This entry was posted on Monday, January 19th, 2009 at 1:31 pm and is filed under If I Were the Queen, Narratives. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
I looked up when she came in the door, this girl in her twenties wearing jeans and an old tee shirt, blond hair pulled back in a messy pony tail.
“Can I help you?” I asked, thinking I sounded like a stereotypical sales girl.
“Uh, yeah.” She leaned forward against the counter between us. “Do you have any job openings?”
Since it’s not my place to make personnel decisions, I told her when Those in Charge would return. “Or,” I added, trying to be helpful, “You could always drop off a resume.”
Her eyes lit up. Ah. This was the perfect solution. “Great! Where can I get one?”
For a second, I couldn’t speak. Perhaps I’d had an advantage, as the daughter of small business owners, but this seemed like common knowledge. Then I reminded myself that she probably thought I meant to say “an application”. I tried to decide how to phrase this tactfully, in case she truly had misspoken.
“Well, actually, I’m not sure where the applications are,” I told her slowly, thinking aloud, putting a bit more emphasis on applications. “But if you write up your resume, then you can come back with it.”
She wrinkled her brow in confusion. Okay, so apparently it was possible that someone in her mid-twenties might not know what a resume was. Maybe she’d never needed one before. But she must have had other jobs. I tried again. “You know. A resume? Where you list all the jobs you’ve had?”
“Oh. Okay.” Her eyes drifted toward her hands. The left moved vigorously, picking at the cuticle on her right thumb. Then she looked up. “By the way, what do you guys do here? I’ve done lots of cashiering. I have tons and tons of experience with it.”
I glanced around the room, which held plenty of evidence of our products. Itching to explain the finer points of job-hunting — including dressing professionally, researching the company, and preparing the appropriate paperwork — I summoned up a kindly smile and briefly outlined our tasks, none of which included working the ancient cash register hunched on the counter between us.
“That sounds fun!” she chirped, swinging her sagging pony tail in her enthusiasm. “I’d like that a lot.”
Moments later she skipped out the door, full of cheerful promises that she would return later that afternoon to pick up an application. I never saw her again. Perhaps getting a job the traditional way just turned out to be too much work.
January 19th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
After working with college students who are about to embark the world in the midst of existential crises, such a situation seems quite plausible. Note to self – make sure my clients know what a resume is and direct them to career office to learn how to write one.
January 19th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
True story? Unbelievable!?!
January 19th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
I begin teaching my College Comp class on Thursday for the Spring Semester. I just wrote myself a note to talk about resumes.
January 19th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
@Becca & Keri – Good idea! It seems so obvious to us, but maybe not everyone’s getting this information after all? When I was teaching I did a unit on resumes and cover letters, but many of the kids had already done them before, when they needed them for their after-school jobs.
@Cath – Yup! 100% true. It happened a few years ago, in the place where I used to work. I was thinking about it today, with the whole jobs/economy issue and just had to write it up. It was so crazy that it stuck in my mind.
January 19th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
Wow. Just wow. I wonder if someone told her she had to look for jobs, “or else.”
January 19th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
I believe it. At several companies that I have friends at and mine as well, you can’t just go the HR and seek an application, most will tell you to visit their company site and upload your resume to their server and then the waiting game begins.
January 19th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
We’re doomed.
January 19th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
It’s just baffling sometimes, isn’t it?
This is the result of an education system designed to foster self-esteem and produce no marketable skills. Between that and the horrible sense of entitlement most kids are raised with? I get nervous.
January 19th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
@Kristi – Ooh. Excellent point. Maybe she was trying to get state assistance or someone was tired of her sponging off them?
@Dru – I’m not surprised to hear it. Some jobs in our town will only take applications through the state agency, even though they’re not state jobs. And who can blame them? It must make hiring much easier.
@Pam – Look at it this way: If either one of us ever has to change jobs in this economy, we now have an advantage.
@Amy – Maybe, although I know plenty of people who do learn about it in school, so it may not be fair to dismiss an entire system and everyone in it out-of-hand. Even if it wasn’t taught where she went to school (and perhaps it wasn’t) I’m just amazed that she made it to her age without even knowing what a resume was, let alone doing one for at least one of her other jobs.
January 19th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Please tell me this is an excellent piece of fiction you drummed up?!
I’m speechless . . .
January 19th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Wow…that’s just stunning in a How-Totally-Horrifying way, but you chronicled it so well I almost don’t care
.
January 20th, 2009 at 7:47 am
OMG. Good thing you didn’t ask for a list of references.
January 20th, 2009 at 8:22 am
All I can say is “oiy”. The future of America.
January 20th, 2009 at 10:57 am
@Alyson – I wish! Of course, then I wouldn’t have put it up because it wouldn’t seem the least bit believable. Funny how fiction has to be more believable than nonfiction, isn’t it?
