The Aerie
I went yesterday and did the humiliating drug testing for my upcoming not-very-excited-about-it position. It's the equivalent of Mr. Burns giving Homer the plague, a demoralizing and soul-crushing means of making sure new employees realize just how desperately they need this new job.
And I do need it: after six weeks of unemployment the bank account is getting a little thin, and there's always that lag between when you start working and when they start paying you. In the past I've had to wait as much as six weeks for the first paycheck. While that does suck, there is a corresponding lag on the back end, so when you leave such a job you have six paid weeks in order to find a new one. Unfortunatey my last contract paid very promptly, and we haven't seen a check in quite some time now.
After peeing in a cup in one room and being fingerprinted in another I found myself in the lobby of the client's downtown office building, right next to a store selling suits. Now, I do need a new suit: I don't think I have purchased a new suit in ten years. And on Monday I have an interview for an executive level position in which I am quite interested. That, along with the aforementioned soul-crushing humiliation, caused me to lay down my tired, battered, threadbare credit card in order to buy myself a new suit, a charcoal-gray Calvin Klein with a gold "power tie," shirt, belt, and shoes. However I put my foot down on buying the extra-thick moth-repellant cedar hangar: I'm no sucker for the upsell!
If there was any doubt in my mind about getting the new suit, it was polished off in the middle of the fitting when by text message a friend notified me that she had just lost her job. Somehow her getting canned just made it even more sensible for me to be ready for Monday's interview. Anyway, alterations should be done tomorrow, and the suit ready for Monday's performance.
I don't start the un-wanted job until the following Tuesday, so hopefully if I'm going to get the one that I am hoping for I may receive an offer during the intervening week. As much as I hate trying to get one job when I've already accepted another, that's just a harsh reality of business: worse would be to work there for two days and then leave.
Worse yet, however, would be to have to work at the unwanted job on an ongoing basis - but I'm the dad and the guy with the responsibility, so I'll "Do it for her" if I have to!
Posted by Albatross at February 10, 2007 2:20 PM | TrackBack