Friday 22 February 2019

Job disappointment...

This week has sped by again and today is the last day of the half-term. I was busy at work with phone calls and price changes but it was a huge relief when the clock showed 2pm! Keith had sent me a sneaky text to say that Mike had a second interview at 4pm and when he came to meet me I fully expected him to have our son with him, but he was still at home. I had an order to collect from Next on Riverside so we said we'd drop Mike off in town and then pop down to the retail park.

When we arrived home, Mike appeared looking so smart! He had his Prom suit on and looked lovely but was a bit nervous! We drove into town and before dropping him off near the office we pulled up at the traffic lights by the train station and witnessed a man being arrested! Two men came around the corner, dressed in jeans and sweatshirts, and one of them flashed his ID at a man behind our car and he was promptly handcuffed! They were obviously plain clothes policemen and it was all very exciting! I wanted to stay and watch what would happen next but the lights changed to green!

We took a small road I never knew existed and dropped Mike off after wishing him good luck. I drove to Riverside and I collected my parcels from Next - a new toilet brush, a loo roll holder and a lamp for the table on the landing. I popped into Boots briefly and then we went back to get Mike who was waiting for us with the news he'd got the job!

In the car on the way home I asked him lots of questions, but he was very vague about what the company actually did and what his job role was, other than that it was in sales... Alarm bells started to ring when he said he didn't exactly have a job description and that there had been no mention of pay. His hours were horrible - 11.30am until 8.30pm which meant one of us would have to go out and get him after dinner unless he found a bus route... not something I was very happy about! I was hoping he'd get a 9-5 job like Sophie!

Back home I did what I should have done before he even went for an interview - checked reviews of the company on Indeed and Glassdoor. Some were glowing but quite a few said stay away from the company - the staff are all self-employed and only earn money by selling Direct Debits for charities to people. One review said the hours were extremely long and that some days he didn't earn any money at all. He was expected to go door-to-door selling and basically coercing people into taking out monthly payments to different charities.

I told him and we all felt really disappointed with how it had turned out. I have to say I'd been surprised that Mike was taken on so quickly for a (supposedly) well-earning job and I suppose the old adage is right, "If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is!"

In the evening I was off to The World's End with Lynda, Fiona and Andrea. Sophie and I picked up Keith and Mike from our local and then we drove over to the pub, which was much quieter than I'd been expecting. Lynda and Fiona were already there and had ordered me a glass of Pinot Gris. We had a chat and after Andrea arrived and we talked some more, we went down to the restaurant to our table.

I'd already looked at the menu online so I knew what I was going to order! I chose the tempura battered vegetables followed by the oven baked chicken breast. We asked for a bottle of white Rioja to accompany the meal and the others nibbled on bread and a Balsamic vinegar dip with their starters.

The food was very good and my chicken breast arrived with a delicious sauce, asparagus and a fondant potato (Masterchef!). Three of us managed desserts (Fiona had an Irish coffee) but the pub was very quiet for a Friday night and we were the last to leave at 11pm. We'd had a lovely evening and we've arranged to go out again in May after I return from my holiday. Sophie and Keith came back to get me and once home it was straight to bed!

No comments: