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One to two weeks is the standard for a background check.
One reason is that they have to wait for everyone they contact to get back to them.
My partner lived in the same town his entire life, and his background check and drug test (no convictions, not so much as a traffic ticket in the last ten years, he's a white guy with an extremely vanilla background) took two weeks. This was at a good position at a multinational company.
I know you're stressed and that money is tight, but there's not much you can do about this. Bugging them is a bad idea at this point. Be professional.
The court thing isn't something I don't want this would-be job to know about. Rather, this court thing I'm going through (it's not criminal by the way), it's more of a civil thing and my having a job will make that case go better. It's roughly a month from now. That is one reason why I need this job so bad--so I can go to court and be in a better position with respect to this civil case due to having a job.
Once I had been notified that I had a "conditional offer of employment," with only a drug screen to do (although I discovered I also had a background check to do as well), I was like "oh well, I got this," especially after the drug testing place said they'd have the results in a few hours. A family member told me that drug tests typically take 3 days, and I read as much elsewhere too, so I called today (which was the 3 day point) only to be told it would take 7-10 days. It was so frustrating. You're THAT close, yet you're still not in just YET.
I like analogies, and this one should help explain it--when I was little we used to take 2 hour trips to go to a particular lake. Most of the trip, we did okay because we engaged in play with each other, vs counting "Lake Fork 100 miles" and "Lake Fork 95 miles" and "Lake Fork 85 miles" etc. However, the last 5-8 miles or so, we'd get more anxious. We would then go into absolute overdrive when we were there in the parking lot of the cabins we were staying in and could now see the water through the trees and see people walking around in bathing suits and we were ready to go in, only to be delayed AGAIN as our parents were spending several minutes getting the keys for the cabin we stayed in. Those last few minutes there seemed like FOREVER, it was MUCH harder to deal with than the 100 mile drive, because you can see it right there yet you STILL can't go in.
Maybe it's just a dollar store but you'll still be handling large sums of money and dealing with customers. Why wouldn't they be be as concerned, or even more concerned, than a company that puts you in an office where you have little to no contact with either?
First off you need to chill. You don't want to go in with people thinking your a nut. Let things happen but also still keep applying at other places. Look at it this way. With all the stress your putting on yourself your only hurting yourself.
Now here is the clincher. After about 2 weeks your going to want to quit and find another job. So just keep looking now. Subway and Wal-Mart are always hiring.
You really need to learn to exercise patience and composure or you'll be working at the dollar store for the rest of your life. Get a workout routine from the library, a book of crosswords, and plan a project in your home to finish. That should help pass the time.
For the most part, the past few days, I've been okay and more calm with respect to this. However, as of today, I can feel the anxiety returning, and the continuing deathly quiet aspect of the phone not ringing, and I can feel myself getting more upset about this--so much so, I think that even once they do call and ask me in, it would take everything in me not to reject them and say "you took too long, I'm not interested anymore." Even assuming I do go in, and start, I think my feelings on this could color my attitude there and cause me to somewhat grumble "what took them so freaking long, about time" etc. It just angers me so much. You hope instead that you will just be so happy that you go "we're here, at last" and that you move on and be the productive employee you said you were going to be.
Here you have a situation where a person is willing to work, has been told "we want you," we're RIGHT THERE, but we're waiting and waiting for a simple pee-pee test. Come on. This is like when I perform a computer activity and it races from 0-99% quickly and then takes 7 times longer to go from 99 to 100 and be done than it did to go from 0-99. It just makes no sense, and is extremely aggravating. If we are trying to put people to work vs loafing off of the system, and encouraging them towards this route, this isn't going to help. It's much like the illegal immigration problem--the reason a lot of that occurs isn't just that people are scofflaws or cheaters, although there's certainly aspects of that involved, but also because they make the process so freaking LONG and drawn-out for those trying to do the right thing. You want people to do the right thing? Speed it up, or BLOW it up.
