As many of y'all know, I'm looking for a job right now, new housing and transportation situation and all that. Well I got a call back from a shitty nursing home to be a cook and the person that called was a total bitch, but I scheduled an interview for 9:30 today. I woke up at 7:15 this morning to get ready for the interview. Shaved, got on my cutest dress, everything I could do to make myself comfortable with this interview. Turns out there was no interview. It was all just so I could fill out a paper application. Paid $4 each way to get there, and I'm probably not even going to hear back. I'm so fucking pissed right now. Like holy shit why even waste my time?
This reminds me of how I got hired by a job on August 7, spent a shit ton of time doing paperwork and calling back and forth to get everything situated to start, and then I receive a phone call from them yesterday, August 19, where the hiring manager asked if I have a driver's license because I need one to work the job.
This was the first time she had ever brought this up, and when I asked her why she didn't bring this up sooner, she said "99% of the population has a driver's license, so this has never been a problem for me!"
Lovely misleading they did there, but as frustrating as it initially was, I'm interpreting it as a dodged bullet more than anything else. At least the very least, I'm gonna start my freelance gig soon. I just hope work is in abundance to a point where I can make a living off of it.
I'm not a lawyer, nor am I suggesting you or anyone else should do this or that anyone could win a case like this because, you know,... shithole country
This seems like a potential case of ableism or rather, for legal purposes, discrimination against people with specific disabilities. There's a lot of reasons someone could not have a license ranging from lack of access to a vehicle, lack of time/money, disinterest, whatever else, that probably fall under "not discrimination" to just never mention and then fire(?) or whatever they did here.
However, if someone is disabled, or however you'd like to word it, with a medical condition, physical or mental, whatever, that either prevents them from getting a license or makes it incredibly more difficult to get one and a job doesn't explicitly require driving as part of the job, that seems like an easy lawsuit of some sort. The employer would have to provide a reasoning for not employing someone without a license. "Well, we just want them to have one" or "it's expected" wouldn't be good reasoning. Someone could ride the bus or have a friend/relative/whatever drop them off.
The US courts are dogshit, etc., hence my statement at the top, but this is more of a ranting thing like "these laws exist, but no one actually enforces them." Or maybe they do. I kinda doubt it though.
This specifically just annoyed me because I do have my license, been driving for 20 years (holy jebus), but due to a medical condition that I won't go into here for the sake of avoiding another essay, I'm always "at risk" of losing it basically at the whim of any doctor I see. If they see my condition on my chart and go "oh, wtf, he can't drive safely" that's it for me for until I go through the necessary paperwork and doctor visit bullshit to get it back. In theory, probably a good thing doctors can get a license yoinked (you know, from very elderly or even people like myself if a medical professional seriously thinks me driving endangers public safety, you know, it sucks but ultimately good as long as it's a fair process done in good faith and all that). But in our society if you do lose your license it's almost always without exception due to driving either drunk or on drugs or doing other reckless stuff. Losing it due to medical reasons is pretty rare. Most people (me basically) opt to just not drive unless totally necessary. Like I can do it, I just recognize the risk involved is a bit higher so if I can just not do it then... makes sense.
Along those lines, I resigned from a job after repeatedly informing them I didn't want to drive to another location and that I had purposely chosen that job because of the location being close. I had to avoid, for obvious reasons I think, saying "I can't keep driving 2 hours over to that place everyday because it's not safe for me to do that" because then well 1) I'm openly giving them my medical information that's none of their business and 2) that job, ironically..., fell under the motor vehicles department in my state... they could be petty as fuck and potentially (probably more lawsuit territory) do an anonymous "public safety" report that anyone can do and potentially get the state to dig into my butthole about my medical situation... all of this is stuff to be avoided, so, I stuck basically being like "yeah, I can't drive that distance daily. If it was very very rare like twice a year, maybe, but you're doing this every other week." And they'd say "ok. Why? We can't just exempt you without a reason." And then it's a circle of "I don't feel comfortable explaining the details. I just can't..."
