14. Chrissy's Interview

Chrissy interviews for a new job, with nearly disastrous results.

Warning - Strong Language!

It was the worst possible day for Chrissy's motorcycle to fail to start. The last thing she needed was to be late for her job interview. Her new friend Meredith had done her a big favor by setting it up and Chrissy didn't want to blow it.  She ended up having to take the bus into the city to get to get there. She got off the bus and immediately started looking for Brosky Software Solutions. If she hurried, she still might make it in time. 

She looked around confused. Something was wrong. Then it hit her. She'd gotten off at the wrong stop! D****t! She couldn't believe she'd done something so stupid. It was something Ian would do. She hoped he wasn't rubbing off on her. She would have to go halfway around the next block now and would be late for sure. She wished she hadn't bought a new pair of low heeled mules for the interview. There was no way she could run in them. She ordinarily would've worn her work boots and jeans, but this place sounded a little more professional than most places she'd worked, so she decided to dress up a bit. She wore her only pair of black slacks and an open dark purple hooded sweater over a black t-shirt. She lightened up her eye make-up just a bit and put on a lighter shade of red lipstick. Against Ian's advice, she'd left her lip and nose rings in along with her numerous earrings.

She quickly started walking toward the next intersection, but stopped when she came across a narrow alley. She looked down it and saw that it went through to the next block. It definitely wasn't a pedestrian thru-way. There were large heating and air-conditioning units, fire escapes and cellar doors along it. It was also strewn with trash. But it was a short cut. She still might make it on time after all.

As she started down it she saw that even in the daylight it quickly became dark and gloomy and had a creepy feel. She hadn't gone far when she heard a noise behind her. She looked over her shoulder and saw that a man had followed her into the alley. He was tall and lanky and dressed in a dirty, sweat-stained t-shirt and sweat pants with a tear in the knee. His uncombed hair was dirty and stringy. He had an unsavory look that made her uneasy. He was walking fast and gaining on her. She quickened her pace as much as she could, but she could tell by the sound of his footsteps that he was catching up to her. Damn these shoes! she thought. She thought about kicking them off, but the alley was littered here and there with broken glass. She could hear him closing on her fast. Maybe she was just being paranoid, but she had a bad feeling about the situation. Anything could happen in this ally and there would be no witnesses. As she walked, she started looking around for anything that she could use as a weapon. She heard his footsteps right behind her when, in one fluid motion, she dropped her folder, reached down and grabbed an empty beer bottle, smashed it against the brick wall and spun around.

“Back off, M**********r!!” she said viciously, threatening him with the broken bottle, “That's close enough!”

“Gah!” said the man as he backed himself against the opposite wall with his hands up in the air. “Take it easy, now, I was just passing through!”

“Well, you can just keep on passing, then.” She waved him on with the beer bottle.

“That's okay”, the man said nervously, “I'll go back the way I came.” He started backing down the alley.

“Uh-uh, Hotshot! I want you in front of me!” She kept waving him on with the bottle. Her eyes flashed blue fire.

He inched his way along the wall until he was past her and then half walked, half trotted the rest of the way down the alley, occasionally looking over his shoulder until he disappeared around the corner at the end.

Chrissy watched him until he was gone. She looked at her hand that was holding the broken beer bottle and saw that it was shaking. She almost tossed it aside, but decided to hold onto it until she was out of the alley. She took a couple of deep breaths and forced herself to calm down, then continued on her way.

She reached the end of the alley and looked up and down the street. There were a few pedestrians and a couple of cars passing by, but the man was nowhere in sight. She discarded the broken bottle in a trash receptacle and started looking for her destination. She found Brosky Software Solutions almost immediately and entered.

Inside she found a small, but nicely decorated lobby. It had a clean, modern and professional look to it. At the far end of the lobby sat an attractive, well dressed woman at a stylish desk. Chrissy introduced herself to the woman, who smiled warmly and handed her a job application. “Just fill this out and bring it to me when you're done and then I'll tell Derek you're ready for the interview,” she said.

