So, I went on a job interview Friday evening. The reason I went at that late time was to ensure that the person already in the role would not see me...sly, eh? It wasn't my idea, but what the heck, right?
The job was in biotechnology CEO's house about 30 miles north of where I live now in the upscale, and uphills of the northern part of our county. So, just for the fun of it, I dragged my son with me to do a "dry run" of the route the day before my meeting...such a good idea. The majority of the trip was fine, mostly on paved, main roads that had a lot of hills, but did I mention that they were paved MAIN roads?
We found the turn-off road (after a couple of missed times), read the "cattle crossing" sign and the "one lane road" sign and headed up the mountainous dirt road. It's a very good thing I had an AWD vehicle...it was an awful experience until we found the road (paved) where the CEO's house was located. As we made our way DOWN the mountain on the other side of the one-lane, dirt, cattle-crossing road, we encountered a rather large pickup truck towing a trailer with a mower on the back. I squeezed as close to the right side of the "road" as I could, and decided then and there, this job was so not worth it.
When my son and I got home and explained the trip to my husband, he suggested that perhaps there was another way to get to the good CEO's paved road, so we whipped out a county map and lo and behold, there was! So I figured, why not go for the meeting...what am I doing anyway, right? I leave myself an hour to do the 30-mile drive just in case I'm looking at another unpaved mountainous route. The new access road was about 2.5 miles north past the original one, and it was paved, although not clearly marked, so I missed it on the first pass. It was a lot easier to get to the CEO's paved road, but it was a long road and had a lot of ups and downs, past beautiful fields. I turn into the driveway and am greeted by a huge poodle who felt the need to stay extremely close to the car as I was parking it (kill the owner's dog...good for a first impression, no?). As I turned to look for the huge poodle, there he was, anxiously waiting for me to leave the car, with his paws on my driver's side window...sooo cute!
Fortunately, I love dogs, so it wasn't too bad, and when I met the little Scottie who was airborne with excitement, I thought, "hmmm...the guy has pets...good sign." I went up to the open front door and knocked as the dogs did laps in and out of the house. Wafting out of the house was heat and a smell I can only compare to a closed up museum...we're talking about 40 years of being closed up. The CEO motions for me to come in as he's talking on the phone, and I enter a HUGE great room (or is it a GREAT huge room) where there is a bison head over the massive fireplace and museum quality stagnant air and furniture. I believe there were other stuffed animals, but the heat and the smell was very distracting.
As the CEO, dressed in shorts and a polo shirt (that's Ralph Lauren's Polo brand polo), greeted me, I saw a 70-ish pleasant-looking man who apologized profusely because he would only have about 15-20 minutes to talk to me on account of the dinner party he was hosting at his home like soon. We walked out to a beautiful patio with a cool cat, flowers and other plantings and so many bees and wasps buzzing about...I hate bees and wasps, and he launched into his questioning of my skills including how fast did I type. Fast??? I told him I've been typing since dirt was invented, and had no way of knowing. He did a quick look at my resume, and asked me a bit more about my experience...rushing me through my answers, by the way, and then I asked him why was he seeking to replace the person who currently had the role. He went on that she was very nice and he liked her, but she was young and inexperienced in the ways of a professional office, and she did not understand what the word "privvy" meant or what "shuttle" meant when he asked her to look into a NY-to-Boston shuttle. I defended her inexperience and said that she needs experience to be experienced, but for him, he did not have the patience to be that guy, know what I mean?
Then came the $64 question from him, how much did I want to make in the job...and I went to the high end of the salary scale that was posted because I felt with my experience and with the trip, that would be fair. That's when he told me that they were on "thin ice" with regard to funding, and that they would only be able to pay $20,000 less than that top figure for now...with no other benefits like medical insurance, etc. Right.
So then I asked him what were his expectations in terms of the person in the role, and he went through the usual junk which was fine (I had already figured, "no way, Bub") until he added that the person would be expected to water all his plants and...wait for it...take his pets to the vet's for their checkups...huh? I said, are you kidding? He never really answered THAT question. As the meeting came to a close, he apologized again for the hurried push, but that he would definitely call me because he'd like to talk more and show me the offices, etc.
Bottom line for me: I take care of ONE household's pets...my own...and so I'm breaking up with him before we get too serious...am I right? Even if he paid me the full friggin' salary and threw in all the insurance benefits, I wouldn't do it, especially after having to drive by way of the Big Rock Candy Mountain.
So, my search goes on...gawd!
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