(click the picture above for
the high definition
video - but also click
YouTube
for me!)
2:33 AM, Monday,
January 14th, 2008:
If you had told me
just a few hours ago that this story would actually
have an ending that made perfect sense, allowed me to
grow a bit, and eventually agree that this "wasn't a
good fit" I would never have been able to figure out
how that was possible. Believe it or not, he wrote
back - and as much as I would love to post his letter
here, he is quite unhappy, threatened to call
the authorities if I ever tried to get in contact with
him or come to the office, and sweet jesus do I
believe him. LOL. The last thing I want to do
is anger him more by posting his exact words.
And if it wasn't for so many of you being invested in
this ridiculous drama, I swear I would never write
another word about it - but in the end, its a cool
little life lesson that I actually think may help you.
Probably more than all the other stuff on this site.
So the end of the story:
Apparently, every
single thing that I did the day of the interview,
pissed him off. Everything about me rubbed him the
wrong way. All of which is news to me because man, it
was as cordial and relaxed as could be. I was
comfortable in the interview, my friends introduced me
to the people at the office, everyone was nice, it was
a relaxed atmosphere, I was there early, had my tie
and new khaki's on (actually old, but never worn
'cause I could never fit in them before) it was just
exactly how you'd want to make an impression. However
what I just described was everything he didn't
like about me. He was upset that I was there
"excessively early". I was very early. I left myself
an hour to get there, made it in 20 minutes, but was
told by my friend that CeBe S. was leaving a little
early so I wanted to make sure I was able to say "hi".
Hadn't seen him in close to a year and wanted to catch
him before he left...
...which leads to
the 2nd sore point which in a million years I never
would've thought of, but will certainly never forget.
I asked the receptionist if CeBe S. was in and she
said yes and pointed me to where he was. It's a pretty
small office with the 4 rooms open directly to the
main lobby. Should not have listened to the
receptionist as I was not to go in that room. This was
seen as offensive to the manager (who was in his
office the entire time, so only a "retelling" of this
occurence could've offended him so much) and
disruptive to the environment. CeBe S. introduced me
to the people there, and we spoke about the loan
business, and everyone I spoke to seemed great, one
guy even asked me a few questions...nothing seemed out
of place. Because of the closeness of the
surroundings, I certainly didn't feel like I crossed
any lines and again - the receptionist told me where
to go. I just couldn't have assumed the reaction would
be this sour but you'd better believe in the
future I will never say anything past "I'm here for
the interview". And honestly no matter how innocent my
recollection is, the message RECEIVED is the only one
that counts - and I certainly pissed off
someone.
Next up, he said I
was underdressed. Well, sumbitch. I thought I
looked quite snazzy as everyone else was in jeans and
I actually felt a little out of place to tell you the
truth, but I always overdress for jobs like this. But
there's no excuse here because if he felt I was
underdressed, I was. If that's the message he
received, than that's the one that counts. If I hadn't
thought of my attire beforehand, I could beat myself
up a bit - but I did, I chose it, and I have to accept
that I made a mistake here.
Finally, and
actually his first issue, was that my last few jobs I
wasn't there for more than a year. It's funny, how do
you put murder, bankruptcy and politics on a resume?
With CBS, I'm not sure how you can express that a job
is a "contract" job and therefore... not the same as
other types? I signed separate 16 week contracts with
CBS and that was all I was ever offered. This is not a
bad thing, this is how the business works. When
Friedman was let go, the new administration didn't
continue Living Room Live, so there's no new
contracts. And the loan officer gigs beforehand?
I had gotten America's Got Talent and it was
tough to juggle, but man when Taja was murdered it was
time to go. That place was just a scary place to be. I
even thought one of the co-workers was responsible. I
was there for about a year on the dot. And before that
- the place went out of business. They changed
completely to cold-calling and then shut down. I guess
I should put that on the resume? I've never worked at
a place that went under before, so it's never occured
to me to put that on a resume - but you'd better
believe it's on there now. This will never happen
again.
So now that you've
taken it all in, just throw THAT out the window.
