Buckle Up

So here’s the story.Sometime last week I got a call to do a telephone job interview (yay!) at it was arranged for Monday at 12:30.  Since I had a client appointment right before that, I figured I would book my ‘lunch’ on my calendar at the office, and take the call in my car.

So the day came, and I motored on over to one of my favourite parking spots (somewhere I’ve pulled over for actual lunch many times before) only to find the lot COMPLETELY full of cars and trailers for some movie shoot that was happening in town.  Crap.  I scrambled to figure out another quiet place I could go, that I could get to quickly enough to avoid missing the call while driving.

I pulled in to a local park where my only company seemed to be a couple dog walkers and a woman reapplying the chalk lines to the baseball diamond.  With minutes to spare.  Perfect.

So I start arranging myself, getting out a notepad and pen, a copy of my resume for reference, a bottle of water, put the seat into a good position, everything.  I review the job posting that I originally replied to, and make notes of a couple questions I might ask them.  I am soooooo organized.  And then I wait. 

The clock switches to 12:30 and I definitely have little butterflies in my stomach.  I know that I interview well face to face, but this is my first time interviewing on the phone, and I’m nervous.  This would be a good time to disclose that I actually have a LOT of anxiety around the phone.  Making calls and sometimes even answering calls takes a lot of energy for me sometimes.  My ultimate dream in life is to get a job where I have a receptionist, and I never have to answer the phone again. 

To push this all out of mind, I put on some music.  Pantera (not my CD) comes blaring out at me, and I quickly switch to something more soothing (John Lennon, New York City).  Unfortunately, I’m noticing that the butterflies in my stomach have transformed into an increasing need to go pee.  Oh well, the interview I was told would only take about 20 minutes, I can hold it.

But now it’s 12:51.  Still the phone has not rung.  I open the car windows slightly in order to get some air, and hum along to ‘Real Love’ to calm down and distract myself from the discomfort of my bladder (sorry, tmi?)

Just then, I hear the wheels of a car rolling up behind me, and turn around to see – what else – an approaching police cruiser.  Great.  My first thought is “did I miss a ‘private parking’ sign somewhere?” followed closely by “oh shit, what if my interview calls and I have to tell them I have to finish some business with the cops before I can speak to them?!?”  Not a good first impression.The officer came up, and I rolled the window further down.  He asked what I was doing there, and I told him I was waiting for a phone call.  This had to have been plausible, as I was sitting with a blank notebook open on my lap, and a cell phone ready in hand.  He asked to see my license anyway and I obliged since I really just wanted to get this over with, and also was pretty sure I had nothing to hide.  He took my card back to the car, while my eyes darted back and forth from the clock on the dash to my phone, clock, phone, clock, phone.  The officer returned my license and told me to have a nice day.  As an aside, I will keep this “waiting for a phone call” explanation in mind in case I’m ever approached by police again.  I figure since the ban on cell phones while driving has been instituted, they’ll consider this a smart choice on my part.By this point, it’s almost 1:00 and still no call. 

I get out my blackberry, and check the emails that had been sent back and forth confirming the date and time.  Yup, I had all my information correct.  This provides little reassurance, and in any case, I can’t really think about it because now I REALLY need to pee.

Fortunately, my parents live nearby so I decide to take a chance and drive over to their place to use the facilities.  I connect my phone to my Bluetooth just in case.

At mum and dads I’m feeling better after a quick trip to the loo, but the discomfort of needing to go has quickly been replaced by sheer panic about this interview. I log on to my parents computer and check the emails again.  I also look up the number of the woman who was supposed to call me, and decide it’s time I give them a ring. I dial the number, punch in the extension and…the voice mail is full.

Hmm.  Maybe she’s not in the office – should this make me feel better?  I there anyone else I can speak to?  There is no operator, and I don’t want to call through the crisis line.  I settle for sending an email along the lines of “I waited for your call but it didn’t come and I’m hoping we can reschedule because I’m still really interested in this opportunity I hope everything is okay and please let me know if there is anything I can do to resolve this situation have a nice day I’m just going to remain calm and remember that you don’t owe me anything and the ball is really in your court so I’ll bite my tongue about what I’m really thinking and I hope you notice the very professional tone of this email and feel impressed enough to call and offer me a job right away”.  Or something like that.

By Tuesday, I’d had no response.  I was sure of this after checking my email about a billion times.

I tried calling again, and this time I was able to leave a message.  What did THAT mean?  Presumably this woman was in the office enough to check her messages, so didn’t she read her email?  I did my best to sound professional in the voice message.

It’s now day three, and nothing.  WTF?  Maybe I don’t even want to work for these people – they clearly don’t have their shit together.  Except I haven’t totally given up hope yet.  But WHY oh WHY did the first response I’ve had to a job application in over A YEAR have to go down like this?

*sigh* If anything else does come of this, I’ll keep you posted.  If not, well…