(no subject)
Yesterday I got up at 9am to go to this meeting thingie...
Wait, let me back up a second. Okay, so Andrew and I have been using this program called Sketchup to plan out construction ideas on our loft space:
The landlord thought this program looked really cool, and apparently he showed his architect, who told the landlord he wanted someone who could do sketches like that for him. Now, mind you, all of this is third-hand information (architect-landlord-Andrew-me. I guess that makes this fourth-hand info I'm telling you, but who's counting?), so I really have no idea what this architect actually wants, but apparently it's work that will pay money, so I tell Andrew I'm interested. After a long, time-consuming, and lengthy battle with communication difficulties, I am finally able to get ahold of this guy, who tells me to call his brother and set up a meeting. I have no idea what his brother has to do with any of this, but I figure, what the hell. So anyway, I call the brother, and he tells me to meet with him Friday (yesterday) at 10am. I say, sure, whatever.
Friday morning, it snows, then rains, for the perfect combination of 3-inch-deep slush. I'm wearing converse shoes which are in their final stages of converse-shoe-decay, i.e. many exposed regions. At this point, I should probably add that not only am I wearing converse shoes, but I haven't shaved, I'm not wearing a tie, just dressed "nice". I don't really figure I'm going to an "interview" interview, just meeting a guy who wants some stuff done. Anyway, back to the slush-n-shoes. I wear two pairs of socks so as to keep my feet warm as possible, but both pair are completely soaked by the time I reach the subway station.
Now, for those of you who haven't been on many new york subways, there is generally more than one entrance to a given subway station. Often there is one main entrance, and an alternate entrance located at the other end of the subway (which stretches the length of some city blocks). I used the alternate entrance, which was somewhat closer, only to find that my subway card expired today, meaning I had to go to the main entrance to purchase a new one, meaning my feet had to get two blocks slushier than they were before. In the time I wasted in all of this nonsense, two L-trains passed by in the direction I was going.
Anyway, back to the story. Freezing cold, I exit the station where I expect to find this guy that I'm meeting (in Brooklyn, in case you care). I go to the address, walk inside, and tell the lady that I have an appointment with this guy, and she says he's not there, and he's not answering his cell phone. I'm not really surprised by this, and decide to wait for him in his office.
As a side note, I should mention that the landlord, the architect, and his brother are all very orthodox jewish, what with the curls and the hats and the inability to be reached on saturday. Not that this is surprising/strange for New York, but I thought it would help give a better picture of this meeting I was having with this guy, who incidentally is named "Hersh".
Hersh walks in at about quarter-past, and apologizes for being late, and begins to ask me some questions. Now, let me remind you that I pretty much have no idea what this job is that I'm being asked to do; I just showed up because someone suggested that I should. In fact, our landlord had been hassling Andrew to get me to call this architect guy, so I figured they were in desperate need of someone who could do 3-D drafts, whatever that entailed. So, while he's asking me questions like "How well do you know (insert some computer drafting program I've never heard of)?" I'm asking him questions like "What are you asking me to do?" and "What am I doing in this room?"
Eventually each of us begins to see where the other is coming from, and he explains to me that he is looking for someone who knows this specific computer drafting program, and he shows me a few of the other resumes that he has recieved for this. Apparently this is an actual job opening that I'm "applying" for. Apparently I'm in an interview for a job! He had asked me to bring him a resume, and I had pulled one out of my quantum field theory textbook (where I always keep a spare resume handy) folded in half and out-of-date. Remember how I haven't shaved? Yeah, so I'm in an interview for a job for which I don't have the remotest qualifications, and I am unshaved, wearing torn-up, soaked converse, and no tie. At least this guy was nice; he seemed to want to give me a job, so he told me that his 3-D drafting guy was leaving in a couple of months (for Spokane of all places) and that he'd get ahold of me when he needed someone to do 3-D sketches like the ones I can do.
Maybe he was serious, or maybe he was just trying to get rid of me. Only time will tell.