Interview | johnozed

It’s been raining all day. And of course I had a job interview today. I sometimes take that as a good sign since I once had an interview that took place on the day of a monsoon and it went very well back then so I think it has to be good luck. It wasn’t monsoon like at all but it was certainly a steady rain. It was at 3:00 this afternoon so I was able to take my time. There was a five page application which I needed to print out and complete which was no problem at all and gave me something to do for 5 minutes.

Then it was donning a suit for the first time since May 23. I planned on leaving the apartment around 1:30 and since the interview was across the street from my former employer of McMann and Tate I was planning on taking the Path train in. I headed out with an umbrella and walked to the Path train. I would have taken a bus to the train but a bus did not show up until I was a block from the station. I sat on the Path train and noticed that I was going to be quite early.

If it weren’t raining out I would have found somewhere to go, something to do to kill some time before heading into the interview, but since the weather was what it was I decided to ride the Path rain to the end of the line and staying inside where it was dry and air conditioned and ride the train back to 9th Street. It was a very good idea and once I got back to the street the rain was coming down quite hard. I headed down 6th Avenue and took my time as I was still quite early.

I had a quick chat with a canvasser for the ACLU. I explained to the young woman that I fully support the ACLU and that since I live in NJ I also support the NJCLU. She wanted to talk and try to get some money from me, so earnest and cheerful she was, but I begged off telling her that I was unemployed and off to an interview. As soon as I said that she said ‘OK bye’ and looked for her next target. I continued on my way and stood under the marquee by the IFC Center which used to be the Waverly Theater.

I chatted with Bill for a minute or two on the phone before going into a newsstand where I got the latest Mojo and Uncut magazines. No matter what I was going to do I was going to be early, but these little stops ate at the clock enough that I would only be 15 minutes early which I thought was better than 30 minutes early. I rode the elevator to the 11th floor where there was no one in reception, so I just stood there until they showed up.

I explained who I was there to see and told to have a seat. I sat on a couch and watched the rain fall outside. Simone who was interviewing me arrived and we had a nice chat in a conference room, as I explained my resume. How that job got me to that job while Simone wrote on my resume with a lot of arrows going this way and that way and her shorthand explanations regarding what I was saying. It certainly went a lot better than I expected, especially since I had no expectations. This was a company I had interviewed with a few years ago and this one went a lot better.

This time I was on the 11th floor, last time was on the 10th floor in an area that looked a lot like something from Terry Gilliam’s Brazil. Simone told me she would contact me either way by next Tuesday and the entire process could take place for about 4 weeks. So I think it went well. Of course there are dozens of other people she was seeing so my hopes aren’t that high. In the meantime I will just read Mojo and Uncut, and perhaps finish Retromania by Simon Reynolds before it has to be back at the bibliothèque.

Outside My Window

TV still out and about. No info on when it’s coming back and Bill doesn’t have much of a clue about it either. Last night without TV I surfed a lot online as well as watched the extras disc of Citizen Kane. Informative stuff, especially the parallels between William Randolph Hearst and Orson Welles. Hopefully Bill will be able to watch it soon since it does have to go back to the bibliothèque.

I wound up staying up later than usual since I had off today. I didn’t write about this yesterday, but I received a phone call from the company I met with last Thursday. I was up and ready this morning, not much going on besides that.

No way to tell what the weather forecast was going to be. I didn’t turn on the radio, and merely looked out the window. Rain, grey clouds and some cold breezes going on outside. I wore the same suit as I did last week and headed out to the cold, damp streets.

I walked up to the bus stop about an hour later than I usually do and rode into the city. I talked to Bill who had just come back from meeting with a grief counselor, regarding Bill’s co-worker who was murdered by her grandson over the past weekend. I was on the phone quite a bit before I left the apartment and before he headed to his meeting since I had no internet when I woke up.

Now I have it but I was quite worried earlier. Also surprised at how much I depend on the internet. I always give myself enough time and with the knee acting up I give myself more time, but sometimes it isn’t enough.

This morning I was waiting on an already crowded subway platform waiting to go uptown. A few people had been waiting and exasperated threw their hands up in the air or slapped their thighs before heading back up to the street.

I was about to do the same thing (one hand in the air, the other slapping my thigh) when I headed to the elevator and saw a bunch of maintenance workers coming in off the tracks which meant that possibly a train was approaching. I waited and sure enough another train pulled in.

I rode to 59th and Fifth, sort of my old stomping grounds, near the Wanker Banker offices. I was early enough to kill time and use the bathrooms in Trump Tower. I still had a few minutes to kill and waited outside after that.

I headed up to the 21st floor of a skyscraper and for the first time in months, the receptionist showed me where I could hang up my coat as well as offering me a bottle of water. That is what I always used to do when I had that job, and nowadays receptionists don’t do that sort of thing.

I had my meeting, it lasted about a half hour. Most of the questions were from the previous week so they were easy to answer. One of the questions was regarding me having a bad day, how would the clients perceive such a bad day?

I told the interviewer that last week, on my way to the interview, I popped my knee. Still I rallied and the interviewer then did not know that I was in pain. She understood that and overall I think it went pretty well.

I was close enough to the Wanker Banker offices and decided to call my old friend Vinnie. A really good guy, very supportive. He was heading out for the day since he had come in early this morning. We chatted for about a half hour, catching up on this and that, where is so and so.

It was good to see him once again and once again he said I could use him as a reference. I told him I did that already. He said that was fine, just give him a heads up next time.

Now I’m home, writing. Still cold and grey outside and plenty of damp to go around. That’s about it for this end.