PASADENA, Texas — Not everyone in Pasadena, Texas, approves of Walter Parsons’ new hiring strategy, but his banner advertising open positions certainly turned plenty of heads.
Parsons, owner of Pets Gone Wild Resort, told the Houston Chronicle that he had barely affixed the “Now hiring non-stupid people” banner on Tuesday when a woman called to complain, labeling the sign offensive.
“I said, ‘Ma’am, I’m sorry but (there are) a whole lot worse words out there that people are using that are offensive. I’m not going to take it down,’” Parsons told the newspaper.
Parsons told KHOU-TV that the resort has been trying to fill positions for a while, but online employment postings have generated few applicants, and the employees who have joined the Pets Gone Wild family have not worked out.
“We hired one last week that lasted three days,” Parsons told the TV station, adding, “Repeatedly, ‘Get off your cell phone. You’ve got dogs to watch. OK, put the cell phone up. Go back out there.’ Twenty minutes later, she’s back on her cell phone.”
Frustrated, Parsons and his wife set out to scour Amazon for alternative approaches but needed to look no further than the top listing they found.
“This (banner) was the very first one at the top of the page. We got a good laugh out of it. My wife says, ‘Get it,’ and I said, ‘Alright, that’s fine,” he told KHOU.
Because he said they only purchased the eyebrow-raising banner to attract a little buzz, the $134 tongue-in-cheek banner has already paid for itself. Within 24 hours of hoisting the banner, three “solid” applicants came forward, he told the TV station.
Besides the first caller, who posted a photo of the sign to her neighborhood social media site, Parsons told the Chronicle that the response to the tactic has been overwhelmingly supportive.
According to the newspaper, Parsons currently employs 14 people, but he prefers to have one employee on the clock for every 15 dogs being tended, and the pending holiday season means he has to prepare to have as many as 127 dogs on the premises at once.
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