Saturday, September 08, 2007

Loretta...LIVE from Wal-Mart!



Two months after I first applied and after the last two weeks spent begging, groveling and even peeing in a little plastic cup in order to be bestowed with a magnificent blue vest festooned with a bright yellow smiley face, I do believe I have finally landed a job at Wal-Mart. I went in for my interview on Thursday, took the drug test afterwards and they called last night to tell me to come in for my orientation today.

Once I am finished with orientation I will be working 10 pm to 7 am. My position will be cashier for register 16, which at my local Wal-Mart is the tobacco register....the only register in the whole store that sells tobacco products. To make purchasing tobacco products even more of a pain in the ass there is a limit of 10 items per customer on that register. Often times I see many people ignoring the 10 item limit and driving whole carts stuffed with goodies through that register. I undertsand their frustration with the only register in the store that sells tobacco products having a 10 item limit. Let's hope I can rely on my sense of humor to get me through the times when they do it to me.

I know many people have a negative image of Wal-Mart. I have never worked there and had ferverently hoped I would never have to. However, I have a lot of new expenses cropping up. For instance, my son has been chosen as an Ambassador to England and Ireland in 2008 and that will cost a pretty penny for sure. He is also hoping to be accepted into Alabama School of Math and Science ,which comes with a hefty, but well worth it, price tag. He has to take the ACT in October. I feel very confident that he will make a high score and be accepted. He brought me a geometry test a couple weeks ago with 110 A+ at the top. I always hated advanced math in school, with geometry being one of my worst subjects. I can't even draw a straight line with a ruler. I can add, subtract, multiply and divide til the cows come home...but that advanced stuff makes my head hurt.

Anyway, I am glad they hired me because I need the money to make these great opportunities a reality for my son. The pay is a lot higher than I anticipated it would be for a starting cashier position. I was pleasantly surprised. I am not sure what benefits are available. I hope to find out today. I know that employee appreciation is lacking though. While I was being interviewed one of the personnel ladies was opening huge packs of generic weiners...(you know the kind with the red dye in them that are made out of god knows what), and placing them into a turkey roasting pan. Another employee came in and asked her what she was doing.

Weiner opener: "So and so has been here 20 years today so management is having a little party for her."

Other employee: "Wow, thanks for 20 years of service....here's a weenie to show our appreciation."

I cracked up right in the middle of the interview. If most of the employees there have that kind of sarcastic brilliance why, I think I might fit right in.

Y'all offer up a prayers and/or happy thoughts for me today.


6 comments:

Don said...

I send kudos to your son, Lo, and to you as well for having guided and perhaps goaded him at times to work hard enough to have earned being chosen to be an ambassador. I wish I knew what being an ambassador entails, so perhaps that could be a topic for you to blog about soon.

Congratulations to you, too, for landing a job. Employment where you live probably isn’t easily found. You’ll no doubt do well if you can learn to keep that sharp tongue of yours stilled when appropriate. “-)

Anonymous said...

Congrats on getting a job, and good luck on your son going to ASMS -- I've heard very good things about it. When I was that age, I was way too interested in getting into trouble to do well enough to get into something like that even though I was always math/sci oriented.

Based on my job prospects upon graduation, it's a lucrative field One company, for example, is offering me 3 weeks paid vacation a year (starting), all sorts of insurance, 10 holidays a year, and more money than an Alabama legislator makes. That's starting with just a degree.

Anonymous said...

Way To Go Lo!!!!!

SKRoberts said...

Good luck!

Loretta Nall said...

Thanks for all the well wishes y'all. Day one wasn't bad. Did orientation all day long from 10 am to 6 pm and will do it again from 8 am to 4 pm today.

I hear you about getting in trouble at my sons age Dan. Actually I was much younger when I started getting in trouble with the law and alcohol. Think 12. When I was 15 I was only months away from getting married. I often look at my son and wonder how in the hell he came out so perfect? Smart, good looking and cares nothing for being wild, using drugs or alcohol...he's all about his video games, his friends and making excellent grades. I'm very lucky!

Don, you can learn more about the People to People Ambassador program at this link. I have always wanted to go to Ireland and see the people that make up half of my heritage. Those in Amsterdam make up the other half of it and I would dearly like to go there for much more than seeing what they are all about. My son has a meeting in Montgomery today at Troy U to learn more about this program, how much it costs and so forth. I'll update everyone in a different post about the new info.

Don said...

Lo, thanks for the link. "I like Ike". He was the second of our presidents that I've seen in person, although when I saw him in Kansas City he was just campaigning for the office in about 1951, I believe. The first one was FDR in about 1940 when he came to Chattanooga to dedicate Chickamauga Dam.