The gods of the Twitterverse are mercurial and unpredictable. All hashtags aside, why some tweets trend and others tank is anyone’s guess. So when a doting daughter’s random tweet recently scored a dream job interview for her dad, it came as a huge cosmic surprise to everyone involved.
Like many, Rebecca Mix’s 58-year-old dad, Jeff, was laid off from his last job due to coronavirus-related cutbacks. As an older worker, finding employment was likely going to be tough, but resolute Jeff, not ready to retire, was determined to land a new gig.
His dream job? Something public-facing that would keep him on his feet. For Jeff, who’d done his homework on the company culture, that meant Costco.
Knowing he was likely out of his depth, Jeff turned to Rebecca for guidance in navigating the current job market. After promising to help him update his resumé and gently teasing him that a 21st-century email might be in order, Rebecca posted a few humorous tweets about her dad’s “weirdly particular” job ambitions—and then says she forgot about them.
my dad has been laid off due to covid and now that he's vaccinated he's itching to go back to work, so i told him i'd help him with his resume. i asked him where he wants to work, and he said, SO earnestly, "costco seems like a nice place" i'm gonna cry lol
— rebecca mix, proud daughter of a costco employee (@mixbecca) May 6, 2021
While the tweets might have slipped Rebecca’s mind, the powers of social media were paying close attention.
Mix’s messages somehow hit the radar of Costco CEO Craig Jelinek, who contacted several store managers close to Jeff’s Michigan home, requesting they bring him in for an interview. One of those managers reached out to Rebecca via Facebook to let her know her serendipitous tweet had hit its mark in a big way.
GUYS OH MY GOD???????????? pic.twitter.com/ofW1jXtTyV
— rebecca mix, proud daughter of a costco employee (@mixbecca) May 19, 2021
“I called my dad, who didn’t answer, texted him a screenshot, and called him again. As someone who only FaceTimes by accident, he didn’t really understand why I was freaking out,” Rebecca recalled in a piece for The Guardian. “The sheer ridiculousness of a random tweet making it to the desk of the Costco chief executive mostly escaped him.”
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While Jeff was excited by the prospect of a job interview, he remained cautious about the final outcome. Even after his first meeting—in which the enigmatic topic of Twitter never came up—he still wasn’t sure he was going to be hired.
However, while it took some time for the offer to come through, Jeff nailed his second interview. He texted a photo of his brand-new employee badge to Rebecca with thanks.
After his first shift, Jeff checked in with Rebecca to let her know the job looked to be pretty much everything he’d been hoping for. She couldn’t have been happier.
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“The past year has not been a kind one to my family,” Rebecca wrote. “Like many, we didn’t emerge from the pandemic without the loss of loved ones. It’s a gift to have this odd, wonderful, weird spark of joy amid a time of grief and chaos.”
And on a final positive note, Rebecca reports that when one of her dad’s new co-workers joked, “I wonder when they’re going to hire the Twitter guy?” while the complexities of social media might still escape him, Jeff had the satisfaction of being able to say, “I am the Twitter guy.”
Aw… Isn’t that tweet?
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