Jess and Bryce arrive at the convention center of a large hotel, where the company is holding the job fair. The company had been advertising the job fair on local media outlets, including radio and TV stations, for a couple weeks. The job fair is on a Saturday, since the majority of people tend to have weekends off, meaning potentially more applicants.

Jess and Bryce follow the signs in the lobby to convention room 1, where they are greeted by a woman seated at a table. She takes their resumes, scans them quickly, then tells them to have a seat across the room. They sit down, there are already several applicants seated nearby, all waiting their turn for an on the spot interview.

Soon, Jess is called back, a section of the conference room is partitioned off from the entrance and seating area. Jess is shown to a small table in a corner, and is asked to have a seat. The interviewer introduces herself as Kristina, and has a seat behind the table, across from Jess. Kristina goes over Jess’ resume, asking several questions about her experience working in a warehouse, and about her partially completed bachelor’s degree. The interview is going well, and Kristina makes a wage and job offer to Jess, who enthusiastically accepts. The starting pay is almost six dollars an hour more than she is currently making. Jess feels on top of the world!

Kristina tells Jess that in order to complete the hiring process, she needs to submit to a preemployment drug screen and physical exam. Jess asks “Um, okay, do I call the HR department on Monday to schedule it?” Kristina says “No, in order to expedite the hiring process, we have arranged to have the drug screen and physical done here today.” Jess, surprised, asks “Oh, right now?” Kristina answers “Yes, are you able to do this now?” Jess nervously says “Yes, I can.”

Kristina hands Jess a stack of paperwork. Kristina explains to Jess that the first form needs to be filled out and handed to the woman that greeted her at the entrance. The next three forms are to be filled out before her physical, and handed to the nurse at the entrance to convention room 3, where the physical will be performed. The rest of the paperwork needs to be filled out and turned in to HR on her first day of work. Kristina says “We will call you next week with a start date, and we will give you a couple weeks to give your current employer proper notice. Congratulations!”

Jess, smiling broadly, says “Thank you for the opportunity!” They shake hands and Kristina escorts Jess back to the waiting area. Jess notices Bryce is absent, she is hoping he also gets hired. Just as Jess sits down to begin filling out the paperwork, Bryce reappears and sits next to her. They look at each other, their big smiles giving away the good news to each other. Jess says “This is awesome! We can finally save enough money to finally buy a house someday!” Bryce replies “Between the big pay bump and overtime opportunities, we will hopefully be house hunting in a year or two.” Jess looks at Bryce’s stack of forms, and says “First, we need to fill out our paperwork.” She asks “Do you also have to get a physical today?” Bryce replies “Yep, and the drug test too.”

Jess asks “I wonder what the physical involves? The physical I got for my current job was nothing more than lifting some weighted boxes and a brief exam that only involved some questions and a stethoscope over my shirt.” Bryce says “That pretty much sums up my exam, except I had a hernia check included.” Jess says “I hope this exam is nothing more than what we had before.”

Jess and Bryce start filling out the forms. As Jess gets to the forms for her physical and drug screen, she notices the first form involves questions about any current or past drug usage, including any past and current prescriptions. This form is for the drug screen, she figures. The next form is for her medical history. She notices how detailed the history form is, it even asks when her last physical and Pap test was done. It is two pages worth of information she has to provide. It asks about any past or current illnesses or hospitalizations, or any past surgeries. It asks about any workplace related injuries or illnesses. There is a section for her family medical history as well. She finally gets to the bottom of the second page, where it reads “Examining physician to attach employer provided physical exam form.” Jess doesn’t like not knowing what her physical will include…..

Jess and Bryce finish filling out their forms. They walk over and hand the first one to the woman at the greeting table, as instructed. The woman says “Okay, these look to be in order, have you filled out the three forms for the physical?” Jess and Bryce reply yes. The woman says “Excellent, now head out the door and go left, convention room 3 is at the end of the hall on your left.” Jess and Bryce head down the hall, nervously anticipating their physicals.