Halloween Week Nightmare

Last week, things started to look up a little when I received a call from a temp job agency AND a photo studio with interviews. The temp job agency, Adecco, had a real last minute 3 day data entry job which pays $12 an hour. I was super excited but had to convince the J-man to drive me down to Charlotte to meet the hirers and do a drug test screening, typing competency tests and so on. All i had to do then, was to wait for the test results to come in, and for them to contact my references.

The next day, however, the tests results still hadn't come in. It was company policy that I had to pass all tests and screenings before I got hired. So without that, I couldn't go to work that day. On top of that, the references I gave were not good enough, they needed references of people they could call, i.e. people who are in the US. So after a few hours of scrambling around looking for the contacts of some parents I knew who are currently in the country, I finally managed to scrape up 2 moms and a grandma who (bless their hearts) gave glowing testimonials about me. To cut a long story short, I was short of one background check so I wasn't able to land the temp job. On the bright side, I hope all the results came in after, because then I can give them a call on Monday in hopes of getting other temp jobs.

The other interview I had was with this photography studio called Olan Mills. The marketing manager K, called me one evening to arrange for an interview on Wednesday. It was for a sales promoter position and although I wasn't that interested, I was glad to finally get a call. Wednesday came, I arrived fifteen minutes before the scheduled time. The interviewer L wasn't there, so I waited. But when the scheduled time came and went, I still didn't hear from her. So the photographer D at the studio offered to contact her. While he was on his cell, L called the studio and apologized. Something cropped up at the last minute and she wasn't able to make the interview that day. I was a little bummed but hey, I understand sometimes things do crop up at the last minute, so I rescheduled with K for an interview the very next day with her.

I arrived early for my interview the next day, and again, K wasn't at the studio. Instead, D came out to meet me saying that K had tried to contact me earlier but couldn't reach me. She wanted to cancel the interview again because she couldn't make it. I checked my cellphone, no missed calls. Maybe she tried calling me at home. I thanked D and drove home. I checked my missed calls to find out that K had called me FIVE minutes before my scheduled interview. Like hello? Of course I wouldn't be home already, and why hadn't she called me on my cell?

Quietly seething, I called K to re-schedule for the the 3rd time and the next interview was set to be on Saturday noon. Before leaving for that interview, I debated on calling K just to check to see if she was there at the studio. I decided against it, because it might look like I didn't trust them. Well I didn't, but they didn't need to know that. I should have, because my gut told me I was going to be stood up yet again. I arrived at 11:45am to find the studio really busy. D couldn't talk to me because he was busy with customers, but he gave me a knowing shake of his head to indicate that she wasn't here and didn't call. I stood in a corner and decided to wait. At the same time I decided to call K every 10minutes, after she didn't pick up my first call. I waited till 12:30pm and was about to leave when D got done with his customers. He took me aside and apologized when I told him there was no news of K. He then offered to set up a working interview with a senior sales lady the next day, with a promise that if I did well on the job, she will provide a positive evaluation, possibly landing me the job. I declined, on the account that the management staff had showed such an extent of un-professionalism. As much as I needed a job, I do not deserve to be treated so shabbily. There is a bottom line.

So my uneventful week went by, and I am still without a job. I guess that job wasn't meant for me and something better will come along...