The Good Sister

When it comes to my family, I often find myself in many different roles besides wife, daughter and sister. Sometimes I’m tech support, other times I’m tutor, quite often I’m therapist. With certain family members, I find myself in the role of secretary. This happens way more often than I can count.

Recently I had to put on my secretary hat for one of the sisters. Unfortunately, she fell victim to this economy and lost her job. So when she called to ask me to update her resume, I was more than happy to oblige. When she asked me to print several copies, I was about to inform her that she probably wouldn’t need a paper resume, as most employers require resumes be submitted online these days. However, I know this particular sister is computer illiterate challenged, so I didn’t say a word, else I knew what would come next. Besides, I’ve been her secretary for many years so I already had her resume on my hard drive. All I had to do was change some dates, print out some copies and voila, old school paper resume ready for delivery. Of course, she needed these urgently so I had to get them to the post office ASAP. And no, I could not email them because she does not have an email account (or internet service for that matter) and her computer is about 200 years old, bless her heart.

I have zero patience, so I went to 3 different post offices to avoid standing in monstrously long lines. I really have to question how strapped for cash the postal service could really be when it seems every single time I go inside one the line is out the door.

But back to the issue at hand.I got the copies mailed out. Task complete. Or so I thought. The next day I get a call from my sister (aka my boss). She has another favor to ask. She has gotten to know the manager at a local retail store pretty well and he wants to offer her a job. Thing is, they require you fill out an application online. They stopped taking paper resumes long ago. Imagine that. Soooo, could I do this one last favor and go online and fill out the application? Whaa? I ask her if she’s sure she wants to work at this particular store. I thought she was sick of retail. Yes, she is sure. She’s only going to do it part-time anyway, so why not give it a try.

Sure, no problem. I’m a good sister. I’ll go online and do this application even though I just went all over town from post office to post office to send out antique paper resume copies. Hopefully the online application won’t be too detailed. And once I get started, it doesn’t seem all that bad. At first.

There’s a little test at the end. And the freakin’ test has 65 questions! Whaa? I really cannot believe I’m doing this right now. Really cannot believe. Some of the questions on this test are actually pretty detailed. I’m having to think for goodness sakes. Finally, I finish and get the great news that I passed the assessment. Great for her.

By this time, I’ve had enough of the computer so I figure it’s time for a snack break. Just as I’m about to gorge on a rice crispy treat, the phone rings. Oh, it’s her. I try to answer in a light, airy voice as if to let her know I’m actually not all that irritated.

Well, it turns out she’s been talking to one of her friends who worked for this retail store and was informed it’s not a good place to work at all and she would be better off waiting until she found something else. She proceeds to tell me that I can just leave the application on “there” but if they call her, she most likely will not accept the position. Leave the application on where? Can I go grab it from cyberspace? Is this possible?

I somehow manage to choke out an, “Oh, OK” before slamming the phone down. I wanted to pick it up and slam it down again for good measure, but all I could do was stand in the middle of the kitchen and ponder whether or not I should just put an end to this madness and send her a letter of resignation. Maybe I’ll just email it.