Don’t Call Us, We’ll Cell You

(The place where I worked has closed down. I cannot find a new job, and I start to be under pressure as my savings are decreasing. I decide to just take whatever, and move on from this point. I spot a Halloween pop-up store looking for staff, so I go in and bring my CV, which I give the manager.)

Manager: “Wow, you worked at [Place, which is much better and somewhat related]?”

Me: “Yes.”

Manager: “Great! Sounds all good to me. The only thing is I’ll need your cell phone number.”

Me: “I don’t have one anymore. But you have my landline here; I usually stay at home and if anything, I have an answer machine.”

Manager: “No, that won’t do. Give me your cell.”

Me: “I can’t. I don’t have one.”

(I deactivated it, to save money, as I was not using it much, as it is the old times of SMS when we are charged per letter and call per minutes only. I leave on that. One week passes with no news from them. Almost two weeks pass, and I start to think I’ll never get a call, as October is advancing. My friends ask me to go out with them, and stay at their place in the next city over after, which I accept. The next morning, someone calls from my place to say I had a call from that Halloween store and to call them back. I think, “Of course. The only day I’m not here they call me.” I still take the number, thinking I got a work offer and that’ll be given a schedule and all, so I call back from my friend’s phone.)

Me: “Hi. Yes, this is [My Name]. I got a call today about a job?”

Manager: “Yes, I tried to call you to come in this morning, but since you would not answer I called someone else in.”

Me: *surprised* “Oh, I was not expecting that.”

Manager: “Look, just give me your cell phone.”

Me: “As I told you when I gave you my CV, I don’t have a cell phone.”

Manager: “Just give me your cell number.”

Me: *now frustrated that the “no cell” still can’t print in this guy head* “I don’t have one!”

Manager: *disbelieving* “Really? What’s [number I called from], then?”

Me: “My friends line, where I’m calling from, in [City]!”

Manager: *after a long and deep sigh* “Look, do you want to work or not?”

(That’s when I put all the pieces together… the guy is not believing me, at all, when I claim to not own a cellphone. He won’t give a schedule, but rather calls unexpectedly, whenever he feels like he needs extra help, and there’s less than three weeks of work left at best.)

Me: “Really, no. Not for you.” *click*