Red.

If you remember, the other day I was talking about the personality survey I had to fill out when completing my online application to go back to work. Well, it did come back as "red," which means I am the type of person they warn you not to hire. Please. Apparently my score was so red that they usually toss the applications of those like me.

Here is what the survey said about me:

Customer Service Assessment--

Candidates are more likely to:
-Show anger and frustration
-Argue with customers
-Criticize or make rude comments
-Be unwilling to help with difficulties
-Avoid serving some types of customers

Dependability Assessment--

Candidates are likely to:
-Make poor decisions, make mistakes, and have accidents
-Go back on promises and commitments
-Take risks and make impulsive decisions
-Have messy habits and perform sloppy work
-Show anger, criticize others and hold grudges
-Reject organizational values
-Act irresponsibly
-Break rules and not conform to set standards
-Goof off and possess immature attitudes towards work

Oh my goodness, that is soooo not me. Obviously the survey does not have predictive validity. But, oh it just makes me so mad! I never had complaints about my customer service, I was the top dairy manger in my district (and in the company for a few periods, othewise I was #2), I was meticulously organized, and (I think) a good employee. Sure, I didn't like my job much but that did not affect my performance. I followed the rules; I jumped through the hoops; I went to work, did my job, and came home.

Anyways, ever since I got my employment packet and saw this score I've been pretty peeved. What other hard working, good natured employees have they turned away because of this obviously invalid survey? Seriously, it was an improperly formed Likert scale survery. Your options were strongly disagree, disagree, agree, and strongly agree. Notice anything missing? Yes, the neutral choice. Naturally they don't want people to just pick "neutral" for everything, but in some instances people really are neutral to a statement. And, their control questions were transparent. You know, a good control question would want to find out the same thing about you, but ask it in a different way. For example, if I wanted to know if you liked the outdoors I might ask "You like nature" and later ask "You would rather spend your day indoors than outdoors." But, this survey asked the SAME EXACT question, maybe with one word changed. Ridiculous.

I have been so conflicted about going back to work, especially to this particular job and now I am even more so. Some other things have come up where I might not have to work as much, but honestly I'd rather work twice as much for half as much pay than go back to my old job.

Now I am even more conflicted about it all. I am sure I will write more about this later, but for now I must go....