... and at the worst times, too
If you're a baby boomer, you might recall a television show back in the day entitled, "Kids say the Darndest Things." The show's host was Art Linkletter, a well-known TV and radio personality at the time. He would present clips of the funniest things that kids would say during his on-air interviews with them.
I can testify that his presentations were authentic and hit home too, on many occasions.
My phone interview
Early in my teaching career, I noticed an ad for a job opening in the pharmaceutical sales field in a local paper. I figured, what the heck - I'll give this a try. Having a degree in biology and a minor in chemistry, I thought I would be able to adapt my science background and use my knowledge in the marketing field without much trouble.
I sent my resume to the address provided along with a couple of letters of recommendation and my home address and phone number.
I was not expecting a return call so quickly and definitely not on a Saturday, either. It just so happened that my wife and daughters were out for the day doing some shopping in Altoona. I was left with my son Dave Jr. (age two and a half or so) for the day.
Don't interrupt others, especially your elders
My parents taught my siblings and I, that unless it was an emergency, you were not supposed to interrupt others. You were to wait until they stopped speaking and then you were permitted to talk. Basically, we tried to instill the same rules regarding our own kids, too. After all, we only wanted them to be mannerly and courteous.
So, as the interview started on the phone, I thought it would be safe to begin answering questions from the interviewer without much of a chance of being interrupted by any family members.
Early in the phone conversation, the company man informed me that he would schedule a face-to-face interview at another time, if he thought I might be a good candidate for filling the position.
A dancing boy, tugging at my pant legs
The phone conversation had barely commenced when my son started tugging on my pant legs, while the look on his face displayed sheer urgency. I held my pointer finger up toward him, indicating to wait a minute and that I couldn't talk to him just then.
But his dance became more physical and progressed to jumping in-place. At the same time, his face turned red with fear.
I tried again using a tacit stop signal with my hand, while my palm was displayed in his direction. It did no good. I realized then that he may have knocked a candle down and set his room on fire, or some other disaster was about to happen.
Making a split-second decision
Finally, after about forty five seconds (in his mind, more like an hour) of playing charades with him, and having no success in getting him to stop his antics, I asked my interviewer if I may be excused for one second because my son required my attention. The guy answered, "okay," but I could tell from his voice that he was not happy with me.
Before I could cover the phone receiver with my hand, my son blurted out, "But, Dad, I have to poop!"
Funny thing, I never did get a call-back to schedule that face-to-face interview and I never heard from that company again.
To read more stories from the author, feel free to go to www.pospeek.com and like us on Facebook.
