The saga continues….

I just got off the phone with my BFF who is also my sister-in-law.  We met each other on our first day of kindergarten and have been friends ever since.  About 18 years ago, she cemented our life-long friendship by marrying my older brother.  Now we talk on the phone pretty much every day.  This was a bit of a sore spot to my brother until the long-distance plans moved to “unlimited” minutes.  Our efforts to sneak in a “short conversation”(not more than 45 minutes!) were always thwarted by Eagle Eyes when he opened the Bell South bill.

Today, I informed her that she’s no longer my BFF, but has moved into (as with most people in my life) the category of BF … Blog Fodder.

She has loads of hilarious, very pertinent, stuff.  In fact she can take credit for a big part of our in-home revolution.  We were both spurred on to acknowledge and eradicate entitlement in our homes.  This was solidified one day when she had to literally climb over the garbage her 17-year-old had been piling by the back door instead of walking the extra few yards to put it in outdoor bins.

So, summer has started and her 14-year-old is on the job hunt.  First stop, the neighborhood Publix grocery store.

The kid is looking for a little something more than odd jobs around the house and an employer other than his mother (good idea!!)  So Sister Friend pulls up and drops the kid off at the font door for him to go in and do the simple (or maybe not-so-simple) act of filling out an application.

We, of course, happen to be on the phone (our second call of the day … hey’s it’s only 11 am).  Within minutes of his heading into the store, her phone starts beeping.  It’s him.

“Oh my gosh, he’s already calling me.”
“Where did he go?”  Thanks to my being on speaker phone, the kid had just been making fun of me and my enthusiastic greeting that had apparently been heard by all of the riders in their 15-passenger van.  Did I mention my brother has 7 kids?  Picture a Boys & Girls Club or airport shuttle van.  That’s their car.  In fact last year when we dropped kids off at camp, we were actually flagged down by a group waiting for their shuttle ride from one area of the facility to another.  We weren’t embarrassed…. much.
“He’s applying for a job at the Publix,” she said.
“That’s GREAT.”
“Oh… He’s buzzing in again.  I’ve got to go… I’ll call you right back.”

A few minutes later my phone rings.  She’s busting a gut.
“Okay … so he couldn’t get past the question, ‘What is your phone number'”
“What?!!”
“Oh yes.  He kept entering our area code in the “Pager” box.”


Poor kid.  At least he’s trying.  Forging ahead on unchartered territory to the great land of Grocery Bagger or Cart Boy.  As his mother walked away from helping him, he looked back and yelled hopefully,

“I’LL CALL YOU IF I HAVE ANY MORE QUESTIONS!”

Reading the directions might be a good place to start :)

Here’s a shout out to Cousin Cart Boy.  Keep on keepin’ on!  You’re an inspiration to us all.   Hey, I’ve never filled out an electronic application … at least successfully.  Last year I had to send in our kids’ birth certificates when I registered them for camp.  Somehow, the year before I had inadvertently used our then 11-year-olds birthday for our 9-year-old when I filled in their respective on-line applications.  Nothing like sticking a 3rd grade girl in a cabin with 5th grade girls.  It wasn’t pretty!

Thanks for walking the road with me.
-Kay


Sample questions on Publix application that took Cart Boy 30 minutes to complete.  


(He was stumped on questions like "What's your mother's maiden name."  In disbelief she replied, "How can you not know my maiden name?  I've fed you, loved you, wiped your bottom!..."  "Is it Robinson?"  "Close enough.")

"An employee keeps showing up for work 20 minutes late. Everyone has 
been covering for him. What should you do?

If you were to leave your job would you wait until a replacement is found?

If you were to observe ways in which our store could be safer would 
you report then? If so how?

How would you handle a dissatisfied customer?"



					
				

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