Day 105: Show me the Money

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 105: Show me the Money

“Can someone give me some ideas for original and unusual interview questions?” someone the other day. “I get the feeling that job candidates give rehearsed answers to questions and I want something different.”

A man’s reply to that question was ...

What have you done in your community over the past couple of years that shows how you like to connect with the people you work with and live by?

Now that answer brushed me up the wrong way. Not to be sexist or anything, but this is typical for a man. A man comes home from work and waits for his dinner to be served. Then he goes and tinkers with something in the garage, takes the dog for a walk, goes to the gym or meets up with his friends.

I doubt a woman would have come up with that question. Most women work a 9:00 to 5:00 job and when they leave their workplace they have to go shopping, cook a meal, tidy their home, do laundry/ironing, and they want to relax with family and friends. In other words, they don’t have the time or energy to do community work.

I know I don’t. When I come home from work I drop my bag, kick off my shoes and fall into the nearest chair. More often than not, while my son brings me a cup of coffee, I sigh “What a day, what a day, what a day!” If anyone was to approach me at such a time and suggest that we do some community work I would send them to the nearest lunatic asylum.

I do a fundraiser for the Toronto Cat Rescue once a year and that’s about it, that’s my contribution to the community.

Where it comes to volunteer work, I’m not in favor of that. Think about it for a moment … hospitals take on volunteers to read to patients, run errands for them, put flowers in vases, etc.

On the other hand, there are thousands of people who desperately need a job, but who can’t get hired. If no volunteers were available, they would have to hire those unemployed people, which in turn would benefit the unemployment office and the welfare office. The more people work, the less the government has to spend on them.

My neighbor volunteers in a hospital in the hope that one day she will be hired for a full-time job. She’s been volunteering for 13 months, but there’s no talk of hiring her. Why should they, she’s been doing it for so long for free.

Me, I never work for free. I’m perfectly willing to do a favor here and there, and I’m always willing to help someone out, but where it comes to actual work I quote Tom Cruise … show me the money.

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