New job needed: Suggestions on best fit?

[JustADude]

Not going to bother with a MiM post, since there's not much to say other than "the owner is an ass", but I just got fired for taking a break because the store was dead and I was so far ahead of schedule I literally didn't have anything to do for the next half hour or so. The owner walked in and pretty much fired me on the spot because I was sitting and reading the newspaper instead of cleaning things that I'd already cleaned five minutes ago. At-Will state, and there's no provision in the state laws or employee handbook providing any break periods, so there's no real way to fight it.

It's just as well, though, because the job didn't keep me busy enough, and I refuse to deal with mindless busywork (as opposed to actually useful cleaning & maintenance tasks).

Can anyone suggest a good place to look for a full-time job for someone who actually enjoys customer service, dislikes dealing with food (tending alcohol/espresso bars excluded), can handle cash extremely well, and can handle just about any level of pressure, provided the task-focus narrows as the pressure rises?

[Gurndigarn]

Can anyone suggest a good place to look for a full-time job for someone who actually enjoys customer service, dislikes dealing with food (tending alcohol/espresso bars excluded), can handle cash extremely well, and can handle just about any level of pressure, provided the task-focus narrows as the pressure rises?

Have you considered the coin-op entertainment industry? (Actually, anything in the vending industry would seem to fit the bill.) Just skip the places that serve food.

If you're interested, I can possibly provide a few more pointers for applying.

[JustADude]

Have you considered the coin-op entertainment industry?

Actually, no. I'd been thinking "call center", but that sounds like a great idea as well. The local arcade isn't hiring, but if you have any idea where else to look for jobs, any advise would be welcome.

[MamaMootz]

Do you have any casinos near you? - I'd bet you'd make a great cash handling guy, and it would probably pay well.

[JustADude]

Do you have any casinos near you? - I'd bet you'd make a great cash handling guy, and it would probably pay well.

Closest one is the next state over. Missouri does lotto, but not casinos, as far as I know. :(

[TNT]

Actually, no. I'd been thinking "call center", but that sounds like a great idea as well. The local arcade isn't hiring, but if you have any idea where else to look for jobs, any advise would be welcome.

Not to be nosy, but I thought you had a call center job.

[JustADude]

Not to be nosy, but I thought you had a call center job.

That was a long while ago, and it was a telemarketing thing that pretended to be legit, but pretty much operated on a just-barely-legal basis. After that was Papa Johns, which was part-time-barely-making-my-cut-of-rent, then the Convenience Store, which was full time with nice pay, that I just got booted from because the boss is shamelessly exploiting the state's lack of break legislature.

[MoonChild2007]

Can anyone suggest a good place to look for a full-time job for someone who actually enjoys customer service, dislikes dealing with food (tending alcohol/espresso bars excluded), can handle cash extremely well, and can handle just about any level of pressure, provided the task-focus narrows as the pressure rises?


How about working at a bank? :D

[Saydrah]

How do you feel about dealing with animals and the jerks who buy them from chain stores?

I'm a rep at Petsmart and as their free help- paid by the dog food company, not Petsmart- I enjoy a fairly privileged status with managers who often give me access to company information that isn't really supposed to be for non-employees' eyes. That has recently included a look at their hiring procedures and salary grades for various positions, as well as their break policies (nationally, two 15 min breaks and one 30 min lunch per 8 hour shift, does not change by location).

They actually pay their lead cashiers and team leads pretty well, and will hire a team lead without management experience if they have cash handling experience and interview well. They do multiple interviews and depending on the value they feel you will bring to the company offer you a starting pay grade which can vary by up to about $4/hr at the manager's discretion.

I will never again work FOR a chain retailer that sells live animals, but if that's not your personal scruple, might be a good choice.

[Gurndigarn]

Actually, no. I'd been thinking "call center", but that sounds like a great idea as well. The local arcade isn't hiring, but if you have any idea where else to look for jobs, any advise would be welcome.

Well, I'm going to put in about 200-250 hours this month, despite theoretically having two holidays in it, so I'm not sure if I still recommend it. Also, the industry overall has been shrinking for several years, so it's not a surefire career. That doesn't mean that individual companies area all shrinking, though; it depends on who owns them and how much they really understand the business. IE, it's the usual ivory tower vs streetwise syndrome. But if that hasn't scared you off...

Since you don't want foodservice, skip Chuck E., Gameworks, D&B, etc.

If you have management or computer repair experience, you may be able to get a position with one of the national chains. The two names that jump out at me who don't do food much are Nickles and Dimes and Namco Cybertainment, assuming you're looking in the US. Google their websites, look for the help wanted section of it, and see who and how to contact them.

There are also local people. Either look in the yellow pages under "Amusement Devices", or when you're out shopping or at a bar, look for the games and see if they have any phone numbers on them.

The national chains will require learning technical skills if you don't have them, but I think they do on-the-job training. Local people will have a variety of jobs, if they have any. Type of job, pay rate, and all that will depend on the company: the larger they are, the more likely they are to have dedicated collections people, or dedicated tech people, or anything like that. Many of the smaller businesses are very small, and in some cases is one person with the occasional part-time help for projects.

[gunsage]

It depends on how much you need/want to make. I always recommend security if you've never done it. Most security companies will hire you provided that you're not a fucking idiot and have a clean background. Good references always help, but mostly they're just looking to make sure they're not putting a badge on a criminal. And as I've said before, most security work is cake. Easy money.

[smileyeagle1021]

Actually, I can't speak for the rest of the country, but in Utah call centers are doing better than ever... granted their is high turnover, but they are doing growth hiring, not just covering their turnover. The center I work at only a few years ago had to lease another building to handle us all... and we're once again nearing capicity. We outsource to Manilla not because we're cheap. but because we can't get enough people to apply in the US and even if we could we don't have the space for them to work.

Then again my company is smart... our fastest growing program, MACRO, is the most brilliant idea ever... rather than having people at the hotel who are already overworked and not trained in selling handling the reservations, let's send those calls to the center where the people are trained to sell and are dedicated to doing nothing other than handling the reservation calls.

[JustADude]

This thread is now officially resolved. I'm now working for a different pizza company than the one I was at before The Convenience Store, in one of their call-centers. My entire job, now, is one of my two favorite parts of that last job (the other being 'disposing' of mistake pizzas :p).