let him go on his own.  I felt bad, a small problem turned into something so much bigger for him and it would follow him around for a while. It was heartbreaking, but it had to be done.

Latoya

Have you ever had a day where you just can’t pay attention?  Like, someone asks you something and no matter how hard you focus you just can’t answer it?  That was this girl.

I invited her into the office and sat her down.  I remember looking at my papers and looking up at her.  She wasn’t even looking at me, she was just looking at everything around the office.  I cleared my throat. “Why don’t we start off by you telling me about yourself?” Latoya didn’t even look at me, I don’t know if she even heard me ask a question.  I asked it again. “Why don’t we start off by you telling me about yourself?”

Her head snapped around, almost as if I had scared her.  “Huh?”

I had to do everything in my power to not roll my eyes.  “Why don’t we start off by you telling me about yourself?”

She shrugged.  “I don’t know. I’m not super interesting…”  Her eyes floated away from me and she started to look around the room again.  What was wrong with the girl?

“Okay?”  I wasn’t really sure what to think of this.  Should I continue with the interview? I cleared my throat again.  “Okay. So if you could use one word to describe yourself, what would you pick?”

Latoya’s head spun to look at me and her eyes were as wide as saucers.  “What?”

It took everything in my being to not roll my eyes.  “I said, if you could use one word to describe yourself, what word would you pick?”

“Uh…I would pick…”  Her eyes started to travel around the room again.  “I would pick…dogs.”

“Excuse me?”  I couldn’t believe what was happening in this interview.  “You would describe yourself as dogs?”

“Uh…no…uh…”  Latoya was still not looking at me.  “Uh…careful.”

“Careful?”  I wasn’t sure if she was giving me a warning or telling me that she described herself.  But I got no response from Latoya, she continued to look around the room and not pay attention to me or the questions.  “Latoya if I don’t get 100% of your attention, then this interview will be over. So if you could please look at me, that would be great.”

Latoya continued to look around the room and not pay attention.  So, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I stood up and left the room to see if I got any sort of response.  Nothing. I walked out of the office and stood out in the lobby to watch Latoya.

She continued to sit in the office and look around at everything.  After 5 minutes, she looked back at the desk to see it was empty. She stood up and walked out of the office and then out of the lobby.  She didn’t say a word as she walked out. If was almost as if she knew she had messed up and was too afraid to say anything. Not that she had said much at all during the interview.

Jamal

When I schedule interviews, I usually have to schedule them around meetings and other things.  So sometimes I have a very limited amount of time to do the interviews between other things. And for Jamal’s interview, it was one of those times where I literally scheduled it between two meetings.  So I was hoping that it was prompt and I wouldn’t have to push my meeting back to a later time.

Well his interview was at 2 and at 2:05, he hadn’t arrived.  I walked out into the lobby, hoping that for some reason my front desk girls had forgotten to tell me that my interview was here.  I looked around the lobby to see no one there. “Has my interview showed up?”

My front desk lead shook her head.  “No. Not yet. I’ll let you know when they arrive.”

I looked at the clock and walked back to my office.  I got a couple things done when my front desk lead came back to my office.  “Uh Tammy your interview just got here.”

My eyes traveled up to the clock to see it was 2:20.  “20 minutes late? Okay…I guess I’ll get started.” I walked out of the office to see Jamal sitting on the couch.  I walked up to him. “Good afternoon. I’m Tammy.”

Jamal stood up and shook my hand.  “Hello. I’m Jamal.”

I took him in the office and we both sat down.  “So, tell me a little about yourself?”

He nodded.  “Okay. I work at Xscape Escape Rooms full time and I love it.  I am basically just looking for something part time to have a little extra money.  But I love working with people and enjoy helping people solve puzzles.”

“That sounds like a lot of fun.  If you could use one word to describe yourself, what word word would you use?”

Jamal took a moment to ponder.  “I would say inquisitive. I am always curious about things and I always want to find a good solution.”

I wrote that down.  “That’s a great answer.  Okay. Do you have any experience with animals?”

Jamal shook his head.  “Unfortunately not really.  I have owned a goldfish, but that was it.  No dogs or cats.” He suddenly looked at his Apple watch and took a moment to read it.  “I’m very sorry. But my other job is needing me sooner than expected. Will this take long?”

I was taken aback.  This guy shows up late to an interview and now he wants to leave early?  I wasn’t really sure how to take that. “Um…this is an interview. I don’t determine how long it will take.  What determines the length is how long it takes you to answer the questions. But, if you do not wish to continue this interview, we can terminate it right now.”

His eyes quickly moved back and forth.  I could tell he was trying to decide what to do.  I watched him trying to decide if he leave for his other job or stay and finish out the interview.  He let out a sigh. “I’m sorry. I’m already committed to my other job, so I guess I will have to finish for today.  I would love to schedule another interview if possible, but I understand if you do not wish to do so.” He stood up. “I’m sorry for the inconvenience ma’am.”

And with that he swiftly walked out the door of the office and out the front door.  It was a shame. He actually seemed like a genuine guy who could possibly work out really well on the team.  But, maybe I would end up calling him back for another interview. It wasn’t something I normally did, but for some reason it felt like the right thing to do.