I Made It Past Stage One Interviews : Now Comes Stage Two - Team Building by John Doyle

Pin stripe suit/clean shirt and tie/stops off at the corner shop/to buy The Times…
Bruce Foxton 1979
 
To see if we can make it 
in retail and customer service
they take us for the day to some mid-grade hotel. It's nice here, 
says a guy who clearly watches Star Trek - 
 
I can tell already he's made it.
They sit us down in a conference room, set out some tasks -
5 seconds in, I'm looking for connections
between stacking shelves 
 
and locating firewood on a desert island 
should our metaphorical jumbo-jet ever come down;
it seems a little out of synch to me, 
but this William Riker type, well done kid, 
 
he's already solved it - beam him on up to level three -
regional sales and accounts - 50k per annum allegedly, 
and that’s after tax.
Nathan, from County Down, sits in,
 
he's been recruitment manager nearly 3 years,
and you can tell he's down with the common man -
his Thomas Shelby haircut's really en point -
and the girls seem to like his Viking beard.
 
After three minutes I'm saying goodbye
to my ass at a till in their Kildare branch,
it was firewood, food, shelter, in that order,
as I watch fanboy ascend to executive director.
 
Nathan is really nice though,
wishes me well with my book -
I'll call it Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Stacking Shelves on a Desert Island,
then I head for my bus. 
 
Outside I meet the ghost of Mickey Goldmill;
dems are de breaks Kid,
sharpen up that right -
he snarls, and I take my ticket, watching Celbridge flee this corporate lava

John Doyle became a Mod again in the summer of 2017 to fight off his impending mid-life crisis; whether this has been a success remains to be seen. He has has two collections published to date, A Stirring at Dusk in 2017, and Songs for Boys Called Wendell Gomez in 2018, both on PSKI's Porch.

He is based in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland. All he asks is that you leave your guns at the door and tie up your horses before your enter.