Bullseye

Upon my return to the United States, I had to find a way to make some money for my upcoming plans. Although I didn't spend all of the resettlement allowance provided by the Peace Corps, I knew the unfortunate reality was that I would have to make some serious cash to afford a ticket back to, and living expenses whilst in Mozambique. I spent my first few weeks back in denial and avoided the need to get some sort of income.

The first job I secured was going up the the summer camp I used to work at and clean all of the buildings once/week. It has paid quite well and I decide when I work, so it's a perfect job actually. It wasn't the first time, but hopefully is the last time I'm employed as a janitor. I've been doing that and have two sessions left before I head back.

I did interview at Wells Fargo for a job in a call center, but just a few days after my interview I decided that there was no way in hell I could handle that. Plus, the gig was downtown so I'd have to do the 7:00am commute five days/week and I know I'd
fail to show up in a timely manner so I called them back and told them I found another job.

I ended applying for a job as a night stocker (just like Richard Ramirez) at Target. During my first interview I was told that I was way overqualified for the position. Not to sound like a dick, but I was well aware of that, but where else can I get hired to work for two months. And at $10/hour, it pays relatively well. After two more interviews (they're thorough) and a passed drug test I was officially a New Team Member at Target just down the road from my folks place.

I attended the mandatory orientation and was informed by the President and CEO via video that Target's goal was 'To be the BEST Company Ever!' No shit, that is verbatim. Pretty lofty goal to be better than any company in the existence of the Earth, huh? Next I was told how Target revolves around the FFF principles. That's, Fun, Fast, Friendly, service. They have all kinds of propaganda like that, e.g., in the back room there are signs everywhere that say, 'Speed is life.' I'm surprised a company with a mandatory drug test would promote amphetamines so openly.

Each night begins at 10pm and ends at 8am. During the holiday season I was given the option of overtime, but only took them up on it a couple times. My job is to work in the back rooms and carry my little PDA (a pricing gun with a laser and computer on it) and it tells me how many of what product to remove from the back shelves and push out to the sales floor. Then the FLOW team takes the carts of things I send out and puts them out to be sold. It's repetitive, mind-numbing work, but isn't too bad.

Perks of the job are; 10% at Target stores, two 15 minute breaks and a 30 minute 'lunch' at 3am, a name tag that says 'Brett,' a box cutter, and a chance to listen to the radio for 10 hours straight. I'm assuming most of you don't listen to one radio station for 10 hours, but I hear the same awful songs 3-6 times/shift. It sucks. For coworkers, I enjoy one girl I work with, and can talk to two others, but most of the people just communicate with grunts and random noises. They're who you'd expect would have this job as a career. I mostly keep to myself and try not to look anyone in the eye.

Last night I finished my second to last shift and look forward to finishing my final shift and preparing to leave for Mozambique. Aside from conversation with the one girl, I can honestly say I'll miss nothing about the place. That's only because I'm keeping the name tag, otherwise I'd miss that too.