“Ugh!” The older woman next to her clucked her teeth. “What the hell would you know?”
“I’m sorry. I was just trying to—”
“My daughter’s skills are already on a world-class prodigy level and we don’t need some homeless girl’s help, okay?”
“I’m not homeless.”
“You look like it.” She looked me up and down, then she pulled a couple one dollar bills from her wallet and tossed them at me. “There. Go buy yourself some chips and enjoy the music. You’ll be seeing my daughter in Carnegie Hall soon. I’m sure it’ll make a great ‘I knew her before she was famous’ story for you someday.”
I stood up from my seat and moved to the windows, leaving her cash exactly where it fell. Her daughter would never make it to Carnegie with struggle notes like that, and if she’d caught me on a better day I would’ve told her that she was wasting her goddamn time.
I returned to reading Seattle’s jobs section and clicked on a banner for Pier Autumn Coffee.
URGENT INTERVIEW FAIR: EXECUTIVE POSITIONS
Due to recent company restructuring, we are hiring a new team of forty (40) executives, with four (4) chief positions. We are looking for someone to fill each spot with unparalleled passion, travel experience, and a true love for each designated field.
If you’re reading this banner, you have clicked on The Marketing Director position and you can find the requirements below. (If you’re looking for one of the other fields please click here.)
Our ideal marketing director will have a master’s degree (highly preferred), a love for world class coffee and travel, familiarity with the Pacific Northwest (especially Lake Tahoe), and will be able to handle a set of unique challenges in the local and global markets.
Our interview process consists of a challenging exam, a group interview and tour, and a five-minute pitch in front of our esteemed board.
Please do not apply if you will not be able to complete the entire process.
Please do not apply if you do not like coffee.
And, per our CEO, please do not apply if you’re incapable of being loyal.
I REREAD THE DESCRIPTION again and again, feeling my heart race at the words. Even though I never got the chance to finish my master’s degree, I couldn’t help but think that this job opportunity was a sign. I was finally heading to the right city, finally getting the chance to do something I truly loved and restart my life.
The wrong notes continued to float from that girl’s violin into the air, and the more she played, the more I thought about how my old life used to be. How believing in a man I trusted way too damn much had ultimately brought me here to this very moment.
He never came back like he promised…
I felt my heart clench at the memory of my first love, the man who still came to me in my dreams on some nights, despite his lies and utter betrayal. Despite me trying my best to move on with other boyfriends who could never compare to him.
Stop it, and focus on the future, Kate. It’s been over nine years now. It’s time to finally let James Garrett go …
(and) while I can’t deny
Sean
SUBJECT: OFFICIAL BOARD Vote & Replacement Interviews
Mr. Holmes,
After much deliberation, the board has come to a decision. Despite the fact that you are reckless, selfish, and wholly dedicated to working against us at every turn, we will allow you to sit in on the remaining interviews for our all new executive team.
The vote was a heated one (9-7), so I suggest you take a long look at yourself in the mirror and realize that you are 100% replaceable, CEO or not. (I also find it quite frustrating that you don’t even drink coffee …)
Please come to my office so we can discuss the applicants we’ll be meeting this week.
Chairman of the Board,
Pier Autumn Coffee
Joseph Jewell
P.S. ?No offense, but we miss our old CEO.
I HELD BACK A SIGH as I read his message, debating whether I wanted to waste my time with a response. I wasn’t even in the office today; I was at home working on one of my favorite classic cars with Blue.
Not that this was an excuse. I’d always hated being trapped in an office and dealing with corporate culture. Reading long, drawn out emails in a gilded box, instead of having face to face conversations someplace we actually wanted to be. There was no amount of designer-grade furniture or Grade-A building amenities that could keep me in my office for more than four hours at a time.
Does he honestly think I want to come in and sit through these boring-ass interviews?
I’d sat through enough of them yesterday to know that the applicant pool was far from impressive. A part of me almost regretted firing the old team, but another part of me wanted to fire every person in the Human Resources department for wasting my time. Not a single applicant had scored higher than a sixty out of a hundred on the intake test (which was a take-home), and some of them were people I’d previously fired before.