@Marilyn – Yeah. Stunning is a good word for it. At least such an encounter is rare. I’m hoping she’s just an awful exception.
@Marcia – LOL! I admit I was tempted, but it felt a little mean to actually do so. Wonder what she would have said?
@Jennifer – I’m just wondering how she’ll fare with the economy as it is. She’s going to have to step it up, since positions will become ever more competitive.
January 20th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Absolutely unbelievable!
January 20th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Not long ago I had a conversation with someone about today’s sagging literacy. The person remarked, “Just think, in the future being able to read and write might qualify you to be president.”
Hopefully, that won’t ever be the case.
January 20th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Hi Caryn,
This is so funny- but true. Where I worked we had a young gal quit because-and I quote- “They expect me to sit in my chair and work for 8 hours.” LOL
January 20th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Wow. That’s just depressing. (I’m in my twenties so age is no excuse.) When I see shows like ‘The Bad Girls Club’ and that stupid Paris Hilton show, I just want to scream that not all the youth of this nation are stupid. Ditto to Mama Zen: unbelievable!
January 20th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
@Mama Zen – But true all the same! Crazy, huh?
@Kath – Oh, the things I could say about the man who was our president until this morning! But I’ll resist.
@Nancy – LOL! That is hilarious! I’d be tempted to tell her, “Well, only if you want them to pay you…”
@Katie – The exceptions always seem to get the most notice, don’t they? Paris Hilton, the girl I talked to. Of course, those are the interesting ones. At least you don’t see many 25-year-olds walking around with words like Princess emblazoned across their chests. Now there’s a generation I’m looking forward to working with…
January 20th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
Wow! I’d like to say I would have reigned in my shock amidst all this ignorance, but I’m not so sure that’s the truth.
You clearly handled the situation with aplomb.
If you’re interested, I tagged you for a meme.
January 20th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
Damn….I’m still technically in my teens and I know what a resume is, yeesh. I might have actually laughed at the poor woman. Tact seems to be a strong point of yours, Caryn.
January 21st, 2009 at 7:44 am
That is just a little bit scary.
January 21st, 2009 at 11:15 am
Wow. That leaves me almost speechless. But perhaps the girl was trying not to admit to a problem, possibly literacy. Or perhaps she had no work experience.
January 21st, 2009 at 12:55 pm
@Alyssa – Glad you think so. I just felt mean for having sarcastic thoughts. (Um, ahem, not to mention writing up the incident…
But at least I was nice to her face. So that must count for something. Right?
@Soleil Noir – Oh, THANK YOU! I am so glad to know that at least 50% of my sample size (you and, um, the girl in the story) knows what a resume is. This is very good news indeed, especially if I ever need to hire somebody. Which, honestly, I probably never will. But still.
@Kit Courteney – I’m with you on that one, Kit! I’m just hoping she’s a very, very rare exception.
@Mary – Oh, good point! I hadn’t thought about the literacy thing. Maybe she has learning difficulties or somesuch. And as for the work experience, maybe she didn’t need a resume to be a cashier? Just so hard to picture. I’m not sure I’ve ever *not* needed a resume for a job, but then I’ve never been a cashier.
January 21st, 2009 at 4:51 pm
That is beyond sad. I can’t imagine even LOOKING for a job without being prepared, and knowing exactly what I was applying for. YOW. I feel bad for the girl, though. You know next time you visit your favorite fast food establishment, you will see her smiling face!
January 21st, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Wow. Just wow.
p.s. I can’t help but wonder about her parents.
January 24th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
It’s sad to say, but she may just do fine job hunting. Why? She’s young, female and cute. I’ve worked for a place as a receptionist (I’m really good with front desk work) but was immediately shuttled to a back office when a younger, quite young, gal who was very cute (especially because she wore low rider jeans so you could see her tramp stamp) showed up wanting a job. The reason? Young cute females bring in more biz, or so my bosses said. That’s all they have to be.
This was a professional office–if you were over 30, then pro dress (pants suits ok). But she always wore baby-doll t’s and low rider jeans!
So now, I’m cynical. And of course, she was a very nice young woman who would not be young forever.
January 26th, 2009 at 11:42 am
I think I have a relative like that, only he’s more talkative.
January 28th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
I read through this thinking of several things. First, I enjoy your writing
Beyond that, I left a corporate office of about 120 people in the 90′s and they had a policy to hire people as temps. The first test for everyone was they had to file. If they could put things in alphabetical order they were invited back the second day. About a month ago I met a girl in her early 20′s and she didn’t know what a flash drive was. She could see it and had no idea what it was for and she works. Unbelievable to me. Another thought entered my mind about this girl you’re describing. I’m the suspicious type and of course I didn’t see her, but is it possible she was casing the place? Sounds like she was fishing for info, playing games or distracting you.
February 1st, 2009 at 5:13 pm
I’m totally baffled by people like that. How have they managed to survive so long? Really?