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On sweat glands and mini-pads

I imagine you are thinking what on earth could this post possibly be about? Well, I was reading Sandy’s post #114 embarrassing potty stories and remembered one of my own. It didn’t involve a toilet, but was embarrassing just the same. So here we go:

Once upon a time I dreaded job interviews. I enjoy conducting interviews, but put me on the other side and I was a sweaty, palpitating mess. Reading all the tips around disguising your discomfort I sprayed antiperspirant on my palms and in the absence of  dress shields (do you remember when dress shields were something you could buy in a store’s Foundations Department? That was a long time ago!). I placed Kotex mini-pads under my armpits.

The interview went well, I went home. Undressing, you probably guessed it, I could only find one mini-pad. My mind went into a tailspin imagining the interviewers finding the crumpled damp pad on the chair in which I sat.

The interview story has a good ending. The next day, getting into the car, I found the culprit on the floor. And yes, I did get the job, but it wasn’t a happily ever after situation. I was fired five months and 28 days later because I was pregnant (I didn’t know it at the time of the interview). But that’s another story from way back when. They couldn’t get away with that now. And if I had stayed there I wouldn’t have had the satisfying career I’ve had.

And regarding interviews, when I’m the interviewer I take the advice I learned in a course – assume the interviewee is terrified and try to make them feel as comfortable as if they were sitting in their own living room. Someone in that course told me their best interview experience ever – walking along the Vancouver seawall with her potential boss.

I bet there are a lot of interview stories out there. Care to share?

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On the knitting front, the Ravelry web has ensnared me. I have never really liked knitted toys, but the R site introduced me to designer, Alan Dart, and now I own two of his books. My family of grown ups has each added their favourites to my queue.

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12 responses to “On sweat glands and mini-pads”

  1. Carole Avatar
    Carole

    My interview for my current job was 3 hours long! I thought it would be much faster and Dale and I were camping at the time. This was pre-cell phones so I couldn’t call him and he was a wreck by the time I got back to the campsite. I got the job and they redeemed themselves but that interview process was ridiculous!

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  2. Marina Avatar
    Marina

    Sorry, no interview stories, but I’m glad that ended well despite the firing.
    I love Alan Dart! You can’t show those off without telling where you got them?!!

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  3. angelarae Avatar
    angelarae

    Too funny! Came out pretty well considering what could have happened. I have seen the Dart lad mentioned on British Blogs. He’s popular over there. Can’t wait to see what you do:)
    Ang

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  4. Monika Avatar
    Monika

    I had two interviews for jobs in my life, and they were nothing like I know as asked today. The first, I was 18, and the boss seamed to like me, got a job I didn’t come for, but payed better. The other one was for a department store, they heard that my dad was the “sheriff in town” and I got the job right away, but went back to my old job after three days, because it was something else alltogether (went away from my old job to have two kids) :o) Never thought they would want me back, but they did. Anyway, I am not experienced in job hunting.
    You’ve got the Nativity scene book! Must not have been easy to get that one. I don’t know the other one, but he makes cute toys, but sometimes I wish he’d heard of knitting in the round.

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  5. Dorothy Avatar
    Dorothy

    That’s a hilarious story! One of the reasons I’ve stayed in my current job for 21 years is because I didn’t want to interview again. Are you really going to knit those itty bitty Nativity figures? Sounds like a recipe for insanity to me.

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  6. Suzanne V. (Yarnhog) Avatar
    Suzanne V. (Yarnhog)

    Most embarrassing experience of my life:
    I am a former diplomat. Joining the Foreign Service is a lengthy process which begins with a written exam, and if you pass (which few people do), you get the pleasure of taking an eight hour “oral exam” several months later. If you pass this (and even fewer people do), you have to pass background checks, medical exams, etc., and then you are placed on a waiting list. If you don’t get hired within 18 months after that, your name drops off the list.
    My oral exam was scheduled for the day after I graduated from college. It was early in the morning and my very first “event” was an hour-long interview with a panel of three senior foreign service officers who looked like they had never cracked a smile between them. I sat with my legs crossed tightly, dressed in a short skirt and uncomfortable heels and was grilled on world events and history and politics and social issues. It did not go well. (At one point, asked what Nelson Mandela’s wife’s name was, I responded painfully, “Mrs. Mandela”.) When they finally, finally released me, I stood to leave, took one step, and discovered abruptly that my foot had gone to sleep. I pitched forward and fell flat on my face in front of all three interviewers. I will never be able to forget staring at the industrial blue speckled carpeting and thinking, “In 20 years, this will be funny, but I don’t know how I’m going to get through the next 20 seconds.” It was awful. Awful. One of the interviewers came rushing over in horror, one stared at me like I was a particularly repulsive bug, and one laughed. (And I didn’t pass the exam that year. I did get hired two years later.) It’s been 17 years and it’s still not all that funny. Maybe in another three…

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  7. Lorette Avatar
    Lorette

    That story is hilarious! My best “interview” wasn’t a formal interview as such, but we were invited to dinner at a prospective office partner’s home. If all went well and we got along, I would get invited to join the practice. We got all duded up and showed up at the correct time, to find my partner-to-be dressed in old overalls, and the house a mess, his wife gone. Yup, we showed up on the wrong night. He made do with what he could find in the refrigerator, we talked, came back the next night for the real dinner, and we ended up being partners and friends for years. He never let me forget it, though.

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  8. Angie Avatar
    Angie

    I don’t remember giving the interview, but years later a classmate apologized for all the mean things she had said about me and was sorry I didn’t give her the job. I didn’t remember her either, but I sure do now.

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  9. Michele Avatar
    Michele

    On my way to an interview on a very rainy day in NYC. The building where I had my interview was undergoing exterior renovation, and had a protetctive scaffolding/cover over the sidewalk. The rain was so heavy that as I was walking, part of the protective scaffolding broke and I was DRENCHED by a waterfall of water. I decided to go up for an interview, looking like a drowned rat. When I got up, the police were there – turned out the company had had a major robbery and the place had been ransacked, with desk and drawers emptied and stuff strewn all over the place. The woman who was to interview me came out, we took one look at each other and burst out laughing. I did the interview (didn’t get the job) but ended up becoming fast friends with the interviewer and we still get together a couple of times per year when she is back in NYC.

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  10. Uli Avatar
    Uli

    Or maybe the one, when I realized that the job wasn’t going to work for me I said “oh, really, I like to work alone…… I’m not a team player at all” – of course, the interview was centered around team work etc…. my sure way of ensuring I didn’t get offered the job. 🙂

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  11. knittingphilistine Avatar
    knittingphilistine

    Hi there, I am interested in trying my hand at your Herringbone Rib scarf; I’d love a copy of the pattern, if you’d be willing to share.
    Cheers,
    Megan

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  12. Kelly Magill Avatar
    Kelly Magill

    If you are still sharing, could I please get a copy of the herringbone scarf pattern? Your’s look awesome.
    thanx
    kel

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