Dead Man Walking

What a gorgeous day. Despite the fact that i was on my way to a job interview, i could not help noticing how beautiful it was outside. Knowing that one of the easiest ways to make a possible future employer cringe is to show up tardy to an interview i ended up sitting inside my car in the Burger King parking lot for ten minutes and spending another ten in the CCLI parking lot. Most of that time dissipated while i was attempting to anticipate possible questions that could be asked of me. Moments before i got out of my vehicle the sun disapeared. Although, i am in no way superstitious, i could not help but think that the advent of gloom may be a bad omen. A voice inside my head yelled out, "Dead man walking!" as i strolled up to the front doors. Despite my 20 minutes of loitering in various parking lots i was still about eight minutes early. After announcing my presence to the receptionest, i was informed that, Mark, my prospective employer was still in a meeting. Putting on a false front of bravery, i made my way over to one of the empty chairs in the entryway, sat down, and in an attempt to calm my nerves picked up a National Geographic and flipped through it. Twenty minutes and one article covering the swarming influx of people into the suburbs later, my interview began.

I think i babbled a lot. But i think i was able to answer his questions somewhat thouroughly if not succinctly. The discouraging points of the interview were two-fold. The first was a sudden, unexpected inquiry by Mark about the multiplication of the numeral 20 with the numeral 12. Blind-sided by the unexpected question, i stuttered for a few seconds before blurting out an answer which, though i presently dont recall, i believe to have been incorrect. The second point of discouragement came when Mark announced that there would be a basic accounting test. At first i wasn't overly alarmed because i tend to test well and if only the test contained math problems of a sort, i thought i might have a shot at logically deducing the answers. Unfortunately for myself, the nearest resemblance to a math problem was the line where i was supposed to put the date. Most of it was defining accounting terms and identifying types of accounts. A voice in my head, i believe it was the same voice that yelled, "dead man walking!" broke into a fit of laughter. Not surprisingly i felt no pressure. Pressure can only be felt in stressful situations when the person in the situation feels they have a chance to come out of the situation for the better. I was under no such delusion. So, i did the only sensible thing i could do. I made up a bunch of stuff and wrote it down. When Mark returned to pick up the test, i handed it to him and confessed that if i got a single answer correct on that test, it was by no skill or knowledge of mine, but if i made it to a second interview i would make sure i knew all the answers. On that note, i left. The sun was still hidden when i began my journey home.