Persistence doesn't pay off for over-eager applicant

A man who rang two vape stores 52 times to see if he had been successful in applying for a job was sentenced to community work today.

Baghu Shankarial Rajpal (34) of Invercargill, appeared before Judge Russell Walker in the Gore District Court where he entered a guilty plea to one charge of using a telephone device to offend a recipient at Gore on December 16.

The summary of facts states Rajpal was served a trespass order for both shops on December 5.

Between December 5 and 16 he called Shosha Gore 28 times and the Invercargill store 24 times.

Sixteen of those calls (Gore) were in quick succession on one day.

On December 16, Rajpal phoned the Gore store asking for a specific staff member.

When he was told she was not there, he demanded to know when she would be back.

When asked by Judge Walker why he called Shosha Vape in both Gore and Invercargill so many times, Rajpal said he had not heard back after applying for jobs and it had made him frustrated.

Judge Walker said he should not be making that number of calls to any business.

"It was a nuisance and you were causing a disturbance to the person on the other end."

Rajpal was sentenced to 60 hours community work.

karen.pasco@odt.co.nz