A Long Day's Journey

It was such a freakishly exciting time --- getting the offer for my dream job. I felt as though I played my cards exactly right. I never feel that way. Somehow I avoided verbal incontinence. I remained focused. I remained articulate. Circled back to things I was not sure I'd answered thoroughly enough. I stopped feeling like I'd be lucky to get the job and made them feel like they'd be lucky to be the company I chose. I dropped all the interview advice I'd ever been given and interviewed like I work. I could hardly wait to get started. Even as I waited for the day of my final interview to arrive I was emailing the person who would be my boss to offer ideas about resolving some of the problems they'd been experiencing. I was that sure of myself. I envisioned myself in the job. There were no reservations. Not a single thing that made me go, "Hmmmm." There was no stopping me. That's usually where I get myself into trouble.

But apparently that was the right thing to do, ballsy as it was. Ballsy was apparently what they were looking for. It's a shame you can't advertise for that. "We'd like a take-no-prisoners bad ass with a brain and good business etiquette. You should look like someone who deserves respect and speak like a scholar but at the end of the day you must have the heart of a warrior and be ferocious as a shark. Just don't lose your cool or bitch slap anyone. That wouldn't be good. We like nice people here. We like our nice people to get a lot of shit accomplished, however, so the faint of heart need not get too comfy in their office chairs." My boss not only liked that I had reached out on a weekend with an idea, she liked the idea. So much so that she said that I'd leave of the last interview with an offer. It certainly made it something to look forward to. But also a little nerve wracking. What if let my confidence get the best of me and I didn't nail it and I walked out empty handed? I was afraid to say anything to anyone. I was afraid I'd jinx it. Wouldn't that be just my luck. Dream job up in smoke because the VP was in a competing sorority or the Chief has a niece vying for the same gig. It's happened before.

On the day of the interview, at the appointed hour, without speaking to anyone except a couple of constant cheerleaders, I carefully dressed in the only outfit I had left that 1) I had not already worn to interview with them, and 2) still fit. I have a closet full of business clothes that look like they were purchased to wear over hockey pads.

I spent time with a few of the same people I'd met before, and a couple of new ones (including a VP from a competing sorority! I must be psychic!) and then my potential boss. Everything had gone beautifully but I was a total wreck as I walked into her office. Would she give me the offer or not? What had she been able to learn about me as she discreetly followed up on my meetings moments after I left them? I could hear my heart beating. I was like an Edgar Allen Poe short horror story. I was sure it could be heard in the next room.

We made small talk (which frankly scared the shit out of me) and then got into the meat of things. She asked me a lot about my opinions at this point. I was cool and collected for a time and then I just stopped, looked at her and said, "To be completely transparent, I could not be more excited about this job. There is nothing that scares me about anything that you've told me and in fact to the contrary, I am dying to get my hands around some of the problems you've described. It is what I like to do."

She could not have smiled more broadly as she began to describe the little known highlights of working for one of the coolest companies on the planet. It just kept getting better. And at the end of several seemingly endless run on sentences, she pulled an offer letter out of a file on her desk and presented me with a verbal offer as she went through each paragraph showing me where each item was confirmed in print.

I looked up at her, somehow keeping my grip on my excitement. "I know it's not cool to accept an offer on the spot and I am supposed to say I need to take a night to think this over and compare it to my other burning offers and discuss it with my family, but the truth is that I don't know a single person that could talk me out of this. I'd be thrilled to accept and think we should just start talking about a start date."

I have no recollection about anything that happened in the next 15 minutes except that we nailed down a start date and copied my letter (suitable for framing). My feet barely touched the ground as I made my way out, and she hugged me at the door. All the fragments of the world were falling into place at once and forming a masterpiece mosaic. I could hardly wait to get out to my car and turn on my phone. A call to Charlotte. A call to Terry. A text to Craig.

And when I arrived at home and walked in the back door, the kids came around the corner to greet me, cautiously asking how my interview had gone. Bracing themselves for bad news. I told them it had gone well and that I was a little tired. And then I suggested we go out to dinner BECAUSE I GOT THE JOB!

You would have thought I'd said we'd won the lottery and were going to Disney to spend money like sailors. Hil and Pat were jumping up and down and screaming and hugging me and hugging each other and scaring the cats (who frankly were wondering what was taking me so long to open the tuna can...) Hil took immediately to Facebook to post in all caps that her awesome Mom just landed the coolest job in the world.

We went to a favorite haunt. Pat put on a nice shirt. Hil wore a dress. Dinner never tasted so good. And for the first time in months, pulling out my credit card didn't give me the vapors.