A job-seeker told he wasn’t suited for a Government work programme because he was “learning challenged” got a pleasant surprise after his story appeared in The Royal Gazette.Assistant director of Labour and Training George Outerbridge apologised to Eugene DeRosa for his unpleasant experience.Meanwhile Government has promised to review Mr DeRosa’s case and he has an appointment at the department on Monday morning.The 40-year-old applied to join Government’s waiter-server programme last November. The scheme is aimed to recruit Bermudians into the hospitality industry which is often dominated by overseas workers. It encourages unemployed locals to get trained and employed as waiting staff.Mr DeRosa has experience working at two hotels.He said he took an orientation course but didn’t hear back from its organisers for weeks, and received no reply to his e-mails.He was told at the start of this year that he had not been selected for the programme.When he asked why, he was told he had been deemed “learning challenged”.A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said that Government did not speak on specific client matters as a matter of protocol.However, an application process is in place which includes “registration, orientation, training and ultimately an interview”, she said.Not all applicants are automatically accepted.“Once participants have been accepted into the programme, and upon successful completion, applicants are guaranteed employment,” the spokeswoman added.“Overall, there has been good feedback to the Ministry’s waiter-server initiative. Where an applicant is unsuccessful, the Department of Labour and Training will continue to work with the applicant to provide training and job placement services.”She said the Ministry would review Mr DeRosa’s case to ensure that “all interested persons have a positive experience”.Mr DeRosa admitted feeling embarrassed about all the fuss.“The first thing Mr Outerbridge said was an apology,” he said. “Let’s not blow this up, we were just talking. I just feel if it happened to me, most likely it’s happened to others. If people are making these notes about people, it should stop.”Mr DeRosa added: “I will definitely give the programme a shot. I just completed an associate’s reinsurance course. I am game for anything.”