I arrived at the store 15 minutes ahead of my scheduled interview with two copies of my resume as instructed in the recruiter's email. I immediately checked in with a representative at the first customer service counter, and he entered my name into the computer, and advised me to have a seat in the waiting area. At about 11:54am, a young man in a grey shirt and tie exited from the secured area at the back of the store while shaking the manager's hand and smiling. The door closed behind him, the young man left, and I continued to wait. At 12:20pm, no one had come to speak with me, so I walked to the front of the store and spoke with [omitted], the individual named in recruiter's email as a potential interviewer. I advised him that I had been waiting since 11:45am and no one had come to talk to me, and he stated that it was because they were interviewing another person at that time. I asked him, 'Are you referring to the young man in the grey shirt and tie who left already?' He looked at me rather confused, and said he would go check. He went into the secured area at the back of the store and came back out a little over a minute later, and rather hastily said, 'They're about to come call you back.' I then waited another 3 minutes. At that time I felt that I had been forgotten about, which signaled to me that they must have hired someone for the position, were not properly keeping track of their schedule, or that the interview scheduled with me simply was not important to them. I felt disrespected, that my time and efforts were wasted, and I left, politely advising [omitted] that, 'I am canceling the interview at this time. Thank you.'
I found this experience to be disrespectful considering the effort I had placed in preparing for the interview and properly following the recruiter's instructions. In addition, I found the experience to be an indication that there may be some issues with management within that location which would make it a problematic place of employment. I was not greeted when I entered the store, and although I was very polite, friendly, and positive, my pleasant demeanor was not reciprocated, and I left feeling as though my presence was a burden to everyone with whom I interacted.
In all of the 47 minutes I was in that store, not one single employee initiated contact with me. It was as though I was a ghost. I cannot imagine it being easy to miss a 6'2" blonde woman in business professional attire in a small store full of people in casual attire. I never once saw a single employee smile.
To put this experience in perspective, imagine if I had been hired at this store (or at any other employer) and arrived 15 minutes late for my scheduled shift, and the only excuse I provided was, "I didn't know I was supposed to be here," or, "I forgot my schedule." This would absolutely result in disciplinary action in any place of employment -- up to and including termination. My suspicion is that the manager of that store would not tolerate such careless, unprofessional tardiness and neglect from his staff.
