Tell me the oddest way you got a job

In My Humble Opinion
41

This has been an interesting thread to follow. Thank you everyone for sharing your stories. I have
three tales to tell:

SHEEP LEAVE COMPANY
I had not been out of college long when I was hired as a production artist by a place I’ll call the XYZ company.
The XYZ company did not pay well and we were almost always a little behind schedule. It was common to
in our department work 6 days a week to try to keep up with the work. After working there a
few weeks I noticed that everyone in my department had not been with the company very long.
It was several weeks later I learned what had happened. The previous art department employees had got
fed up with their pay and hours. They had complained several times but their complaints fell on deaf ears.
One day they all came into work wearing tee shirts that had an image of a sheep with the words
“XYZ sheep”. When it came time to take the lunch break they all got up and went out to lunch without
saying a word. They never returned - not after lunch or the next day or the next week. XYZ company was forced
recreate the department with completely new employees and I was hired to fill the last remaining open position.

ONE LAST TRY
Found a job in the paper, sent in a resume and about week later I came home to find a message
on my answering machine asking me if I could come in for an interview. I called back but just
got the interviewer’s answering machine. I left a message but got no reply. A couple of days later
I called again but just got the answering machine again. I tried several times for about a
week but still did not get a reply. I gave up and a week later I was cleaning up my apartment
when I found the piece of paper with interviewer’s phone number. I was about to throw it out
when I decided to try one last time. I dialed the number and was surprised when the interviewer
answered the phone. An interview was arranged and I was later hired. It was a temp job that
lasted for about 9 months. Through the contacts I made there I was able to transfer to another
job that lasted about two years. The experience I gained help me get my present job. I’ve been
at my present job for about eight years and it’s the best paying job I’ve ever had. I sometimes
wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t given that phone number one last try.
YOU NEVER KNOW WHO YOU MIGHT RUN INTO
I was on my lunch break, sitting in a Mexican cafe scribbling in my sketch book while I ate lunch. One of the other
customers noticed me sketching and asked to see the drawing. In the conversation that followed he mentioned he ran a
small business and might need some artwork. He also asked me if I knew HTML. It turns out that I did and I ended up
working on his website from time to time. He just calls me in a few times a year he needs something done. I’ve been
doing it for several years now and earn a little extra money that way.

42

Back in the mid 70s, I heard that a small new bookshop had opened, so I went to check it out and spoke to the owner a bit. A few days later I went back to browse some more and out of the blue he asked me to watch the till while he nipped out to get some lunch!
That soon turned into a regular part time job, and a full time job years later under different owners.

43

I was working as a cashier. It was an awful job. A fellow came through my line and I said something that pissed him right off - I asked him if he needed a cart. He had like six things that he was carrying in his arms. This was when you had to put a quarter in for the cart.

He exploded! He started shouting about what an idiot I was, did I think he had carried those things all through the store, no wonder I was working in such an awful job, I was stupid after all, blah blah blah.

Somehow I held my cool and apologized to him and sent him on his way, somewhat mollified. The next person in line happened to be the president of a local flooring wholesaler, who complimented me on my customer service and handed me a card, telling me there was a job opening at his company and that I should call.

I called and got the job less than two weeks later.

44

When I was in grad school, Datapoint Computers donated a Datapoint 6600 to the university. I took an elective course that involved learning to program in Databus on that system. After I went into the real world, I built a resume and I included Databus in the list of languages that I knew. That one elective course got me three consulting jobs over the years that earned me a bucket of money and basically paid back the the cost of my college degree and then a lot more.

And when I was an undergrad, we had a weekend bash at a camp on the river. I almost didn’t go, but talked myself into it at the last minute. Several of us brought our guitars and jammed for the group’s entertainment. The following week, I got a phone call. Seems one of the other students worked in a bar in Austin and they needed some live entertainment. She mentioned me to the bar owner and I wound up with a recurring gig that helped pay for my college education in the first place.

45

My mother had a massive cerebral hemorrhage, the kind you don’t usually come back from. The doctors in the hospital told us to find a nursing home for her. Against all odds she struggled back, relearning almost everything (we literally had to start with preschool flashcards, teaching her colors, numbers, letters, etc). She was at a followup visit with her neurologist and the neuro mentioned she was looking for someone in her office. I started and within the first month got a $3/hr raise. I set up a new electronic chart-keeping system for her that she found to be great.

StG

46

I got a job by wearing the right shirt out to dinner. I went out for Thai with some friends and was wearing a shirt from a marine mammal rescue and rehabilitation facility I volunteered for at the time. The woman who owned our local whale watching company happened to be eating at the same restaurant, and when I got up from dinner, she asked me if I knew anything about whales.

