"References"

I start out this blog with an entry to distract myself from the depressing process of job hunting. Despite being 26 and having a college degree, I find myself in the boat of looking for minimum wage work. If I'm very lucky, I can get full time. Chances are, it will be part time.

I did spent a time working on a ferry snack bar-which isn't as fun as it sounds. But I got injured on the job, and my worker's comp ended before I was repaired, and opted to leave in March. I briefly attempted to work again in May, only to learn that no, I was not recovered. I found a good doctor in Boston, thank the powers that be for Masshealth, and got on the correct strand of PT.

Then there was a tooth infection misdiagnosed as an ear infection, and it took months of my life to deal with. I was unable to seek work again until November.

At which point I briefly obtained work at Subway. It wasn't bad work, but I learned that the bread ovens constantly operating behind me were going to be a problem for me and my heat sensitivity. (I get sick, light headed, disorientated, and sometimes faint).

The thing was, before I was hired on for a day, the man who hired me wanted "References". In particular, he wanted personal references from my past employers.

Now, he had contact information for my employment sites.
But he wanted my supervisor's personal numbers.

Fun fact, if you've only worked minimum wage hourly work, its more then likely you don't get personal numbers.

And yet he pushed for about fifteen minutes while I eventually came to an explanation he found acceptable-that supervisors rotated and were rarely on the boats with us. This was true, but nor did I have a personal number for anyone from my retail experience.

He wanted these to consider me for another hourly minimum wage sales associate position.

 Eventually he called me back when the offer-and made it sound like I was asking for the life of his firstborn when I asked if it would be possible to have my days off together. Not even together on the weekend, I was aiming for midweek, when I figured retail traffic would be smallest.

Nor was I demanding, I even said it wasn't a deal breaker, but he made it sound like it might have been. Obviously it wasn't the case, but these are the shenanigans that are the current job market.

If you're even remotely looking at hourly work, your holidays and weekends are forfeit. That's not even a question.

Apparently, asking for two days off together is a cardinal sin.

And don't even dream of having a dependable weekly schedule.