29 April 2008

Unemployment woe

Is it just me, or do employers LOVE hiring in a recession?

I, due to circumstances beyond my control, seem to be out of work. I came about this status by deciding there's no difference between being employed and not being scheduled, and not being employed. Combined with all the abuse I'd been taking at work, mostly by managers who couldn't come up with REAL problems and thus relied on months-old transgressions. So I'm looking for work.

I've applied more places than I can name, and I've only got two actual callbacks. All other progress I might have made is done through my own efforts. And this is my point: the places I've applied put up signs that said "now hiring" or "accepting applications" or did something similar on job sites, and once I applied, I gave it a few days before checking back. I tend to check back at least once a week at everywhere I've not heard anything. SO FREQUENTLY do they say "If you leave your name and number ... " I can only presume the end of that sentence would be "nobody will call you back, but we might put it on a cork board and laugh every time we walk past.

There's a Monty Python sketch that I think is more true than I ever assumed. I didn't realise this is what's (probably) happening until last night, when I put that disc in. Graham Chapman plays a man interviewing for a job, and John Cleese plays the interviewer. Cleese says "Good morning", to which Chapman replies "Good morning". Cleese asks him why he said "Good morning" when he knew perfectly well it's afternoon. Then Cleese rings a tiny bell and sings "Good niiiiiiiight dingdingdingding" then loudly counts down from five. After a few more similar humiliations and a freak-out, Chapman asks if he gets the job, to which Cleese replies "I'm sorry, all the positions were filled weeks ago." I have to wonder if some of the managers of these places are running a giant piss-take operation where they give people applications, put up signs, and hope they come in at the time they feel like doing a fake interview.

What doesn't make me feel better is the fact that were I in their positions, I would probably recreate the sketch verbatim with any fratboy who applied. I never said I was a good person, did I?

----------------
Now playing: John Lennon - Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)
via FoxyTunes