Coming Into The Job Half-Baked At Best
I used to work as one of the food/product samplers you see in certain stores. We have a new hire, a woman in her fifties, about double my age, looking for something to do for a few hours a week. This was her first day.
Me: “Okay, so we have two demos today. One is for an electrolyte drink that comes with a coupon or a frozen pizza. Which would you rather do?”
New Hire: “The pizza for sure! People always spill those drinks, and then I have to clean it up.”
Me: “You got it. Here’s the purchase card and your shopping list. You—”
New Hire: “—So who cooks this?”
Me: “Um… you do.”
New Hire: “What? Why me?”
Me: “Because you’re showcasing how quick and easy this is.”
New Hire: “But why would I cook it?”
Me: “You can do the electrolytes instead if you don’t want to cook.”
New Hire: “No, that’s messy. Why can’t I just have the box out?”
Me: “This job is to hand out samples of these products. You have to prep them so that the customers know what they’re buying.”
New Hire: “That can’t be right. If I wanted to spend all day cooking, I’d just stay home.”
Me: “I don’t know what to tell you if you’re not willing to cook or hand out drinks.”
New Hire: “Okay, well, I guess I’ll go home.”
She turned and left. I called my supervisor.
Me: “Hey, so… the new hire just left.”
Supervisor: “What! Why?”
Me: “She didn’t want to deal with the drinks or cook the pizza.”
Supervisor: “I don’t understand.”
Me: “I don’t know. I gave her the options, but she didn’t realize you had to cook the pizza to hand out samples.”
Supervisor: “I literally asked if she was comfortable cooking, and she said she loved it.” *Sighs.* “Are you able to do both today? I’ll pay you for the hours for both if you want to do them at the same time.”
Me: “Sure.”
So I worked six hours and got paid for twelve. Not a bad deal! We did eventually get someone new who understood what the job entailed.
