OK, so I just got home from applying for a job at Barnes and Noble. On the way home, I was chatting with a guy who was waiting for the same traffic light I was. I won’t bore you with the details but…
1)He started hitting on me
2)He continued to hit on me even though I told him I wasn’t interested
2)He told me the place he works is hiring
3)He continued to hit on me, even after I repeatedly told him I wasn’t interested
4)He continued to hit on me, even after I repeatedly told him I wasn’t interested
OK, the job…
Market research, a job which I have in the past demonstrated a tremendous lack of ability for. The first job, I made barely enough surveys to keep my job, but never enough to make bonus. The second job, I was fired after two days. The guy told me the place he works doesn’t fire you, they just give you two hours and if you don’t make your hourly quota they send you home. But I wonder how long that would last before they just decided to tell you not to bother coming back.
So, if I applied for, and got this job
I would have to endure the humiliation night after night of being hung up on for two hours, then being sent home because I couldn’t make quota, wondering if tonight would be the night I got fired (just the thought of it is incredibly depressing)
I would have to endure being continually hit on by a guy who I am not interested in. (FTR, if you start asking a woman personal questions like "Do you have a boyfriend/kids/live by yourself… I’m looking for a female friend, blah blah, blah) when you have known her less than thirty seconds, well, that’s just creepy. If you continue to pursue her after she has told you more than a dozen times that no, she does not want to be your girlfriend, and tries to walk away from you, you’re approaching stalkerishness.) To make matters worse, he lives in my complex, so it would be difficult to avoid him on the way to/home from work.
The thing is, I’m dead broke, as in wondering if I’m going to have grocery money next week broke. But I have enough health problems, I don’t need the ulcer, and in the psychological state I’ve been in for the past several months, trying the market research gig again might just be the thing that pushes me over the edge.
So, am I not serious about job hunting if I don’t apply for this job?
If I were you, I definately wouldn’t go for the job. It sounds like a weird situation that you really just don’t want to deal with. And, just 'cause you said “putz,” and I’ve really been waiting for a chance to use this smiley: :wally
No, don’t take it. Sure, if your money situation is dire you can’t really afford to be too picky. But it sounds like you’re not being too picky.
You’ve tried that type of job before and hated it, so you’re going to start out being miserable and unsure of it. The only good thing about it is that you’d be making a little bit of money again in the short term, but it’s not reliable. (It sounds like it’s on salary and not commission; if it is on commission, then definitely don’t take it.)
Plus, that job would just take time away from looking for a better job.
So there are plenty of reasons not to take the job, and you shouldn’t second-guess it. Having to deal with creepy guy would just make a bad situation worse.
I would say do not take the job but since you need money so bad take the job and quit as soon as possible. So basically get the job and apply for better ones and as for the guy do things to turn him off be disgusting and loud when he is around and he will probably lose interest real quick… or if not get a big friend to play the role of your crazy jealous boyfriend who is mentally unstable
Somehow, I’m reminded of a James Thurber cartoon. A couple is in their living room. He has the head of a donkey. He says, “You knew I was an ass when you married me.”
The jerk you met at the stoplight let you know immediately that he was a jerk. With that foreknowledge, you might not be able to make a sexual harassment case later. The EEOC has been gutted lately, so that hurts your chances, too.
If you’re willing to take a demeaning job, you could probably make more money as a topless dancer. I told you that to get you to adjust your perspective, not to insult you. Philosophically, there’s not a lot of difference between having the boss hit on you every day and having strangers tuck money in your underwear.
I fear that this post will be misunderstood, and that some folks might be angered. Please understand, I’m not encouraging the OP to work in a breast bar. I’m saying nobody should be treated like meat without their permission.
Well, actually, I’ve been a topless dancer, and I didn’t find it particularly demeaning. It isn’t something I could do again, for a variety of reasons. Philosophically, there is a lot of difference between having the boss (or just an extremely annoying creepy coworker) hit on you and having strangers tuck money in your underwear. Having a creepy coworker hit on you is an annoying distraction and something you did not choose to buy in for when you took the job. Getting the money in the underwear (I was partial to a garter, myself. I think the prettiest I ever felt in my life was when I was dancing in nothing but a g-string and stiletto heels with my leg ringed with dollar bills, then dropping the cash center stage and going back for a refill), well, you knew that’s what the job entailed when you took it, and if a customer gets too grabby, you’re allowed to plant a spiked heel in his forehead. Something that would be strictly verboten in a market research job.
To me, the main problem is the idea that if I took this job, I would be placing myself under the Sword of Damocles. Not something most folks would want to do voluntarily.
Being a cashier at Wal-Mart- now that was demeaning.
I think if you’re serious about job hunting, you WON’T apply for a crap job that you expect to hate which includes suffering an obnoxious jerk. To take AskNott’s analogy a step further, I’m sure there are places hiring prostitutes. Are you not serious about job hunting if you choose not to apply for those positions? Being serious about seeking a job doesn’t mean you have to abandon all discretion.
Good Lord! Don’t apply for that job! First of all, you said you don’t think you’re very good at it, and second, possibly most important, you’d be completely miserable with some slimeball hitting on you all the time. It’s just not worth your time. Besides, at least at B&N you’d get an employee discount on books and (hopefully) coffee. Can’t get much better than that.
which he’s not going to get because he doesn’t have sense enough to know that continuing to hit on a woman who has already said “no” several times is not a good way to get her to apply at your company.
OK, it looks like the opinions expressed so far are overwhelmingly in favor of me not applying for the job.
Thanks, all.
I’m heading downtown now to talk to the pit boss at a casino I once worked for to see if any openings are happening.
