Priorities.

The amount of time I spend sitting and waiting has increased exponentially over the past few weeks. Tonight, it's sitting and waiting for my son, who is at the barber shop.  This could be awhile, because like the beauty shop, barber shops and barbers are typically in absolutely no hurry.  They take calls, watch bootleg movies and chew the fat (or dish the dirt) with their co-workers and the customers who are in absolutely no hurry.  My eyes are drooping and I am in grave danger of falling asleep right here in my bowl of black bean soup.  I love you Panera, but you are doing nothing to keep me awake right now.  I keep forgetting how early it is.  With the clocks being turned back, it's completely dark by five.  I am so ready for a nap, but my evening has just begun.

For the second time in the past two weeks, I have been asked during a job interview (by a much younger person) my birth date and/or age.  My sister says I shouldn't bother informing them that this is an illegal question.  Also, the question about whether you have reliable transportation?  Things may very well have changed, but the last time I hired someone, that was off-limits too.  I called 20 minutes before my interview to inform them that I'd be a little late.  This is only because they insisted on my bringing copies of things I'd emailed to them, which I had to stop for, and because my visit to the hospital for tests was delayed because their computers went down. I didn't bother to explain any of this because the feeling of being unwelcome was so thick in the air that I figured "why bother?" What I did have a problem with is the less than 6 but more than 3 times I was asked "what time were you supposed to be here?"  This was hammered more than I was that night I slucked (my dad's word) down three Long Island iced teas before I realized that Lipton and Long Island aren't anywhere near each other.  I get it!  I was asked to call if I encountered any problems, which I did.  I was even asked what time I called and this was before they even buzzed me in. Okay, I get it, I was late, but adequate parking would have saved me another five minutes--just saying.  Geez...Good news is, thanks to a very professional consultant who was open to warming up to me, and did, it ended up going well once I was able to start talking about something other than the time.  Still, the owner was extremely rude to me upon arrival, antagonistic during the interview, and curt at the end.  Funny thing is, sometimes people think that this represents professionalism.  Knowing better, I was both annoyed and amused.  

That experience is filed under the "never again" tab.  I put up with the treatment because people often tell me that I am too quick to react (and politely put people in their place) so I just nodded and tried to smile.  I'm not sure that I was successful.  If I was, it was really hard.  Once the owner left the room, the tension pretty much went with her.  You may wonder why I would even consider this job?  Because I don't have anything to prove.  This was an arena where I am an expert and yes, they would be lucky to have me. There was also a bit of an obsession with whether I'd be able to take direction and follow directions, even if I didn't agree.  By obsession, I mean that I was asked three times.  I can only assume that this has been a problem in the past, and as a former manager I know that such employees can be a real pain.  So I just absorbed that and tried not to be offended.  We'll see what happens...

Now, back to the enjoyable part of the day.  After leaving the barbershop, we went home and my son got dressed for the school's homecoming dance.  He's a handsome kid:


Priorities, folks. What I remember most about this day is illustrated right here.  Had to let that other stuff go!