Because none of this was an issue that day. That's why
I was hired less than 2 days later. When he first met
me I was in the lobby waiting and he shook my hand and
actually thanked me for being early and mentioned that
that was a good sign. Ironic huh? The interview went
great, he asked me about my previous jobs and I told
him about Friedman being let go and that leading me to
where I was now, I explained how bad the last loan
officer gig was as the mortgage industry was in
meltdown - showed absolutely no issues with that. Had
he communicated anything about my length of time at
these places of course I would've gone into greater
detail. But I assumed he had interviewed people in the
Mortgage industry before. By 3 months at my first
place I was 3rd in line for ALL-TIME seniority.
Anyway, we had a great conversation and we were joking
by the end of it. Afterwards I spoke with the other
guy I knew, in front of him, and again - relaxed as
can be. He now states in the email he had no intention
of hiring me and my friends "professionally begged"
for him to give me a shot? (sigh) That just doesn't
hold a lot of water considering in the interview he
asked me when I could start. So "no intention of
hiring" is kind of hard to swallow. And as I said
before, 2 days later I was hired... and then comes the
moment: I call back to see what time the first day of
training ends and a few hours after that they fire me
with absolutely no explanation.
In his email he
stated that he always tells every person he interviews
that it's a 7 hour workday which was actually the
moment I let out a huge sigh of relief as I knew this
was one place where I would swear on Shizzle's grave
that was never said. Talk about something that would
stick out like a sore thumb! I've never heard of a 7
hour workday nor have I had a sales gig where it
wasn't an 8 hour MINIMUM plus the extra hour for lunch
and truth be told - you're really there 10-12 hours a
day. 7 hour workday? Wow, nice gig. I should apply.
Hahaha. So once I read that I felt much better as he
clearly made a mistake there. Interesting that when I
called and spoke to the lady about when the day was
over she didn't know the exact time, yet he actually
told me in the email if I had "done the math" I
would've been able to figure it out. Ouch.
Forgetting all the
specifics however, it's crystal clear that I rubbed
him the wrong way. Well let me rephrase that, it's
clear I rubbed someone in that building the wrong way
and just from writing this entry it seems clear who
that someone was. In fact when I came back on Friday
the place was empty and the last salesman there
actually pointed me to where the manager was and the
receptionist didn't say a word. I even looked at her
for some sign and she just glanced at the salesman and
then turned away from me and continued to text into
her blackberry. Did she know I was walking into a
powder keg even though I knocked on the door? Ugh, who
cares. Enough with the drama, I'm sure you see where
this is heading...
Yeah, so this
wasn't a good fit. Ha. If just being me rubbed him the
wrong way that much, this would've blown up
like the Godfatha sometime later today. Of course why
he thought I would accept a voicemail saying the
position was filled after they already hired me with
NO explanation is a little odd. I mean isn't it
Management 101 to give 3 reasons for firing someone?
Hell, ANY reasons? I remember Jess as a manager having
to do all SORTS of shit to even reprimand someone let
alone fire them. Certainly you don't owe anyone an
explanation if you don't hire them, but once you've
made that call, it's a little disrespectful to act
like it never happened. But as I said in the first
paragraph, at least it makes sense to me now.
This wasn't about one call asking what time the day
was over, it was a plethora of things that he felt, or
were portrayed to him, that just turned him off.
That's completely cool...just LET ME KNOW THAT. You
know? All of this would have completely been avoided
with a simple email. I never would've written my
stupid diatribe (that is completely justified when you
have NO information and you're guessing) nor would I
have had to come down there again to try to make sense
of it. And here's the kicker: if you're not gonna
email me the reasons, why don't you tell me once I
made the trip down! Why would you ever just stare
blankly at me and say "this isn't a good fit" knowing
I had NO IDEA what lead to this? What's the purpose of
that? Mind boggling. Oh well, the cool thing is now
I'm able to learn from the situation whereas before I
was as befuddled as all of you reading
this.
So can
we move on now? I'll fix my resume, never
wear khakis and a tie and beware of all
receptionists... and we'll all live
happily ever after? Sound
good?
Good.
Now enjoy my random short
film
in honor of my first day of not working at
the new job.
