“Hi, I’m Steven, the director for our guest relationsdepartment.”
Fuck, a director of a department. I shook his hand firmly and introducedmyself.
“Nice to meet you, Ryan. Are you a student?UNLV?”
“I’m a student, but not atUNLV.”
“CommunityCollege?”
“No, I just finished up my sophomore year atUSC.”
“Ah, a fellow Trojan. I graduated from USC many decades ago. Are you looking for a summer jobthen?”
I shook my head and felt a pang in my stomach as I thought about how I’d never go back toUSC.
“No, I’m looking for a permanent job. I’m relocating here. I was attending on a baseball scholarship for two years. The scholarship is up, and I can’t afford to stay in school atUSC.”
“Are you transferring toUNLV?”
“I’d like to. It’s just me, and I need a job to live. If I can save some money, I’d like to continue with my education atUNLV.”
“Well, we have tuition reimbursement and assistance. If you pay for tuition on your own, we will reimburse you one hundredpercent.”
“You guys would pay for myschooling?”
“Yes. We want to encourage higher education, and with costs, that’s sometimes not an option for everyone. We want higher education to be an option for anyone who wants toattend.”
“Do I need to be in a particular degreetrack?”
He shook his head andsmiled.
“Where do I sign up?” I asked with asmile.
Steven helped me with the application, and while I filled it out, we talked about baseball. He turned out to be a huge baseball fan, and I learned that he graduated from USC with a degree inbusiness.
“I knew I liked you for a reason, Ryan,” he winked at me and put his initials on the bottom of myapplication.
He handed the clipboard to one of the other people sitting behind the table. The woman skimmed over it as I waited to see if she would schedule me for aninterview.
“Okay,” she said while writing some info on my paper. When she looked up, she smiled at me. “What size shirt are you? Alarge?”
I looked down and flattened the fabric of my dress shirt when she looked me up anddown.
“Extra large,” Ireplied.
She nodded and wrote that info down. She reached into a box that was behind her chair and pulled out a folder. She asked the other woman to find some extralarges.
“Okay, Mr. Hudson,” she opened the folder and pulled out the top sheet. “Orientation is in one week, so next Monday. This is the ballroom number where your new hire orientation will be. All new hires will attend in one big group and then the afternoon session will be with your department.” She stood fully upright and made a dramatic gesture to the guest relationsbanner.
Did I just gethired?
“Welcome to the Guest Relations Department with MGM Grand,” Steven said and shook myhand.
“But, I didn’t eveninterview.”
“I spoke to you. You’re a smart young man, and I think you’ll pick this up in notime.”
I profusely thanked them. They had no idea how much this meant to me. I had been listening carefully to information from the woman and Steven when the other woman came back around from behind the banners. She set a handful of shirts down and then picked up an emerald reusable bag that said MGM Grand in gold lettering. I counted five emerald green polo style shirts and five t-shirts in the samecolor.
