The Incident

My first full day was quite an experience. I woke up and basically did all of those things you see in a "getting ready for your day" montage you see in films.
Upon my arrival to the general area for my first interview, I decided to stop in a little eatery and grabbed a biscuit and apple juice. Not five minutes later this guy asks if he can sit at the four person table with me. We were both in fancy suits and looked super busy so I guess he assumed I wouldn't talk to him very much. He was wrong. I immediately inquired about the book I saw poking out of his bag. His eyes lit up and he dove into telling me about Samael Aun Weor 's book Divine Science. I must say I was rather intrigued. He told me that ego is responsible for most of the suffering in the world and that if we all weren't so selfish there would be so much less pain. This coming from an insurance salesman in New York city. I was dumbfounded (for the first time that day) and I told him that he was certainly on to something there.
We parted ways and I continued to my interview at a large temp agency. It was a pretty nice process, nothing too much to speak about. I may get some placement in the near future, temporary, of course.
I want to fast forward to around noon when I decided it would be a great idea, since I was in the area, to stop by a grocery store, where I have an interview for tomorrow, and introduce myself to the manager while getting lunch. I asked the two nice ladies at the customer service desk if I could meet him/her and that I had an interview for tomorrow. They both seemed confused at my request and flat out told me that "we don't do that." I was dumbfounded (twice in one day for VERY separate reasons) that someone would deny a customer/potential future employee a simple request to meet a manager. I didn't really know what to do. I said "okay then," and wandered for a minute trying to figure out if I did anything wrong. At that point I was convinced my request was not outlandish, and having lost my appetite I decided to head back to my gracious host's apartment.
Upon my arrival there I received a call from a higher up, who was not present for the encounter, who told me that my interview was cancelled and that I shouldn't reapply for six months. I asked her why and she told me that I was very rude to her employees and that having been denied meeting a manger, I "threw my hands up, sucked my teeth at them and stormed out." Before I go any further, I will simply ask you to go over my day so far recall that it was rather awesome. What possible reason would I have to walk into a place and actively ruin any chance of being hired there by making a scene? I tried to explain this, but the decision was final.
Or was it? Being a man who never, truly, gives up, I called back and spoke with a different guy. I told him what happened and how confusing the whole situation was and he promised to look into it and get back to me. Which he did. This guy is a true professional, he apologized and offered me the interview again. Now here is where things get a bit crazy for me. Old me would be so full of righteous indignation that I would have happily refused such an offer and let the fury of being mistreated reign over this undeserving chap. Old me would have watched this entire scenario go down in flames and enjoy every minute of it.
This is no longer old me. This is New Yorker Jordan. This is new me. This is thick hide, doesn't-take-things-personal, cuts-through-the-crap me. I told him I would love to come back in. I told him, in the chance that I were to be hired, that I would want to immediately meet these ladies and offer my condolences and bury the hatchet as soon as possible. He then told me that it would be foolish to come to a conclusion about me based on a thirty second interaction with someone else entirely. It was then I realized that, if I were to have "let him have it," that I would have made those exact assumptions myself. About him, about the lady on the phone, and about the two employees at the desk. I really don't know if I'll get this job or not. It really isn't the point. The point is that we really do let our egos get in the way of our lives. I could have burnt this bridge down so fast and so hard the Fire Marshal would have concluded an accelerant was used. I chose not to. And tomorrow, if I see the same ladies at the desk, I am going to make it right, even if I don't get the job. I am here to build bridges, not destroy them.