Tea Lady

I got the job at the tea shop. I start tomorrow. I had a one-hour-and-fifteen-minute interview on Friday, during which time a vicious thunder-and-lightning storm came through, all while we were safe inside. By the time my interview ended, the sun had come out again. How deliciously metaphorical.

I was really nervous about accepting this job, only because my confidence is a bit worse for wear after my last job. But as I look back on my employment history, it appears that my gut instinct is lousy. I seem to have made decisions that were the exact opposite of what I should have done. I've accepted jobs I shouldn't have, and turned down jobs I shouldn't have. And when I had interviewed for my last job, I came away from it really, really wanting it. I thought the people were great and it would be a fantastic job. Boy was I wrong on that one. So I should take a page from Seinfeld's George Constanza's book and do the opposite: "It all became very clear to me sitting out there today, that every decision I've ever made in my entire life has been wrong. My life is the complete opposite of everything I want it to be. Every instinct I have in every aspect of life, be it something to wear, something to eat... It's often wrong."

It's frightening that George Costanza has become my unemployment idol.

And when I'm plagued by self doubt, I just repeat the mantra of Saturday Night Live's fictional self-help guru Stuart Smalley: "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me." Truer words have never been spoken.



Two Dubious Role Models: George Costanza and Stuart Smalley