The Buhner.com Blog

I’m not a happy man.

I’ve been exploring other options in regards to my current employment. My current job isn’t bad, but there are several things that could make it better, such as opportunity to grow, benefits, more income, and interesting work. I’m not really interested in telephones nor the telephone industry, or being a customer service person, which is pretty much what I am now. The job is good for paying my bills, and the people who work there are good, but I know there are better opportunites for me out there.

So along comes this local department store, who had contacted me some many months ago back when I was an unemployed schmuck about a very interesting position they had. It was computer database work, implementing a system, some management, and the opportunity to grow. I was perfect for the job, and the guy who interviewed me loved me. He thought I was perfect for the job. I was interviewed twice for it.

I didn’t get it.

The guy actually called me shocked that he had to tell me they were going with someone else. He honestly felt bad, but kept swearing up and down that they were going to be hiring more people for the division, and that if it were his decision, etc. Fine.

Sure enough, a short time passes, and I get a call back from the place. It was at the same time I was going through the 10 Job Challenge. They wanted me for an interview. So, I went in there for an interview, and ended up meeting for a short time with the guy who interviewed me first (who was leaving the company shortly) and then with this other person. I felt I had a good interview with him, and he responded by not getting back to me immedately. In the meantime, I had gotten an interview for the company that I currently work for. They offered me a job. I wanted the other job more. I contacted them to let them know that, and they said they couldn’t make a decision yet. Faced with a definate job in one direction or a more ideal [i]chance[/i] at a job in the other, I went for the sure thing. You would have too, if you had a wife at home to support and bills on the table.

So I don’t hear back from them until recently. Couple of weeks ago, this new guy calls me up to ask if I’m interested in this job that I had been interested in before. He brings me in, we interview for like almost an hour, and it went really well. I went out of the interview thinking positive things.

Tuesday, I get a call on my cell from him again, asking if we can meet again on Thursday. I schedule an appointment with him for 2:00PM that Thursday. He moved the appointment to 1:30PM later that day, but it was set.

Wednesday afternoon, I get hit by a bad flu bug/food poisoning. My cell phone has like no charge in it, so I turn it off Wednesday night, and dread calling back this company to postpone this second interview to Friday, and even contemplate going into work that day just so I can make this interview (my current job and this other company are in the same town, and part of me felt wrong about going to the interview but not to work).

I finally decide Thursday morning that I honestly just can’t get out of bed. For those of you who have had the flu/food poisoning, you know why leaving the house is probably a bad idea. I grab my cell phone because the number for the guy I interview with is programmed in it. As I turn it on to get the number, my cell phone tells me there’s a voicemail message. I make the call first, get his voicemail, tell him that I’m really sick, that I’d prefer to postpone the interview to tomorrow, but if we need to, we can do it today.

When I play the message, it was sent about 5-10 minutes earlier, from the guy who was supposed to interview me, cancelling the interview. He tells me in the message that due to the professional relationship between the two companies, they have decided against me as a candidate, and that they are sorry.

What the hell, man?

Why do you do that? The only relationship you have with the company is that you get a service from them. You mean to tell me that if you found out the guy you were about to hire to be your next sales manager currently worked as a janitor for the company that cleans your office, you wouldn’t hire him, just because you have a good working relationship with the cleaning company?

There’s no logic in this.

It’d be easy to say that this was a way out for them, deciding that they were going to hire someone else and instead of saying that they weren’t going to hire me, try to make up an excuse that made it seem like “it’s not you… it’s us.” But then why the second interview? Why the last minute cancellation? What changed their mind within a 36 hour window?

Just… very annoyed right now. It seems like something or someone wants to hold me back for whatever reason.