Hooplah.Org A Story of Graceful Stumbles

Cursed in the ways of employment

I'm starting to think I'm cursed when it comes to finding a job. It seems that every attempt has either made me miserable or the forces at be where not perfectly aligned, and thus everything went as bad as possible.

Today was really no different.

I woke up today at 7AM so that I'd have enough time to get ready. I spent all night waking up every couple of hours and checking the clock... why I was, I wish I knew. It seems to come so naturally now whenever I have my alarm set at an early time. I had tried to think ahead, and had gone to bed at 11:30, betting that I'd be asleep before 12... when it wasn't until 1 that I finally turned off my TV. And even then, I wasn't particularly tired.

I got showered and dressed just fine. I was cranky and tired, but I still managed to be ready to go by 8:20, even while taking my time. I put on a skirt that belong to my mother, and wore my only real "classy" white button-down shirt. For shoes... my mother gave me some knee-high stockings (when my mother handed them to me, all I replied with was "Socks.") that matched perfectly with the flip flops I wore. It looked god awful, but it was the extent of my options.

My father actually had the nerve this morning to try to encourage me to read this article in the paper about "get rich quick schemes." The one in the paper particularly focused around one incident where a woman was just passing on e-mails and such as a side income, and it was discovered it had been for a terrorist organization. And why did my father tell me to read this? Because he actually lets the hype of the news reports to get him to the point where he was honestly suspicious of the guy I was meeting with today of being linked to something similar as to what was in the paper. I was in disbelief that he could really come to that conclusion, and expect me to take him seriously. He never mentioned one word of "wisdom" about how this man could be a sexual offender or a serial killer, no... but that I should keep a look out encase he's wearing a turban or watch for packages laced with white powder.

My mother and I left around 9. I did not really think anything of her coming... it ensured that I'd even be able to find the place, and she would serve as my savior encase I did not feel comfortable being alone with my interviewer. We did fine getting there, despite the odd directions. The area was really run down, and made me a little nervous. Twice we had to drive over train tracks, and there weren't any rail road crossing signals by them... so either I assume trains no longer run on them, you have to use your best judgement on it

When we got there, we discovered this guy had not even given me the right name for the building... he had said "Silven", while the building was "Sylvania." To my mother, he was looking less and less credible, while I was still trying to have hope that maybe he was just starting his business.

The inside of the building actually looked really nice compared to the outside area. We walked down the small hallway, and just like he had said, it was office 128 on the left... but the lights were off and the door was closed. I gave my mother a puzzling look, and when I turned around I saw another woman walking to us. I asked her if she was here for an interview as well, and we said yes. She said she had been waiting there since 9 for him, since that's when her interview was.

She told us that Robert (the guy who I contacted and who we were supposed to meet) had called her yesterday to reschedule her interview, since he had accidently locked his keys in his office yesterday afternoon. He had only called her about it because her interview was to happen after he had locked the keys in, and was just calling to reschedule the appointment today at 9. It was pretty obvious he still didn't have his keys, and now we were left to wait. Christine (the other woman waiting for an interview) kept trying to get ahold of him on her cell phone, but he wasn't answering it.

In the meantime we all talked about numerous things... about how odd Robert had seemed on the phone, and we talked about tattoos a bit. (Side note: Christine was able to tell me why my tattoo faded. Though the tattoo parlor I went to had warned me about not using lotion, they never mentioned vaseline. In the winter of 2001/2002, when my tattoo got dry and uncomfortable, I had gotten used to just smearing some vaseline on it to keep the skin from feeling taunt and dry, since I couldn't use lotion... but apparently both were bad. Oh well I guess, live and learn.)

While we waited, we flagged down two girls that had just picked up some lunch from a nearby deli. We asked them if they knew anything about the man who used office 128, and they both said they had never seen anyone there. They offered to call up to the "main building" (forget correct name) and see if they could at least find out the company name for us, since Robert hadn't told me or Christine what it was. When we discovered that people in the main building were also not in as well, we thanked them for their help and walked back out into the hallway.

It was getting frustrating, so Christine tried calling Robert's cell phone a couple times in a row, trying annoy him into answering it. Apparently spam calls were effective, because he finally picked up. He told her that he had anticipated on getting a spare key from the main building, but since they weren't there (like we had found out as well) he had to call a locksmith. The locksmith was supposed to be there at noon, but for some reason I didn't think they'd be there on time... dunno, just my sixth sense. He had said if we wanted to come back after 12, then we could do the interviews then. As me, my mother, and Christine were leaving (since we didn't want to wait around for another hour + for him to show up), two other women came in and started to stand in front of his door. I felt awful for not going down there and telling them what we knew, but apparently both my mother and Christine thought it'd be a good thing if they got frustrated enough and never came back Less competition I guess.

After leaving, my mother dragged me to GNC and then the shoe store. We got me some acceptable "dressy shoes" (they look really pain and boring, not sexy at all... which is just what I wanted) and I looked at purses but didn't like any of them. After that we ate at IHOP and went home. We could have gone back to see if Robert was finally there, but I was betting that he wasn't... besides. It had become apparent to me that he had scheduled interviews on each hour of today (Christine at 9, me at 10, those two ladies we saw were probably there for the 11 o'clock..) and figured he'd be dealing with a big enough mess without adding to it, especially when I felt so tired and awful as it was. I decided I just wanted to get home and sleep, and make plans to call him tomorrow and setup another interview on a day that will be less hectic for him. Plus, the next time I come out for an interview maybe I'll remember to bring a copy of my resume and proper contact information for my only job experience (Food Lion) instead of completely forgetting like I did today.

If he hires someone before then, oh well. My mother was looking down on him for being unprofessional, but me being who I am, instantly felt sorry for him. While this day sucked really bad for me, but I can't imagine how bad he must feel to have made so many appointments and then having to let everyone down because he made a careless mistake. Course, the fact that he didn't even bother to call me to tell me this had happened is shitty... but maybe his guilt kept him from doing it. Or whatever, I don't know.

When I came home, I told Matt what happened and went to sleep right after. I think was out for a good 2 hours, which only proved just how completely exhausted I was... usually I can't do more than a 1 hour catnap, just cause it feels so unnatural going to sleep during the day for me.

Maybe the next meeting will go better, who knows. Or maybe everything will fall apart and not go right, just like usual, simply because I'm involved with it. I have such horrible luck... sometimes I feel finding Matt must have been a mistake, because that's the only way I could have ever gotten so lucky.