I even submitted the information to the HR department for a medical exemption and they denied it basically because "you have a license. That means you can do it. Also, that job doesn't require driving." "But..... they're making me drive....?" They literally told me they couldn't issue an exemption or even just tell the managers to not send me long distances because my job didn't require it. Wow, great fucking system! What a clown show. I have to admit to considering driving my car purposely into something that wouldn't kill me or anyone else just to force an accident after that email and speaking with them on the phone. I can imagine the negligence suit would have paid out nicely after I simply show what I submitted (documentation from my doctor saying I'm fine to drive, but it would be best to avoid unnecessary long drives. something like that) and how they responded (lol, just drive asshole). But, I did the easiest and more mature thing that didn't endanger my safety by simply resigning with no notice a day later. I did their procedures, I kept driving to the locations while shit was pending, and when they laughably responded like that I was just like... nah. Fuck you all of you. Just told them in the morning I would do my job per normal, but I wouldn't be back the next week and I'm resigning effective at the end of the shift.
Wow, this is insane. I certainly don't have access to obtaining a license right now, mostly because of financial issues and stress. My family struggled to teach me, and I have no family anymore to help me through this.
Quite frankly, I can't see WHY the job would require a license. It's a front desk job at a psychiatric facility, and it's walking distance from me. You have a point with all of this, but I have anxiety about issuing a lawsuit.
I was practically crying on the phone when the hiring manager called to tell me this. Holding back tears is very difficult for me, so it made things even worse.
If you aren't actually driving, perhaps they just need a DL for identification (I-9 form), and in that case maybe you could get a state-issued ID? I think that is an option in most states as an driver's license alternative. You'll have to get all the legal documents and go to the DMV but you won't have to learn to drive. That hiring manager should really know about this though
No, they didn't need ID; they needed a LICENSE. I have ID, so that's no issue.
Oh that's bullshit. If you're feeling up to it the local news would like to hear about this.
If this is the US, probably wouldn't care in the slightest
can't see WHY the job would require a license.
Idk where you live but where I am many jobs, despite not requiring a license, always ask for it. Idk why either, maybe it has something to do with them perceiving people as more capable because they're supposedly more "independant"?
If an organization needs you to fill out a paper job application in this day and age, that’s a sign of a poorly run company. Like, if this was some mom and pop, okay they’re not going to have the infrastructure for that. But a nursing home, if they can’t even do that via pdf, just imagine all the other functions that are running outdated and inefficient there.
Yeah, even if I get the job, I might not accept it. They have been so shitty to me, I can't even imagine how the residents feel. Actually I was waiting there for 2 hours for my ride (yay my city's public transportation). There were people asking about their money and the residential head person was just an asshole to everybody that tried to talk to her from the facility. There's a part of me that wants to work there to improve their lives, but also that sounds like ass.
Its incredibly cruel the way people are made to jump through so many hoops just to get some shitty, unfulfilling job.
That's weird for a kitchen to even have applications. I guess a nursing home probably runs a bit differently but most kitchens you drop off or email a resume and they get back to you for an interview or not. Best way to get in is to drop it off in person at like 3pm on a Thursday, that's your best odds the chef will be there and have time to talk, if that's the case you just got yourself an interview, this also signals to the chef you're probably pretty familiar with restaurants having picked a good time and here you are already taking initiative, if you've got solid experience and already know your way around food, just ask about the menu and kinda work your knowledge into your questions and you're pretty much guaranteed a hire. If you don't have a pre existing kitchen background or a less extensive one be honest about it and see about a trial shift, there's a pretty good chance the chef was once where you stand figuratively and every chef is egotistical and is a bit stoked to mold a new cook in their image.
3pm on a Thursday, that's your best odds the chef will be there
Why is that the case?
They usually work the day shift and it's before the weekend so there's more prep to do which usually means the most day shift aside from the weekend itself which may be too busy during the day to talk. More day guys =better chance of a chef
I assume 'cause head chef is usually on the busy days of restaurants which are usually the end of the week/end.
If it makes you feel better, unless that place's kitchen was really well managed by a different person it was going to be depressing as hell working there, probably.
Sorry that happened to you. People really don’t have any respect for eachother’s time and efforts anymore. They could have easily been more forthcoming about the process, but instead just did what they had to for themselves without even thinking of the other side of the situation.
Good luck in your job hunt!
