Sell Out, with me oh yeah...
OK, so I've been a horrible person at keeping in touch with friends over the past 6 weeks. There's a good reason for this, I swear.
So as my previous blog mentioned, I was planning a big trip to NYC and Boston. The trip was amazing and I thank all of my friends for making it such a good time. This blog will not be about the fun activities of the trip, though. This blog is concerned with events that started at lunch the day before I left on the trip.
It was my last day of the temp job. I was getting lunch with an old friend when my phone rang. It was one of my closest friends from undergrad. I decided to ignore the call and let him leave a message because I don't like taking calls in the middle of a meal unless there's a good reason behind it and I thought he was just calling to chat. Instead of leaving a message, though, he hung up and called again immediately. Of course, phone ettiquette dictates that it must be a somewhat urgent matter for this behavior, so I decide to pick up. I greet him and ask if there's something urgent going on because I'm in the middle of lunch. His response: "Urgent? Kind of. Are you still interested in a job at my firm?"
Let me inject here that I had accepted a job with the San Diego Public Defender (SDPD) and was planning on going down there immediately following my trip back east. However, the only firm I had applied to during my last year of law school was this firm. If I was going to work at any firm, this would be the one I would be interested in. And since the SDPD had been jerking me around recently, I was not nearly as excited about working for them as I had been. So all of these factors and more factored into my response to my friend's question.
"uhhh... sure."
Poetry, I know. My friend then tells me that I would likely need to interview later in the week in LA if they wanted to interview me. I told him that I was leaving for NYC the next morning. The wind falls out of his sails a bit. So I follow up with "Could they do it tomorrow?"
Fast forward: I leave the last day of my temp job early to go pack for my trip and prep for my interview because I switched my flights around. Instead of leaving Oakland for NYC at 11am, I would be on the 8:40am flight to Burbank. 2.5 hours of sleep later, I'm on my way to the Oakland airport. While in the airport, I start reviewing documents about the pharmaceutical company I'll be defending if I get the job. With my interest in biology, I'm getting very excited about the prospect of working with this firm. My friend picks me up around noon and we jet to downtown LA where the office is. We grab a bite to eat before I head upstairs with him for the interview. The interview is one partner and four associates interviewing me. I'm running on 2.5 hours of sleep and a lot of adrenaline. I tried to limit my sugar and caffeine consumption because I can act drunk with sleep deprivation and those chemicals. The questions start coming and I'm speaking a lot. Feels like I'm dominating the conversation, but I'm too in the moment to figure out if it's a good thing. It feels comfortable and I'm going with it. The people interviewing me are all great. Smiling faces and quick to laugh at my jokes. Suddenly it's over. The whole thing lasted no more than 40 minutes. Probably closer to 30. They tell me that I might have to do a callback with a managing partner and send me on my way. My friend drops me off at the Burbank airport in time for my 4pm flight to NYC. I collapse in a chair and start waiting for the plane once I see that it's been delayed an hour.
About 30 min before I get on the plane I get a call from my friend. He's surprised to reach me since he thought I'd be on the plane already, but he's calling with good news. Apparently I did well in the interview. Very well. Seems like a second interview will be a lock. They said they'd wait until my vacation was over.
While I'm on the plane, I feel ecstatic about the results, but realize that if I wait until my vacation is over for a second interview, then I'm going to be finding out whether I get the job either the day before or on my first day of work with the SDPD. Now while I feel little loyalty to them, I don't want to screw them over by bailing at the last minute like that. So when I get to NYC I crash and the next morning I write an email to the partner I interviewed with telling her about my predicament and offering to interrupt my vacation if I'm lucky enough to get a second interview.
Well it turns out I didn't need to worry about a call back interview. The firm was very cool about it and ended up giving me an offer without the second interview. They kick ass.
And so now I'm in LA working for this firm and so far it's great. My life has been crazy busy with moving to LA, looking for an apt, moving stuff from SF and SD, and also starting a new job. I begin my 4th week tomorrow. I've been given the green light to attempt to grow back my facial hair after a month on the job. I'm going to wait 5 weeks just to be safe, I think. And then hopefully nobody thinks negatively of it. I'm tired of shaving already.
But I will gladly keep shaving for this job. The people are great and the work is really interesting. I still can't believe that I'm here. It's just so weird. Six weeks ago on Tuesday I got a call that likely changed my whole life. Doesn't feel like it yet, but I'm pretty sure it did.
OK, so I've been a horrible person at keeping in touch with friends over the past 6 weeks. There's a good reason for this, I swear.
