When it rains...

Of all the companies I had applied with, the only one that I hadn't received some sort of reply from was The Joinery. They have a reputation for making really nice furniture, and for being a place where woodworkers want to work, so I was definately interested in talking to them. I had sent them a resume way back in March. But no reply, no "thanks but we're not currently hiring" email even.

I had applied with them when I first moved here back in 2002. They ended up calling me to interview after I had been working for a company for about two months. I was so excited. I didn't like the job I had (low pay, crazy owner, jerk of a manager), and I was seriously excited about the Joinery reputation. Would they really hire me?

I went in for an interview after a full day of work at my crappy job. I changed clothes in the bathroom of a coffeehouse. I was pumped. I went in, met the owners and started the interview. At some point in the middle of the chat, I realized my posture was horrible. I was slouching and my legs were splayed out like I was a trucker drinking a beer at a local watering hole. Now, I know this is a physical, blue-collar type job, but I realized I should at least be attempting to make a better impression. I straightened up, crossed my legs and continued to answer the questions they threw at me. Poorly. I remember saying exactly the wrong thing to one question. At that point I knew they wouldn't call me back, and they didn't.

Flash forward to this week. I've just accepted a job with Mike, my old boss. It's all good. That same afternoon I get a call from the Joinery. They are interested in interviewing me.

Talk about bad timing.....

What do I do? I'm really no good at lying. I wouldn't feel comfortable only saying that I have a job offer on the table (conveniently neglecting to say I've already accepted the offer), but I would also like to get my face out in front of them again, if only to correct the mistakes I made so many years ago. I called them back, ready to tell them "thanks but no thanks", but the guy I talked to still seemed interested in talking to me anyway. Hmmm. Ok, I told you I already have a job, you've told me you couldn't meet the pay rate (at least not right away), but you still wouldn't mind me coming in to talk? Great! Eleven-thirty tomorrow morning would be fine!

The interview went well enough. I was oddly nervous. In other interviews I've had recently I was never nervous. Was it the memory of my previous interview with them, or did I actually want to get a job with them?

I mentioned to Gary that I had interviewed with them years ago and that it had been a bad interview. He remembered me, but didn't remember the interview. So I didn't go into details. We talked about this and that, the whole process being a bit odd since we both knew that I was already employed. But he said enough and I thought about things enough to seriously consider whether I should reconsider working for Mike.

I went for a long walk by myself afterwards to think about it all. Basically I would be giving up a good job that pays more than the industry standard for the option to interview at the Joinery. Although I would like to learn more about furniture making, and think the Joinery is a great place to do so, I'm going to turn them down. They don't have a job offer, and even if they did the wage would be 3 or 4 dollars less.

I'll keep them on my list of places to contact when I'm ready to move on again. But it was nice being wanted by them.