Summer jobs. They are a necessity of any student's life. It means having pizza, clothes, and even more importantly, beer money. But why do they have to be so irritating? This summer I, like many of my generation X counterparts, entered the vast disposable market known as "summer employment." This summer was my first experience working in a hardware store. And what an experience it was.
When I noticed the "help wanted" sign at the front of the store. I immediately applied for a cashier position. There were several reasons I specially applied to be a cashier. First reason being that they were looking for cashiers, as indicated on their "help wanted" sign. Second reason was that I have a good four years experience with being a cashier. It is a job I feel comfortable and confident doing. And finally and most importantly, I wanted to be a cashier because I knew jack about hardware! Oh well.
Several days went by before they finally called me in for an interview. Nothing seemed out of place at the interview. The woman interviewing me was nice and told me that I was what they were looking for. She told me I was hired and that I should show up at the store meeting on Sunday to get to meet the staff. I got up to leave just as the interviewer asked me one last question. "Do you have any experience with hanging signs and clip strips?" I thought the question was odd but I answered "yes" considering at my last job I had on occasion did these things.
The store meeting rolled around and I showed up to be introduced to my fellow wage slaves. They called my name and introduced me, quite to my surprise, as the new clip strip hanger and sign painter. Good God when did that happen? In retrospect, I should have quit right then.
The following months were like some sort of endurance test. I was thrown into the job with no training at all and since I had answered "yes" to the interviewers question, they just assumed that I would know how things were operated around the store.
I got requests for labels and signs that I had no idea how produce for them. One co-worker took pity on me and showed me how the computer system worked so I could make the labels and signs. I looked blankly at him and asked "Isn't this supposed to be part of my training?" He shrugged and replied "management kind of relies on a swim or sink method of training, either you learn it yourself, or you don't." Dear God, was I in trouble!
I eventually became a master at the store's computer system, even to the point where I was showing some of the long-time inmates (er-- I mean employees) how to use it. After I started to become comfortable with my job the fates decided to test me again.
I soon became the managers favorite errand girl. I was constantly asked to do special little jobs for them that they just didn't have time to do. Of course they always left out some vital piece of information that the whole errand would hinge on and usually I would get yelled at and have to do it over. Yes I still got in trouble when I told them that they forgot to tell me exact directions. Oh well it must be nice to be blameless.
Finally as if the pressures of this job, with the feelings of
incompetence and the constant fear of losing my job, there was another annoyance. I believe that this summer I worked with the horniest men on the face of the earth! I have never considered myself pretty, but this summer you would have thought I was friggin' Cindy Crawford for God sakes. I spent a lot of this summer trying to avoid the leers and suggestive statements that were hurled at me. I turned down several dates from men old enough to be my father. I even had one co-worker grab my hair and sniff it. I was pretty freaked out about that. One day it got so bad I had to go home and cry. Not that I'm a cry baby or anything, just sometimes things wear you down. And that job really wore me down. I think from now on, I'm staying away for Hardware stores when I look for a temporary job.
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Name: Billy Bob Comments:
You became a loser when your co workers became inmates, and wage slaves
Name:Sam Greene Major: Information Systems Comments:
What is that picture of at the top of the article and who is the author or are these articles anonymous? Anyhow, if what you write is true, management was out of line in not telling you what you were hired to do. They should also give proper training. And I think that the author should have said something about the way in which she reacted to the suggestive statements by her male coworkers.
Hopefully you did not send the wrong signals that you liked that sort of behavior to those men, but that you instead would react with disapproval. Those men may have considered you a friend that thought of that sort of thing as cute. What they did was out of line if you sent a clear signal that you disapproved. And unfortunately some people just don't get it.
Name:James Andrews Major: CS Comments:
Sexual Harrassment is wrong in any form. It can happen to anyone anywhere. I have seen both and personally I am appalled by the act. I know it hurts me whenever I hear something to the tune of "well you know all guys are like that", and "All men do is lie". So I can't imagine the pain it must cause women to hear the discriminating remarks that I have heard towards them. I wish it would stop. Maybe if the world would stop thinking about themselves and shift the focas on where the world is today we can evolve out of the animal stage. Yes I believe that some people did evolve, and the people that do stuff like harrassment probably evolved from jackasses. But that is just my opinion, I could be wrong.
Name:Jennifer Major: um . . . Comments:
I had the same sort of problem at my summer job before my senior year in high school. Not only was I the official do-everything girl, I was the only girl, and these men must not have had ANY chance with women their own age, because they were constantly hitting on me. I actually hit my manager with a pizza turner to get him to back off, and he just laughed at me, which is one of the most frightening things I've ever experienced. Thank the gods I was never stuck in a dark corner near him. *shudder* So you're not alone, chick.
Name:Brian :) Major: Advertising Comments:
I think it is important that everyone reading this article understands that sexual harassment is not something made up in the books...it is real, and as I've read, it happens. The wrongdoer in this case were the men, but you must also remember that the only way the wrongdoers will know to stop is if you step forward and tell them to. Sexual harassment is illegal. Plain and simple. It is discriminatory, hence, illegal. Stop it when it starts, and your life will be easier.
