Advice for general labor job applicants, plus two rants.

1.  Do give you full attention to ALL persons in the office where you are applying for a job.

2.  Avoid cell phone usage at all costs!  If you need to retrieve phone numbers or information from it in order to complete the application that is fine, but put the phone out of the way immediately after getting the necessary information.

3.  Your cell phone ringer should be off before you even get into the office.  Do not listen to ipods or mp3 devices, even while sitting in the waiting area.

4.  You do not have to wear a suit when applying for general labor work.  But your clothing should not be tight, revealing, dirty, ripped, feature cuss words or pornographic images.

5.  Use your manners, be respectful and do not talk over anyone at the place you are applying to.

Rant 1.  A young man comes into the office on his cell phone, dressed in jeans and a worn out white t-shirt.  He stands in front of my desk grunting into the cell phone, looking around the office, acting like nothing is going on.  I completely ignore customers who do not give me their attention, but I can sense he is looking at me.  Then he says into the cell phone, “Dis a white lady behind the desk.”  He then hands me his cell phone.  After I don’t reach out and take it, he asks if I could talk to this person.  I ask who is on the phone and he, after pausing and looking confused, says “uh, it’s uh…I don’t know” and mumbles some more.  I take the phone and ask who is calling to which the reply is  a 30 second long explanation that the guy knows one of the managers here.  THEN he adds that he used to work here.  Finally, he adds his name.

The one on the phone continues on about the manager’s instructions that we schedule an appointment with this gentleman at 5pm, and goes on and on about the same shit he’s already said.  He goes on that he used to work here and he is recommending this young man to apply.  I put an end to it by saying OK and giving the phone back.

They talk a few more minutes and after ending the call the young man stands in front of my desk and says nothing.  He just waits, looking stupid.  So I ask him if he has applied yet?  No.  I get an application out and escort him into the conference room where he will be out of my way to complete the application.  When he comes out, he continues standing around stupidly.  I tell him the manager will not be in today since it’s Thursday and schedule him for an appointment Friday at 5 pm.  This time slot is my preferred interview time because it takes the manager about 25 minutes to get through the interviews and since I leave at 5:30 pm I don’t have to hire them on the spot, even if the manager likes the person.

Rant 2.  I had just hired a young lady, about my age but much taller.  Very pretty girl, but wore clothing which would have made me blush to wear.  After she was finished with her paperwork, she asked if she could buy a couple t-shirts to wear to work (we give all employees  an apron, but if they prefer t-shirts they can buy one for $5).  I brought her two shirts and told her it would come to $10 total.  She reaches into the skintight cheap slut dress she is wearing and pulls a twenty out of her very-visible bra.  My mouth falls open and my upper lip rolls in disgust.  The bill is sweaty.

Reawakening of dormant math abilities for College

I am going back to school and it’s already hard…

I can’t get into a credit math class yet because my placement test scores are so low.  In fact, I have to take Mat101 and Mat102 before I can get Mat110 for credit; this would eat up two semesters before I could take a for-credit math class.  I am thinking seriously about taking Peter up on his offer to help me study in order to retake the test and get into a better class.  The issue is that I was never that great in math and I’m afraid that if I don’t truly understand the basic concepts I will fall behind and never catch up.  Then I won’t be able to understand Chemistry and go on to be The Greatest Scientist in the history of the 4.5 billion year old planet!

So I called Dad.  He says that once you “Get IT” it just makes sense.  He was super at math and always excelled at it; I don’t remember ever liking it and quite possibly just gave up on it because I didn’t care.  I wish I’d gotten that math-ability gene from him.  Then again maybe it is inside me, it has simply remained dormant.  Dormant until now!

So he thinks I should go for retesting after packing in some condensed cram sessions with Peter.  After talking to him, I feel better about this, about my dormant math-abilities.  I texted Peter to bring me home some math for slow students workbooks (I know I’m not slow! just dormant) today so I can retest this week after work some night.

On a side note, I feel so excited at just having talked to my advisor, “Thompson”, because he is going to register my english class tonight or tomorrow. YAY!  After discussing with half-asleep Peter the other night, I decided to take both classes on Tuesday and Thursday nights so I will have the other three weeknights to study and study and study, respectively.

I recently started reading The Disappearing Spoon and Other True Tales of Madness, Love and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean.  What a fascinating book!  I am halfway done with it after only two days and I can’t put it down.  I very highly recommend this book!