Prevented From Working To Demand Work

[Foxbite]

I was in a toy store buying a gift for my nephew when a woman walked in and loudly demanded to know if the store was hiring. The greeter directed her to the main desk where I was being checked out by the manager, a really sweet lady who helped me find a bunch of cute Mickey Mouse stuff earlier. This woman walks right over to the counter I'm at and elbows me out of the way as I'm reaching for the credit card slip to sign and demands the manager give her an application. The manager replied that she could give her one but she didn't think the lady would be hired. The woman wanted to know why not, still keeping me from reaching my credit card slip with her arm as I'm trying to reach around her, visibly annoyed. The manager pointed to me and said "You're already treating the customers badly and you don't even work here yet!"

The woman yelled that everyone in the toy store was racist and stomped out.

[bainsidhe]

I've seen folks like this and I can't quite figure out what their deal is. If you're that socially inept, applying for a job in the service industry isn't a good idea.

[Dreamstalker]

Exactly. I was ridiculously socially inept when I was a dumbass teenager, and still managed to pick up/fake enough to land a retail job. I'm seeing more and more adults who should know better acting far worse than I ever did (and my idiocy could be partially explained by a disability, what's their excuse?).

[CyberLurch]

Their excuse is they know nobody's going to call them out on it. Retail employees can't, and any non-retail person they offend is generally either too polite to say anything, or isn't willing to deal with the inevitable aggressive (and possibly violent) confrontation that would result if they did.

[wordgirl]

Maybe I'm a cynic, but when I see something like this I automatically think that someone is trying to get proof they're looking for work without risking actually getting hired. My company gets several of these a week - they will come in and fill out applications for every open position we have except those they might actually be hired for. (We have a mix of relatively low-skill positions that just about anyone could do, and jobs that require professional, technical or creative experience/expertise. So one of these fake job-seekers might fill out an app for senior inside salesperson and IT manager, but refuse to fill out an app for working on the loading dock or in the call center.)

[wolfie]

The woman yelled that everyone in the toy store was racist and stomped out.

How is the store racist for not wanting to hire someone who has already shown that they're rude to customers?

[Monterey Jack]

How is the store racist for not wanting to hire someone who has already shown that they're rude to customers?

Because saying "No" to anyone who doesn't have your particular skin color = RACIST!!!!11!!!

[Foxbite]

Maybe I'm a cynic, but when I see something like this I automatically think that someone is trying to get proof they're looking for work without risking actually getting hired.

That's really interesting, I've never even heard of that. Is it a job program requirement, where you show your application to the counselor or something?

[EricKei]

How is the store racist for not wanting to hire someone who has already shown that they're rude to customers?

Keep in mind that, when she tells her version of the story, she will be all sunshine and roses, despite having some strange person next to her at the counter reach around her -- possibly going for her wallet while she was sweetly requesting a job application from the foul brute standing behind the counter. She will insinuate that one or both of them were in some way prejudiced against her because of her skin color.

In other words, she didn't like what she heard, therefore, the guy was racist.

Foxbite - Yep. In some states, able-bodied individuals must actively seek out/apply to X number of jobs per month is a requirement for receiving SNAP (aka food stamp) or other benefits. The government doesn't care what jobs, just as long as they fill their quota and have the store sign off on it/website verify the attempt, depending on which method is used..

[Nunavut Pants]

Because saying "No" to anyone who doesn't have your particular skin color = RACIST!!!!11!!!

No, it's "Saying 'No' to anyone who has my particular skin color" that is racist. Doesn't matter what the skin color of the person who was saying "No" was, just the recipient. (And it often doesn't matter what actual color the recipient's skin is, either.)

[drjonah]

That's really interesting, I've never even heard of that. Is it a job program requirement, where you show your application to the counselor or something?

Don't know about other states, but to qualify for Unemployment in my state, every week you have to apply to FOUR different jobs.

[Dreamstalker]

Similar thing here...the amount of paperwork mom had to do every month was ridiculous. All the state pretty much wants to see (if anyone ever looks at it) is "I applied somewhere".

[Nunavut Pants]

In California, you are supposed to apply to at least "some" jobs every week. Or at least look for work. The weekly forms even had space to record where you had applied/looked.

Even 10 years ago, though, they didn't check them. However, when I went in for one of the mandatory counseling sessions, they talked about ways to follow up with the companies you had listed.

In recent years, at least in technical fields, they seem to have recognized that actually getting a job is usually more than just applying a bunch of places.

[EricKei]

My state (Luuuziana's close personal friend to the East across the river) had a wonderful little debacle regarding this whole setup at the start of the year -- Details would get a bit Fratchy, so PM me if you really wanna know. Long story short, it greatly increased the burden on the Disability determination courts as a result.

[Lace Neil Singer]

We had a guy apply for a job at the petrol station recently; despite hardly speaking any English, he thought that a job which involves lots of customer interaction was the job for him. Apparently, he was surprised when his application was refused. He hasn't pulled the race card yet, tho; maybe he doesn't know the phrasing? While the supermarket and petrol station can and have hired non English people, being able to speak the language is a bit of a must.