The alarm wasn't supposed to go off yet. Danika’s well-tuned body told her that she hadn’t gotten enough sleep. After rubbing her fuzzy, half-asleep eyes, she looked over and realized the alarm wasn’t going off. It was her phone that woke her up. “Hello?” She answered. “Hello! It’s gram. Just making sure you are awake. I know you have the interview today.” “Shit. Shit. Shit.” Danika repeated. “I forgot the clocks sprung ahead. I need to get ready. I’ll call you later.” “Love y…” Danika heard her gram say as she hung up the phone and ran to her closet. Fifteen minutes later, Danika was peeling out of her driveway to start the 45-minute drive through the forest to the interview. It had stormed the night before and she was praying at every corner that there wouldn’t be any trees across the road. In between prayers for no trees, Danika was cursing herself for sleeping in. She had $7 in her bank account and no anticipated checks coming. She desperately needed to ace the interview. “I can’t believe I did that!” She said aloud, knowing well enough that tardy interviewees start off 100 points in the hole, rarely able to climb themselves up to hear, “you’re hired!”. She drove ten miles over the speed limit for the entire drive, which isn’t anything crazy to most people, but was intense for Danika. She regularly bragged that she drove like a grandma and had extremely cheap insurance to prove it. She was terrified of getting pulled over. This morning was no different and her anxiety shot through the roof every time she passed a car. However, on this morning, her fears of not getting the job overpowered the fear of getting pulled over. Danika arrived, ten minutes late, sweating and not at all prepared for an interview. She wiped some of the sweat with an old sweatshirt left in the car and took three deep breaths trying to calm herself down. After the third breath, she got out of the car and walked into the office. “I’m here for an interview with Joe.” Danika told the receptionist. “He’s running a little late. He sends his apologies, but the main highway near his house was blocked by downed trees this morning.” Danika tried to hide her excitement upon hearing that her interviewer was late. She looked away, just in case. The receptionist could very well share her opinion on whether or not to hire Danika. She needed to keep that first impression in impeccable condition. Thirty minutes later, a man in a pollo and khaki pants walked into the office, covered in sweat and out of breath himself. “You must be Danika. I’m Joe. Sorry for the delay. I promise, things aren’t normally like this around here.” Danika realized that he hadn’t known she was also late. He was now trying to impress her, when it would have been the other way around had the tree not fallen across his road. Joe offered Danika coffee, which she happily accepted since she hadn’t had time to make any before leaving her house. He poured himself a cup after her and then mentioned that he really needed to quit. “I’ve really gotten out of hand with the caffeine.” He remarked. “I know the feeling.” Danika replied. “I’m up to three cups a day now.” For a second time, Danika tried hard to hide her reaction. She found it hilarious that he thought three cups a day was a lot and would have teased him in any other situation. Danika generally had three cups before even getting into the shower … on days when she didn’t sleep in anyway. The official interview finally kicked off, almost an hour after it was supposed to. Danika thought it went well. Joe seemed to be impressed with her answers, and it felt more like a conversation between colleagues than an interview. After both people were done with questions, Joe began explaining the next steps. “So, full disclosure on this, we aren’t in a hurry to hire for this position. We’re waiting for the perfect candidate. We have a couple more interviews and we’ll be discussing candidates in great length. You will probably hear back in two weeks or so. I know that it is a long time to wait but hang in there. We’re just trying to do our due diligence since this is such an important position.” Danika, hiding her reaction for the third time, thanked Joe and shook his hand before walking back out through the office and to her car. Feeling tears forming already, she pulled out of the parking lot and drove two blocks to another parking lot. She called her gram, almost hysterical by that point. “Hello?” “Hi Gram. It’s me. I don’t think I got the job.” “Oh, honey. I’m so sorry. Why don’t you think you got it?” Her gram asked. Danika explained the end of the interview and how weird things were worded. “It felt like he was kindly letting me down ahead of letting me down.” Danika explained. “I think you’re looking too deeply into that.” “Maybe, but what if I don’t get it?” “It will be fine. We’ll help you out.” Her gram assured. Danika knew that her gram would absolutely help her out, but she didn’t want her to have to. Her gram had bailed her out too many times and Danika really wanted to make it on her own. After Danika had calmed herself down enough to drive, she ended the call and started the 45 minutes back home. She never fully stopped crying and by the time she got home, she had a migraine brewing. She wanted to go back to sleep and restart the whole day. If only that was possible. Later that afternoon, Danika poured herself a large glass of wine and scrolled her phone in an attempt to take her mind off of her hot mess life. With nothing exciting going on in her social media sites, Danika opened her email app to see if anything exciting could be found there. Her heart jumped into her throat when she saw an email from the company she had interviewed with earlier. “Hello again, Danika!” The email began. “Hope you made it home safely with all the storm damage. I know this is earlier than I said, but I’d like to formally offer you the position. After speaking with the board, we’ve decided there isn’t much point in interviewing others. Please read through the attached contract and return it at your earliest convenience if everything looks good. Thanks! -Joe” Danika read through the email a few more times, trying to recover from the many whiplashes that the day had plagued her with. “I need this.” Danika said to herself as she downed the full glass of wine, making a mental note to someday tease Joe about his “extreme” coffee consumption. *** Ten years later, Danika would relay this story to a room full of people at a company conference. She’d received many promotions in the decade since that interview and was now third in charge in the corporation. “How many of you would mentally turn down a candidate that was late for an interview?” She asked before telling the story. “Be honest. I’m not taking names down.” All but maybe three people in the room raised their hands. “None of you would have hired me.” Danika added. She heard a collective mutter and then the room got eerily quiet. “Let’s be less corporate and more human.” She added. “And for the love of god, can we get rid of daylight savings time already?!” The room erupted with laughter and applause. Danika was sure they were cheering more for the end of daylight savings, but it made her feel good anyway. She had come a long way since she had $7 in her bank account. Thank goodness for storm damage.

Storm Damage

Christydr

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Storm Damage

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