We were about twenty minutes into the interview when it became obvious they had looked at the wrong resume before scheduling my interview. That awkward moment…..I can’t describe how it felt other than complete devastation. I walked from the office onto the sales floor and got to the parking lot before my eyes started to do the cry thing, and by the time I had the doors locked I was in tears. I hadn’t properly prepared myself for the fact I might not get the job. I had been staring at the Rocky Mountains all morning, planning a new start, and now the job offer and all that came with it was gone I couldn’t look at them anymore without it hurting, my dream was dead in the water.
I called my dad and told him that things didn’t go well. I think he was more shocked than I was, I was completely qualified for this job, this was supposed to happen. In the past few months he and I have gotten closer than we have ever been. I had another breakdown while we talked but after a few minutes I set the GPS back to Albuquerque got back on the road.
I had gotten weather alert on my phone as I left town and some sort of La Nina Mountain Jet Stream nightmare was ahead of me but I had tickets to see TOOL in six hours.
“How the fuck bad can it is?” I thought,” I’m from West Texas, wind is all I know” but this wind was different…it was blowing so hard I had the keeps both hands on the wheel the entire time with the ‘vice grips’ on if you know what I mean. I zoomed past the semis that were putting along in the right lane, the trailers on the trucks would still sway to the yellow line boundaries, I would honk and curse them knowing full and well in this type of environment, the SUV was king and they would soon be a rear view memory.
The mountain winds which I learned later had reached gusts of 100 mph began to die down as I entered New Mexico and by the time the sun was set the wind was gone. New Mexico is a different kind of ‘pretty’ as opposed to Colorado. The mountains seem mountianier in Colorado. With my mind off the scenery, the wind down to a roar and no cell phone reception or radio stations I was left with my thoughts and began to backtrack.
If you asked me the week I graduated from college what my career plans were I would have said” I think I want to work for CPS, I know they don’t make a lot of dollars but if it could help a kid it would be worth it” I had a friend who even worked at the local office and said that positions were available and he would provide a good reference if needed. But he also told me some of the type shit I might see in the field but he said as long as I didn’t take any of it ‘home’ I would be good. Fate soon intervened at a bar in Amarillo the following weekend and I ran into an old boss and was offered another job doing nothing regarding helping children but it did offer more money… a lot more, so I took it almost immediately. The position was in management which is just really paid babysitting but I made good money, I worked there for three years until I quit after I was electrocuted by a machine one night. Then I just kind of stumbled along various jobs until I started in wireless retail and there I have been ever since. Just kind of comfortably drifting along from company to company not realizing how much I needed to finally make a change. So as I drove I began to put the pieces together on a new plan, far away from the world of sales to something I could do what I had originally set out to do and passionate stupid kid. I am now a passionate stupid adult with goals redirected to teaching or social work. For the first time in a long while I felt that I am heading in a positive direction. As I drove into Albuquerque and made my way to the concert, the nightmare of the worst interview I have had was far from my memory, as i pulled on the doors opening the doors of the coliseum I was smashed in the face with a Hooker with a Penis wall of sound (u ogt) the show had started but I knew I hadn’t missed much cause I had looked at the set list online (I’m ogt) I made my way to the floor expecting to be seconds away from the smashfest that is the floor section of a concert, only to find assigned seating and ushers attempting to settle the chaos of dozen of drunk and stoned people that can’t find the right seat. So I did what I do best and played dumb I walked all the way to the front and stood next to the front row until an usher told me I was in the wrong seat. I asked the usher where my seat was, he stared at the back of the chair I was in and attempted to read the number using his cell phone as a light.
“Uhh, it’s over there” and pointed to the back of the venue. So then I went to the other side and repeated the process and TOOL was five songs into their set before an usher physically escorted me to my assigned seat and loudly contained myself the rest of the show.
I made it to Santa Rosa that night before I decided to stay at the only hotel in town with no heat or hot water. The amount of butt hurt that was felt was epic. I was still covered in sweat...tears from the show, the last few miles had been filled with the thoughts of a hot shower and warm bed gone I crawled into the cold bed with all my clothes and laid there thinking about all the events of my day and finally fell asleep.
I slept for a few hours and was back on the road at work later that afternoon. The next week our district manager called me to the office and told me that I was being laid off. Sales were slow and the company was cutting back and closing locations. I was given two weeks’ severance as compensation which I really didn’t expect and appreciate.
The wireless world has officially aborted me and now it’s time for a new chapter in my life. One in which I make a positive influence, like I did when I was young and didn’t know how things worked yet.
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