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Eighteenth Job of Bob - The all-mighty "State," Part III - a few last job interviews - from the gates of hell, not actually hell - and, Date with fate post 16 - missed State opportunities
This entry was posted on 8/28/2008 4:35 PM and is filed under Jobs of Bob, Fate Fairies, Job Interviews from Hell.
Before I chose a job at the State of Wisconsin, I elected to go through a few more interviews. I could see no down side in interviewing for as many as they through at me. I rode down to UW-Whitewater to interview for a janitor job. This time it was in the daytime. There was one interviewer. He glowered off to the side the whole interview. He hinted that he had better things to do during his youth than join the military. It was a sure bet that after that exchange he was only going through the motions with my interview.
I got a call to go up to University Hospital and interview for a job putting rooms back together after patients moved out. The interviewer was a young women. She seemed surprised I had showed up. "Please start immediately," she said. She seemed so urgent. In those days I had no connection, interest, or motivation for the health care world. I kept thinking of my Dad. He had died next door to this hospital at the Veterans' Hospital. I declined the generous offer of day-time hours. This decision would often haunt me later as eventually I would work in heath care for 10 years - but not at University Hospital. It is now a "where would I be now moment," every time I think about that interview.
Then came not such an awful interview or lost-chance interview, but just a plain bizarre interview. It was to be a fire door monitor in a high rise dormitory complex at the University of Wisconsin's main campus in Madison. Again I interviewed in the middle of the night. The interviewer propped his feet up on his desk the whole time. He was a guy about my age with a scruffy unshaved face. His pants bagged a bit as if from decades of carrying heavy keys on his belt.
"All you have to do is lock and unlock security doors at designed times," he said as he rolled a cigarette. "Once in a while, the janitors are in another building and you might have to clean up some puke left by a drunk student in the hallway. Think you can carry keys day in and day out and mop up puke once a month? I know you can, you were in the Army Engineers during Viet Nam. This is nothing strange to you."
"Actually, I was in Germany," I reminded him.
"Close enough, can you start tomorrow? he said and smiled.
Again in retrospect, my decision seems ludicrous. I politely declined believing I was worth more to society than wandering around with keys and an occasional puke mop. What the hell was I thinking? I was 36 years old. My body was already strained under the stress of 20 years of blue-collar labor. But no. No, I believed I should go back to the two jokers from the first State interview. The impetus of my alleged genius - they promised that I would be using dozens of sophisticated pieces of janitorial equipment. I figured I could come away with a rewarding experience in learning and tinkering with gadgets - something I used to love doing.
In retrospect, why did I believe two jokers? One an old fool with alcohol on his breath, the other a young rube. Both had interviewed me for 45 minutes and then forced me to prove I could read. Who knows? If I had taken the fire door monitor job perhaps you might still find me "up'ta da University" wandering around opening up and locking doors to this day - now with 15 years of benefits under my belt, still mopping up an occasional puke for posterity sake.
Wisconsin military service person of the week
Army Specialist Michael McGlothin, 21 of Milwaukee was killed by an improvised explosive device Saturday, April 14, 2004 while on patrol outside Baghdad, Iraq. Specialist McGlothin had been in Iraq for less than a month at the time of his death. Michael was a 2000 Pulaski High School graduate. He was the first casualty in the Iraq war from Milwaukee. He was a member of the Army's 115th Forward Support Battalion, Division Support Command, 1st Cavalry Division. The unit is based out of Fort Hood, Texas. Michael enlisted in the Army in January 2002. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, McGlothin enjoyed history and social studies classes in high school, and hunting and fishing in his free time. He also played the guitar. He attended Hartford Union High School for his freshman and sophomore years, then moved to Milwaukee, and transferred to Pulaski for his final two years of school. Army Specialist Michael McGlothin was the 17th Wisconsin military service member killed in Iraq.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
86,661 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
8,530 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,147 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
576 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
314 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
360 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
30,561 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
2,379 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
91 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
11 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
130 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
15 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; and, icasualties.org.
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