Work 5⅝: A Close Shave
Jun. 10th, 2005 04:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kyrasantae
So yesterday I get called to meet with this guy from Wal-Mart's automotive department today for an interview.
Wait a moment...
...The automotive department?
Yeah, had me a little shocked for a while too.
Turns out they have several levels of interviews, and it's just that this guy from that department was supposed to do the first level with me. He gave me a survey which looks like one of those Quizfarm quizzes, like you have to rank from 1 to 10 whether you agree or disagree with a statement sort of thing.
Then he opened up a double-folded sheet of paper (total surface area of three sheets of paper) where he asked me questions I couldn't really answer, like "give an example of when you had to take a risk in order to satisfy a customer," or "describe a time when you faced conflict in the workplace (or at school) and how you dealt with it," or (the easier ones) "describe a goal you gave yourself and what you did to achieve it" and "describe a goal you made that failed to be accomplished and how you dealt with it" or something like that.
It ended up that they wanted me in the photo lab, and then brought up the manager, Kelly, in that department to talk to me. (Did you know there's an upstairs at Wal-Mart?) She looked at the survey booklet and asked me to explain a few of my answers (obviously the ones that didn't lean in the 'agree'/'disagree' direction that the majority would pick). Blah blah -> I had a bit of fun explaining why I think drinking is like smoking a joint ;-)
Anyway, I was disappointed that I would be considered for photo lab.
I mean, developing photos isn't really a terrible thing to do. I've seen my uncle do it and it doesn't look too bad, except I don't really know what cleaning the machines might entail.
I was disappointed because that's one of the few departments (cosmetics, electronics, and automotives are the other ones) where the staff have to handle,
yes,
the dreaded...
...cash register, as well as whatever else they're supposed to do.
And definitely in photo lab, you gotta help customers figure out the digital photo uploading computer thingy, tell them about all of the options for, say, enlarging photos, burn CDs (well, that's not so bad), ring in any other purchases they might have with them...
Kelly also explained that it's a fast-paced environment (no kidding, one-hour photo, anyone? summer? people coming home from trips with rolls of film?) and all that, but I felt that it can't be any worse than Timmy's on a lunch hour.
Actually I managed to keep the whole Timmy's experience under wraps fairly well, since it's easy to use the 'my friend told me about her fast-food job' excuse when most people this age do have fast-food jobs.
Then they needed me to have three references for a background check, and of course I needed to be able to give prior notice to these references that they'd be called by some guy on behalf of Wal-Mart about me - because they will be called - so I took the form with me and had to walk over to SWC (how convenient) to find a couple of people, like Mr. Baldwin. I was going to ask Antonuk (uh, or not) or Greeniaus, but I ran into Mr. Graham first so I asked him. Then there's always Enrico from my chem labs last year and I was sure he'd be okay with it. Then I went back to Wal-Mart and handed in the form.
Anyway, I think I'll keep looking for something else. I'll take this if it comes down to it, but by no means should I consider it a finality.
Wait a moment...
...The automotive department?
Yeah, had me a little shocked for a while too.
Turns out they have several levels of interviews, and it's just that this guy from that department was supposed to do the first level with me. He gave me a survey which looks like one of those Quizfarm quizzes, like you have to rank from 1 to 10 whether you agree or disagree with a statement sort of thing.
Then he opened up a double-folded sheet of paper (total surface area of three sheets of paper) where he asked me questions I couldn't really answer, like "give an example of when you had to take a risk in order to satisfy a customer," or "describe a time when you faced conflict in the workplace (or at school) and how you dealt with it," or (the easier ones) "describe a goal you gave yourself and what you did to achieve it" and "describe a goal you made that failed to be accomplished and how you dealt with it" or something like that.
It ended up that they wanted me in the photo lab, and then brought up the manager, Kelly, in that department to talk to me. (Did you know there's an upstairs at Wal-Mart?) She looked at the survey booklet and asked me to explain a few of my answers (obviously the ones that didn't lean in the 'agree'/'disagree' direction that the majority would pick). Blah blah -> I had a bit of fun explaining why I think drinking is like smoking a joint ;-)
Anyway, I was disappointed that I would be considered for photo lab.
I mean, developing photos isn't really a terrible thing to do. I've seen my uncle do it and it doesn't look too bad, except I don't really know what cleaning the machines might entail.
I was disappointed because that's one of the few departments (cosmetics, electronics, and automotives are the other ones) where the staff have to handle,
yes,
the dreaded...
...cash register, as well as whatever else they're supposed to do.
And definitely in photo lab, you gotta help customers figure out the digital photo uploading computer thingy, tell them about all of the options for, say, enlarging photos, burn CDs (well, that's not so bad), ring in any other purchases they might have with them...
Kelly also explained that it's a fast-paced environment (no kidding, one-hour photo, anyone? summer? people coming home from trips with rolls of film?) and all that, but I felt that it can't be any worse than Timmy's on a lunch hour.
Actually I managed to keep the whole Timmy's experience under wraps fairly well, since it's easy to use the 'my friend told me about her fast-food job' excuse when most people this age do have fast-food jobs.
Then they needed me to have three references for a background check, and of course I needed to be able to give prior notice to these references that they'd be called by some guy on behalf of Wal-Mart about me - because they will be called - so I took the form with me and had to walk over to SWC (how convenient) to find a couple of people, like Mr. Baldwin. I was going to ask Antonuk (uh, or not) or Greeniaus, but I ran into Mr. Graham first so I asked him. Then there's always Enrico from my chem labs last year and I was sure he'd be okay with it. Then I went back to Wal-Mart and handed in the form.
Anyway, I think I'll keep looking for something else. I'll take this if it comes down to it, but by no means should I consider it a finality.
