UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE:  FLASHING NEWS EVERYONE!!!!

SHE

GOT

THE

JOB!!!!!!!!!

Karma is at work once again.  Thank you all for your well wishes.  We both appreciate all the support.  YOU ALL ROCKED IT OUT ONCE AGAIN! THANK YOU!

Signed Momma Bear and Employed Cub….hahaha.

There are times when the Momma Bear in me is angry.  This is one of those times.  If my daughter’s home away from home wasn’t four hours away, I’d make the drive to give her boss a piece of this non-expert’s mind.

First let me preface this story by saying to every one of you who may be in a position to hire people, if you don’t know already (which I’m sure most of you do), you should not call the applicant’s current supervisor for a reference.  You should call the previous employer.  The one before this current position…they have nothing to lose or gain and will be brutally honest.  I’ve never met a previous supervisor who lied about the referral, and I’ve made alot of these calls over the years.  Even if the current employee checked the box that says it’s ok to call their current boss, they don’t mean it.  They just don’t want to give the impression they do not get along with their supervisor.

But here are a couple more reasons why you should NOT call their current supervisor:

A.  The call you make could create an uncomfortable atmosphere for both the current employer and your applicant.  If you don’t hire this person, should they be punished for applying?

B.  The current supervisor MAY LIE TO YOU.  This can go either way.  An unethical supervisor can tell you the person is AWESOME just to get rid of a bad employee…or that the person is HORRIBLE just to keep a stellar employee.  It’s not fair, but it happens.

Now let me tell you why this Momma Bear would like to rip a guy to shreds (verbally, of course).  My daughter stayed at her college for the summer because she has an apartment.  The apartment still has to be paid for no matter where she lives, so she’s working through the summer to help offset the costs.  If she comes home for a “summer job”, she won’t have a job when she goes back to school and finding a job near a University is darn near impossible.  Well, her regular job, near the University, is at a shoe store and the employees are only getting about 3 days a week.  Multiply that by about 5-6 hours a day at minimum wage?  Yeah, your math is correct, it doesn’t amount to much.

So she decided to apply for a weekend job, as well.  Very excited about this job, she’s already been through one regular interview and one telephonic interview.  Their selection process is brutal.  It rivals “Survivor” and she’s made it through two eliminations so far.  She is waiting now for either a call for another interview or an email saying when to start.  (ALL FINGERS AND TOES CROSSED, PLEASE!)

Yesterday was the telephonic interview.  It lasted one hour and three minutes.  Can you imagine?  That’s alot of talking.  After the call, she left to come home for the weekend not feeling real positive about the phone interview, she was kinda bummed.  You know how that feels when you leave an interview thinking you’ve said all the wrong things and you wish you would of thought to say THIS and you wish you would have remembered to say THAT.  Sigh….

Then she got the call and went from bummed to ABSOLUTELY TICKED in 1/10th of a second!

As she is driving home she gets a call from her current supervisor (we’ll refer to him as “idiot” to protect the guilty):

Daughter:  Hello?

Idiot:  Did you apply for another job?

Daughter:  Yeah

Idiot:  If you get it are you going to quit here?

Daughter:  No

Idiot:  Oh.  I wish you would have told me about it.  They just called.

Daughter:  WHAT? (a little excited that maybe the telephone interview went better than she thought!)

Idiot:  Yeah, I didn’t talk you up much.

Daughter:  (Her little italian face must have changed from gorgeous olive to blazing red by now) What do you mean?

Idiot:  Well, I wasn’t exactly mean, but I didn’t talk you up much because I figured if you got the job you’d quit here.

Daughter:  What did you say????

Idiot:  I didn’t tell them how great you are.

Let me just say OMG and since I’m not driving down there or calling this idiot, I think I’ll talk to him right here, through this blog.  (Told you writing was therapeutic!)

First of all, Mr. Idiot, if you think she’s so great let her work full-time so she doesn’t have to look for another part-time job.  None of the employees are getting anything more than 3 days a week, so you’re bound to lose some quality employees over that decision. You may want to get rid of the non-workers and give their shifts to the great workers.  Otherwise, you’ll end up with alot of bad employees while the good ones get better jobs.  Well, unless you blow ALL their reference calls.  Guess that could be your plan…loser.

Second of all, what you have done is unethical.  This isn’t about you, the manager of a shoe store, it’s about HER!  A twenty year old college student trying to make her way through the world and you think you’ve got enough clout to stop her from doing whatever it is she wants?  You think you matter that much?  Ya don’t. 

Third, if you think you’ve ruined her chances at getting this other job, SHAME ON YOU!  And I’ve told her that even if she doesn’t get that one, keep applying, because now we’re both hell bent on her leaving your employ.  You didn’t hire her, your coworker did, but you’re making it difficulty for her to stay.  Of course, you appear to be making it difficult for her to leave too, but karma will come ’round.  It always does….

In the meantime, try being nice.  You might just create a happier workplace, with better employees, and then maybe you won’t get any more referral calls…

Whew….I feel much better.  YOU?  Lol…………..Happy Bloggin’ Ya’ll.