Jason Manford has said he was turned down for a job at Tesco.
The comedian said on social media that he applied for a job as a driver when he had been made “recently unemployed” as he “wanted to feel useful”.
However, a spokesman for the supermarket said that Manford missed the deadline for applying to the job.
He added: “Jason’s skills would have no doubt brought a lot of joy to our customers and colleagues, so it’s a shame he didn’t make the deadline for this vacancy.
Absolutely livid @Tesco. I was only trying to do my bit 😂 I hope the better person got and enjoys the job, I’ll be watching 👀 pic.twitter.com/ZvBJeqMziN
— Jason Manford (@JasonManford) May 4, 2020
“But should he ever want to join the Tesco family in the future, we’d be happy to receive an application from him.”
Manford joked that he was “absolutely livid” about the rejection, adding: “I was only trying to do my bit.
“I hope the better person got and enjoys the job, I’ll be watching.”
The 38-year-old said he had submitted his application earlier on in the coronavirus pandemic “when it looked like supermarkets etc were going to need thousands of extra hands”.
He added: “I even signed my CV off ‘Previous experience: comedian. So I know it’s all in the delivery’.
“Still nothing!”
I even signed it my cv off ‘previous experience: Comedian. So I know that it’s all in the delivery!’Still nothing! https://t.co/gag35QZy8T
— Jason Manford (@JasonManford) May 5, 2020
After another social media user joked that he would “do anything to get out of the house”, Manford joked: “Oh don’t get me wrong, my extracurricular volunteer work is a purely selfish way of having an hour to myself.”
He also shared an image of a smashed jar lying on his kitchen floor, saying: “All it takes is one look at my social media to know why I didn’t get the Tesco job.”
According to the screenshot of the rejection letter he shared online, Manford had applied to work at a Tesco Express in Wilmslow, Cheshire.
The letter said: “We appreciate your interest to work for Tesco during these unprecedented times and thank you for your application for the customer assistant – convenience.
“Regrettably we are unable to progress your application forward this time as the vacancy is now closed.”
Having failed to get a job at Tesco, Manford has been working as a volunteer for the NHS for more than a month and has been doing jobs such as taking the elderly and vulnerable to hospital.