Job Application Drama
This unbelievable experience wasn’t even a job, it was a job application.
I saw an ad in the paper for help wanted at a place that claimed to be “a nurturing after-school environment,” basically a glorified daycare which promised to help with homework. I was sixteen and, for some unfathomable reason, thought this could work out. I need to have a service dog with me at all times, but since my handicap doesn’t affect my range of motion or anything like that I didn’t think there’d be a problem.
I was envisioning a nice, peaceful environment with kids calmly doing homework around a table, but what I found when I showed up to apply was at least 75 kids packed into a big, cold, tile-floored basement. Their screams echoed off the walls. There were no toys, no furniture, and no color. Even the walls were stark and white, and my service dog and I had suddenly become the most interesting things in the room.
I had about one second of “Oh, snap!” before I got mobbed by shrieking kids. Before I could leave the one adult in attendance grabbed my by the wrist and demanded to know what I thought I was doing, bringing a dog in here.
“He’s a service dog,” I said.
“WHAT?” She shouted over the shrieking.
“A SERVICE DOG,” I yelled back. “I WANTED TO APPLY FOR THE JOB!”
She looked at the kids, then back at me, then dragged my by my wrist over to a door on the opposite wall. My dog and the mob of kids trailed along behind us. She shoved some forms and a chewed pen into my hands, opened the door to reveal a coat closet, and pushed me in, saying something about my being a distraction. I probably should have left then and there, but for some reason that I can only assume was shock, I actually sat down and started filling out the forms.
The screaming and echoing outside never stopped. Eventually it sunk in that:
A. this place sucked,
and
B. I had just been shut in a dark closet by a potential employer.
I came out (nervously) handed over the forms and got the hell out of there. The woman, whose name I never learned, shouted after me that I would be called for an interview. There was no call, and if there had been, I probably would have hung up.
no kidding! that place sounds like a loony bin! plus your poor dog would have ended up terrorized- imagine all that noise with his poor sensitive ears?
lol. your exp reminds me of an interview i went on. The daycare was nicely equipped, but the kids took to teasing each other instead of playing with the toys, and making one another cry all during the interview; my jaw hit and stayed on the floor. Bullying starts at such a young age, they were about four thru six. and by teasing i mean the boys hit the girls and called them all sorts of names I darent repeat. The teachers didn’t even tell them not to! I never got a call back and i’m glad! tho, thinking aobut it if they made the boys stop (the only way was by force, I could tell) their in denial mamas would’ve shouted child abuse on their “sweet” angels and lawsuit time. figures, lol. i have the utmost respect for daycare workers. I’d go insane!
I think the only thing creepier than listening to screaming children while shut in a broom closet would have been if the screaming suddenly stopped….
I can only imagine how much it worse it would have been had you actually worked there. If I had been shoved into a closet to fill out a job application, I probably would have filled in a fake name, address and phone number, or just left without pen touching paper. If that’s how the application process went, I shudder to think how bad the actual job would have been.
I hope that you reported this place to the authorities rather than leave the children to be neglected.
Did you keep the pen? I know we’ve all applied at least once for a fancy job, just because we wanted a new pen.
I don’t have kids but I always assumed “nurturing after school environments” cost a lot more than mere daycare. What kind of parents saw that kind of set up and still forked over money to have their kids there on a regular basis? I think my parents would have rather just let us roam the streets until supper time.
What is she going to report to the authorities? “Hey, I got a job application from a place that seemed way more chaotic than I thought it was going to be.”
tronner: I thought there was a carer-child ratio that needed to be adhered to, equipment requirements, and safety regulations and such? By the sounds of things, there were lots of kids and not enough people to look after them.
I guess im the only person wondering why the poster needs a service dog at all times?
If the story actually involved 75 children and 1 adult in a single room then yes. But, I took everything to mean that things were so chaotic that the OP really didn’t have all that much of chance to sit and count kids’ heads and adults’ heads and determine the exact child head-to-adult head ratio, and the appropriate action to take from there.
The story was excellent, I liked it, but I’m not sure this story should also follow into the tired trap of….”OMG, you should sue, press charges, banish them to outer darkness…”
I don’t think the place suddenly grew toys and decorations at 5pm pick up time. Makes you wonder about folks who leave their kids in that kind of environment.
You have a well trained service dog. My dog would have bit her as soon as she started dragging me…
And dvsadv, I thought I would not ask what a persons disability is, because it’s very rude. Service dogs can do all kinds of amazing things. There are trained chihuahuas that can let you know if you have come in contact with something you are allergic to before you go into shock! Amazing.
tronner – Most states have fairly extensive requirements for child-care businesses. Based on the OP’s description, this place wouldn’t meet code in most of them.
Some epileptics have service dogs to warn them before they have a seizure. I’ve heard of people with post traumatic stress disorder using service dogs to signal to them before they have a panic attack. Some people use service dogs for alerts when they have hearing impairments.
There are many less than obvious uses for service dogs outside of those in wheelchairs or who are blind.
Jade Lynn, if she didn’t have a hearing impairment before she entered the daycare, I bet she wished she did while she was sitting in the closet.