Take to the sky
At the end of my first interview on Wednesday, the HR woman I spoke with explained the company benefits package. I know I've spoken about my confidence when it comes to interviewing, and that interview did little to diminish my confidence. Nor did the second interview the following day. But when she spoke about benefits, I started to get scared.
A full-time, permanent position has been my goal since we moved back to California last May, and it has stubbornly stayed out of my reach. I can deal with that. But benefits are something I have not enjoyed since August of 2002, when I left Pinnacle to start the Utah Odyssey. Living without benefits means constantly worrying about everything. In Utah, Anna cut her hand bad enough to, under insured circumstances, warrant stitches. She contemplated doing them herself. We ended up going with a lot of band-aids. That's the most realized example of the worrying that I have felt since August of 2002. What if I trip and break something? Is there something wrong with the hardware in my bad leg or is that just a storm coming in?
So you can understand when she started explaining health, dental, and vision benefits that I had a hard time keeping myself from welling up. The Holy Grail was within reach…
My second face-to-face interview yesterday went even better, I felt, than the first. All that was left was my references. I sent the HR woman four references. She only needed the first - my current supervisor here. As I was told by her, her assessment of me was glowing. I was speaking with her in her office when I heard my crickets - the ringtone on my phone assigned to numbers not in my address book. Could it be? Could it? Please?
The message took an agonizingly long time to make it to my inbox. After about fifteen years, my phone chirped that I had a voice mail waiting and would you-GIVE ME THE GODDAMN MESSAGE NOW, PHONE, OR I WILL DESTROY YOU.
There is something ridiculously simple, and concise with the first sentence the HR woman left on my voice mail. So simple and concise that their impact did not register for a few seconds, like when Anna cut her finger in Utah and it took a few seconds before it started to bleed and bleed and bleed…
"We're ready to make you an offer."
A full-time, permanent position has been my goal since we moved back to California last May, and it has stubbornly stayed out of my reach. I can deal with that. But benefits are something I have not enjoyed since August of 2002, when I left Pinnacle to start the Utah Odyssey. Living without benefits means constantly worrying about everything. In Utah, Anna cut her hand bad enough to, under insured circumstances, warrant stitches. She contemplated doing them herself. We ended up going with a lot of band-aids. That's the most realized example of the worrying that I have felt since August of 2002. What if I trip and break something? Is there something wrong with the hardware in my bad leg or is that just a storm coming in?
So you can understand when she started explaining health, dental, and vision benefits that I had a hard time keeping myself from welling up. The Holy Grail was within reach…
My second face-to-face interview yesterday went even better, I felt, than the first. All that was left was my references. I sent the HR woman four references. She only needed the first - my current supervisor here. As I was told by her, her assessment of me was glowing. I was speaking with her in her office when I heard my crickets - the ringtone on my phone assigned to numbers not in my address book. Could it be? Could it? Please?
The message took an agonizingly long time to make it to my inbox. After about fifteen years, my phone chirped that I had a voice mail waiting and would you-GIVE ME THE GODDAMN MESSAGE NOW, PHONE, OR I WILL DESTROY YOU.
There is something ridiculously simple, and concise with the first sentence the HR woman left on my voice mail. So simple and concise that their impact did not register for a few seconds, like when Anna cut her finger in Utah and it took a few seconds before it started to bleed and bleed and bleed…
"We're ready to make you an offer."