Woo Hoo

The nice lady at the local Sherwin Williams store has been too busy to look at my application and resume, therefore she did not call me yesterday as promised, therefore I called her today. Harried and hurried, she made an appointment for an interview Friday morning - my first interview since Marshalls in Albuquerque a year ago, and my fourth since leaving Massachusetts a year and a half ago. Here's hoping it leads to actual paid employment. It's part time and within walking distance, and it doesn't get any better than that!

I told the guy at Career Concepts Staffing Service that I feel like I have fourteen strikes against me, and I haven't even been up to bat. Number one: thare are always many many applicants for every job I've applied for; two: I'm the old guy they can eliminate quickly; three: I gots no eddycation past high school; four: I haven't been employed since June of '09; five: I had four employers from '05 to '09, although two of them were during a Mystic layoff; six: I've moved four times in five years, covering four states; seven: my career during the past twenty two years has been in an industry that does not exist in or near Meadville (maybe Pittsburgh?!) eight: I have "benign essential tremor" which causes my hands to shake, which I believe is perceived as a drinking problem, of which I have none (although I do drink a heavily spiked egg nog at least once every December;) nine: I have no vehicle, which was an asset in Boston but is perceived as a severe liability in Albuquerque and Meadville; ten: I am overweight, which is a consequence of a) not working and b) quitting smoking; eleven: I have applied for, probably two hundred jobs during the past year and a half, and had replies back from about six of them, which makes me angry that these companies will make me (us) jump through so many hoops to submit an application to them, but can't be bothered to call or email a notification that they've even received it! twelve: I am very disheartened by all of this, and I fear my cynicism might show. Ya think? So that's twelve. I'm sure at least two more will occur to me as soon as I publish this.

So that is why an interview is such a big deal. I hope I can go in there and calmly convince her that I have the physical and emotional durability she is looking for, even if I am an old geezer!