Drink today and drown all sorrow

In my relatively short working life (well, I’m still working – just at home changing the world one boy at a time, thank you very much), I have had more than my share of interviews – and some more memorable than others – but there are one or two that still really stand out in my memory.

I had recently graduated from college and was finally getting my feet wet with “real” interviews – not those regular interviews like I had had before for my 15 or more odd jobs over the previous 6 years. McDonald’s was tough, but these were for my real, grown-up life!

I was interviewing with a local newspaper for a layout position. The only challenge on that day for this interview was the fact that I had a raging head cold. Difficult to be not only intelligent but also creative when your head feels as if it is stuffed with cotton and you have to breathe through your mouth!

Not to worry, my mother came to my rescue with “daytime cold medicine”. Now, let’s not forget that this was about 20 years ago and daytime cold medicine (in my opinion) was slightly different back then. Non-drowsy hadn’t really been perfected…at least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Anyway, I take the medicine and get dressed in my “power suit” and sensible black heels, and head out to the newspaper that I am lucky enough to have gotten the interview.

While I am in the waiting room to go in with the editors, I glance down and think to myself, “gosh, she’s got nice legs, very toned and shaped. I like her shoes, too.”

The legs…are my own.

Needless to say, I didn’t get the job. Thank goodness drug testing wasn’t an issue back then…