Friday OT #2 - Get A Job

[Angie]

@Bipolarcy was great again today with the suggestions:

Do you have any stories about being fired from a job or someone you know being fired from a job shortly after they started? Or maybe a job you took or someone you know took and realized on the first day that it was a mistake, either because it was difficult work or the boss sucked or the conditions were terrible, and just walked off the job without telling anyone.

 

[madguy30]

Just out of college, tried being a server at Granite City in CR many moons ago.

Not sure what it's like there now but at the time their servers were so well trained they were like robots, and I had never served before.

TLDR version after my 3rd training shift I had screwed so many things up that the front and back house manager sat me down to softly let me go.

Manager: How do you think you're doing?

Me: Horrible.

I think they appreciated my honesty and that I'd put in a lot off effort to do well despite being awful. Just so happened they had a bussing/barback position open up and they asked me about that so I took it on.

That was a much better position for me for lots of reasons and I made some good money too.

 

[Cyclonepride]

Since I do our hiring, I have a thousand stories, but none of them particularly interesting.

I'm continually amazed at how many people set up interviews and never show up, how many accept jobs and never show up, and how many come to work for a day or two and then are never heard from again (I kinda get the last one, as we do flooring installation, and it's not for everyone (though I'd never personally leave a job without explanation)).

Right now, it's 50/50 on showing up for interviews, maybe 10% that never show up at all once hired.

 

[wxman1]

When I was laid off from a previous employer while searching for long term employment I got a job at a family friends quarry. I wasn't fired but It took less than a week to decide that sitting in a quarry dump truck all day between the loading site and dumping into the crusher 45+ times was not for me. Thankful for the job to help support us and the experience but not something I would do consistently.

 

[coolerifyoudid]

One of my first jobs out of college was as a 3rd shift receiving manager at the Walmart distribution center in Clarksville AR. My wife (girlfriend at the time) was underutilizing her degree, and we barely saw each other working different shifts. Five months into the job, we made the decision that it wasn't a good fit. To this day, I don't know how to explain what happened. I wasn't fired and I didn't quit, we just kinda mutually parted ways.

I applaud people that can work a different shift from their significant other and make it work out.

 

[dosry5]

Since I do our hiring, I have a thousand stories, but none of them particularly interesting.

I'm continually amazed at how many people set up interviews and never show up, how many accept jobs and never show up, and how many come to work for a day or two and then are never heard from again (I kinda get the last one, as we do flooring installation, and it's not for everyone (though I'd never personally leave a job without explanation)).

Right now, it's 50/50 on showing up for interviews, maybe 10% that never show up at all once hired.

So you lay the wood for a living? Niiiice.

 

[throwittoblythe]

Hoo boy! Just quit my job this week so this is timely. I don't have any fun stories about myself, but here's a couple good ones:

Story 1) We had a big annual meeting every year where almost the entire company attended. This was the year spouses were also invited. We had a new Director level guy that had just been hired in Canada. This was his second day on the job. During the awards ceremony/dinner, after the CEO had spoken, there was a lull in the presentation and the podium was open. Canadian dude grabs the mic and is VERY drunk. Tells a couple funny-ish jokes, but then starts RAILING on Americans. "You f****** Americans, you're all fat and all you eat is fried food. You think you're so f****** special!" On and on he goes until the CEO and a couple others physically remove him from the mic. He's immediately given a pink slip and a flight home.

Story 2) Friend of a friend worked at a startup for a few years as a programmer. Took a new gig at a competing startup as a high level leader in the new company (or so he thought). He gets there on day one and finds out he was lied to. He's basically going to be doing website design and IT stuff. He called his previous employer over lunch on his first day and got his old job back. Put in his notice about 5 hours into the new job. They begged him to stay the rest of the week, so he did. Shortest stint I've ever heard of.

 

[Angie]

At an old place of employment, and @Mr Janny can fill in details, we had a guy who started. Did fine the first day or two. Then he did a no call/no show for two days straight. People called him, no answer.

He showed up on day three claiming he had gone to his basement to change his air filter in his furnace and had passed out for two days from fumes, but was just fine now.

That was the last time he showed up.

 

[Fishhead]

Former job I heard of a story about a college age dude who on the first day said he was going to sign up for some college classes during his lunch hour. He never came back

 

[Mr Janny]

At an old place of employment, and @Mr Janny can fill in details, we had a guy who started. Did fine the first day or two. Then he did a no call/no show for two days straight. People called him, no answer.

He showed up on day three claiming he had gone to his basement to change his air filter in his furnace and had passed out for two days from fumes, but was just fine now.

That was the last time he showed up.

Yeah, he worked Monday through Wednesday on his first week, then didn't show up on Thursday or Friday. We assumed he quit. Then on Monday he showed up with his story that he was unconscious in his basement for 3 days. He was informed that he no longer had a job. Someone was like "I don't think you'd be just walking around if you had been without water for that long."

 

[kirk89gt]

One word…..Detassling. Early mornings didn’t bother me. To a certain extent, getting soaked and hot / miserable wasn’t a total dealbreaker either.

Just wasn’t fast enough and they let me down easy. Not a huge deal if you both realize the fit isn’t good.

 

[CycloneErik]

We hired someone with the intent of promoting them into our management program. Within a couple days, one of our kindest managers had a huge list of issues she'd been forced to correct. It didn't stop, and he's already gone. Lasted maybe 8-10 days.

It's a shame. In my last chat with him, he led a question with "You're old. You know things." I was really looking forward to my training time with him.

