Coeur d'Alene, WI

I had my third job interview, in the last three days, today.

So far my interviews have gone well. I've felt like I've done well in each of the interviews trying to 'sell' myself and my abilities that I may or may not have. So far I have only had interviews in the fitness arena. Today was my first retail interview (if you don't count American Eagle that is). It was at a well known Texas running store that in and of itself, seems like a great store. The gear is great, the store is large, and they are involved in many of the races around this area. Not to mention that they are hiring right now which is great for me. So I went in to buy socks one day, and dropped off a resume.

Today was the interview.

I walked through the inner recesses of the store which were very very disorganized and trashed and taken up to the upper office and sat down in a metal chair at a 'table.' I put that in '' because it was two construction horses with a slab of glass over the top of them. I sat down at the table with the general manager and the store manager. They proceeded in asking me to tell them about myself.

The interview went on in the usual fashion and I answered the questions in the usual fashion and then they asked me about my sports background. I said that I was into triathlon. The store manager asked me, "Have you ever done an Ironman?" I said that I had done two. "Which ones?" he asked. The general manager pipes in and says, "Wisconsin." at the same time that I said, "Coeur d' Alene." Then I repeat again, "Coeur d' Alene" and she repeats, "Yeah, Wisconsin." I was confused. Did she think that I had done Coeur d' Alene and Wisconsin? I then said, "No, just Coeur d' Alene twice." She said, "Yeah, isn't that in Wisconsin?" Are you freaking kidding me? As opposed to say, Madison, Wisconsin? Give me a break. The only reason it probably bothered me is because they were being complete jerks to me in the interview...and interview for a freaking retail job.

The general manger was down on me because I wasn't a certified coach and "What do you think you are going to be doing here?" Umm....selling clothes? Geez lady. Get off my back. Do I need to be certified to do what those snooty girls downstairs are doing?

The interview finished with disinterested gazes and small talk about the Sunmart 50 mile endurance run and how, "That's kind of a big deal." Um, yeah. Whatever. I'm not good with small talk.

I get home only to find out from my ever so loving husband that yes, indeed, the store is known for it's elite attitude, i.e. snobiness. Nice. Thanks for telling me before I applied there. The guys in that store were crass and weird while I was waiting for my interview and the girls were catty and snoty. It's like a running meat market. I will be highly surprised to hear from them as I told them my availability hours as being M-F 8-5 and two Sundays a month and they said, "That's all?" Are you kidding me? Yeah, that's all. Please. That's the whole week. Another one of my favorite comments was, "You HAVE to pick up your daughter after school EVERY day?" Um, yeah...well some days they would let me leave her there overnight....YES I HAVE TO PICK HER UP EVERYDAY! Thanks for understanding. I hate this job hunting thing. It sucks.

In the end, I'm back to doing my old job. I start tomorrow morning all online work. The job search continues for a day job, but until then at least there is some cash flow.

Ugg. I wish Stephanie was here. Coeur d' alene, Wisconsin. What a joke.