By Sonia Panesar, Contributor
Have you ever thought about turning the tables when it comes to getting a new job? All the interviews you go through, the background checks, the references, etc.—what if your boss had to go through the same things? This thought didn’t occur to me until a recent encounter.
I was approached at the mall by a stranger who asked if I was interested in getting a job, and I was. After jotting down some information, she said that I would receive an email. A few days later, I received an email about some information sessions that they were holding, and the email requested that I reply regarding which session I would be attending.
On the day of the session, I received a phone call asking whether I would be attending the session, which I had completely forgotten about. After a brief conversation, I said that I would be there. It started at 6 p.m. in one of the rooms at Douglas College, and we signed in on a form that we were given to fill out. There were around 30 people in the room, from high schoolers to older people who looked around 50. There were three representatives, one of whom was going through the slide show, asking questions, and trying very hard to convince us that this was a great job.
I went home that evening thinking that this might actually be cool, even though it would be a labour-intensive job. Since I wasn’t able to attend the training session that night, I received another phone call about a training session and said that I would be up for it. I notified my family members about it and they asked me for specific details since this session was going to be held pretty late: 8 p.m. I dug for information. I decided to Google the company and explore what the Internet had to offer. Initially looking at their website—which was fairly well-constructed—I then moved on and decided to have a look at what previous employees had to say about this job; what I read changed my mind within seconds.
The comments about the job seemed unbelievable: an extremely labour-intensive job which doesn’t make you $2,000 weekly. One person said that by the end of the day, the skin on the soles of his feet was peeling; another mentioned how they were “debriefed” in a tacky warehouse. They had to rent a machine for $10. They were given perhaps an instruction or two, and figuring out how the machine worked was entirely up to them—as was the amount they made. After being dropped off in a neighbourhood at eight in the morning, they would have to go knocking on doors and asking people if they were interested in having their lawns aerated. One person in particular made $10 working from eight in the morning till nine in the evening. This really threw me, let alone all the other comments I read.
It is generally said that you shouldn’t believe what you read on the Internet, and seeing is believing. I would say that this is an exception to that rule, and I am grateful that I found out this company is nothing more than propaganda. When you get a new job, you should do yourself a favour and ask around about your boss to be, or even do something as simple as going on Google to see what people have to say.
