Typo on woman’s resume celebrating seven-year anniversary
Typos come and go, but seven years and five revisions later, Sara’s experience as a Petco Unleashed Store “Manger” remains the same.
For most misspellings, their career is limited to a few seconds on a .doc or, if they’re lucky, a funny screenshot before they’re deleted. Who can forget the classic text Sara sent her mom, “I’ll pick up boner-in steaks?” But every once in a while, a typing mishap slides past the spellchecker and achieves an enviable tenure.
Manger’s life began in 2014 when Sara first left her job at the Petco Unleashed in Cumberland, Rhode Island and ventured into the wide world of LinkedIn. “We all thought the mistake would be short-lived,” said Clippy, the word processing assistant on Sara’s computer, “but since Manger is technically a word, it’s managed to avoid the red underline time and time again. It’s a huge accomplishment!” Clippy remembers several typos that came in with Manger. “‘Party-time’ worker, engaging with the ‘pubic’, the extra s in ‘Vasssar’? None of them made it past the first edit.”
Since its inception, the typo has been overlooked by an impressive 246 applicant tracking systems and eight in-person interviewers. Sara’s work experience has grown over these many years, from humble Petco to a myriad of jobs: virtual assistant, travel agent, and, surprisingly, freelance copy-editor.
“At first, I expected the typo to hold Sara back professionally,” admitted Clippy, “But in seven years only one person has ever noticed, and they still gave her an interview. In a weird way, it’s poetic. Manger, barns, Petco, animals. If you don’t think about it too hard, it’s kind of brilliant.”
Whether you see it as a blight on her CV or as divine intervention, it seems that Manger is here to stay. In Clippy’s opinion? That’s a good thing. “Honestly, more folks are turned off by her use of ‘synergy’ in the cover letter.”
Gwen Coburn is a comedian who combines feminism, comedy, music, feminism, theater, and feminism. Sometimes she shakes it up, combining mental wellness and feminism. Her one-woman show, Sad Girl Songs, premiered at the pit solocom 2019 and can be seen at the upcoming women in comedy festival. Her writing can be found in many publications including Mcsweeney’s internet tendency, Slackjaw, and the Belladonna.