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A little background...a few weeks ago, I applied for a half dozen different jobs in one day. Three places ghosted me; one was a manufacturing job that I thought I sounded pretty well-qualified for. One I technically *wasn't* qualified for and thus didn't make it past the second application--I'd applied because I thought the things they were demanding were, frankly, slightly ridiculous, and I thought there might be wiggle room for "the right candidate" (apparently not...at least not right now). The other two were for national chains, were part-time only and at least said they'd "get back to me". One didn't...the other one finally did about 30 minutes ago.

The business that wants to talk to me in person is Chico's, a higher-end women's clothing store. I like some of Chico's clothes (though I don't like the price) and thanks to having both an outlet nearby and a consignment shop that is always anxious to receive Chico's items, I have several pieces of clothing with the Chico's name. The store that wants to talk to me is in Chagrin Falls; it's a lovely little town that's only about a 20 minute drive away. I've been to the store before...it's smaller than many other Chico's stores and doesn't seem to get a lot of foot traffic. I spoke to the store manager (SM) and she seemed fine with me not wanting to work Sundays, saying they try to be "team players" and work with an individual's schedules. The store is open Monday-Saturday 10:00 AM-7:00 PM, so no getting up ridiculously early and no getting home ridiculously late.

That's the good news. The bad news is actually three-fold: first, they're only looking for help 2-3 days a week, so that's not a lot of hours. I don't necessarily need FULL time (40+ hours/week) but 14-16 hours a week is WAY less than I want. Second, working part-time likely means no health insurance. The SM asked if I had any questions...I should've thought to bring that up. And third, the pay is pretty terrible. At best, I would start at $13/hour, and likely it would be less as I have no retail experience.

BUT...I *need* to do something. My savings are rapidly dwindling, there's not a lot of jobs out there right now that sound even remotely appealing and what IS out there mostly requires 1-3 years' experience in the field or other qualifications I don't have such as "proficiency" in certain computer systems or expensive certifications (a local grocery store wants a deli clerk but they require you have a ServSafe certificate; to get one requires spending $15 to take the class and $35 to take the test to get the certification, and I'm pretty sure it would boil down to "wear a hair net, wash your hands, clean the slicing machine after every use"). So though the job is far from ideal, I'm going to try for it anyways. If I get it, I'll at least be able to add "customer service" to my resume, and I can always get a second part-time job, as much as I don't want to do that.