It sure seems to be widespread too. One OTHER dollar store job, about 3 months ago, they had a "now hiring" sign up, I go in, and workers are saying "oh yes, we need people BAD," so I fill it out, and I'm checking like twice a week on the status, and every time you see the manager elbow-deep in work grumbling "I haven't had time to look." You think to yourself "well you're never going to catch up on this log-jam of backed up work as long as you refuse to hire people to help you--hello, you put a 'now hiring' sign up for a reason." At one point, in fact, I even flat-out SAID that to her, with heavy sarcasm, and haven't been back since--and no, I don't think I did anything wrong.
With respect to this one, it's bothering me enough that I am starting to think that there should be laws about it. Seriouly. I've worked enough jobs to know that there is NO WAY a dollar store type of job paying minimum wage needs to have this long of a process for drug screening. That's just ridiculous. It's not like I'm applying for work at the Pentagon or in the White House, where you know that tons of security clearance will be expected of you. I think there should be a law giving them 3 or maybe 5 days, that's it, no more--comply, or be forced out of business totally. I am absolutely serious.
The only reason I wouldn't advocate such--the government themselves is even slower. Anything I've seen the government involved in, they take FOREVER to get a single thing done. Advocating for them to fix this problem--and it is a problem--is like advocating that a turtle should teach a rabbit how to fun faster. Meanwhile, I have been told "we want you," yet I'm waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and wa.......
Their company is waiting on a third party to return the results. You seem to have some deep seated anxiety issues (based on the posts you make) that you are wanting to blame on the company. They do not control how long it takes, and it isn't your decision on what methods they use for background checks. Their processes were developed over time from lessons learned in previous experiences as well as to cover themselves and to follow the law.
Just a word of advice. If you carry this type of attitude around with you, you're going to have a difficult time finding and keeping gainful employment. You've got to learn to take the chip off your shoulder and let things run their course. Sure it's frustrating, but a part of the process that you can't change unfortunately.
Please tell me, did you stop your job search planning on working here? If so that is unwise. You don't have a job until you have a start date.
It sure seems to be widespread too. One OTHER dollar store job, about 3 months ago, they had a "now hiring" sign up, I go in, and workers are saying "oh yes, we need people BAD," so I fill it out, and I'm checking like twice a week on the status, and every time you see the manager elbow-deep in work grumbling "I haven't had time to look." You think to yourself "well you're never going to catch up on this log-jam of backed up work as long as you refuse to hire people to help you--hello, you put a 'now hiring' sign up for a reason." At one point, in fact, I even flat-out SAID that to her, with heavy sarcasm, and haven't been back since--and no, I don't think I did anything wrong.
TBH if you're carrying that kind of attitude around, you're never going to work anything more than minimum wage jobs. Even basic retail jobs can get hundreds of applicants. They might be waiting for final approval from corporate to see how many people they can hire. Maybe the HR person has been sick or on vacation. Any number of reasons can add up to delays.
All going in twice a week (and especially acting rudely) is going to do is get your application thrown into the trash and your SSN marked in the HR system as unhireable. Don't make any of these sorts of jobs your "dream job" or even something you "really need" to have. Keep going out and applying and interviewing.
Again, I worked for Target's HQ and it is not just a matter of "flipping on a switch". There are lots of different forms to be processed and it takes time, especially since 3rd party contractors/offshore is used for some of it. So, even when you get a job offer, it can take some time to get everything finalized, even for a simple retail gig.
If you need work right away, try day labor or short term low skill temping (data entry, call center, etc). Don't just sit looking at your watch and surfing the internet.
Also, you do realize that it might take you 3 weeks to get paid at your new job? I got a permanent job offer on the 5th, but I still took a short term temp gig to cover bills in the meantime and put a little money in the bank because of the length of time it takes to process paperwork to get a final start date and get a first paycheck.
I know you are impatient, but, you have absolutely 0 control over the situation... The more you call and bug them, the less likely you will get the job. They probably want to hire someone as badly as you want to work, but, they have processes they have to follow that are dependent on other companies that could have backlogs and what not.
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