A Job Applicant
He came up to the pharmacy window and asked to speak to the one who does the hiring. He looked somewhere between 18-24 (who can tell nowdays?). Since I am the PIC, the duty fell to me and I was called over. I looked him over and had to wonder Do you have a mirror and if so, did you look in it this morning before you came over? He was unshaven, had baggy jeans on–you know the kind, where they stay up by seemingly defying gravity, clinging precariously under the owners butt cheeks. (an aside: I dream of the day as a little old lady walking up to one of these teens and yanking these gravity defying pants right down to their ankles)… He was wearing a shirt that literally begged to be tucked in, and a “do” that rarely saw a comb.
He slouched (always an impressive characteristic) and the eye contact was sketchy. I asked him “what position are you interested in?” and he said with a straight face: “I would like to start out as a technician and work my way up to the Pharmacist” Had I had coffee, I would have had a comedic moment and spit it onto the counter. My gut instinct was telling me this young man was looking for any job that gave access to all those nicely bottled controlled substances, but I held my tongue. He was gutsy, I’ll give him that, plus I need to control my stereotypical judgements…
“Did you know that the position of Pharmacist requires a college degree that takes about 7 years to obtain?” I asked. No, he wasn’t aware of that fact. I referred him to our corporate office, told him about the national certification program for technicians, and knew darn well he wouldn’t do anything about it.
I wonder if he thought I would just toss him a jacket, a name tag, a spatula and a tray and say “Get to work”?
Worse yet, would anybody fall for it?
Tags: employees, pharmacy life | |