Applying at Wal*Mart – half a day

So, that was an ordeal. I just spent … about three and a half hours of my day trying to apply at one Wal*Mart. The actual application process only took about half an hour, but here’s the rest:

First, I walked back to that first screen-printing place (right across the street from the bus-stop), the one that was friendly, and tried to be persistent but friendly. They still don’t want me, but perhaps they’ll remember me now. That took maybe five minutes.

Then I walked back across the street and waited at the bus stop. Either due to extravagently bad timing or the broken-down bus I saw on the route later, I waited around 40-45 minutes waiting for a bus that runs every 30 minutes. But I got on, rode the 10 minutes to the Wal*Mart, and got off. Then I crossed the Wal*Mart parking lot and went inside to try to apply.

Now, for those of you who don’t know, Wal*Mart uses computers for everyone to apply at. It’s their “hiring center”, and in most Wal*Mart stores, it’s right up front in plain sight. In this Wal*Mart I could not locate it anywhere in the front 1/3 of the store. So, I got into the Customer Service line to ask where it was. About half an hour of people trying to return things without a receipt to a woman standing in front of a 3-foot-tall sign proclaiming no returns will be accepted without a receipt, or after 90 days, I got to ask if they were hiring. She responded that the computer for that was at the back, in the layway department. So, off to the back of the store I went, and there, tucked into a corner of a hole-in-the-wall was the “hiring center” with a young couple working together to apply, chatting in … russian? Something slavic. The male knew enough english to complain to me a couple of times about how many questions it was, and I waited patiently for them to finish.

About ten minutes after I got there, and before they reached the end of the application, they decided it was taking too long, quit, and left. Now, the woman at the Customer Service counter had told me it should take 20-25 minutes to complete, so I sat down and looked at the time. I spent exactly 25 minutes completing the entire process. And I had exactly 18 minutes left on my bus transfer to get back home. So, I calmly walked out of the store and back across to the bus stop. Which took eight minutes.

And I waited for the bus for another 9 minutes, watching the time disappear before I would be forced to walk home in the heat, and then, voila, it was there. Another 10 minute ride back home, and I got off at the same stop as a friendly-looking youg lady who happened to be walking nearly the same route home as I was. We made pleasant small talk, and she suggested that the other Wal*Mart, at 7th St, was hiring, and I should try there. She lives a couple blocks north of here, and works at the quiznos down the way. Maybe I’ll see her again.

Anyway, after the walk home I’d spent about three and a half hours applying at one place. Later today I’ll probably take this completed application down to the Fascinations in the neighborhood and see if I can get a job there. And, like most of yesterday, I’ll work on finding jobs I can do (and get to) in the listings online and apply for them as appropriate. I also spent some time yesterday working on my resume, and it now reflects my work in Pine reasonably well. Maybe I’ll post it later.