SWNOVELXO Chapter 43
“Doctor, I think we really need to hire a new employee now.”
“Yes, that’s a good idea.”
It seems Seo In-ae was reaching her limit too. Unlike last time when I nagged her to cut expenses a bit more, this time she nodded without a word.
‘We’ve saved an incredible amount on expenses so far, all thanks to In-ae.’
Vowing to give her an especially large bonus this month, I said:
“Is there anything specific you’d like in a new employee?”
“Hmm…”
“Feel free to speak your mind. You’ll be spending a lot of time with them, and there’s much you’ll need to teach them.”
Seo In-ae pondered for a moment.
What kind of person would she prefer? An experienced worker who wouldn’t need much training? Or a young, obedient employee who’d listen well?
“I just think they should be a person of common sense.”
But Seo In-ae gave a somewhat enlightened answer with a benevolent smile.
Why is she like this? Were her previous coworkers particularly unpleasant?
“I hope we find a good person.”
Is that why she’s been refusing my offers to hire another person until now? Though she doesn’t seem to have any major issues with social skills.
Anyway, since Seo In-ae didn’t offer any specific opinions, I could just hire someone I liked.
‘Ah, maybe we’ll get few applicants because we’re in a bit of a remote location? Are we not in a position to be picky?’
No, we’re still in a metropolitan area. It shouldn’t be that bad.
I set the work days and base salary after referencing job postings from nearby Korean medicine clinics, then posted the job ad.
Three days later.
A whopping 30 resumes arrived in my email.
“More than I expected. Is the economy that bad these days?”
I printed out all the resumes and carefully read through the applicants’ experiences and self-introductions.
First, I eliminated those who put non-standard selfies in the photo section. I also removed resumes with spelling that made me doubt if they’d received compulsory education.
Misspelling the clinic’s name… Let’s overlook that much. They probably sent out 20 applications each, so 30 came in.
Aside from a few noticeably strange ones, most resumes were excellent. After reading through them three times, I carefully selected and invited five people for interviews.
“Doctor, has there been any contact from Geum Yeon-hwa who was supposed to come for an interview at 1 PM?”
“No, there hasn’t.”
“Could you give her a call?”
“Alright. But she probably won’t answer.”
“Excuse me?”
…The first candidate was a no-show for the interview.
Fortunately, the applicant scheduled 30 minutes later showed up normally for the interview.
“Oh my~ I’m sorry, Doctor! Am I a little late~?”
She was 5 minutes late, but this much was understandable. There’s a slight incline on the way from the station to our clinic, so it takes a bit longer than the app shows.
“It’s fine. Please come in. Would you like some tea?”
“Oh my, oh my, that would be lovely! I’ll enjoy it.”
“You have quite a bit of previous experience. What made you apply to our clinic…”
“I got fired! They probably want to hire pretty young things! They must have found it burdensome to keep giving me small raises! Aiyoo, and now when I try to get a new job, no one will hire an old ajumma like me!”
But the second candidate was quite… something.
She cut me off and started badmouthing her previous workplace’s director very chatty.
“Ah, I see…”
“By the way, how old are you? 20s? 30s?”
“I’m twenty-six.”
“Oh my! You’re just a baby! Not even half my age?”
She had even started speaking informally at some point.
While being sociable is a good trait, it’s quite troublesome when boundaries are crossed.
I asked just a few basic questions before sending her off.
“Thank you for coming. It’s not much, but here’s some interview compensation. We’ll let you know the results by the end of this week.”
Then the third interviewee.
“Are you Kim Yun-hye who’s here for the interview?”
“Yes. Are we starting right away?”
“Do you have any plans after this, by any chance?”
“Ah, I have plans to go to a club.”
Goodness. I naturally thought she was a patient.
How could one think to wear a crop top to an interview?
‘I must be old-fashioned.’
It must be because I lived in the martial arts world for 20 years that I can’t understand the openness of the 21st century.
Do I really have to choose from among these people? Really?
“Ah, hello. I’m Jung Eun-ah.”
Contrary to my worries, the fourth candidate was a very ordinary person.
Navy casual suit, neatly tied hair.
“Nice to meet you. No need to be so nervous.”
