$8.75 per hour. That is what this job pays. So, what in the hell do you have to do to obtain this lucrative position? Well, you have to jump through a lot of hoops. It is insane.
This is a part-time cleaning position, 4:30 to 9:30 PM. Five hours per day, five days a week. Twenty-five hours per week. No benefits. No healthcare. No paid vacation. This is a shit job.
Still, you must meet some exacting requirements.
First, the application process is bizarre.
You must apply online. You must go to the subcontracting company's website, navigate your way to the proper place, and fill it out correctly. This is not as easy as it sounds.
Then you must go through a criminal background check. And a credit check. Then comes your urine test.
Did you notice that I left out the interview? That happens somewhere in there, but it really does not matter, because if you can run this gauntlet, you are hired.
So, your privacy and dignity in tatters, you may now proceed to the next step.
Congratulations! You are now kinda hired. If you can get through security. Once again, you need a computer. But it cannot be a computer onsite. How in the hell is that secure? They tell people to go to a public library. Yeah, that is WAY more secure than the computers onsite. Well, they did change that. If you cannot get through it elsewhere, they will now help you. Hooray!
Then you come in early (without pay) and get your picture taken for your ID badge that you have to wear around your neck, like a dog.
Woo-hoo! You are now a member of the working poor!
You can now punch in on a timeclock that takes your damn fingerprint and photographs you.
But be prepared to work your ass off. The place is short-staffed because of the people who have been there for years and are pissed because they are not making $8.75 per hour, so they quit. The ones still there hate your guts for making more than them.
Hey, welcome to the new economy.
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(Typed with one finger on a Galaxy Tab--please forgive typos and bad spelling. This is part one, and an introduction, of a couple of diaries that I came up with after I interviewed some cleaners in some major corporations. This is a lead-up to Labor Day.)