While I was still trying to find work through the classified ads in the summer of 1993, I came across a company that did inventory auditing for retailers. The name of the company was RGIS. They paid above minimum wage, so I thought it was worth checking out. I was fairly certain this would not be another telemarketing job in disguise, but still did not feel the need to put on my best face. I know I wore a dress shirt, but I also had on jeans. I didn't feel like this was the kind of job that needed someone to look their best.
I was told to show up at a certain time. There were about 10 other people there to be recruited. We all sat in the lobby, filled out the application and handed it in. The recruiter gave us a brief description of the job and handed us some paperwork to fill out. He also gave all of us a piece of paper and said, "This is the dress code. If there are any of you who have a problem with it, you can leave now." He left the room so that we could read and fill out the paper work. I looked at the dress code. The restrictions on clothing weren't a problem, but it said that men needed to have their hair cut above their neck. I realized that he was specifically addressing me about the dress code.
The funny thing about receiving unemployment is that you feel empowered to not just settle for any job. I knew that somewhere out there was a job I could work where they wouldn't make me cut my hair. And I would still get paid while I was looking for it, even if it took me another three months. I went ahead and walked out of the room without saying anything. The only bad thing was that at every job opportunity I went to, I wouldn't leave behind an application with my name and information on it if I decided not to pursue it. But I wasn't able to do that here. The recruiter had all the applications. I was glad I didn't see the recruiter on the way out, but I'm pretty certain he made some remark about me when he returned to the other applicants. Jerk.
Afterwards, I wondered what difference it made how long my hair was in this line of work. I kept it well groomed and it was naturally curly. I certainly did not look like I had a threatening personality. I knew I had not reached that moment of desperation in which I was willing to cut off two years' worth of growth.
A couple of weeks later, I found a classified ad for another company that did inventory auditing. I hoped they wouldn't have so many restrictions on their dress code. I went in with a few other people. The recruiter there started out by telling us that he was there to try to talk us out of working for them. He listed a lot of negatives about the job, including the fact that it wasn't regular work, it was basically temporary. There were also projects that would start as early as 2am or 3am and would sometimes require working 10 hours or more a day. Some of the projects involved traveling a couple of hours. They provided the transportation for those, but we didn't get paid for our time on the road getting there or coming back. In addition, there might be projects that go on for several days out of state. In those cases, they would provide for lodging accommodations.
And then what he started doing was training us on their auditing devices, which looked like adding machines without the little roll of paper attached to them. They also had a strap so that we could hang them from our waists and put data in with our fingers without having to look at the devices. He told us that if we got scheduled for projects, we would be paid for that training time. After the training, I approached him and asked about the dress code. I relayed my experience with RGIS. He said they didn't really have a dress code, but expected us to appear somewhat presentable. He didn't have a problem with my hair.
This was great news! It meant that, for the first time in three months, I won! I didn't have to take some other job that was going to force me to cut my hair. On top of that, I was still able to receive unemployment benefits. They removed a certain percentage to account for what I was earning, so I was actually getting more money every two weeks than I was when I strictly on unemployment. Yes, things were definitely looking up.
I got a call a couple of days later asking me to show up at a certain location to report for work. They had several employees there. One of the things that I noted right away was that the majority of the women who worked as auditors were rather unattractive. The only way this affected me was that I knew I wasn't going to be getting a girlfriend from this job. Another thing I noticed was how the more experienced employees were able key in information, to the point that their keypads sounded like they were typing about 200 words a minute with a constant rattling noise. This was even true of the unattractive women. Many of them could even carry on regular conversations while maintaining the same rate of speed. I wondered if I was ever going to be able to work that efficiently.
The truth of the matter was that I didn't. This turned out to be the one tolerable job in which I did not become one of the very best employees. But I wasn't the only one. There were several other people who had worked there longer than I did who never reached that level of competence. In the long run, it didn't matter. They gave raises every few months, regardless of how well you were performing. This also surprised me. Almost every place I'd worked up to that point was very stingy with raises. But I guess this helped them with their retention.
I usually worked for them once or twice a week. The furthest I had to travel was to Yuma, AZ and we were transported in a couple of vans. We did three stores in one overnight session. The only problem I had was that between one location and another, I needed to go to the bathroom REALLY BAD! When we arrived, I jumped out of the van and ran to the door. Fortunately, someone was there to open it. I managed to use my instincts to find the restroom and relieve myself. My supervisor got mad at me for doing that. I really didn't care what she thought. I'm pretty certain she wouldn't rather have me pee all over the interior of the van.
I stopped working for the company in an unusual manner. I didn't quit and they didn't officially fire me. I had been a no-show for a couple of projects (because I wrote them down wrong in my calendar) and they stopped calling to notify me of schedules. By that point, it didn't matter because the other job I was working had pretty much turned full-time. The bad thing about not working for them was that shortly before it ended, they had hired some attractive female auditors. And I don't mean by comparison. They were TRULY attractive. However, they didn't pay much attention to me. They probably thought all the male employees were ugly.
My brother Loyd and my friend Abed both told me they had the same experience dealing with inventory auditors at their workplaces: "All the women are fat!"
Before I get to the end of this job story, I have to go into detail about a couple of the employees. They were a brother and sister. I got along with the brother okay, but the sister was (and I almost never use this word to describe a woman) UGLY! I don't mean in her appearance, it was her attitude, toward just about everything. She was constantly complaining about stuff, but mostly work. Now, she never berated anyone to their face or behind their back (with the exception of the supervisors), but the other auditors were aware that she couldn't let five minutes go by without griping about something. I recall her moaning about being forced to take a half-hour unpaid lunch because she thought that not taking it would mean we would finish a half-hour earlier and go home. A couple of us tried to explain that we were required by law to take that lunch and there wasn't anything we could do about it, but she kept on whining.
Loyd actually got to meet this brother and sister when I was able to get him into our Christmas party at a bowling alley. We wound up teaming with them for a game. We were actually bowling pretty well, and she wasn't bad herself, but she constantly had something negative to say. We just ignored her.
About eight years after I stopped working at Inventory Auditors, I was a cashier at Walmart. The brother and sister came through my line. I didn't recognize them at first, but then she started talking and I realized who they were. I asked if they used to work for Inventory Auditors. He said they had. I said that I didn't know if they recognized me, but I used to have really long hair. Yeah, they remembered me, but the business had closed and they worked for RGIS now.
Then the sister talked about how she got fired from Inventory Auditors for stealing money and that the supervisor who got mad at me for running to the bathroom was the person to blame for that theft. Whatever I thought about the sister, I never considered her a liar. (She was probably the most honest person I'd ever met!) She may have been off-base thinking the supervisor had anything to do with the theft, but she probably didn't do it.
They came through my line a couple of months later, and she repeated the same story. Yeah, some things just never change.
In 2009, after I'd lost the full-time job I had at the time, I went on a little vacation by myself to see Loyd graduate from college. I stopped at a Love's Truck Stop along the way to get something to eat. While I was there, I saw a couple of people doing auditing. (Convenience stores rarely needed more than two people to count all the inventory.) I realized that I might be able to get a job doing that again. When I returned to San Jose, I found an auditing company on-line and applied, but they never called me back.
But it's okay. I didn't want to go work someplace where I would be considered a mediocre employee.
As for the second job I got soon after this, it's going to be a few days before I go into detail about that. I wound up working there six years, so I'm going to need more than one article to cover my experience there. But trust me, it will be worth it.
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