“Thank you for having me! I-I don’t have much relevant experience.”
“But you wrote a really neat self-introduction. It’s impressive. You even do volunteer work.”
“Ah, y-yes. Thank you for seeing me in a good light!”
Though she stuttered a bit from nervousness, she seemed like a kind person.
Having just graduated high school and obtained her license at 21, she had no experience, but her self-introduction alone showed she had lived diligently.
Unlike other applicants who sent copy-pasted resumes (not that I particularly minded that), she had clearly tried to somehow connect herself to our clinic’s rather sparse blog.
‘At least there’s one normal person. What a relief.’
Since I only needed to hire one person anyway, it wasn’t bad that some unique individuals had applied.
I understood what Seo In-ae meant about just needing someone with common sense. There were more people in the world with different common sense than I thought.
“Thank you so much for applying! I’ll contact you soon after finishing the remaining interviews!”
I was inclined to hire Jung Eun-ah if possible.
There was one more scheduled appointment, but how exceptional could the people applying to our clinic be?
Seo In-ae is an outlier. After experiencing the previous three, I leaned towards not minding anything except personality. We can teach the work!
But my expectations were shattered in less than five minutes.
“Hello! I’m Eun-ah’s mom!”
“…Hello?”
“Doctor, please take good care of her! Our child is a bit shy, but she’s talkative once she gets close. She might be clumsy since we didn’t make her do chores…”
“Oh, Mom~! What are you saying?”
Why is her mother here?
No wonder the self-introduction seemed too well-written… Was it her mother’s work?
“Doctor, hang in there.”
Seo In-ae comforted me, uncharacteristically handing over a drink she bought with her own money. Fortunately or unfortunately, the fifth person scheduled for an interview was also a no-show.
“…We’ll have to call five more people. This isn’t easy.”
“Yes. I’ll set up the appointments.”
If the five with the best resumes were in this state, I dreaded to think what the others might be like.
Please, just one person, just one person with common sense!
◆◇◆◇◆
“Hello. I’m Kim A-yeon, starting work today.”
After many twists and turns, we finally hired someone.
Though it took more time and interview fees than expected to contact a total of 15 people, I was satisfied that we had succeeded in hiring someone.
She had a nursing assistant license and experience working in a Korean medicine clinic.
An unremarkable resume and an utterly ordinary interview.
She was exactly the talent I was looking for.
Seo In-ae and I didn’t assign many tasks to Kim A-yeon on her first day.
Though I delegated full authority for training and handover to Seo In-ae, she shared the same opinion.
Seo In-ae handled all the desk work, patient assignments, and time management that required considerable know-how by herself, only instructing Kim A-yeon on attaching physical therapy devices and removing needles.
“Doctor, patient in room 1.”
“Okay~”
“A-yeon-ssi, please do physical therapy for patient 5.”
“Yes!”
“Doctor, a new patient is waiting. I’ll start the consultation.”
“Please show them in after 5 minutes.”
“A-yeon-ssi, please remove the needles from bed 7.”
Everything ran smoothly under Seo In-ae’s command.
Fortunately, we had fewer patients than usual today, so Seo In-ae could explain various things whenever she had time.
“You can eat lunch using the doctor’s card. You can order delivery or go out, it doesn’t matter.”
“Okay.”
“What else? Trash sorting is done in the back…”
Though we only had 15 patients in the morning, time flew by faster than usual as we were busy.
Normally, Seo In-ae would eat separately to use her lunch break freely, but today we specially ate together since a new employee had joined.
We ate at Yongho Banjeom.
Though I told her to order whatever she wanted, Kim A-yeon barely ate half a plate of jjajangmyeon, picking at her food.
She could have ordered things like tangy crispy chicken or chili shrimp.
“How’s the work? Any difficulties?”
“Ah… There are more patients than I expected. The place I worked before was quiet…”
“Is that so? Didn’t you say you worked in the countryside before?”
“Yes. It was so quiet there that we often had tea time together.”
If she had come a few months ago, it would have been quiet, but now it’s quite busy even for two employees.
Should we hire one more person? We might need to consider it if patient numbers increase further, but I didn’t have the confidence to go through this process again right away.
