My girl Friday

I set out this morning to try once again to liberate my car from the glacier that had formed around it. I had a a half hour to work with, and if The Universe was feeling good towards me, I'd get it out within that time frame, and avoid being late for my interview in Wilmington. I accomplished the feat, for feat it was, in thirty two minutes. My Landlord had watched me the day before chipping away, in futile fashion, at the ice with a plastic shovel---like trying to jack up a car with a corn curl, that was---and offered me her ice chipper. Without it, it would have taken me forever to get my car out. I thank you, Marie.

I interviewed at a pest control place (my attempt at thinking outside the box) and I was there longer than it would take me to sit through four catholic weddings. For some reason, going into it I thought I'd be in and out. Not to be: I was subjected to personality tests, math tests, and was meant to read reams of literature on company policies, health benefits, you name it. While reading, I was alerted to the fact that they issue drug tests to all new empolyees. Well, let's just say I've smoked a little of the Hobbit's pipe weed from time to time. I probably shouldn't have bothered with the tests and the follow up interview because of that, but I figured I may as well because of all the trouble I went to getting there.

When I finished, I brought my paperwork to Tim, the manager of the place, and sat down for an interview. He seemed eager to process the personality test into the computer, and while he was doing that he asked if I had any questions for him.

"Well, it's not a question, but I feel I should tell you that I wouldn't pass the drug test. I'm not a chronic user, but I smoke marijuana from time to time", I said. "So, I don't know if you want to continue with this".

He looked a little put off, half smiled, and replied " Well, I don't know if that would immediately disqualify you, but it probably would".

And from there he proceeded with the rest of the interview, as if I never brought it up. He reviewed my personality profile and seemed to like what he saw. From it, he gleaned that I'm easy going, intuitive, hardly the rabble rouser, trend away from dominance and towards understanding. Yes, what he had before him, pot smoking aside, was a model employee and all around good chap.

At one point he noted that some people who test like me are often uncomfortable sharing less than positive feelings with their superiors, to which I replied, "I just told you I smoke pot". Touche.

An interesting aspect of the job description is the fact that because the work is seasonal---not very lucrative in the winter---most employees are laid off from November to March. I say that it's interesting because if I got the job, I'd be laid off as soon as I was hired. I brought this up to him and he just smiled put his arms up in the air and said, " Uh, yeah, I can't say for sure, but that's probably the way it would go. We'll see what happens with the job. If I were to be offered it, and it's dubious that I will be, I'd be looking at going to work at five in the morning. I'd also have to take a physical and get my pesticide license. I'm still mildly intrigued about the job, despite all of that. It would be interesting, for a while at least, killing invasive critters for a living.