AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It was a standard application form, with questions like date of birth and address on the front and more specific questions on the back. Those gave her the most trouble because they asked about her previous experiences and college degrees. It felt like a stab in the chest because it only highlighted how miserable her life had been so far. She’d had no success–neither school wise nor career wise–and it was embarrassing.
With a blush on her cheeks, she returned the paper back to the front desk and sat back down on her seat. She anxiously looked around at all the other applicants. They were older and looked far more professional than herself. They all seemed to have brought folders and stacks of papers with resumes and recommendation letters. From what she could see, they were very impressive. She felt stupid for coming. All she’d brought was her small, measly resume showing her failed jobs and a letter from Ms. Wayne talking about what an amazing job she’d done for her.
She watched as one after another, a candidate was called into their interview. With every person that left, her heart started to race more and more. Her palms were sweating and the longer she waited, the more she doubted herself.
Finally, the young lady from the front desk asked Gwen to come with her. Gwen followed her past the front desk and down a glass hallway. The offices and conference rooms surrounding her were flooded with sunlight that made the whole office look even more stunning. The hallway ended at a large dark wood door with a silver handle.
The young woman knocked gently and opened the door. “Mr. Seavey, Ms. Moore is your last appointment for today.”
Gwen’s heart dropped to the floor and skipped at least three beats. She was not prepared to interview with the owner of the agency. She’d thought she would talk to someone in a lower position.
The young lady stepped aside and held the door open for Gwen. “Mr. Seavey is ready for you now.”
Gwen took a deep breath to calm her racing heart, put on a smile and walked inside. The office was huge and flooded with sunlight. To her left was a long wooden table and to her right was a massive desk. Behind it sat a man in a perfectly tailored black suit. Mr. Seavey was in his mid forties, had dark brown hair and a clean shaven face with hard contours. His pale skin and chocolate brown eyes were what stood out the most.
His gaze rested on her, seemingly unimpressed. She came closer and sat on the leather chair in front of the desk, her fingers tightly holding onto Ms. Wayne’s letter and her resume. He took his eyes off her and gazed down on a stack of papers, her application on the very top.
“Ms. Moore, I don’t like wasting my time so let’s get to the point. I see here that you have no experience whatsoever for the kind of job you have applied for. What makes you think you could do what I need you to do?” His tone was monotone, yet still slightly annoyed.
She placed her hands on her lap, hoping he wouldn’t see how much they were shaking. She decided being honest and quick to the point would be her best shot at this. “You’re essentially looking for a workaholic with no personal life. Someone who puts the job above their own needs. That’s me. My previous jobs may not seem like much but the past few months I’ve done all the tasks you’re asking for with my previous employer.” With shaking hands, she handed him Ms. Wayne’s letter of recommendation.
“Yet you are sitting here looking for another job, Ms. Moore.”
“Only because Ms. Wayne had to sell the diner to be able to pay for her hospital bills. Her selling the diner had nothing to do with my job performance. You can read it all there.”
He looked down at the letter, his eyes moving quickly as they flew over its contents before looking back up to her, his expression unchanged.
Before she could say anything else, he said, “Thank you for coming, Ms. Moore.”
She kept her smile, yet deep down she was disappointed. He hadn’t even given her a chance to explain herself further. She nodded and stood up.
“Thank you for considering me, Mr. Seavey.”
She turned and walked out of the office, her heart still racing. Even with all her preparation for this interview, she felt like a failure. She’d barely said anything. She should’ve said more to make her case. Her hopes of this being her way out of a deep dark hole were shattered. Sadness and the feeling of hopelessness for her situation overwhelmed her and she had to fight back the tears as she stepped into the elevator.
She quickly walked out of the building. Fresh air filled her lungs and slowly calmed her racing heart as she walked down the block. Her feet started hurting from the shoes, since she wasn’t used to wearing anything but sneakers. She stopped to change into her flats and swapped the blazer for her cardigan. As she made her way to the bus stop, she responded to the two job offers she’d so boldly ignored in the morning.
While waiting for the bus, she saw a dark SUV stop at the light a few feet away from her. Her heart exploded as she recognized the driver–Mr. Seavey. She quickly looked down at her phone praying he hadn’t noticed her. Her face was burning, the feeling of having disappointed herself now heavily weighing on her.
Soon, she would be homeless with nowhere to go, no family left to turn to, no friends she could ask for help. At least if she was homeless, all the bill collectors would have a hard time finding her. She didn’t look up from her phone until the bus arrived.
On her way home she applied to six more jobs. In her desperation she would take anything, even if that meant traveling two hours on the bus. She’d never been a quitter, but in that moment she was dangerously close to giving up.
She spent the afternoon cleaning her studio, unable to sit still while waiting on replies to her applications. By the time it got dark outside, she had two more interviews scheduled for the next day. She cuddled up in bed and closed her eyes hoping that her dreams would take her far away from the misery she now called her life.
To her disappointment, her dreams were restless, predicting her a dark and hopeless future. She was glad to escape her dreams when the alarm finally went off and it was time to get ready for her interviews.
She decided that wearing the black dress and blazer again would be bad luck, so she put on black high-waisted jeans and a blue blouse instead. She loosely braided her hair and added some mascara. In an attempt to hide her nice outfit again, she covered herself with the large cardigan and placed her shoes in her bag. She felt so sick to her stomach that breakfast was out of the question, so she left her studio and walked to the bus stop.
This time, she was heading towards the Galleria area just a short ride from her apartment. The restaurant she was heading to was located on Westheimer, just a few blocks away from the mall. It was a serving job at an unpopular restaurant that she’d never heard of before, hidden away in a side street. Google reviews said the food was okay, nothing bad but nothing spectacular either.
The manager was waiting for her in the office. He was a small, cachectic man, with gray hair. “You must be Ms. Moore.”
“Yes, sir,” Gwen replied and quickly handed him her resume before sitting down.
He gazed over it. “You trade jobs quite frequently.”
“Only because of budget cuts and companies being sold. If you look at the recommendation letter from my previous employer, you’ll see I did an excellent job.”
