My one-day job

Could I spend six and a half weeks applying for a job and finally get it, just so that my first day of work brings me 'in town' the exact day necessary to apply for the job I wanted in the first place... 

to walk in in cowboy boots the next day and get accepted at my dream job???

God works in mysterious ways!

This is the story of my one-day job.

          So I applied to PictureMe!, a little photo place at the Wal-mart in our nearest city, Marshall.  It was right after the miscarriage, and I felt like I needed something new to keep me busy and some outlet of getting out of the house and seeing people!  What could be better than taking pictures of darling little angels, getting to work with kids (which I love) and learning more about photography?  Excitedly, I left for my first day of work, dressed in professional black and white!

          Soon I learned, however, that most of the kids coming to get their pictures taken have never been spanked in their life, and all their poor exasperated mother can (will) do is scream empty threats... There's not much to the photography due to it all being set up and automated already; mostly it's just about sales.  I was told it was ok to lie to customers... anything to sell that super-expensive premium package!  I noticed a few other things about the work environment - that I would be working alone once fully trained and you don't actually see that many people; just stand in the shop alone and make many phone (sales) calls. :P  Training would take about 4 weeks, with two weeks left for me to work to finish out the season... that seems real practical, doesn't it?  Several more things, like lack of good communication/sense of caring among managers to employees (they are all long-distance because they oversee many locations), showed me that it's a broken system.  And basically your job is always on the line if you don't make enough sales. Oh yes, and it would be impossible to get time off at Christmas (a previous commitment to visit my family) because this is the busiest time of year!

          In my lunch break, I went out to the truck to eat my sandwich and decided to drive over to the new Pizza Ranch building to see if they had the date of opening up yet.  I had been watching for it, and for a "now hiring" sign since before it was even a building!  When it was just a sign in the ground saying it was the future home of Pizza Ranch, I started checking, every time I was in town.  I saw the roof go on.  I saw the boxes of chairs stacked outside and I saw the chairs being carried in.  But the apply now sign never came.

          So in the meantime, I had applied for another job.  And gotten it.  And today was my first day of work.  And it was my lunch break.  AND A SIGN WAS THERE!!!  They were going to be open the 21st of November!  No hiring sign.  Must have somehow gotten all the workers they needed already.  But maybe Ben and I could take a date there when they opened!

          I saw some activity inside, so I decided to check it out.  I stepped inside... it was all newly decorated - I had forgotten it was cowboy themed!  And there were all these smiling girls behind the counter, in some sort of training.  *sigh*  THIS was an environment I wanted to work in!  

          "What are you doing here?" I wasn't really sure actually, I knew my chance of applying was over and I was just so excited to see it I guess.  "Came for an application?"

          What?!  Still hiring?  "Um... Yes, actually!  Could I pick one up?"  I asked.  The guy handed me some papers and asked if I wanted to fill it out there.  Remembering I was on lunch break and didn't have much time (and still hadn't eaten yet) I asked if I could bring it in tomorrow.  No, that wasn't good enough.  It had to be by tonight if I wanted any chance!

          So I rushed out to my truck, wolfing down my sandwich as I hurriedly scribbled out names of references and such.  I had just enough time to run it back in (right away - hopefully making a good impression) before making it back to my other job just in time!

          I sat down to more video training and realized over the rest of the afternoon that this job really wasn't for me.  (See issues above)  And to top it all off, the volume could somehow not be changed on their computer so I had to hold my headphone like 1" away from my ear for hours on end!

          I went home in tears, super stressed, pessimistic and distraught over if I could even survive working at this job.

          Ben was so good at trying to help me, and we set some boundaries and conditions for if I would stay at that job.  It was a long first day.  I had a horrible headache and no peace.  I couldn't eat any supper.  I dreaded going back to work tomorrow, and I never wanted to walk into Wal-mart again.  I was sick.