Sunday, September 12, 2010

At ye olde unemployment office.

Don't worry, I didn't lose my job. I just got a hint about a better job at a place in town. It's manufacturing, and the STARTING wage is $2.50/hour more than I make now. So, I can't help but try. More money, more benefits, and being in a company that isn't threatening layoffs is huge for me right now. But I have to be sneaky about it. If word gets out where I work that I'm trying to go somewhere else, the idiot redneck that's my boss now will give me the shittiest jobs he can to "make me rethunk it" as to whether or not I want to leave. Yes, rethunk. He did it to the last guy who got a promotion to another department. There are a grand total of 3 guys in our group that have college degrees. The redneck calls us all "them college boys" and treats us all like shit. So I'm trying to get away.


Which brings me to the unemployment office. The company I'm trying to get into is doing all it's recruiting via the unemployment office. To turn in my application, I had to wait in line there. it was an eye-opener. Ever seen Star Wars? Remember the Mos Eisley Cantina? Well, that was pretty much the ESC (Employment Security Commission). I had Bubba Joe Jim Bob standing there jabbering at one window, looking for a "hog job. ANY hog job". He was standing next to Anferny, who was decked to the nines in Fubu, trying to get the lady at the next window to believe him when he said Taco Bell wasn't hiring. And how do unemployed people/welfare people afford full on Fubu/SeanJean outfits and/or have a constant supply of Marlboro unfiltereds? I know for a fact that "fly gear" is expensive as hell, and Cowboy Killers are over $4 a pack now. So where is that money coming from?


Anyways, so I was called back into the ESC to take a basic math and literacy test. My test time was 0930. I showed up 5 minutes early, was given a blank sheet of paper, a pencil, and told to sit down and wait for a computer. There were about 40 computers in the room, and every seat had an ass in it. All these folks were there for the 0900 test times. The test was 52 questions of basic (high school) math and reading comprehension. I figured it wouldn't be a long wait. I was wrong. 40 minutes later, someone got up from the chair and finished. I sat down and started. I finished the test in roughly 40 minutes. And I checked all the answers to every question before I submitted it. So, it actually took me about 30 mins to complete. The majority of the people who were on the computers when I came in at 0925........WERE STILL THERE. Right as I was leaving I had a very bad movie clip come to mind. Remember 2001 Space Oddessy? Remember the monkeys and the giant slab thingy? Yeah, those monkeys.

That's what it was like. Except instead of grunting and hooting there was the occasionally moan of "oh heeeeellllll no" and "hey, yew! May number from figurin' ain't on them answer buttons, yer test is wrong!" Yep. The people who were there when I left had been there for well over 1 hour and 40 minutes. Working on the same test I took. I hope I score better than they do.

Also, the monkey thing doesn't mean I think I'm better than them, it just means I touched the obelisk first.



Fat Rock.

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