At the end of July, I mentioned in a post that I was going on an interview. This was pretty monumental for me, as I’d only had two phone interviews since I started applying for jobs again in May. (Why? I was waiting for more people to get the vaccine. I live with someone who is immunocompromised, and we both agreed to be safe about it.)
I won’t go into too much detail about the job I was interviewing for, mostly for privacy reasons. What I will say is that it was a receptionist position at a type of health spa. Completely above board (I checked) But I do want to talk about it.
Before we get into the interview, I want to set up where it was. The job was in Calabasas, which is about 30-40 minutes from my town. There are basically three different ways I could get there. One is through the San Fernando Valley, one is taking the 118 to the 23 to the 101, and one is going through Box Canyon. Now, I’ve driven the first two routes before. Mom and I have been taking bi-monthly drives around Ventura and Los Angeles Counties, so that I can get an understanding of the area, and she can tell me about her old stomping grounds.
I actually did a phone interview with the owner’s personal secretary before getting asked to come in for the in person one. It went well! I was able to answer all of her questions, get a good sense for the position, and I made her chuckle, which I thought was a plus. After the phone interview, I was invited to come to the owner’s office building to meet with him for an in person interview. This interview wouldn’t take place at the actual location, but at the owner’s office in Chatsworth. If I succeed in this interview, I would then interview with the manager, but this would be more of a formality. I agreed to this, and set the date and time, which would end up being about five days later (due to the owner’s schedule).
The secretary confirmed the date and time via email several times leading up to the interview. I was fine with this, as I figured that it was a pretty popular position. Receptionist gigs seem to be a dime a dozen, and according to Google, this place made bank.
The night before the interview, I get yet another email from the secretary. Instead of the fourth confirmation of time and location, she was asking if we could push the interview back to 5PM, and instead of being in Chatsworth, it would take place at the actual spa, with both the manager and owner present. I agreed, thinking it would be two birds, one stone.
During the hours before the interview, I kept an eye on the traffic. Up until an hour before I left, it was clear. And then, the thing I worried would happen, happened. Traffic, both routes I had been before.
So I had to take Box Canyon Road. If you’ve never seen it… Think steep, tight, and nightmare inducing. My heart was racing the entire time. I was honestly terrified. I am never driving that way again.
I got to the spa with about twenty minutes to spare. Which was a little later than I wanted, but I was ok. I took the time to get myself mentally prepared, had some water, and put on my mask. Then I went to the building.
What followed was me walking around the damn thing twice, checked the address, used Google Maps for directions (did nothing), and then discovering that it was located in the small hallway off to the side. If you didn’t know it was there, you’d probably never find it.
Apparently, that was a test. Thanks.
Anyway, I walked into the spa about five minutes before my interview. The first thing I noticed was that the receptionist behind the desk didn’t have her mask on properly, though she did fix it as soon she saw I was wearing mine. But she greeted me, and took my name. She also made a point to give enough space between us as she went to get the manager and owner.
The owner came out to the front, greeted me, attempted a handshake (which I politely declined, because we’re still in a pandemic) and brought me into the back office. I was offered a chair, and he said he’d go grab the manager.
That alone took almost ten minutes. I could hear the owner chatting with several people, including the person I would soon be introduced to as the manager. Because the door to the office had been left open, it felt incredibly awkward.
Finally they both came in, leaving the door open (and tried the handshake again, WTF). The first big issue was that they came off totally unprepared. There wasn’t an extra seat next to the owner, so I had to switch to one that was more in a corner. Then they didn’t have two copies of my resume, only one (luckily I had several copies, so that was covered). They also kept joking amongst themselves as they got situated.
The entire interview lasted about eight minutes. Standard questions (what made me move to California, why did I leave my previous position, why is there such a gap in my work history) were answered quickly. Then there were some more awkward questions, mostly about my sense of style and would I be comfortable moving closer, as they wanted people to be available to come in with a half hour’s notice. I told them that I was happy to work on getting my work wardrobe up to their dress code standards, but moving closer was not possible right now.
It just felt incredibly awkward. The tone that both used came off as if they had already picked someone for the job, and they were just doing my interview because it was scheduled. Some of the questions they asked were somewhat out in left field, ones that I swear were designed to get me to not accept the job.
But honestly, the kicker was that other staff kept popping in with questions or comments to the owner and manager, and they kept stopping the interview to answer. I’ll admit, nothing sounded like it was a major emergency, it was things that totally could have waited. But no, they talked over me to answer those questions. It was… just yuck.
They thanked me for my time and told me I’d hear from them by the next week with their decision. Then they tried once again to shake my hand and I was out the door.
By the time I got to my car, I had already decided that my answer would be no. The pay wasn’t worth the drive, and the rudeness of the staff to interrupt during a meeting more than once was something I wanted no part of. Also, even though at that time there was still a mandate for mask wearing inside, most people were wearing them wrong, if they were wearing them at all. Same with the two patrons I saw. One didn’t have a mask on, and the other was only wearing it over their lips.
From my car, I took the time to quickly email a standard “thank you for the interview, let me know if you need any other information” message. Then I debriefed with Mom as I drove home.
Well, that was right at the end of July. It’s now the middle of August, and it’s been radio silence. The email was never replied to, and the listing for the position is now gone. It’s safe to assume that I didn’t get the job. But not calling when you said you would is just unprofessional.
Granted, I was already tempted to decline like I said, but still.
I should point out that I was sent the initial job listing through Zip Recruiter, I didn’t go find it. The secretary reached out to me, not the other way around.
So that was the worst interview I’ve been on yet. We will have to see what comes next.
Until next time!
