The Call

Hind sight is always 20/20. Let me tell you what happened to me, starting from yesterday. I get a message from a company that I applied to via craigslist as a part-time writer. I'm desparate for work so of course I call back within the hour for further information. I speak with a gentleman who says that he wants to meet with me to do a writing test, which is very legit because most organizations have potential candidates complete one before extending an opportunity. So we agree on a meeting location and confirm that it will take place the following day. I ask what the name of the organization and he gives me an acronym to look up.

So the next day comes and I get up before 6 a.m., which is crazy because I have not been on a working man's schedule considering. So I make it the metro station and am in transit to the meeting location. I'm running a little late so I call the gentleman to inform him of my potential tardiness. I get an answering machine, so I leave a message. I arrive at the location and I call the same number again. A gentleman immediately picks up and tells me I have the wrong number. Very weird none the less but I charge it to the game as a misdial. I call the number again and ask for the gentleman I had been in touch with. The reciever reprimands me and says "I've told you 3 times already there is no damn person here by that name," and hangs up before I could get a word in.



Seconds later, my thought process goes a little something like this: Craigslist, SCAM, OMG I just got scammed! At this point I'm heated. If you know anything about me, you know that I hate having my time wasted. I just wasted 3 hours that I could have been asleep or doing something else with my life, but instead I'm in the city somewhere waiting on someone who sets up interviews with unsuspecting victims just to pretend that they don't exist. I was very heated especially since the dude that got froggy with me on the phone sounded EXACTLY like the person that called me the day before. I called the number back and the conversation went like this:

Man: [Annoyed huff] Why are you calling here?
Me: This is the number I was given. I'm supposed to take a writing test with this company so why are you cussing at me? Isn't this "organization's name?"
Man: [Hangs up the phone while I'm in mid sentence]
Me: [Thinking in my head "this mutha" while trying not to draw attention to myself]

I called the number back to lay into him one good time but by the third ring I came to my senses and decided not to let the man know how much I hoped that his breaks gave out on him while he was sitting in traffic going down a hill or how I hope a pot fell on his head as he walked past a window. Of course, I don't like letting my emotions sit in. I proceeded to call a few close friends and tell them how I got seriously played by a Craigslist ad. I'm thinking to myself "Who does that?" So I proceeded with my day disgusted that I wasted time and money fooling with this clown.

Well around 8p.m. I get the bright idea to call the number again and confirm the name of the business. Well the voicemail gave the same name that the gentleman gave me over the phone, but there was another key word that prompted me to look up. So I googled those key words. As I'm googling those words my phone rings. My mother was around so she answered it then she came and asked if I knew someone by a certain name. The name just happened to be on the website I found and tied to the key word that I discovered. The light bulb went off in my head. The gentleman's name was not the name I asked for but another name. I'm thinking to myself "GREAT! I got the dude's name wrong."

I tell my mother what happened. By then I'm relieved that this actually was a real opportunity and not a set up. I call the number back and explain to the real gentleman what happened with me not meeting him this morning. He proceeded to tell me that his janitor was the one that picked up the phone and thought I was prank calling because I asked for the wrong name. Another light bulb went off. It was the janitor that served me up the cuss out not the gentleman. I'm still heated because the janitor or whomever he was didn't even give me the time to explain myself so that he could correct me or offer some other type of assistance. So unprofessional.

Lucky me, the gentleman was open to rescheduling our meeting. I'm shaking my head at the situation and at myself. It was a crazy turn of events to say the least. What would you have done in this situation? I'm still saying to myself that they are lucky that I did what I did. OOOOO Buddy.