Knew You Couldn’t Do it

First interview, right after you’re, fresh out of school, you became, that self-fulfilling, prophecy that the owner of the company excepted you to become, translated…

“When did you decide to become the person that you currently are?”, my eldest asked.  Don’t know if it was because it’s just the two of us in the car, and there’s, a long distance freeway to drive, or because in July, his younger brother will be taking the college entrance, or whatever the HECK it was that’s, made him asked.  At this age he is in, he’d become, anxious over, his lifepath now, like how the Haley’s Comet will graze across this planet once every seventy-six years, right on time here!

I’d recalled to thirty years ago, the year I prepared for the retake of my college entrance, with a group of classmates, we rode our scooters to the Langtang Reservoir in Chiayi, and forgot if it was on a whim, or how us little “men” dared each other “I knew you couldn’t!”, everybody lined up, and, took our pants off.  On the meaning front, that was, the only collective “homework” assignment we’d done, in a straight line, from the Shimen Reservoir to the Langtang Reservoir, for a group of stupid last year high schoolers.  We weren’t caught, and sent to jail.

first job interviews: nerve-wrecking, anxious…on edge!  Photo from online

“It’s hard for me to answer…”, I’d told my son.  Every time I’d looked for a job, made my selections, switched tracks, did all of that, somehow, “molded” me, into, who I am right now?  It was the rainy seasons, and so, I’d thought, maybe, I should, hang my experiences out to dry then.

I’d taken the military courses for FOUR whole years through college, and finally graduated, and after a year ten months’ worth of enlisting in the services, I’m still, a newbie at work, who had this, limitless imagination, unending passion toward the field of image creations.  Remembered how I was so self-righteous, only sent out a few of my résumés out, the very first company that called me in for an interview, it was located in the golden district of the city, an ad agency next to a green park.  On the too-bright-colored first floor, there were, the pointless trophies of creative agents, and the posters of the Golden Horse Film Awards.  I was led, to the office in the first floor of the basement.  In that darkened space, there were, the backboards that became this collage that didn’t belong to this time and space.

“It’s a hard job, working as an assistant to the producer”, the owner of the company used that manner of a western, stated to me, “this is nothing like the movie productions of Fellini, or the ad agency right now, most of your job consists of finding the right props, and counting the heads to order in the lunches.”  This is what they’d used, to SCARE off the first-timers, I’d read articles on it.  In a black dress shirt, with a blue Tweety bird tie, I’d, nodded my head like crazy, stated, “I’d had work experiences of this sort back during my internship in college.”, twice, “I know I can handle this”, the third time, “I know I can, totally, manage!”  “I’ll let you, sleep on it.  If by tomorrow morn when you wake, you still want to work here, then, come.”, the owner of the agency used a kinder tone, with that face that stated, I’d interviewed a ton of people like you, or “I like you” facial expression, and, that was it, in a, freeze frame of an interview, finishing off.  “What time should I be here tomorrow?”, as I got up to leave, I’d, left that, promise.

While, the following day, I’d, not shown up.

“Then, you started, working at the ad agency, as an, underpaid, account executive?”  Oh, that’s, another, story!

And so, this just showed, of how the attitudes of those who go for an interview worked, sometimes, like this particular man, wanted to see if he COULD, get a job, and, the owner of the company must’ve already felt, that he wasn’t right for the company, that was why the man kept giving him those questions to answer, and, in the end, the writer made a false promise to the owner of the company, and I’m sure, that the owner of this, ad agency he’d gone into for an interview knew it too.