First Impression
By Zettica

The building had a strong intimidating business décor. The walls were white with very few pictures. The windows were tall, long and thick, and they could appear to the average eye as though they had no ending, as if they continue right up into heaven. The furniture that filled the place was decent but bland and straight to the point. Color combinations of brown, blue and beige. I had passed by this place many times before and always wanted to know how it looked on the inside. I always looked at it as a place of eloquence and prestige. Never in a lifetime would I be able to work at a place like that. If I would be allowed in there to work; it would definitely be at the bottom of the work hierarchy. You know those employees who are overlooked because their job isn’t of any real importance or benefit to the company. The ones who are kept around to do the work that nobody else are willing to do. The ones who really keep the company running smoothly but they are never recognized for their contribution to an oppressing office society. Sort of the peasants of the work place, common folk who should recognize their position and be thankful for even be allowed to step foot in the door. From what I could see, there weren’t any signs of play that took place there. Initially, I didn’t see that many people but the ones that I did see, looked as though they had been overworked and underpaid. They receptionist at the desk acknowledged me but only out of obligation. She knew that it was part of her job to acknowledge all guests, whether she felt they were of great importance or not. It appeared as though she couldn’t afford to loose her job. Not on the account of being unconcerned in the way she treated the company’s guest. I approached the receptionist desk. She asked in an uninterested voice.

“How may I help you, she said?”

Even though the expression on her face said why are you here and why are you disturbing my peace.

“Hello, I said, my name is Sandra. I am here to see Karen. I was set to have an interview with her at two o’clock p.m.”
“Okay, have a seat and I will call her for you, she said”

I had a seat, but remained uncomfortable. I began rub my hands together and listen closely as anxiety took a resting place in my mind. What was I doing in a place like this? I would never fit in here or would I? To make matters worse, the receptionist attitude didn’t make the situation any better. She let me sit there five to ten minutes before she even picked up the phone to call for Karen. Another thirty minutes passed before Karen came down to greet me. She was a woman of a short stature, blond hair and blue eyes. Right away I noticed the warm facial expression of this woman. She had a very broad smile, and her eyes looked approving of me. Immediately, I could feel the hair on my arms began to relax. The reassuring smile on her face caused the tempo of my mind to calm. However, the calm was replaced with a new kind of anxiety. What was this interview going to be like? Will these people make me really nervous and would I give them the right answers to all their questions?

“You must be Sandra, nice to meet you, said Karen”
“Hi, nice to meet you too, I said”

We took the elevator up to the second floor. Karen made small talk to try and take the tension out of the air. She gave me another reassuring look as if she wanted to say, just relax. The second floor looked even better than the first. Glass window conference rooms stood next to one another, with executive chairs surrounding round oak tables that appeared to be fresh out of the office furniture store. On the side of those rooms was another room filled with a wooden oak bar stand and stools. It also had brown leather couches in them that looked like they could have come from a presidential office. I put my head down to in an attempt not to look too amazed or intimidated. Karen sensed my uneasiness and began to explain that those offices were for their very special clients and were not to be occupied by any employee at any time. She let me know that as long as I was quiet when passing that area, I would be okay. Karen escorted me to a small room with a round wood table. The table had scratches that ran along the side and top of it and it appeared slightly off balance. While I sat waiting for my interview, Karen reappeared in the room and announced to me that I had to take an entrance exam. I could feel my heart began to beat faster because I was not aware of any entrance exam. Somehow, the work agency that I represent failed to relay this information to me. Unsurprisingly, this was one among many things that they forget to relay. Once Karen brought back in the test, I began to take it with renewed hope that I could possibly get through it if I read the instructions really well. Also, along with a supernatural intervention from God, I could possibly pray my way through the test. However, my mind felt like it shut down as soon as I read the first question on the test. I had never seen nothing like this before in my life. There were times before this job, that I would apply for a new job and may not have understood everything about the company. However, I could use information that I had learned from a previous job and relate it to the job I was applying for. This was not that scenario. As a matter of fact, it was nothing close to that scenario. Looking over the questions of the test, I felt like I was trying to learn a foreign language. I put the pencil down and began to focus on the words of the instructions one by one. About half way through the test, Karen came back in the room to check on me.

“How are you doing, said Karen”
“I am doing okay, but how long do it usually take people to finish this test, I said”
“Oh, usually about half an hour. That is why I thought I would check on you and see how you were doing, said Karen”

She looked at me with sympathy in her eyes. Here it was, the time it ordinarily took people who had come there before me to finish the test was half an hour. Here it was taking me close to an hour to finish it. I began to panic. Karen let me know that she would give me another ten to fifteen minutes to finish, but normally she usually would have to stopped me by this time. I thanked her and had no choice but to go through the rest of the test in ten minutes. After, Karen took the test from me she came back five minutes later to let me know that I had passed. I had only missed three out of fifteen. I looked at her and gave a sigh of relief. Karen informed me that there would be two people who would be in to interview me shortly. When the two people entered the room, right off their expressions said they didn’t want to be there and by the looks they gave me, they wasn’t too impressed with me. The man who came in was short, skinny, and had a receding hairline. His eyes were brown and the small amount of hair that he had left on his head was gray. The woman was short and had sort of a medium build. Her hair was blondish gray and her eyes were green. When they asked me my name, I stuck my hand out to shake their hands and told them my name with a smile. Only to receive a firm hand shake from both and no smile in return. This place was starting to weigh heavy on my mood and I had only been there a couple hours. I wanted to run and hide in somebody’s hole in the ground. They questioned me like I was before a grand jury for about half an hour. Question on subjects from my accountability to subjects of my willingness to work in a team environment with other people within their company. By the time it was all over with, I had found that I had repeated my self about five times or more. This place had gone from being intimidating to being overwhelming. They told me I would hear back from them in about two weeks if they decided to hire me. What they didn’t know is that it really wasn’t if they decided to hire me, but if I decided I wanted to come back to work for them.