Just So Y'All Don't Forget About Me

Here I am, aliving and kicking. Had a job interview today, for a teaching job. It was exhilarating and exhausting. I have no idea how it went but I put a lot of mental effort into preparing and it was a very intense hour of give-and-take with a committee. I liked the people I met with very much.

Because the location was in the suburbs, a couple of hours away from me by public transportation (subway and commuter railroad), and the interview was early in the day, I decided to go out to the area the day before and stay in a hotel overnight. That worked out well, although there were some hair-raising moments when the hotel shuttle that was supposed to take me to campus for the interview turned out to be otherwise deployed in an airport run. The young woman at the check-in counter called a cab for me, but after about five or ten minutes, it became clear that that was not going to happen in time either. So then (at my urgent suggestion) she found another employee to drive me to campus. The drive was only a half-mile, but at this point we had only ten minutes, and the guy who was driving me did not know where the building I needed was and also did not seem to want to follow the signs pointing to it, so I was finally starting to get a little hysterical, but then we pulled up and asked some guy running a leaf blower where the building was, and he said, "It's right here, you've just pulled in," at which point I pretty much leaped out of the car and into the nearest entrance of the building, found the flooor I needed and then the room. The door was closed, which in my agitated state seemed puzzling to me, but then fortunately a committee member appeared and said she had missed the start of the interview that was just finishing and was waiting to join the group for mine, and why didn't I just have a seat. So I did, and we chatted, and I was immensely relieved and had some time to calm down before the interview started.

After the interview, the hotel shuttle, with the regular driver, did come to pick me up. Everyone back at the hotel was very nice, asking me how it went and saying they hoped it would work out. The hotel manager, who had supplied me with a pencil earlier, asked if that had made all the difference. I said, "Yes, it helped me look prepared."

As I was checking out, I asked someone to check the train schedule for the next train back to the city. It turned out there was one in about 12 minutes and then another one an hour later. "Can I make the 12:27?" I asked dubiously. The check-out clerk looked at the shuttle driver, who was kind of lounging nearby, and he, the driver, straightened up immediately, and said, "Yes, I'll take you." The woman behind the desk laughed and said, "Yes, he can do it."

We got back in the big white van and the driver asked (as he tossed my overpacked garment bag with  my interview suit and various appurtenances into the back), "Are you flying out?"

"No," I said, "I actually live in Brooklyn." Then I explained the whole thing, how I came out there for a job interview, stayed at the hotel because the interview was early, etc. "Yeah, it makes sense," he said.

I sat in front with him because it seemed more companionable, but then I discovered I was too tired to chat. So we sat in silence for the six-minute drive, except for me noting that I still had to buy a ticket and him reassuring him that we would be there in time. I was already feeling nostalgic for the hotel, for the moment in time that was my night there, full of expectation for the interview the next day which was now over and might lead to something or might not.

When we got out at the station, he handed me my bag and I said, "Thanks, take care," and he said, "You  too," looking at me directly and seriously. He had really nice blue eyes, I noticed then.

That's all for now, I think.