Chrissy sat at one of the chairs and started filling out the application. She'd brought all the information she thought she'd need - work history, references, etc - in the folder she carried with her.  When she got to the question that asked if she'd ever been arrested, she hesitated. She hated this part. Meredith said she'd told the guy about her record, so she knew it wasn't going to kill the interview, but it was still hard for her. She filled it out as honestly as she could. Next came her education history. She filled in her high school, but left the graduation date blank. Then came the personal references. She put down Meredith for the first one. For the second one she put down Gretchen.

Gretchen was the old lady who lived in the apartment next door to her. Gretchen's son stopped by every Saturday to take her shopping and to have her hair done, but otherwise she was alone the rest of the week. Chrissy always stopped and knocked on her door whenever she went to the store to see if she needed anything. She also took the old lady's trash out to the dumpster and did other odd jobs for her. She'd even fixed her old computer twice. In return, Gretchen would invite her in for coffee and burnt cookies. Chrissy never understood why she always burned the cookies she baked. Maybe she liked them that way. She would always manage to choke down a couple of them before she'd make an excuse to leave. Even now, when she was practically living with Ian, she would stop by a couple of times a week to check on her. She knew Gretchen would give her a good reference.

The application called for a third reference. She wasn't prepared for that. She didn't know who to put down. She had always been a loner and just didn't know that many people. She certainly didn't want to use Suzee for a reference. She thought for a minute. It didn't say anything about using boyfriends. She put down Ian's address and phone number and listed him as 'friend'. She walked over to the woman and handed her the application.

“Just hold onto that and I'll let Derek know you're ready,” she said.

The woman made a quick call and presently a tall, lanky man in his forties came down the hallway to the lobby. He smiled at Chrissy and extended his hand in greeting and then quickly yanked it back as if she were a snake, a look of shock on his face.

“Oh my God! You?!!” he said in disbelief.

Chrissy looked perplexed. Did she know this man? He did look a little familiar. Then recognition hit her like a freight train! He was wearing nice clothes now, and his hair was combed, but there was no doubt about it. This was the man she had threatened with a broken beer bottle in the alley just twenty minutes before. Chrissy's face fell. “Aw, s**t!” she said. Leave it to her to screw-up a job interview before she even met the guy.

With slumped shoulders, she turned to leave when she heard him say, “Hey!”

She turned around and he jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Come on. Don't you want to be interviewed?”

Astonished, she followed him into his office. Once they were in his office he turned around and extended his hand to her again. “Derek Brosky,” he said.

“Chrissy Allen,” she responded, shaking his hand, “Look, I'm sorry about -- ”

He held up his hand to interrupt her. “I'm the one who should apologize,” he said, “I guess I should know better than to approach a woman like that in an alley, especially when I look like I did. You see, I like to go running two or three times a week on my lunch hour, and I take that alley as a short cut back to work after I'm done. I'm sure I looked pretty unsavory. I'm actually a little impressed with how you handled yourself.” He smiled. She gave him a small smile in return. Maybe she hadn't blown it after all.

He took the application from her and gestured for her to sit. He sat down at his desk and looked over her application for a few minutes before he spoke.

“Meredith told me you speak fluent French,” he said finally.

Chrissy nodded.

“Where did you study it? High school? College?”

“I'm from a small town just outside of Montreal,” she answered, “French is my first language. English is my second.”

He looked at her askance. “But I detect no accent.”

“My mom and I moved to the U.S. when I was ten years old,” She responded.

“But that must've been close to fifteen years ago! You don't think your French might be a little rusty by now?” He looked skeptical.

Chrissy shook her head. “I've kept up with it. Mom and I spoke only French when we were together. She used to buy French newspapers and magazines and I read them when she was done. We used to rent French movies and watch them together. Even now, I read the online edition of Le Monde on a daily basis.”

He nodded, then handed her a piece of paper. “What does this say?” he asked.

Chrissy looked at it. It looked like it was a paragraph from a tech manual for a printer in French. She translated quickly and flawlessly for him. It must have satisfied him because he went on to the application from there.

He asked her standard questions about her work history, hobbies and interests, and likes and dislikes. Chrissy hated this little game everyone played at job interviews. He would try to discern things about her through little trick questions and she would try to predict what answers he was looking for and give them. Why couldn't everybody just be straight forward about things and quit playing games?

He explained about the salary and benefits next, answering any questions she had about those things. He also explained what her job duties would be if she were hired.

Then he got to the part that asked the applicant if they'd ever been arrested. Chrissy had been dreading this part. His face grew serious.

