I have the power

I’ve been interviewing people this week for our front desk receptionist position, and frankly, it kind of bothers me. During the interview while these people are prattling on about how great they are, I’m thinking about how something is going wrong in their lives, and that’s why they are sitting here. Something is going wrong, and they are hoping that somehow my company and I are going to fix it. But what if we’re not all that? What if we don’t prove to be the panacea that they are looking for?

The worst was the single mom who was just let go from her other job. I was actually interviewing her on what was the last day of her old job. You could see it in her face, I felt, you could see the strain, the almost dejected way that she carried herself. I was thinking to myself how the temp agency said that she was “bubbly” and I was thinking “if this is bubbly, I’d hate to see you depressed”. The other thing that bothered me was the fact that while she is probably fine to do the job, I just wasn’t completely sold on her. Do I continue to interview other people, who may or may not be as satisfactory as her, or just hire her and see how it works out?

And then there was the one lady who’s motor was running at about 12, and we needed someone at about a 5 or 6 for this position. She talked so much and was so loud that when I walked her back to the front door, people were popping out of their cubicles to see this woman. This girl was just freaking going a mile a minute, spilling her guts out to me about her divorce and her multiple failed marriage and blah, blah blah and I’m thinking “I would kill myself within ½ hour of her starting here” and “how the fuck do I interrupt her unrelenting recounting of her life’s story to end this interview gracefully ?”

I hate being in the position where I may have this type of impact on people’s lives. But, I guess if I’m going to try to move up the ladder, it’s something that I have to come to grips with. Just another one of life’s lessons.