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Friday, May 9, 2008

A Job and a Test....

Oh this is a good one, folks.  You aren't going to believe it.... I had a drug test today as part of the application process for a job.  Yes, a job as a cashier.  Can you believe it?  I couldn't.  It is company policy.  That included leaving my coat and purse behind, her not only taping the tap and the soap dispenser after I washed my hands (before the sample collection), but also putting some dye into the toilet water to make sure I didn't flush or contaminate my sample.  Holy cripes!  She did not stay during the....ah.... procedure because that would have been the.final.straw.for.me and I would not have gone any farther. 

I didn't make it the most comfortable sequence of events either.  I inquired as to different scenarios, what this strip was for, what that box was for.  I asked if she wanted to take a souvenir home with her....geez, and they still offered me a position after that?!

"After" involved hanging around while we waited to see if the sample would show a positive result ~ as in drugs in my system. Oh yeah and there was a strip that took the temperature of my sample...to make sure it was nice and warm.  Because a cool sample would have been something I sneaked in under my shirt or something.  I have never had such a detailed or paranoid procedure done for an urine sample.  I can only shake my head in amazement.

I was offered 2 positions, combined for full time work.  Except that 40 hours a week will be considered part time by the company for the first year of employment.  Which means no benefits, no vacation days or earned sick time.

There is plenty of room for advancement and hard work.  I will not provide further details because this company has a lot of presence around here and I will be gainfully employed.  You know, cover my ass for a while in case someone from there stumbles onto my blog.  Wouldn't that be fun??

The dark side of this is working 40 hours a week...and my son.  This has been the stress of the past year since arriving here.  What to do with son and how him being on his own will work out.  The flip side is not working but stretching our budget to every penny, which doesn't serve my needs or interests very well.  Like all of us I want to have some money left over after the necessities are taken care of and to pay down our remaining mortgage as fast as possible.  Oops, almost forgot about that new used-car payment too.  Yeah....

Some day I will tell you about the other crazy, crazy application procedures for this job I have.  I will also tell you what the job is and what company it is for.

Not today though.  I've got to see how everything works out first.  With son I plan to create a handy reference guide for him, to keep on his person at all times, to walk him through whatever situations he might find himself in.  I hope he has matured enough in the past while to handle being alone for a while on a daily basis.... life is just never easy or simple.  It's a matter of exchanging one stress for another, isn't it?

2 comments:

Julie said...

Hi Patricia,

I can totally sympathize. On my one and only job I had to take a drug test for (Head Start for disadvantaged kids - do you have that in Canada?), the lady stood right in front of the toilet door as I peed. It's funny she didn't want me to leave the door open. Even before the test I had the feeling that she was...weird. I felt like a prisoner, truly. Talk about.. "performance anxiety!" Yeah, I can laugh about it now.

I ended up walking off that job after six weeks, not totally because of her, but because she and the the other co-workers were the coldest, unfriendliest people I have ever met. (I loved the kids and still feel guilty that I "left" them.

I have just a 20 hr. per week job now and am trying to pick up 20 more hours, but even if I get something I won't have benefits. It's rough - I agree.

Susan said...

I can't believe you don't get any benefits for a YEAR! Isn't that illegal? Or is that why they are offering you two 'part-time' positions instead - so they don't have to pay vacation, sick days, etc? that's crappy. Especially with Mathew. Is there nothing coming up with the government, since i thought you were top of the transfer listings? anyway....good luck, especially juggling everything. Still doing that over here!!! Do you have to work both jobs, can you not just work about 20 hours a week, for the extra $? I'd love to do that, but since Toby isn't permanent yet, I am the main breadwinner!