“You’ll get used to it as you go. Feel free to ask if there’s anything you don’t understand.”
“…Okay.”
Unlike me, who was worriedly considering additional hiring, Seo In-ae spoke matter-of-factly.
The new employee nodded, forcing a smile.
After finishing lunch, we stopped by a coffee shop briefly. As this was an occasional occurrence, Seo In-ae comfortably ordered a frappuccino and cookie set, but Kim A-yeon hesitated greatly before choosing an Americano.
“We don’t judge based on what you eat, so feel free to choose.”
“I like coffee. Thank you. Um, and… would it be okay if I stopped by the bank for a moment?”
Seo In-ae often leaves during her lunch break anyway.
It was a bit strange that someone who had been so cautious suddenly wanted to run an errand, but I gladly let her go.
◆◇◆◇◆
And a short while later, at 2 PM.
Kim A-yeon hadn’t returned.
“It’s time, why isn’t she back? Did she get lost?”
I tried calling, but strangely, her phone was turned off.
We started work as lunch break ended, but it was the same after 10 minutes, after 30 minutes.
“She ran away.”
“Pardon?”
“I’ve seen people leave after a week, but leaving during lunch break is legendary.”
“She just disappears like this without saying she’s quitting?”
“You underestimated the MZ generation. Soon, you’ll get a text message asking for hourly pay for the morning work, with a bank account number.”
…Really?
It was hard to believe, but there was no other way to explain it.
Do people who quit like this really exist in this world?
◆◇◆◇◆
A few days later, Seo In-ae’s prophecy came true.
At first, I worried something might have happened to her, but while she never answered her phone, she changed her profile picture?
And less than a week later, a text message really arrived asking for money.
“Aaargh!”
I was in the middle of teaching prescriptions to Chu Mi-young when I saw the message and exploded in anger.
She was learning about all herbal patients by consulting with me, ignoring Haneul Korean Medicine Clinic’s protocol of medication 1, medication 2, and so on.
“Ah… Did she run away?”
Chu Mi-young shook her head as if this was a common occurrence. Unlike me, who had enjoyed peaceful days thanks to hiring an SSS employee first, she had experienced various employees.
“All sorts of people exist! I had someone who worked well for about 3 months, then suddenly quit saying they didn’t want to get up in the morning after drinking. When I said I’d calculate their salary pro-rata if they returned the 50,000 won uniform and submitted a resignation letter, they caused a fuss threatening to report me to the labor board.”
“What did you do?”
“I just ignored it. Wouldn’t the labor board have advised that they should write a resignation letter? They must not have wanted to see my face because a few days ago, I received the uniform and resignation letter by cash-on-delivery.”
I see. You must have had a hard time.
But what should I do?
After Kim A-yeon’s desertion, I tried posting a job ad again, but there weren’t many new resumes coming in.
There probably aren’t many nursing assistants willing to come work at our clinic starting at 7 AM.
“Do I have no choice but to call someone from the previous interviewees again…?”
Hearing my muttering, Chu Mi-young offered various opinions.
“The salary seems high enough… How about splitting it into part-time positions? Like morning and afternoon, or Monday-Wednesday-Friday and Monday-Tuesday-Thursday. The working hours are quite burdensome.”
“I’ll try creating options 1 and 2 like that.”
“Try posting on other sites too… Ah!”
Suddenly, Chu Mi-young clapped her hands as if she’d had a brilliant idea.
“Do you have a good idea?”
But when I asked, she hesitated, her lips quivering.
It felt like she was hesitating about something.
“What is it?”
“Actually… I know someone I could recommend.”
It seemed she wasn’t offering hiring advice, but wanted to introduce someone directly.
Is it someone who used to work at Haneul Korean Medicine Clinic?
“Oh, do they have a nursing assistant license?”
“Yes. Plus, she’s pretty, kind, smart, hardworking, and lives nearby.”
Perfect! But would such a person come work at our clinic?
“Is she currently looking for work?”
“I think so. She’s great in every way, but there’s just one critical problem.”
“A critical problem?”
I tilted my head.
What problem could there be with a smart kid who’s even hardworking?