So the interview
Tuesday went incredibly well. Like stupid well.
I sat with the lady for TWO hours and pretty much
just talked about life. She said she knew if someone
was wrong for the position within 5 minutes and
literally 2 hours later we were havin' a ball.
I couldn't believe how good it went. There was a
grunt position open, but she was considering making
the grunt work be spread over all the designers and
bring in another designer. Either way - there was a
job and the only other candidate was a girl right out
of college that she was leery about. So she said after
the interview to let her talk to a few people
(I assumed to figure this grunt/designer thing
out) and I should call tomorrow
afternoon.
Yahoo. I was
pumped. Being that she's the only one who has last say
in this, couldn't have gone better. The only
hint of negative seemed to be that she thought
it might be too limiting to me as there's very little
design in this job and basically a lot of grunt work.
Wasn't sure how to tell her I'd shovel dog shit for a
living without coming off crazy, but it didn't really
matter as that was hardly touched upon.
I shall
preface part 2 of this entry by saying she made it
very clear that she is somewhat forgetful and needs to
be bugged now and then. In the inteview she even joked
that a guy was wondering if she'd take a restraining
order out on him as he was calling so much. So
I said I would call her tomorrow
afternoon.
Now it took all
the restraint in the world not to call at 12:01. But
I was cool and since our interview was at 2:00
and she had just gotten back from lunch,
I figured I'd give her until 2:00 the next day.
Very, very difficult. But I made it, I left
a message at 2:00 and proceeded to wait. Nothing for
another hour so I called again, and was able to
catch her. She said that some of the people she needed
to talk to called in sick and to give her another day.
No problem.
Of course that
does suck. You all understand the tightrope I'm
walking. This job is absolutely HUGE at this point.
Hard to have a successful divorce when one person is
without income. My entire life is completely hinging
on this phone call and boom - another 24 hours. No big
deal though, the interview was perfect. 24
hours.
Called the
following afternoon (yesterday) at 2:00 and left a
message...same routine. Finally got her at 3:30 PM,
but she had another really important meeting and said
she'd call me back. AHHHHHHHHH. This is when
I think that something's wrong. But I figure
I'll wait until 5:00 and call back...now there's two
people in her office and she can't talk. LOL. She
actually laughed at this point. Took my home number
and said she'd call by the end of the day. She also
talked with me for a second that she was again
concerned that I wouldn't like the job, and that it
would be unfulfilling and boring. I wasn't able to
answer her then but it drove me nuts for the next
hour. How do you answer that question? I just worked
in a chiropractor's office for two years. That wasn't
the excitement of century but I was good at it
and enjoyed it. I really just wanted to get her
to understand that my creative fulfillment comes in a
million different ways and I don't expect my job to be
the source of it all. Grrrrrr. So
frustrating.
6:00 rolls around
and of course...nothing. That's what she said the work
day was 9-6. So I figured I was completely
screwed for another 24 hours. I left one more
message and then tried to "catch" her for the
following hour thinking maybe she would come back from
a meeting and I'd get her right before she
left.
Now at WORST she
would have some sort of caller ID and realize
I was calling every 10 minutes. But in that case,
it would be slightly amusing as she'd see how much
I wanted the job. Then again, it wasn't a cell
phone so I doubted even that was a possibility.
I truly thought she had gone home. She said
sometimes they stay until 7, so I figured I'd try to
get lucky before then because after that - it's a
whole 'nother day.
At about 6:45 I
gave up. Totally bummed. Had no idea what to do.
I started to get the feeling she wanted to be
wowed. You know? Like you hear of people applying for
jobs that send creative baskets to the person or do
some imaginative thing that tips the scales. I've
never been in that position, and hell after what she
said about the "limiting" aspect of the job being
overly-creative seemed like a negative. It was just
amazing to me that this had gone on for over two days
after an interview like that. And really that
interview was the strangest "Dance" I'd ever
have. It felt quite a bit like the next 2 days where
you have no clue whether to push or wait. But
then...
She
called back. 7:00 she calls back and this
is where Swingers
comes in. She was in the office the entire
time having a meeting with her boss and
heard exactly how many times
I called. (sigh) I was completely
apologetic and explained I was just
trying to catch her before she left, and
never would have dreamed she'd be sitting
there listening to the phone ring without
answering it for an hour, but INDEED she
was. (sigh) I tried to joke about the
guy with the restraining order she had
mentioned and that elicited the zinger of
"At least he was amusing".
It's funny at the
time I was all horrified, but looking back on it
a day later I don't think I was out of line at
all. I only left one message and she has said,
and proved, that she needs reminders...but what a
nightmare. It was such a moment man. The moment she
said "Are you the one who's been calling me every 5
minutes in the last hour?"...all I could think of was
the scene from Swingers. Heh. Great scene.
Anyway, it was
swept under the rug and she assured me she would have
an answer by tomorrow. But she covered her tracks
really well. Said the boring comment again. Said the
grunt work was better suited for someone right out of
college who would actually be excited for something
like that 'cause none of us knew any better at that
age, and that they were already training two new
designers so it looked like there wouldn't be a third.
So somehow, some way - I lost this...maybe. Ugh.
My only glimmer of light is that she could hear the
desperation in my voice and actually said: "You
really need this soon don't you..." So she knows where
I stand, and all I can hope is that she throws out the
ball.
I am in line at
the unemployment office Monday (as I should have
been last Monday) depending on the call today (and I'm
sure as hell not calling her - LOL). I have never been
on unemployment in my life, but I really have
little choice while I'm looking for a job. Mortgages
don't stop while you're out of work. I'm still in
shock though. This was such an obvious lock on
Tuesday. At least I count my chickens in both
directions. LOL. I've already prepared for losing it
before I lost it, just as I prepared for
having it before I had it.
