The Last 48 Hours.

The last two days have been insane.



I think I've gotten a total of 7 hours of sleep between yesterday and today and lets just say I am running on empty. I'm past empty. I'm 20 minutes after you realized you were riding on E but you convinced yourself you could make it another 30 minutes and now you and your car stuck are on the side of the road. Yeah. That's me.



Let me explain. Briefly.



Thursday I'd given up all hope of contacting the HR Manager at Possible New Job (PNJ). Since last Tuesday my attempts to contact her have been...unsuccessful. I called every two days, listened to the phone ring and then heard the stupid out of office message she left. I didn't leave any subsequent voicemails for her to call me back after the first one. I figured leaving one was enough and leaving more than that would appear desperate. Which I am but she does not need to know that.



I was ready to give up all hope Thursday. I woke up, only to return to bed where I curled up in a ball for a very long time. Before I could let depression totally shadow me, I decided that I would resubmit my application (because they posted the opening again online) along with an email apologizing for not getting in touch with her sooner. What's the worst that could happen? Before I did that though, I figured I would try to reach her again by phone. After a few rings I was expecting the sound of her away message but was surprised when she answered the phone. Actually answered!



'um, good afternoon, my name is Beckett Hughes and i um, was contacted a few weeks ago in response to an application I submitted to _________. I was unable to contact you until a week later in regards to setting up a day to come in and met with you , I, um, am inquiry about the state of the position and/or opportunity to come in for an interview'.



There was a long pause on the other end of the phone, followed by what I can only described as an 'exasperated sigh'. It was the equivalent of 'oh, it's you'. She informed me, in a tone that was less than pleased, that I took 'forever' to respond to her voicemail a week back and at the moment she had no intention of calling me in for an interview:



'you must understand the position I am in. It took you 5 days to respond to my voicemail. that doesn't give me the best impression of you as a candidate'.



FML.

My heart dropped. Let me take that back. It exploded. All the fears I had of being rejected by this job because my phone is a piece of shit, came true in that moment and I saw no hope. I apologized for responding in a way that could make me look unprofessional but that I never received notification on my phone that a call had been received until...it was too late. I tried to explain without sounding as if I were a) pulling excuses out of my ass and b) groveling.



She paused again. Shuffled some papers around and then said I could come in on Friday (the 13th) at 10am for an interview with _______. Take it or leave it. I immediately said 'that's perfect, I'll see you then...thank you for understanding---'. Click. She may have hung up on me. just saying.



I spent Thursday brushing up on interview questions and calming my nerves. I knew she scheduled the interview the next day to rattle me. She was only squeezing me in to weed me out. 'If she wants to waste her time, come all the way down to the city. then so be it' was the impression I got.

I knew I had to be on my A+ game. I already had strikes against me based on the phone incident, so there was no room for error. So despite being unprepared, nervous and a little scared (she was not happy with me) I made my way to PNJ wearing very uncomfortable shoes and praying silently under my breath that I wouldn't blow it.

And I must say....it went really well. I know that's a little anticlimactic. No build up, no great suspense. But I'm tired and the writer in me is a little sleepy. From the get go I knew HR Manager wanted to hate me. She was very curt in the beginning and gave me the stank when she greeted me. I was interviewed by her and another woman from the sales department for about 45 minutes. It was a very long interview but the moment I opened my mouth I redeemed myself. I was passionate and sincere and by the end of it they were both smiling and professing how great it was to talk with me.

No lie.

There are two more stages in the hiring process. I believe I was the first candidate they interview for this position. They had about 7 or 8 more people to interview (all of who have an interview next week) but that by the end of next week a few candidates will be asked back to have a second meeting with a Hiring Manager. I told her I would keep my ears and eye open for any and all voice mails left on my phone this week.

I left feeling completely...relieved. It was the best interview I have ever had. I was confidant and smart and witty and uber professional. I asked question, I softened their thoughts about me and damn it all to tell I would be shocked not to be asked in for a second interview. Shocked!

This is a huge turnover from the despair I felt only three days ago. It is weird to think that if all goes well I will finally have a job. A regular 9 to 5 gig in West Village of all places. This company is amazing and I can't get over the fact that I could be employed here. Like for serious.

The next few days are going to be stressful. I am already preparing for the second interview to be on the safe side. This is a production related gig and I will have to brush up on my tech knowledge. This could be situation changing and I could finally afford that futon I've wanted.

In the last 48 hours I've only gotten about 7 hours of sleep. No lie. I went directly (give or take an hour or so) from the interview to the bookstore for a closing shift. Because we close at 11 on the weekends I didn't get out of there until midnight, only to have to open this morning. Yeah, I closed the store and then opened the next day. I got like four hours of sleep and lagged around all day.

So I'm sleepy. Very sleepy. And will spend Sunday napping away. I deserve it.

Fingers crossed for me. Exciting news looms. I can feel it in the pit of my stomach.

Becks

P.S. Blogger has set up a new Spam blocker thing. So i am not the only 'bloggger' receiving weird spam like comments on my blog. I get them like four times a week and can not figure out if I am popular with foreign readers or if I am under a spam attack. But once again, if you don't see your comment there's a reason. The translations are bizarre, i refuse to post them.