“Meredith told me about your record,” he said, “ Now I want to hear it from you. Tell me about the things you listed here.”

She took a breath and then told him all about the crimes she had committed as a drug addict. She related everything in a straightforward and factual way, making no apologies or excuses. When she was done she simply said, “That was six years ago. It was a different time and a different me. I've been clean ever since. I realize you have no reason to believe me, but it's true”

“So you wouldn't object to random drug testing?” he asked.

“Nope.”

“Okay, let's move on to your education. You've had no college at all?” he asked, looking at her application.

She shook her head.

“Chrissy, I only have one employee here that doesn't have at least a bachelor’s degree, and she has an associate’s degree.”

“How many of them speak French?” she asked.

He smiled a little ruefully. She knew she'd scored a point with that one.

“I see you went to Ashton Central, but you didn't put down the year you graduated.” He took out his pen to fill it in. Chrissy was silent. “Chrissy, what year did you graduate high school?” he asked, looking up at her.

She looked down at the floor. “I didn't,” she said quietly.

“You didn't graduate high school?”

“No,” she muttered, still looking at the floor. She didn't dare tell him that she had been expelled for fighting.

Derek sat back in his chair and regarded her silently for several moments. Then he said in a serious tone, “If it wasn't for Meredith's recommendation I would crumple up this application and send you on your merry little way. But while a recommendation from Meredith Fini may carry a lot of weight, it doesn't guarantee a job. Why don't you tell me why I should hire a high school drop-out with a record.”

Chrissy was close to standing up and telling the guy to just keep his f*****g job and storming out, but she really wanted this one. She took a deep breath, thought for several seconds and then said, “Meredith told me you want to expand your business into Canada and need someone to translate your tech manuals into French. No one in the city can do that better than me! I speak, read and write fluent French - Canadian French to be precise. And I'm a geek! I know the inside of a computer better than you know the inside of your own house. I'm dependable. I rarely call off sick and I'm almost never late. I won't rip you off or cause trouble. I'm a hard worker. You can call my boss and ask him about me. He knows I'm here. I'll treat you with respect as long as you treat me the same way.” She was silent for several seconds, then said, “I guess that's all I have to say.”

He stared at her for several moments, and then said, “Okay, that's all I have. Unless you have any questions, I think we're done.”

She shook her head and stood up to leave. He shook her hand again and walked her out to the door.

“I'll be making my decision in a couple of days,” he said.

She nodded, told him thanks for the interview, and left.

“Imagine coming to an interview looking like that!” said the receptionist. “Did she really think you would hire her?”

“Believe it or not,” said Derek, “if her references check out, I am going to hire her.”

Outside, Chrissy called Meredith while she waited for the bus.

“How did it go?” asked Meredith.

“I threatened him with a broken beer bottle,” answered Chrissy.

“You're kidding... aren't you?”

“I'm sure he'll tell you all about it. I don't know if he liked me or not. I just wanted to say thanks for setting it up.”

Author's Note

Suggestions and criticisms welcome.

Reviews

[John Lauterbach]

Nice twist on the dude in the alley. I had a good laugh at the end with 'I threatened him with a broken beer bottle.'

I think this could do without Derek's last line, confirming her hiring. I was in a good state of suspense, thinking about all the negatives Chrissy had given Derek, on top of the bottle incident until that line.

[Bella Luna]

Haha I love that the man that Chrissy threatened in the alley turned out to be her interviewer! Such a great chapter! I wonder what kinds of things this job will bring for her!

[Christine Mae]

Hmmm I had a feeling that was the boss in that alleyway! :) But I enjoyed it, you're truly a great writer. I hope Chrissy gets that job. :) Better keep reading...

[Craig2591]

I had hoped that wasn't predictable. I hope that you're just very astute. Thanks for the review.

[Christine Mae]

hehehe don't worry, i think it was awesome

[Tina Kline]

Good chapter. Very interesting, love the unexpected twist with the possible boss for her. She does have a lot of offer as long as a college isn't required which it sounded like it wasn't. I enjoyed this.

[Kaya]

Poor Chrissy!!! Interviews are always so terrifying... especially when you do have something about you that puts everyone else who applies above your level. I loved the way she handled herself!