Day Five

So cashier. Yeaaaaahhhhh......

I dressed up. Wore a collar (but with shorts). The first part of my interview was with Grace. She's the personnel person at Wal-Mart. Most of that interview was going over the basics of the job. And telling me that I was going to interview for cashier. Period. Because that's what they need. We also talked about some of the jobs I've had, and what I could bring to the Wal-Mart or some other jibber-jabber. I couldn't figure her out.

Grace is in her 50s maybe, with graying hair, and no desire to connect with the people she interviews. It was all business. Not that she wasn't nice. She was very, very polite. But she almost seemed to be annoyed that I was calling her Grace, and not by her last name (which I don't know, because Wal-Mart name tags don't give that information), or maybe Madam Grace. I couldn't win her over. I was just another part time punk.

The second phase of my interview was with Claire. Claire was incredible. She is one of the assistant managers at the store. She is a mom and a wife, and radiates it. I think she may be the greatest mom at any Wal-Mart ever. Her portion of the interview went over the strengths and weaknesses portion of your typical interview. Also, why the interviewee would like to work at Wal-Mart. We talked about Montana and the kids I used to work with. She seemed to connect with me as soon as we started talking about Montana. Out of f the blue, she started talking about her dream of moving out there and being a cowgirl, with that far away wanderlust look that Tolkien and Jules Verne only wrote about. She started talking about roads not taken, and giving that up when she got married. It was sad and brave and something else all at the same time. And then I was shipped of to Rick.

Rick is one of two co-managers at the store. We went over getting paid (and how much), responsibilities (like don't come to work drunk), and some other things where he was trying to act the par of the hard-ass, but it really wasn't in him. I'm sure he could fire people if he had to and all, but he just seemed to stretch his own character a little, in order to give me a "realistic" view of what the job would entail, like, "You've heard the women folk talk, now here's what the man has to say." I had to stop myself from laughing a couple of times. He would make a good basketball coach, I think.

Then I had to drive to another part of town to get my urine tested for drugs. By the time that was over, the whole process had taken about two-and-a-half hours. And unless I ate poppy seeds and something crazy like that without realizing it, I think I have this job. I'm the shit. No really, I am.