Feeling like a failure before lunchtime
I thought I'd been pretty clever, scheduling a look at an apartment for right before a job interview. That way, the rental agent would see me dressed up for the interview and think I'm reliable and won't miss my rent and the like. I don't remember ever wearing a tie to look at rentals as Martin, and I have no idea whether women do the equivelent or not. There seem to be more reasons to dress up for a woman than there are for a man, not to mention more levels of dressing up. Heck, there aren't really levels like there are for a man (from shorts/tee to tux), just a continuum, but you've still got to pick the right spot.

I don't know if I'd say it backfired, but it was an "I can't win" thing. I imagine I looked prosperous enough that I didn't have much negotiating room, but I didn't want to say I was looking for work, either - I've got no idea what Michelle's credit history was a year ago, and there's always people looking for apartments in Boston. In the end, I really didn't want to make a decision without Carter, but the rent just looked like it was going to be to high.

Then, afterward, the interview didn't go well. I guess I learned that there were some things I should avoid when looking for work. It was an interview at a hotel, and even though the classified ad had said "no prior experience necessary", they evidently saw Michelle's previous work at a ski resort and started asking about hospitality industrty stuff that I had no clue on. I bet they didn't ask the other candidates who didn't have similar entries on their resumés about specific computer systems. I was like a deer in the headlights, and tried to get by on saying that it had been over a year since I'd used them. You can read people, sometimes, and I got the impression that the woman interviewing me wasn't pleased. It probably didn't help that I'd worn a fairly short skirt, thinking that "Alex" was a guy's name (well, that and it was pretty warm again today). So I guess I learned to hedge my bets re sex appeal, too.

All before 10:30, so I had plenty of time to get to work for an 11:00am-6:30pm shift. So it wound up being a long day.

-Marti
- posted 9:27 PM - - (archive use only)