Bad Interview

Now, mind you, I've interviewed all my life, I average 2 a year while I have a job and significantly more when I'm in between gigs (like now!). I've had bad interviews, horrible interviews, I even had a guy die on me once. but this last one was the worst. 

Meeting was at 1:00 and I arrived at the golden hour of 12:45. This allows me to see the employees at their lunchtime best (and identify if they are a cup-a-soup crowd or a subway crowd). The office is not an office, but a house, next to a small (but busy) regional airport. Every two minutes the entire structure rattles and shakes as tiny 4 seater planes barely clear the roof. The odd part was watching the employees as this is happening. Aluminum bullets loaded with aviation fuel are literally 5-10 feet above their heads and their discussing Lady GaGa's Grammy dress as if nothing is odd. 
The waiting room is not a lobby, but a converted mudroom and it already contains a "reception" desk. 

My interview was with the VP and he was late from lunch. He arrived somewhere around 10 after and we proceeded past the kitchen to one of the bedrooms which serves as his office. Now this house was converted to an office sometime in the 60's but it STILL had 60's space/rocket wallpaper! It also contained two desks. It seemed odd that a VP would share an office, but then again, at least it didn't have bunk beds!

He sits down and the very first words out of his mouth are - "I have no idea why Mike sent you here" (always a charmer this guy). He mentions that according to my resume, I've never worked in this industry and I quickly point out that in many of my jobs I was new to the industry and this allowed me to bring a fresh approach. Apparently, he's not looking for fresh. He wants someone with a golden rolodex, ability to talk the talk, and willing to pay for client's lap dances at the many fine establishments in the area (where I'm sure they have a tab).

Suffice to say this last interview lasted all of 8 minutes. I was outside ducking airplanes at 1:20 pm. I then went to the Nursing home/Hospice to visit my dad for a more uplifting experience.

Oops

True story - 
Just got off the phone with my sister who live in Oregon. My sister is 6 years older and my parents first born. I was adopted & came last in the line-up. Suffice to say due to age difference, my sister & I really didn't have a relationship until we were adults. 
One of the things we like to remind each other is how much my sister is like my mom & how I lucked out on that gene pool. Case in point. . .
Yesterday my sister & her neighbor decided (on the spur of the moment) to go to the local Y and go swimming. (I was always envious that she can do laps for an hour, while I'm lucky to actually do A lap!) Anyways, seems they decided to go to the local "alternative grocery store" after the swim & grabbed her cloth shopping bags from her trunk. She mentioned when checking out that the bag boy seemed a bit odd, but they chocked it up to the large quantity of raisin bran they purchased. Well imagine my sister's horror when she brought the bags into the house & was emptying the bags and found their bra's and panties in one of the bags!

A Little Background

Thought it might be useful to put a wee bit of background on me and why I started this Blog. Number 1, to vent and help me stay sane, and Number 2, Well, if it helps you in dealing with a similar situation – Great. And, if you are seeking new inspiration and ideas for a television show – Good Luck!

Perhaps the easiest way is to start from today and go back a few months. . .

Today is Valentines Day 2010, and the 2nd anniversary of my becoming bionic. You see, I have an AICD (http://health.howstuffworks.com/aicd2.htm) in my chest. It prevents me from SCD - Sudden Cardiac Death. I’ve been lucky that it’s never fired, but it has taken control and monitored a couple of situations.

January 1st, my father went into the hospital for a Gall Bladder/EColi Infection and recently has been transferred to a nursing home/hospice. He’s 92 and has dementia. He only knows me about 50% of the time when I visit him.

The day after Christmas, my wife of 28 years moved out (at my request). For more on that, see October. I lost my job December 3^rd. As we all know, this recession has hit the A/E/C (architecture/engineering/construction) industry very hard and my prior firm was just not very well diversified.

In October, I found out my wife had been having an affair for the past 6 months. This confirmed what I had suspected. Sadly, I found out a week before my birthday (Happy B-Day!) but couldn’t address the situation until after my #2 son’s B-day as I didn’t know how this was going to play out. Perhaps the worst 3 weeks of my life.

Also in October, I celebrated the 1^st anniversary of my Septal Myectomy (http://www.mayoclinic.org/hypertrophic-cardiomyopathy/treatment.html). I had found out a couple of years prior, that I had HCM (http://www.mayoclinic.org/cardiovascular-disease-rst/hypertrophic.html) and thought I might be able to escape surgery, but realized that Summer the medications I was taking were not doing the trick and surgical intervention was necessary. Sadly, there are very few surgeons experienced in this and I wanted to go to the best and that led me to Dr. Joe Dearani at the Mayo Clinic.

So for the past 6 months, you can see I’ve had a lot to deal with!

Aside from that, Some personal stuff - I’m the father of 3 boys (#1 is 24, #2 is 20 and #3 is 16) all living at home. You can find me at the gym M-F for about an hour & a half and I'm home before the sun rises. I consider myself a bit of a renaissance man as I like to design & build things. I did my pool, backyard & outdoor kitchen myself, and I love to cook (desserts especially).

I’ll be sharing bits and pieces as they become relevant. Until then, I welcome your comments. Thanks for allowing me to vent.