Job Hunting

I've just about had it with my mom telling me for the umpteenth time this week to keep looking for a summer job.  For those of you who haven't been following MikeSpace as much as you should, I've applied to a forkton of different places for summer employment, but got only one interview and nothing more.  I keep telling her that at this point in time, it's completely and totally pointless for me to waste my time and energy filling out job applications - don't get me started on how much of a pain in the ass most of them are to fill out! - when I'm leaving for Clemson in a little more than a month. 

First of all, it usually takes a week, at minimum, to even process my application.  The last non-research summer job I had, which was in a grocery warehouse three years ago, kept me in limbo for almost a month, because they actually had to call all of my references, one of whom was always at work when they called and finally just had her sister vouch for me.  Then I had to go get a physical and a drug test, so it was almost a month before I actually started working.  Granted, that was kind of an anomaly, since it was the first job I ever had, but it would still take some time before I'd be able to start at a summer job - time that I really don't have at this point. 

Secondly, think about it from the point of a potential employer.  I highly doubt that any self-respecting business would want to waste valuable time and resources training a new employee when he's only going to be around for a month at most.  I worked for three months at my last job, and it was obvious that they didn't think it was worth it to give me any more than a one-day walkthrough of what I was supposed to do.  If they don't think a three-month employee is worth training, how much less worth someone's time is it to train an employee who's going to be there for only one month? 

And even if, by some miraculous act of God, I did get a job, I'd have no way to get there, because I don't have a car.  When I was working three years ago, my dad was still unemployed, so he let me borrow his truck to get to work, but only after a good deal of persuasion (he can be quite a stubborn prick sometimes!)  But now that both of my parents have jobs, I'm pretty much SOL as far as vehicles are concerned.  I thought my dad was just being a prick again when he brought the matter up this summer, but I realize now that, as much as it kills me to admit it, he was right.  I'd have to gamble on the chance that one of my co-workers lived somewhere near me and would be willing to give me a ride.  Plus, whatever little money I earned from my minimal time on the job would probably be frittered away on gas and taxes. 

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to make a little bit of money this summer.  But given my situation and the reality thereof, I just don't think it's worth the aggravation to even apply for jobs anymore, and I wish my mom would just take off her rose-tinted glasses for once and stop bothering me about it! 

B-)