I said yes, she gave me her card, and I’ve worked on whale watching boats as a second job ever since.

It turns out she ran the company and did the onboard naturalist thing, but really wanted to do wildlife photography, so she wanted someone else to work with the passengers.

47

I wouldn’t have my current job if the roof hadn’t fallen in.

Ok, so it didn’t fall in, but the building was totally unsafe and needed millions in repairs, right in the middle of the busy season. They were in my industry but way too prestigious for me right out of college, but all of a sudden they needed a whole bunch of overhire extras, so a friend if a friend of an intern recommended me, and they called me in for two days’ work. I was plenty better than the other overhire guys, so I got two more days of work, and then everyone went home for the 4th of July. The next day, I hadn’t been told to come back in, but I did, and was promptly put to work for two more days before anyone questioned whether I’d actually been told to come back in. After a week of just showing up, they finally told me to go home, and one guy offered me some good contacts in the area. I thanked him, but I also told him “I’d rather work for you.” He hired me on the spot. I’ve been here for almost three years now, and the ompany is sending me for advanced training in December. All from two days of work and intentionally forgetting that they didn’t really ask me to be there!

48

Um, were you paid? :confused:

49

I found an amazing guitar on kijiji and drove 150km to get it. The owner was a music teacher who wanted to retire. He liked me, and basically fed me all the right information for four months that led
to a perfect interview and a great application. I was the hands down favourite and got the job in the interview. :smiley:

50

I was 15, and was walking down the street, saw an interesting sign on a building for a sound and light company. I walked in and started talking to the receptionist. After a few minutes, she decided that I really needed to talk to the boss, who hired me that day. He put me to work wiring up a huge sign with hundreds of tiny incandescent bulbs, and I worked for him for several years, learning everything I could about sound and lighting.

I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a job in the traditional way with a resume.

51

My two oddest are actually connected.

When I was 21, I was trying my hand as a commissioned shoe salesman, and failing miserably. Sales is totally not my gig. So I was looking for something else, but my only other work experience was in fast food (Arby’s) and pizza (Godfather’s and Pizza Hut). So one of my friends at the time said, “I can get you a job at Locally-Owned Pancake House, where I work.” I assumed that meant he’d suggest me to his boss and help me get my foot in the door.

What actually happened was that, a few days later, he told me, “Show up at 6:00AM on Monday, knock on the back door, and tell Greg (the dayshift kitchen manager) that Jim (the nightshift kitchen manager) hired you as the new prep cook.” So I did exactly what my friend said. Greg didn’t question anything; he put me to work doing … prep cook stuff. I filled out the paperwork later. I think the managers and owners caught on fairly quickly that I was “hired” rather irregularly, but they liked my work and liked me, and eventually I moved up from prep cook to line cook. I stayed there for six months before moving on.

A few years later, I was working in a convenience store, hating every minute of it. One day on my day off, I was walking down my town’s main street and decided to stop for lunch at this tiny little diner on the corner. I’d seen it many times but had never gone in, so I thought I’d check it out. A vaguely-familiar blonde lady took my order. When she brought my food she asked, “Did you used to work at Locally-Owned Pancake House?” That’s when I recognized her - she had been a waitress at that other place, and now she owned this diner. So I confirmed that I’d worked there. She said, “Want a job?” and I said, “Okay, sure.” Whereupon she handed me the sweet “gravy train” Monday-Friday morning shift.

The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. After finishing my lunch and leaving, I walked to the convenience store to give my notice. Before I could say anything, the boss hauled me into his office to tell me I was fired, giving me a list of complete bullshit reasons (like, “you’re late all the time”, when, in fact, I am obsessive about punctuality, and given that I lived 2 blocks from the place it would have been more difficult to be late than be on time). I didn’t bother arguing with his reasons though, I just said, “Well, that works for both of us then, since I’m here to give my notice.” (As for why the convenience store fired me, I think I eventually figured out what the deal was - somebody was stealing, but the boss didn’t know who; I was the “new” guy, so I got the blame. He just didn’t say that was the reason because he had no evidence. The idiot who was doing it got his, though — less than a year later one of my former coworkers got busted for selling alcohol to a minor in a police sting, costing himself his job and the store its liquor license for 60 days).

I stayed at the diner for a year and a half, and became great friends with one of the other cooks, who I still call my best friend 20+ years later. I actually came back to that job a few years later, but that time it was the owner’s husband who hired me. His wife had recently died of a sudden massive heart attack at age 44, and he was trying to keep the place going. He sold it a few months later, and I continued working for the new owner; I was there for about three years on the second go-around. And my friend was still there, too. He was sort of a fixture in the place, working for three different owners over 20-odd years, and was still there until last year when he had a stroke at age 49 (didn’t die - I just attended his 50th birthday party last week).