I went on a job interview last week. Hey, even a starving artist needs to have grocery money and my third attempt at a ghostwriting job didn't pan out. I thought I'd be a shoe-in for the job–temporary work of eight weeks during the upcoming holidays with the greeting card company I'd worked at for years, but this time I'd be sitting in a cubicle in a large office fielding calls. I was a natural. So, I filled out the on-line questionnaire, sent a cover letter outlining my experience and got a call for an interview. I'd even written a book about working in a card shop.
It's been a number of years since I've been on an interview and I labored for more than 24 hours wondering what to wear. Dress? Didn't own a single one anymore. Slacks? I had a choice between the ones with the shiny butt or the ones I had to keep tugging up. I had just bought some new jeggings that had a nice fit but really–jeans to a job interview?
In the end, I wore the jeggings, a colorful blouse that I hoped would detract from the fact I was wearing jeans, and a sensible sweater. I was ushered into the interview room after getting a guest badge from the front desk and waited. And waited. Finally, after ten or fifteen minutes, a man showed up at the door. I smiled at him, happy to get the process started, but even more happy at his appearance. He wore droopy gym shorts, flip-flops and a ruby stud in each ear. All my worry had been for nothing. I eased back into my seat, ready to wow him with my knowledge of the company.
But, as with everything, the company has evolved from the behemoth it was when I worked for them. The job I had applied for was for their e-card portion of the company. No opening of card packs and straightening them in the racks. This was all done via computer. And Mac computers were the enemy. I've only used Macs for the past, oh, fifteen years or so. I immediately started reassessing my ability to do this job, wardrobe aside. The fact that I didn't bring a resume with me along with my lack of PC experience pretty much made the guy close the file before I even rose from the table. I explained that it had been so many years since I'd held a full-time job, the people on my resume would have been retired by now or the company out of business, but I could tell the more I talked, the further away the job went.
Ah, well. The money would have been nice, and it was fun to make a list of the various ways I would spend it. But I came home, fired up my faithful Mac and got some nice news, which will fill up my time between now and next April. I'll release more information as I can.
So you see, everything happens for a reason. If I'd qualified for the job, I wouldn't have time to get a new book written by April.
I'd much rather be solving the problems of my hero and heroine than solving the problem of why an e-card won't open. Call me selfish.
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