Don't pick up the phone

The other afternoon, as it seemed my options weren’t looking so good with the holiday season approaching for job hunting, with the job searching coming to a festive halt, I received a phone call I was not expecting. I should have realized when the caller Id showed that it was “unknown” there was something fishy. As I pick up the call, a booming voice demanded to speak with Joanna Kent, and lucky for them I was she!

Part of me thought, maybe I should have just taken a message for “her,” but I decided I had to know who was demanding I come to the phone. It was for a job I must have applied to months ago, because when he said where he was calling from I didn’t even remember applying there. I figured I would be able to go back into my e-mails and find all the details of what I had applied for so I went along with the conversation. “When can you come in for an interview? I’m busy Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, how about Friday,” he boomed through the phone to which I politely said, “well it is a holiday, so if you wanted we could meet next week.”

Without hesitation he said, “it’s not a holiday for me.” At that point I should have politely declined after all it WAS a holiday for me! Sensing this is not someone I want to work with I should have said “no thank you,” but instead I agreed to 3:00 on Friday without even thinking that we wouldn’t even be in the state, since we would be spending Thanksgiving with my husband’s family. I called my husband to tell him about the awkward conversation and interview time, and how I didn’t even know what the job was! When my e-mails search didn’t pan out as I had hoped, he urged me to just call him back and ask. I hesitated, but my husband didn’t realize the way I had already been spoken to, with little to no compassion, I was scared I would “get in trouble” as small children do when they stick their hand where they have been told 20 times “don’t touch that,” and BAM, the wrath of a parent would come out for not knowing better.

I agreed, and called back. “Hi, it’s Joanna Kent I just spoke with you a few moments ago, and I thought I could look back at my e-mails and see but I couldn’t find anything. I’m sorry what job am I interviewing for?” I could hear him breathing heavy and literally making huffing sounds as he replied, “I have to check your resume.” Confused I said, “oh no, I just want to know what position,” to which he replied even louder, “I need your resume.” I could hear papers shuffling and his deep annoyed breathing, and finally he says, “YOU wrote office personnel.” Now this was my mistake, I should have just said thank you and hung up, but I didn’t. I asked, “well do you know what the actual position is?” You would have thought I just called him a derogatory name because the way he spoke to me I was actually more scared than before that he was going to slap me the next time he saw me. “I don’t know! That’s what YOU put. Anyway the office manager will be there and she will know more, I don’t know this stuff!”

At that, I thanked him and hung up. I saw my husband on facebook and wrote him the conversation. Later that night when I was trying to readjust our plans so I could manage the interview time, Michael was like, “don’t go on that interview.” There had only been one other time that he had said that, and that was when the company had scam alerts on it. This was a reputable place of business that had called me in! But it made me so relieved he said it. I legitimately was scared that I would get the job and have to work for someone who talked to me like that just to set up an interview. How would he talk to me as an employee? And worse, he had no idea what I was interviewing for and he runs the place? Then my husband said, “plus I read your blog today and I believed what you said, why would you even want to work there when you really want that other job?” It’s moments like that when I know I’m the luckiest girl in the world. Sure I might be unemployed, but my husband thinks I’m worth more than money…and that’s pretty awesome.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!