u/TonightIll4637

Interesting observation yesterday. I, like many others, refuse to tip at fast food drive-thrus (and many other places). A Dunkin' near me has a sign in the drive-thru to attract potential employees stating pay starts at $18/hr. This is much higher than the average pay for similar jobs in that particular area. When I arrived at the window, the employee asked me if I wanted to leave a tip. I firmly said "No." She seemed surprised and taken aback, but I didn't care. This location frequently asks this.

Later in the day, I was visiting another town and went to another Dunkin' location. This one had a similar employment sign but said the starting pay was $20/hr and they did not ask for a tip. Wonder if the extra $2/hr made a difference or if the policy changed from the franchise owner.

Have been job hunting for months. Resume rewriting, connections, job fairs, etc have all failed. In a recent endeavor, a friend told me that the company she works for is hiring. She sent me an application pdf and told me to email it to one of the managers. Turns out both managers are casual acquaintances that have known me for years. I sent a nicely written e-mail to one of them with the filled out application and my resume. Their response was "Can you come in tomorrow to fill out an application and talk about the schedule?"

I thought it was odd considering it was clearly stated that the application was complete and attached, but I agreed to come in. It's a 75 minute drive there each way. I'm thinking I have a great chance of getting hired on the spot. The next day, I show up and the other manager is there. Within two minutes, they tell me that weekends are required. This was on the application I had filled out and I said I wasn't available due to prior commitments. Left and made the 75 minute drive back after sitting in the car and thinking about my life for a moment.

Applied for a job with my local government in early April. They asked to interview the following week. At the interview, I discovered the person in-charge was an acquittance I have known for over a decade. There were three other people in the interview within the government. Knew one other person as well from various meetings I had attended in the past.

Interview went very well (so I thought). The person in-charge complimented my knowledge of the subject and how well I responded to questions. Was told they would make a decision in a few weeks.

Fast forward a few weeks later, some people on my reference list said that the government had contacted them about me applying for the job. Another week later, job rejection received!

I have no idea what went wrong. There were other details in the rejection other than "going with another candidate". What am I supposed to do after nailing job interviews, having strong references, AND knowing multiple people in the interview?

Backstory: I'm 40+ who has historically scored AWFUL on many tests... the ACT, LSAT, GRE, real estate exams, etc. Though my grades in college were generally exceptional. Due to job loss and market conditions, I decided to pursue a second career in nursing. Applied to a community college program last year whose TEAS minimum is 58.7%. I first took the TEAS last year before applying and scored below this. Took it again and scored a 60.7%. Probably due to my other accolades, I was ACCEPTED. Though for personal reasons, had to turn the seat down and reapply the following year.

Fast forward to a few months ago, I'm reviewing application materials again and figured the TEAS score was the worst thing hurting my application. This program is competitive in the area and there are only a certain amount of seats allocated. To better my chances, I started studying again and wanted to hit at least a 70%. The Reading and Math have always been my strongest sides, English and Language hit or miss, Science always AWFUL (not sure how I even passed HS classes). Leading up to testing this morning, I had YouTube videos like TEAS with Tyler, Nurse Cheung, and more playing hours a day. Had taken several practice exams and was scoring below what I wanted.

In the Science section today, I noticed there were MANY more questions about chemistry than what I experienced before. Most of what I was reading before mentioned absolutely knowing organ functions, biology, genetics, etc. I saw many one of each of those categories.

My final result today was 64%. Part of me is happy I scored higher than before, but the other part is embarrassed that I am still performing awful at Science this late in life. This score does not help me any more than the previous one for admissions to this program. Should I:

A) Spend the extra money and time to retest next week before the admissions deadline

B) Let it ride and hope I am accepted to the same program again

https://preview.redd.it/xppw3klu5j2h1.png?width=1986&format=png&auto=webp&s=dca625e24594c2283abe04aedef7394a759f3b5b