So as my previous blog mentioned, I was planning a big trip to NYC and Boston. The trip was amazing and I thank all of my friends for making it such a good time. This blog will not be about the fun activities of the trip, though. This blog is concerned with events that started at lunch the day before I left on the trip.
It was my last day of the temp job. I was getting lunch with an old friend when my phone rang. It was one of my closest friends from undergrad. I decided to ignore the call and let him leave a message because I don't like taking calls in the middle of a meal unless there's a good reason behind it and I thought he was just calling to chat. Instead of leaving a message, though, he hung up and called again immediately. Of course, phone ettiquette dictates that it must be a somewhat urgent matter for this behavior, so I decide to pick up. I greet him and ask if there's something urgent going on because I'm in the middle of lunch. His response: "Urgent? Kind of. Are you still interested in a job at my firm?"
Let me inject here that I had accepted a job with the San Diego Public Defender (SDPD) and was planning on going down there immediately following my trip back east. However, the only firm I had applied to during my last year of law school was this firm. If I was going to work at any firm, this would be the one I would be interested in. And since the SDPD had been jerking me around recently, I was not nearly as excited about working for them as I had been. So all of these factors and more factored into my response to my friend's question.
"uhhh... sure."
Poetry, I know. My friend then tells me that I would likely need to interview later in the week in LA if they wanted to interview me. I told him that I was leaving for NYC the next morning. The wind falls out of his sails a bit. So I follow up with "Could they do it tomorrow?"
Fast forward: I leave the last day of my temp job early to go pack for my trip and prep for my interview because I switched my flights around. Instead of leaving Oakland for NYC at 11am, I would be on the 8:40am flight to Burbank. 2.5 hours of sleep later, I'm on my way to the Oakland airport. While in the airport, I start reviewing documents about the pharmaceutical company I'll be defending if I get the job. With my interest in biology, I'm getting very excited about the prospect of working with this firm. My friend picks me up around noon and we jet to downtown LA where the office is. We grab a bite to eat before I head upstairs with him for the interview. The interview is one partner and four associates interviewing me. I'm running on 2.5 hours of sleep and a lot of adrenaline. I tried to limit my sugar and caffeine consumption because I can act drunk with sleep deprivation and those chemicals. The questions start coming and I'm speaking a lot. Feels like I'm dominating the conversation, but I'm too in the moment to figure out if it's a good thing. It feels comfortable and I'm going with it. The people interviewing me are all great. Smiling faces and quick to laugh at my jokes. Suddenly it's over. The whole thing lasted no more than 40 minutes. Probably closer to 30. They tell me that I might have to do a callback with a managing partner and send me on my way. My friend drops me off at the Burbank airport in time for my 4pm flight to NYC. I collapse in a chair and start waiting for the plane once I see that it's been delayed an hour.
About 30 min before I get on the plane I get a call from my friend. He's surprised to reach me since he thought I'd be on the plane already, but he's calling with good news. Apparently I did well in the interview. Very well. Seems like a second interview will be a lock. They said they'd wait until my vacation was over.
While I'm on the plane, I feel ecstatic about the results, but realize that if I wait until my vacation is over for a second interview, then I'm going to be finding out whether I get the job either the day before or on my first day of work with the SDPD. Now while I feel little loyalty to them, I don't want to screw them over by bailing at the last minute like that. So when I get to NYC I crash and the next morning I write an email to the partner I interviewed with telling her about my predicament and offering to interrupt my vacation if I'm lucky enough to get a second interview.
Well it turns out I didn't need to worry about a call back interview. The firm was very cool about it and ended up giving me an offer without the second interview. They kick ass.
And so now I'm in LA working for this firm and so far it's great. My life has been crazy busy with moving to LA, looking for an apt, moving stuff from SF and SD, and also starting a new job. I begin my 4th week tomorrow. I've been given the green light to attempt to grow back my facial hair after a month on the job. I'm going to wait 5 weeks just to be safe, I think. And then hopefully nobody thinks negatively of it. I'm tired of shaving already.
But I will gladly keep shaving for this job. The people are great and the work is really interesting. I still can't believe that I'm here. It's just so weird. Six weeks ago on Tuesday I got a call that likely changed my whole life. Doesn't feel like it yet, but I'm pretty sure it did.
VIEW 11 of 11 COMMENTS
subrosa:
SPOILERS! (Click to view)
alexsandria:
Thanks for adding me to your favorites hun! 