PJP Needs You...

It amazes me that we already find ourselves at the end of July.  And if you have read this blog for a while now, you have probably gathered that I am particularly sensitive to the fleeting nature of time.  In short, I DO NOT CARE FOR IT.  In all honesty, it will take most of the restraint within me to not cry when my son starts middle school in a few weeks (or, I should say, to not stand in front of his locker and cry...or follow him around at school all day in case he needs me...or refer to him as almost 144 months old, instead of almost 12 years old).  And as we approach this point in our summer, I feel like we are all sort of moving in slow motion, waiting for something...but dreading all the change that will come to most of our lives in some way or another in the next few weeks in some way or another.  (And for those of you in Columbia, you know how much our town will change in the next few weeks as the students return for the fall semester.  Enjoy the semi-empty Wal-Mart now and then plan to avoid for the next six weeks at any cost.) Soon, PJP will lose the AH-MAZING, fabulous, and uber-talented Bailey.  As much as we tried to persuade her to just skip her senior year of high school to forever hang with us and bake pies and quote movies, we simply couldn't win out.  Soon she will be an academic/culinary/volleyball star and we will just be waiting until she can hang with us for a few days during Thanksgiving week (and when I say "hang out", I really mean "bake 2,000 pies with us").

So all that said, PJP is in the market for someone to bake with us.  Could it be you or someone you know?  Here is what we are looking for:

• Like to bake.  I know that makes me sound like Captain Obvious, but it needed to be said.  You just need to enjoy baking.  Our lives are entirely too short to do stuff we hate.
• Take direction well.  Jeanne likes it one way...her way.  If you consider yourself to be the most amazing and innovative pie baker in the entire world, decide if you can be amendable to doing things the PJP way...even if it is very different from your personal preferences.  If your throat just closed up reading that sentence, you may be better suited to a different environment.
• Be flexible.  Our schedule depends on orders, store inventory, holidays, events, etc.  On the upside, you rarely would ever have to work on Sunday or Monday (we are closed on those days).  We ideally would like someone interested in working 8 am until noon or 1 pm, Tuesday through Friday and some Saturdays...but that isn't set in stone.
• Be a Renaissance man...or woman.  That means, if you are hired to bake and you have completed your baking list and have some time to kill, you can always put together boxes, wash baking trays, make shipping boxes, sweep the floors, answer the phone, etc.
• Be fun.  Listen, we talk at PJP.  A LOT.  If you need total silence to focus or to be happy, we will likely make you crazy.  True story.
• Have no immediate plans to become a billionaire whilst working part-time at PJP.  We are a small show and our minds are always on our payroll expectations.  This is an hourly position and the pay is commiserate with experience.
• Have some basic skills.  We would prefer someone with a baking background (but are very open to high school and college students studying culinary arts).  Also, we will ask that you sign a confidentiality agreement...because what happens in the PJP fight club stays in the PJP fight club.
• Be able to obtain your City of Columbia Food Handler's Permit on your own time at your own cost (which, I believe is around $15).
• Be mindful that we stand on concrete floors all day at PJP and we do not have seating, short of going to Sonic and sitting at their outdoor ordering picnic table....it is simply a space issue at PJP.  Breaks are provided, but just know that you will be expected to stand for prolonged amounts of time.  You are totally free to complain about being tired and/or wanting to sit...we both do all the time.
• Be excited and happy to be part of our team.  Our space is too small for negative energy.

Interested?  Email us at pies@pjpies.com and tell us your thoughts about why you would be a great fit.  We will respond with an employment application and continue from there...