After somehow passing the menu test given to me a few weeks before, I got a call to set up an interview. When I walked into the store for my interview, I sat down and once again appreciated the atmosphere, the music, and the aroma of freshly baked bread. When the manager came to me, we shook hands, and began the unexpectedly long interview process. I began by pulling out my resume from my leather folder, and handing it over to him. He looked it over and asked me a few questions about my past employment at Sonic (I hated it), and proceeded to my interests. He remarked about my computer skills, my Android development, and refuted my love for Linux, then he saw my final entry. "It says here you do a bit of acting. What kind?" he asked. "Film and TV." I replied. He responded with, "Have you gotten any work?" With that, I reached into my folder again, and produced my acting resume, handed it over, and replied, "How's this?" At that point, the second manager walked up and looked over my resume as well, this one finding amusement in my remark about my "insatiable desire for customer satisfaction." They took turns looking over my acting resume, and asked me about my talents, mainly my accents. They asked me to do my French accent, and then my Italian, which I demonstrated by reading off of the many signs along the walls. They found humor in my abilities, but then hunkered down for a change of pace.
After acting like a performing seal for these two, the next words to come from their mouths sent me into an internal fit of rage. "We'd go ahead and hire you now, but the only problem is your schedule. We're looking for people to fill up the morning shifts, and right now, everyone is looking for your available time slots." I replied, "I've got classes on those days, there is nothing I can do about it." There seemed to be nothing that could be done. I wasn't sure what I could do. I spent forty-five minutes interviewing and entertaining for a job that I couldn't even have. I felt robbed. As I was heading home, I remembered that I forgot to tell them about my free Fridays and weekends. I called them, and was told that they'd keep that in mind. I didn't think much about it. I've been let down many times before.
Once again, I didn't give up. I called twice about openings, each time being told that they'd let me know, and they thanked me for calling, and encouraged me to call again. I waited and waited, eventually losing hope. I was sure they had many other people waiting in line for an opening, why would they choose me? It was just another job that I somehow managed to blow. I wanted to blame my schedule, but I knew there was nothing I could do about that since classes already began.
After a long day of classes, and my homework taken care of, I decided to chill out and watch some television with my room mate. Then my phone began to ring. "Hey, It's 'Bruce' from Jimmy John's, I called yesterday and left a voicemail, but you didn't pick up. I just wanted to offer you a position. We've got openings on Thursday and Saturday." He described the hours and set up an appointment to go over the terms of employment. I was thrilled to say the least.
When the time came for me to be inaugurated as the latest sandwich artist to grace Jimmy John's, I walked into the store with a sense of accomplishment and pride. I sat down, and waited to be served a fine helping of contracts. When the manager sat down with me, he told me about my hours again, and explained how the shifts were permanent (which pleased me, since I keep my appointments tracked on my Google Calendar). Then he told me that he was going home, and the other manager would be with me to go over the company guidelines and rules. While I waited for the other manager to finish what he was doing, I glanced down at the packet of information left behind. Under it was my application, and attached to it was a sticky note with some flattering information on it. It read, to the best of my memory, "AKA Alex... Came in to ask about the test time... Can work all day Fri-Sun...Passed menu test +.25... Called back a lot about openings... VERY POSITIVE..." Reading this made so much sense to me. They were actually writing down the things I did and I didn't even think they'd remember or take into consideration. I felt like I did everything right.
When the manager finally came up to me, he began the lecture about the rules and regulations. He ranted about safety, procedures, and went over all the rules. One thing I can say about the rules is that they don't feel like rules, they are basically just common sense. He spoke of the uniform policy, which to me didn't really feel imposing at all. And he told me the company's many philosophies. Then he took me to the back, introduced me to the employees, punched me into the system, raised me $.25 for passing my menu test, and gave my uniform and schedule. I felt rather accomplished considering I was working for a fast food restaurant.