Job Hunting
I hate job hunting. It's dehumanizing, and lately I've been feeling more and more useless as people tell me that they've hired people that had previous experience in the position or rehired old employees.
That said: NOTHING could be more humiliating than what I went through at the Goddard school where I applied as a preschool teacher. After filling out an application and leaving a resumé, they said they would get back to me in a few days, and they even made it seem as though they were interested. Two weeks passed and nothing came of it, and I was in the neighborhood after visiting another potential employer, I decided to check on the status of my application. As I walked in I heard "Yeah, you should probably get the kids into their classrooms now." and the person that had been extremely nice to me just a few days before asked me to sit in her office for a moment, while she "talked to someone." A few moments later I was introduced to Owen, a little blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy wearing an elmo T-shirt, who asked me immediately when he looked up at me "Where's daddy?" and stood was placed between myself and this poor excuse for a human being, as she explained that the full-time position had been filled, and the part-time position was being taken up by someone returning from sick leave. She had Owen tell me "bye-bye," as I walked out the door. That's when it hit me: She was USING this child as a human shield in case I became violent about the position not being available. I wasn't sure what to think at this moment, because two things came to mind 1) I was really very hurt that they saw me as intimidating enough that I may cause harm in front of children or to children. That broke my freaking heart.
2) I was enraged by the fact that if this was the case, that she would willing put a child in harm's way to save her own skin. This sickened me beyond all belief, just the thought that she would hide behind a child that was four, maybe five years old makes me believe that this person belongs in a special level of hell. I didn't care that I didn't get the job, and even if they hadn't made a spectacle of themselves by tripping over each other to hide from me, just telling me that the job wasn't available, or that I was not qualified for the position would have been enough, I would have politely said thank you and walked away.
That said: NOTHING could be more humiliating than what I went through at the Goddard school where I applied as a preschool teacher. After filling out an application and leaving a resumé, they said they would get back to me in a few days, and they even made it seem as though they were interested. Two weeks passed and nothing came of it, and I was in the neighborhood after visiting another potential employer, I decided to check on the status of my application. As I walked in I heard "Yeah, you should probably get the kids into their classrooms now." and the person that had been extremely nice to me just a few days before asked me to sit in her office for a moment, while she "talked to someone." A few moments later I was introduced to Owen, a little blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy wearing an elmo T-shirt, who asked me immediately when he looked up at me "Where's daddy?" and stood was placed between myself and this poor excuse for a human being, as she explained that the full-time position had been filled, and the part-time position was being taken up by someone returning from sick leave. She had Owen tell me "bye-bye," as I walked out the door. That's when it hit me: She was USING this child as a human shield in case I became violent about the position not being available. I wasn't sure what to think at this moment, because two things came to mind 1) I was really very hurt that they saw me as intimidating enough that I may cause harm in front of children or to children. That broke my freaking heart.
2) I was enraged by the fact that if this was the case, that she would willing put a child in harm's way to save her own skin. This sickened me beyond all belief, just the thought that she would hide behind a child that was four, maybe five years old makes me believe that this person belongs in a special level of hell. I didn't care that I didn't get the job, and even if they hadn't made a spectacle of themselves by tripping over each other to hide from me, just telling me that the job wasn't available, or that I was not qualified for the position would have been enough, I would have politely said thank you and walked away.