Previously in Part I . . .
I felt confident and excited as I approached the Operations Center where my interview would take place. I was also terrified. What if a more tech-y person wanted the job? What if they laughed at my grunt computer skills?
I opened the heavy metal door and entered the Operations Center. The entire Staff was sitting around the table, waiting. All 15 of them. Oh man! It was going to be a gang interview.
I could not tell you all that happened. The hour and 1/2 is a blur now. Only 2 questions I remember being asked, and I remember them because they were so strange.
1) “Do you have an aversion to food?” I thought this a dumb question to ask someone who was over-weight. Of course I answered “No”. It was obvious I loved food.
2) “Would you be willing to join our softball team? This struck me as a trick question, and I had to ponder this a bit. Flash backs of high school gym class and hating softball because no one ever wanted the “Queen of Fouls” on their team. Being made fun of because when I whacked the ball I would take off running, never quite getting what made a foul ball a foul ball.
I had to be honest with these people. “Well,” I said. ” It would probably be in the best interest of your team if I joined a different one.”
A day went by. Then two days. I did not hear anything from the Ops Center or my supervisor. Was the “gang” still interviewing people? For MY job? I managed to wait until a week after the interview to call and speak with the woman who would be the supervisor for MY job. She told me that they had finished the interview process and would be making a decision soon.
Three days later, I called and asked if I was still in the running. Panic was starting to set in. What was taking so long? Why must they torture me? What level of Hell is this?
It took 2 more weeks (and descending to deeper levels of Hell) for them to finally decide. My supervisor called me that evening at home to tell me the outcome. She knew I was having a break down over this and she told me she did not want me to have to wait until morning for the news. I am sure she was relieved to get me off her back.
I was officially offered MY job. The best decision they and I ever made! I still work for the Ops Center. After I completed my Computer Science degree I moved into a technical position for them. This June I will have been with the “gang” 17 years.
It will take a very large crow-bar to remove me from here.
Jodi Lea's Place 