So not cool!
Fark.
I just received a call from a number from the 707 area code, which, while encompassing a rather large area, is the area code for the newspaper I just applied to. Brightening, thinking, "This is it! This is the call!" I answered with my heart in my throat.
There was a pause, then, "Uuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhh ... Jacob? I, uh, think I got the wrong number. Is this (phone number)?"
Heart turned to a cold lump, I replied that yes, the caller had the correct number but that I was not Jacob and no Jacob lived here.
"Oh, ok. I, uh, think I made a mistake then." And he hung up.
My immediate thought, of course, was that the call was from someone at the newspaper, looking for a candidate other than me, and my heart sunk. Then I thought, Wait a minute. Even if they did mean to call some other candidate at the moment, they did have my phone number. That can't be a coincidence. Maybe that means that I'm a likely candidate too, and they just got our contact information crossed, and I'll be getting a call back soon!"
Then I googled the phone number, and it's a resident in a city a good hour and a half to two hours away from the city the newspaper is in, where I don't think they have any offices. It just happened to be a horrible coincidental wrong number (or, right number but wrong person). Maybe they were looking for whoever had my phone number before me - a long lost friend who hadn't called in years and decided to give it a shot, only to find that their friend has switched phone numbers and they can't find them anymore.
Sucks for that caller (and their friend Jacob), but at least I'm fairly certain I'm still in the running for that job. Now if I could only get my heart back to a more normal pace ...
2 comments:
I tend to take the Donald Trump approach toward these types of situations -- optimistic, yet not putting all of my eggs, so to speak, in one basket. Somehow, it always works out best for me when there are numerous possibilities brewing. It's always a surprise when someone calls, and then I think, "Well, of course that one called me back. I should have thought that it would be them." Still, try not to watch the phone. That never helps.
I agree that would be the best way to go, but at the moment I'm not close enough to graduation to land a job on the upcoming degree, and there aren't any other newspapers in the area (that I've found, anyway) that I'd like to work for. I could look for a graphic design job, I suppose, but I'm better at page layout, just by virtue of the fact that I've done that day after day for five years, and not excercised my graphic design skills fo ractual graphic design nearly as much. In fact, it's a rare side job for me. So at least at the moment, if I'm goign to be uprooting and moving prior to getting that degree, this is the only job I'm interested in there. I'll keep an eye out for other opportunities, of course.
Sitll, I have managed to stop carrying my cell phone around with me damn-near 24-7, like even stuffed into a pocket in the bathroom. I guess that's a start ...
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