monogodo

I worked for Wherehouse Music from February 2003 to March 2004. In the fall of 2003 I received a Thank You card from a customer, thanking me for the help I provided him with during his visit. I didn't recall helping him, but was grateful for the praise that I could have put in my file. A couple of weeks later, he called me to say that he was always on the lookout for people with my kind of customer service skills to come work for him, and wanted to know if I was interested. At the time I figured my job was secure, so I told him I wasn't interested, but that I'd keep his number in case my situation changed.

In January, my situation changed. Wherehouse Music filed bankruptcy and was going to close down my store. I started looking for a new job. I decided to give the guy a call.

He told me that they had interviews every Tuesday evening and Saturday afternoon. I thought it was rather odd for them to have interviews at those times, but thought I'd check it out anyway. I got dressed in my 'interview outfit', printed out a couple copies of my resumé, and went to his office.

I arrived to find about a dozen guys like me, there for interviews, and each of us was paired up with a guy who already worked there. My contact, Todd, introduced me to his boss, and offered me a water. We all milled around for a bit, during which time I sent a text message to my wife asking her to look up the name of the company, since I had just found out about it. After a bit, Todd said it was about to start, so we should go get a seat up front.

He lead me into a room with chairs set up for a presentation, with two aisles, and a table set up in the front with a movie screen in the corner. We took two seats up front. As I'm sitting there, I get a message back from my wife saying she'd just got home and got my message, and was looking up the info I asked for. Just then, somone starts a CD player and it sounds like the performance scene from Bring It On is about to start. You know the song, the one that starts, "Prepare for total domination!", and then jumps right into "Get Ready For This" by 2 Unlimited.

I'm sitting there thinking, "Christ, what have I gotten myself into?"

Just then I get a text message from my wife, "RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! IT'S A SALES PROGRAM!!!"

I texted her back saying that it was too late, I was stuck.

She did more research, and kept sending me the results. It was the only thing that made it bearable.

The way they ran the 'show' was slick. They never gave us a chance to leave. We got no breaks. When one speaker would stop, another would start up immediately.

When if finally ended, Todd could tell I wasn't interested, and said he'd still do a free financial analysis for me if I wanted. I told him I'd think about it and left.