JOB SEARCHES -- I'VE HAD A FEW

MINE HAD TWIN HEADLIGHTS, NOT JUST ONE

"What Color Is Your Rainbow?" Remember that book? I do. In fact I saw it on the rack just today. It made me think of the first time I had to look for a job. I didn't have a rainbow. I had a bicycle and a need for money. I was 17 and I had just dropped out of school. I decided that I was going to go to work rather than to follow everyone's advice. Now you have to understand something: I had had jobs before this. I had dug ditches when I was about 12. I had delivered papers a little bit, not too much. I worked on the tobacco farms of New England. I had a summer job working for a construction company. That was the one and only job that I ever got by getting a reference from EFR Dion. He never said anything, but he must have regretted it. He never did it again. So, anyhow I didn't know the color of my parachute. That was nowhere near being a concept in those days to begin with. Parachutes were white silk. Period.   So, I'd go to Mass in the morning, go home, have breakfast, put on some decent clothes, get on my bicycle and go to the city across the river where the jobs were and start knocking on doors.  Despite having had jobs, I had never had to go BEG for one.  You know how hard that is for a 17 year old stud?  I did it.  There were some funny things that happened along the way.  The one that was the least funny [but in many ways the funniest] was when a huge truck ran over my bicycle.  I had placed my trusty steed in a safe place, close to the building.  I went in and talked to the manager of the paper mill.  All he said was, "Can you work nights?"  I said "yes."  He said, "How old are you?" I told the truth, "17."  "Sorry kid," says he, "ya gotta be 18 ta work here."  OK.  I turn around and leave only to come face to face with a burly, but very contrite truck driver.  Not far to his left is a very crumpled up J.C. Higgins, Sears Roebuck brand bike.  Man, what a pretzel job that truck did on my wheels!  The man was rather nice to me though.  He said, "not only ya don't got a job, ya can't get nowhere no more."  So I just kind of smiled and he consoled me by saying that he was sure that the company would replace my bike.  I gave him my name,my address and telephone number and left the remains of my only viable transportation where they lay knowing that someone would throw them away.  I am glad to report that it took only a few days before I received $50.00 in the mail.  I bought a brand new bike and still had some change.  Not bad, eh?
Now it was only about 1:00 PM, and there were a lot more doors to knock over, so because I was now on foot, I started looking for work in the direction of home.  It was a smart move in one way, but it didn't get me any "yer hired" acclaim in the more than one hour that I canvassed the area.  As the days passed, I did get good at introducing myself.  I decided that I would use the good humor approach.  I would size up the first person I saw and try something new on each one.  Stuff like, "Great place you got here!  Ya got a swimming pool?"  That one really bombed, so I scratched it.  The one that really worked was, "I can tell that you are looking for a second baseman."  One guy actually said, "Nice try, but we're looking for a mountainous catcher."  But the one that really worked was, "Good morning.  I'm looking for work.  I know I can help you."   As I said that a good looking secretary came out of the office and she recognized me.  "Oh, hi!" she said.  "I'll bet you're looking for Harry."  Oh heavens!  I've won something big here.  I only know one Harry and he's the manager of our amateur baseball team.  Sure enough, here comes Ol' Harry and in 15 minutes I got a job.  I'm gonna be rich. Harry looks at me all serious and demands, "When kin ya start?"  Now I've learned not to tell the truth all the time.  Like that one time before, remember?  So I chirp, "Now."  Harry says, "Nice try.  I put ya ta work in dem duds an' yer father will have my neck.  Go home 'n be here at 6:45 tomorra mornin'."  

Here it has been two weeks of constant rejection and in 15 minutes my life got  turned around.  All the way home [about 2 miles] I kept thinking, I'm so glad it's not a paper mill or a weaving mill.  It was a printing shop, a fairly big one, a division of the Springfield Republican newspaper.  Holyoke Magazine Press it was called.  I got a ton of stories about that part of my life.  All of them "G" rated too.  
Fast forward more than 50 years.  I can still find a job when I need one.  I walk into any place and if I like what I see I say, "Hey, you look like you could use my help."  Most of the time the answer is, "No kidding, but I can't afford it for now."  I have some tricks that work and I have some that don't work.  Lately, I've been offered jobs without having to ask.  That's nice.  Of course, lately I've also been told to get lost without having to ask.  But that, too, is a story for another time.

OH,OH, WE CAN'T HIRE A MAN, JO-EL

Oh, you're a man!  Sorry about that

This is a cute little story.  It does not have a happy ending, but the happiness of it can be found in the facts as they unfold.  It is one of those realities that push the saying, "Getting there is half the fun" to the edge of the cliff.  In this story, getting there is the only fun.  Jo-El, his mother and I were having a supper of sushi since it was Friday and Lent.  This was just two days ago.  During the meal Jo-El answered his telephone even though he did not recognize the identity of the caller.  His initial reactions to the call indicated that the caller was not sure who was on the telephone.  Jo-El's reaction to the call was one of strained respect and politeness.  After the opening parlay, we heard a low chuckle or two from Jo-El followed by a sincerely felt "I can certainly understand that."  A couple more "hmm, hmm's" and a chortle and then the politer end greetings given through a smug smile and a shaking of the head.  Mom, of course was the first to talk, "Who was that?"  As he was putting his phone back into his pocket Jo-El informed us that the caller was calling him about a driving job for which he had applied.  As he shook his head he informed us that the caller was rather surprised to hear a man's voice over the phone.  In fact, he said, she was a little bamboozled.  She didn't know what to say.  When she recovered she explained that under the circumstances that she now knew, it was not possible to make him an offer of employment.  The job, it turned out, was to transport women clients of a behavioral training clinic dealing with helping women with eating disorders.  It was explained to him that because of that, they could not hire a man for the job.  The caller apologized for the situation.  Jo-El just laughed it off.  What else could he do.  So all three of us took it in stride and laughed it off.  When things things go awry, you can't win for loosing.  

Wait, there's more.

Later after our return home after sushi, Jo-El's phone rang again and this time it was his friend.  This friend had introduced Jo-El's name to the company at which he works in the hope that Jo-El would be hired there too.  Jo-El would enjoy working for this company since it offers work in his line and pays rather well.  We overheard Jo-El's side of the call and it was a little mysterious.  The post phone call debriefing was another one of those moments when "getting there is the only fun."  The friend had received a gift certificate from the company for referring Jo-El, but Jo-El has not yet heard from the company.  Naturally, his conversation with his friend was about trying to peer into the dark in an effort to see what the meaning of the gift certificate was in relationship to Jo-El's situation with the company.

All of this within little more than two hours in the life of a person who has been on the bricks for over a month.

I has to take a lot of personal courage and mental stability to put up with the challenges of the job search.  I know, I've been through some interesting times in similar situations.  One time I went 14 months before I found work in my line after being let go from a company that dumped me in favor of cronies whose jobs they were saving from the mother company in the Midwest.  They had hired me because they needed someone to speak Spanish.  Just short of a year into the job they jettisoned me because their friends were more important than my Spanish.  Sound familiar, anyone?  Thanks to you all for the prayers that you offer for this young man.  Mom and I are glad that we were around when these things happened.  It helped him to see the humor of it all.