Ryan shouldn't have asked for a job reference

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Ryan, a former employee at Cash Converters (a pawnbroking franchise), asked them for a reference after he left. He shouldn't have bothered.

WARNING - contains coarse language.

Don’t Ask Cash Converters For A Job Reference | The Poke

  • Profile picture of the author Daniel Evans
    It's a shame that, because a positive reference from Cash Converters would have been worth its weight in gold...

    [cackle]...
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    • Profile picture of the author ThomM
      Years ago this kid I worked with asked the boss for a reference.
      It went something like this.

      Tim has red hair. In fact Tim has the reddest hair out of all our employees. Tim is a vary valued employee because of his red hair. If you are looking for an employee with Tim's excellent qualifications, which is his red hair then I highly recommend Tim.
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    Yeah, you NEVER know what you will get. I have had idiots say I worked in areas I never touched, said things I never said, etc.... At one point, a person said I drove like his grandmother, and SLOW! I asked WHY he had that idea, and he said I never left the lane on the right. Though technically true, it really wasn't, and I generally go at the speed of traffic, or FASTER than the speed limit, in most cases. HERE, it was on a CONGESTED road where I could not be sure of detours, etc... Oh SURE, I could have maybe gone faster in the leftmost lane, but the idea isn't to go fast, it is to get to your destination in a reasonable timeframe. Going 100 in the fast lane could have gotten me there a LOT slower, and I might have gotten a ticket or car damage.

    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
    ..."proved himself useless in a wide variety of tasks." ah-hahahaha!
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    A company I worked for wouldn't give out anything except verification that a person worked at their company because they were sued for giving a bad reference and the employee won the case.

    ... but yeah, that's a hilarious reference (unless you're Ryan).
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    • Profile picture of the author HeySal
      Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

      A company I worked for wouldn't give out anything except verification that a person worked at their company because they were sued for giving a bad reference and the employee won the case.

      ... but yeah, that's a hilarious reference (unless you're Ryan).
      I worked for a total wench once. She fired 80 females in the year I was under her - and no males, even when they were disastrously stupid and lazy. I had an assistant that was incredible, but she was a temp, the company was on a hiring freeze, and she wanted a perm job with bene's. Can't blame someone for that.

      She went to an interview one day and almost got the job and my surpervisor completely fried her just because she was mad that she'd have the "audacity" to not only look for another job, but to actually take time off for the interview.

      I've never been so angry in my life. I called the company and told them the reference had been unjustified. Then I went in and told HER supervisor that he was a complete idiot for allowing her to be a supervisor and I quit my job (good jobs were a lot easier to come by in those days). My advise to her was to sue, and I told her that I'd take the stand for her if she decided to do so.

      Just because someone is an employer doesn't mean they are above-board people. I wouldn't trust a few of my ex employers to give a fair, or even remedially fair reference.

      On the other hand - other than saying that there are people who will support you when asked, references don't mean much. If you can't find a few people who you know will give you a decent reference, you might need to do some soul searching.
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      Sal
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      • Profile picture of the author Kay King
        the "audacity" to not only look for another job, but to actually take time off for the interview.
        It's not uncommon to have to hide the fact you are looking for another job. Taking time off from the job for an interview is risky.

        I'm not confrontational at work. I had a boss who noticed my car in the parking lot of a competitor and assumed I was interviewing (I was) on my day off. He almost fired me the next day but I admitted nothing and he could not imagine me leaving his glorious presence. Two weeks later we were buddy buddy again...and THEN I quit and went to work for the competitor.
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        • Profile picture of the author AprilCT
          Good for you Kay. I'm sure that boss royally deserved the treatment.

          I gave two weeks notice to a small firm, people I really liked, but it was time to move on and move up, which wasn't going to happen there.

          A difference of opinion occurred during the time I was still to be there. A case of the same difference of opinion that others had who moved on before me. Since I was on good terms with them and gave them an explanation why my opinion was correct, the partners met and decided to agree with me. They also "apologized" to the person who left before me. Now they were honest people, just needed a little prodding.

          In the meantime, I was confident pressing my opinion because I had called the HR person at the new job and let her know there was a little problem. She told me to come right over and start working if I decided to leave early.
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        • Profile picture of the author Richard Van
          Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

          It's not uncommon to have to hide the fact you are looking for another job. Taking time off from the job for an interview is risky.
          There's a chap that worked here who was a touch work shy and prefered to watch Youtube and cat video's mainly. He wrote content but as he'd done a creative writing degree he tended to like to wait for inspiration as opposed to thinking what the next sentence might be. He regularly got phone calls and took them in the office, no problem, the issue came when he legged it out of the office to take a call and then books a day off the next day. This was quite frequent.

          He also has his own blog which he wrote for at work. When he did this he'd put his head phones on and literally bounce around as he typed as I imagine a famous pianist would do. When he summoned up the will to do some writing for me, he'd yawn incessantly, fidget, rub his eyes and look as bored as is humanly possible. I even filmed him working one day for a laugh and by midday he'd written 5 lines and yawned approximately 15,000 times.

          He left recently and put me down as a reference so I sent the new employee a copy of the video. Needless to say he didn't get the job and no longer works here.
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    • Profile picture of the author whateverpedia
      Originally Posted by Lance K View Post

      Great letter (sarcasm)...yeah because any manager or business owner with a lick of business sense would keep someone around if they were really that incompetent. And then send a letter that unprofessional to another company.
      Which is why most companies these days will only give out the following types of letters:

      Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

      <edit>verification that a person worked at their company
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  • Profile picture of the author Lance K
    Great letter (sarcasm)...yeah because any manager or business owner with a lick of business sense would keep someone around if they were really that incompetent. And then send a letter that unprofessional to another company.
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