I Wish You Love

Last night I wrote how I wasn’t looking forward to the interview this morning. The interview was scheduled for 11:00 and that meant I’d best be on the 10:00 bus into the city. Where I usually wake up around 8:00, this morning I slept until 9:00.

It was reassuring that I could get ready for work in an hour if need be. I always knew that I can do that, it’s just that I haven’t done that in a long time. I got it together and was soon on Washington Street in the cold winter air. Where it was 57° yesterday, today it was 27°.

I chatted with Bill on the phone briefly and rode into Manhattan, doing the crossword puzzle in last week’s New York Magazine which Bill subscribed me to. I really enjoy their crossword puzzles.

I made it to 1601 Broadway about 15 minutes early and if it were warmer out I probably would have stayed outside for 10 minutes, but since it was pretty cold, I headed upstairs to Bland Street Consultants.

I had an appointment to meet with Carrie with a “K” and announced myself at reception. Apparently there were 2 Carrie’s in the office. I was given the usual paperwork and sat down and filled it out as I sat there in my overcoat. The receptionist was too busy joking and talking with 2 recruiters who were standing around to tell me where I could hang up my coat.

After the one sheet, two sides of paperwork, I sat and did some more work on the crossword puzzle. Finally Carrie with a “K” showed up and I followed her as she spent a couple of minutes looking for an office where we could meet.

And it was a brief meeting. She asked me who referred me to her and for the life of me I couldn’t remember. I sent her my resume a few weeks ago and figured she would have accessed the email before the meeting, but she hadn’t.

Once again I explained who Putnam Lovell NBF were (Wanker Banker) and what BIO-IB was. I explained that I am presently working 50 hours a week at the cigar shop and that I was looking to get back into the corporate world.

Carrie with a “K” asked if I would be interested in a temp to perm position.

‘I work 50 hours a week…’
‘Do you think working a temp to perm position would affect that?’ Carrie with a “K” asked.

Yes, she actually asked if I took a temp position would affect the fact that I work 50 hours a week. After about 5 minutes the interview was over. I was disappointed and felt I should have stuck to my original plan and rescheduled the interview.

I called Bill who thought I was going to head to the cigar shack, since he didn’t know I had off today. He was more upset with how the interview went than I was. I walked back to the bus terminal in the cold and had the same bus driver who had just picked me up in Hoboken earlier.

I did some grocery shopping on the way home and when I got back home I did some laundry after having a breakfast for lunch.

I also visited Hyman today. I brought him the New York Times as well as a Hershey Bar. He seemed in better spirits and remembered that I don’t appreciate negativity in my life right now. We had an enjoyable chat about literature and the New Yorker.

He was going to tell me about the latest issue, the double Eustace Tilly issue when I told him that I like to just read the New Yorker, I don’t read the table of contents when I start. He recommended that I read Evelyn Waugh and Andre Gide which I duly ordered from the bibliothèque.

It was nice to see Hyman again and if he is still in the hospital on Friday I will visit him again. He thinks he might be out by then and if he is, he might join me in seeing Bill in the play he’s been rehearsing. That would be fun.

I mentioned it to Bill on my way home and Bill said he would pay for the cab fare from the theater to the bus terminal since Hyman’s in no condition to walk the distance anymore.

Back to work tomorrow, off on Friday. The ‘night before’ anxiety sets in.




I Wish I Were In Love Again

Monday again and the day before a day off for me. The day trip Bill and I had planned to take to Bala Cynwyd has been postponed yet again. We just couldn’t be arsed actually.

It was another day at work, and today’s cast of characters were Marcus just back from a cigar festival in the Dominican Republic, Calvin back from a weekend off and the Bradley.

The Palindrome only made an appearance to pick up food he bought yesterday and left in the fridge. Not much to say from his side and according to Calvin it seems the Palindrome’s days, or rather- hours, are ending soon. He was only supposed to be hired for the holidays and those holidays are long gone.

That’s the fact of the matter, not because the Palindrome turned into a little old Italian woman, dressed all in black, but because his time is up. And like the Palindrome said over and over again, he doesn’t need this job, he has a real job at a major hotel in midtown.

It was a beautiful day today, when I checked the thermometer outside of the cigar shack, it read 57°. It wasn’t spring but it felt like it and no, there was no greenery to smell. For some, the winter of their discontent continues.

Now the temperature has dropped considerably and it’s windy and chilly in the low 30’s. I was invited to an art opening at Maxwells tonight that Rand is a part of, but it’s late, it’s cold and I have an interview tomorrow.

An interview I don’t have much faith in, but still I will attend. I will go to the building, show my ID and then be ushered into a reception area to fill out an application with information directly lifted from the resume I sent them. I don’t even recall what the interview was for actually.

I’m sure they will tell me, but having just written that, I think it might be just another recruiter meeting, checking me out to see if I’m fit enough to send out on interviews.

I never heard from the woman I met last week. Then again I have never heard from my cousin who I asked for help last year. It’s fine with me. The company that my cousin works for has been a major target of the Wiki leaks thing so it might be a good idea that I’m not there.

It’s also a good thing I suppose that I never finished filling out my online application for Borders books since I heard they were staving off bankruptcy and when I woke up this morning, I heard on the radio that their stock was trading for $0.25 a share. That can’t be good.

And I will more than likely visit Hyman in the hospital, that is if he’s still there. Bill went over the weekend and met Hyman’s nephew while visiting. I will pick the newspapers for Hyman and stay for a little while.

It’s going to be a busy day off.