 

[throwittoblythe]

We hired someone with the intent of promoting them into our management program. Within a couple days, one of our kindest managers had a huge list of issues she'd been forced to correct. It didn't stop, and he's already gone. Lasted maybe 8-10 days.

It's a shame. In my last chat with him, he led a question with "You're old. You know things." I was really looking forward to my training time with him.

I'm experiencing this at my current job. We hired a guy with the plan that he would move into management after about a year, once he got a good feel for our business. It is NOT working out.

I've learned a good lesson from it which is: do not pay someone at a level they are expected to grow into. Pay them at their current level on an accelerated program, if they meet certain milestones.

This situation has gotten extremely awkward because the guy is WAY overpaid for what he's producing. He's being paid like someone with 15 years engineering experience, but producing stuff at the level of a 3-5 yr engineer. With the labor market, the company seems kind of stuck because they need warm bodies, but they could hire two people to replace this guy just based on salary alone.

 

[kirk89gt]

My dad shared a story with me once along these lines. This would have been in the late 60’s / early 70’s. My dad was short / stout and quite strong. Was the prototypical beef lugger (back when meat packing wasn’t as mechanized). Physical job.

Got a summer job in DSM. Started off day one. Hit the bathroom on break. Went in there and noticed a guy in there just standing, smoking a cigarette, and reading the paper. My dad asked him what he was doing. Guy replied that it was his turn to stand in the bathroom. Dad thought it was an odd answer. About that time, another guy came in and took the paper from the first guy, started reading it, and the first guy went back out on the floor.

Dad made a comment to his supervisor about this and the supervisor was very upfront and honest with my dad saying that the company’s hands were largely tied and couldn’t do much about it due to the union.

Dad finished his shift, turned in his hard hat, thanked his supervisor, and let him know that he wouldn’t be back.

 

[wxman1]

I applaud people that can work a different shift from their significant other and make it work out.

We did it for a bit when we were first married and yeah it takes some work and understanding. My FIL on the other hand is a workaholic and if he could would work everyday, to the point that there has been times at his current employer that management has forced him to take a night off. He works overnights driving a forklift at a local warehouse. 6AM-6PM, sleeps from7 until 3, they rarely see each other. He used to work a full time job as well as do paper routes with a nap over his lunch hour to help with that. It takes special people to handle that.

 

[SCNCY]

Since I do our hiring, I have a thousand stories, but none of them particularly interesting.

I'm continually amazed at how many people set up interviews and never show up, how many accept jobs and never show up, and how many come to work for a day or two and then are never heard from again (I kinda get the last one, as we do flooring installation, and it's not for everyone (though I'd never personally leave a job without explanation)).

Right now, it's 50/50 on showing up for interviews, maybe 10% that never show up at all once hired.

I once read a comment in the comment section of an article related to hiring. Apparently this person would go through the hiring process, and if offered the job take it. They would then take a week of PTO form their current job in order to work for a week at their new job. At the end of the week, they would decide if it was worth leaving their old job or not. Either way, the person would just no show to one of the jobs the next Monday.

 

[CascadeClone]

Since I do our hiring, I have a thousand stories, but none of them particularly interesting.

I'm continually amazed at how many people set up interviews and never show up, how many accept jobs and never show up, and how many come to work for a day or two and then are never heard from again (I kinda get the last one, as we do flooring installation, and it's not for everyone (though I'd never personally leave a job without explanation)).

Right now, it's 50/50 on showing up for interviews, maybe 10% that never show up at all once hired.

Often, you only have to schedule an interview in order to show you are "trying" and can keep collecting unemployment.

I had someone ask for a letter stating "not hiring now" so she could give to her case worker to show she was "trying" and keep her benefits coming.

 

[SCNCY]

Hoo boy! Just quit my job this week so this is timely. I don't have any fun stories about myself, but here's a couple good ones:

Story 1) We had a big annual meeting every year where almost the entire company attended. This was the year spouses were also invited. We had a new Director level guy that had just been hired in Canada. This was his second day on the job. During the awards ceremony/dinner, after the CEO had spoken, there was a lull in the presentation and the podium was open. Canadian dude grabs the mic and is VERY drunk. Tells a couple funny-ish jokes, but then starts RAILING on Americans. "You f****** Americans, you're all fat and all you eat is fried food. You think you're so f****** special!" On and on he goes until the CEO and a couple others physically remove him from the mic. He's immediately given a pink slip and a flight home.

Story 2) Friend of a friend worked at a startup for a few years as a programmer. Took a new gig at a competing startup as a high level leader in the new company (or so he thought). He gets there on day one and finds out he was lied to. He's basically going to be doing website design and IT stuff. He called his previous employer over lunch on his first day and got his old job back. Put in his notice about 5 hours into the new job. They begged him to stay the rest of the week, so he did. Shortest stint I've ever heard of.

It was the sharing of the hotel rooms right .

But on a more serious note, did it have to do with your colleague who was struggling, but you knowing that he was on the chopping block when you shouldn't have?

 

[wxman1]

Often, you only have to schedule an interview in order to show you are "trying" and can keep collecting unemployment.

I had someone ask for a letter stating "not hiring now" so she could give to her case worker to show she was "trying" and keep her benefits coming.

Don't forget using someone else's phone number (or just randomly putting one down). My wife has been subject of someone using her number a lot this year. "I applied but they never called"

 

[Cyclonepride]

Often, you only have to schedule an interview in order to show you are "trying" and can keep collecting unemployment.

I had someone ask for a letter stating "not hiring now" so she could give to her case worker to show she was "trying" and keep her benefits coming.

Yeah, that has been my suspicion as to what was happening. Well, that and some just being too nervous and not going.