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Every meeting Is an Interview |
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Written by Joan Eison
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You only get one chance to make a first impression. No doubt,
you have heard that phrase hundreds of times. Think for a minute
about people you have recently met. Where did you meet
them? Did you have a positive, or less than positive impression?
The next time you see them will you welcome the opportunity, or be
braced for the cold wind of their remarks?
A simple lunch with a friend could result in a job offer, a future
contact or a closed door. As you read the lunch time conversation
below about Sadie and Deloris, what do you think Carolyn’s impressions
were?
Deloris shuffled into the restaurant, searching diners’ faces for her
friend, Sadie. The hostess, seeing her furtively glance around
the room, smiled and offered, "Are you joining someone?"
"Why, yes." Deloris responded. "My friend is tall with curly red hair. Have you seen her?"
"She’s here already, seated on the porch," the hostess answered waving
her hand in the direction of the French doors at the far end of the
room.
Deloris wound her way between the cloth covered tables of the trendy,
downtown restaurant and easily spotted her friend’s bright red/orange
curls.
"Oh, Deloris, I’m so glad that you could make it today," smiled Sadie
as Deloris approached the table dropping her purse on the floor.
She tugged on the chair back as she said, "It’s a miracle that I got
here. Regina, that anal retentive, walking problem, kept asking
me questions and stacking forms on my desk."
Sadie smiled uncomfortably at Deloris cutting her eyes and shaking her
head to the right bending in the direction of the other woman sitting
in the chair next to her. "Deloris, Deloris, I want to introduce
you to my new boss, Carolyn Washington," Sadie said rather
hurriedly. "Carolyn is our new director of marketing and she was
formerly with Go, Forth and Prosper, our biggest competitor.
"Well, I am very glad to meet you, Carolyn," Deloris said somewhat distracted, while she eyed the lunch menu on the table top.
A waiter appeared with water glasses and asked if the ladies were ready to order.
Deloris looked at Sadie and said, "You and Carolyn go first. I
never now what I want," and then she whispered, "The food here is
over-priced."
Carolyn looked up at the waiter and began speaking, "I will have the
salad with salmon and vinaigrette dressing on the side, please."
The waiter shifted his gaze to Sadie and she began, "And, I’ll have the
pasta with shrimp and coffee to drink. Cream, no sugar."
While recording Sadie’s entrée, the waiter pivoted so that he was
facing Deloris, pen poised and ready to write. Deloris flipped
back and forth in the menu pages letting out a deep sigh each
time. Finally, the felt the watchful eyes of the waiter and said,
"I guess that I’ll have a cup of soup and the crab cake
appetizer. By the way, what is the soup-of-the-day?"
"Our soup today," the waiter replied, "Is French onion with parmesan cheese melted on top."
"Well, leave the cheese off. I don’t like the way parmesan tastes," snapped Deloris.
Order taking completed, the waiter left the ladies to chat until he returned with their food.
"Carolyn is new to Columbia," Sadie began. "So, I’m trying to introduce her to my favorite restaurants and stores."
"It’s just lucky that you moved here in the spring, Carolyn.
Because, if you had gotten a load of the 100 degree August weather, you
would never have taken the job." Deloris said as she unfolded her
napkin and rearranged silverware on the table top.
Carolyn’s eyebrows arched up as Deloris spoke and she responded, "I
moved here from Arkansas and I’m rather used to hot summers. Air
conditioning is essential, though."
"You have the right idea, Carolyn," Sadie said as the smiled at her guest.
"Deloris, I have been telling Carolyn how talented you are with
computer graphics, and she has plans to create an electronic customer
newsletter and increase our creative staff." Sadie’s eyes looked
bright and hopeful as she moved her gaze back and forth making eye
contact between her two lunch partners. "Why don’t you tell
Carolyn about some of the website development you have done?"
"What a pain that was." Deloris responded. "I put it together on specs
my manager provided and then he had the nerve to come back with huge
changes. Said he didn’t know how to describe what he wanted until
he saw the demo. And, I had rushed it through short-changing
other projects to meet his deadline!"
The waiter’s arrival with their lunches halted Deloris’ remarks.
"Mmm, Sadie. Your pasta looks so good," Carolyn said admiringly.
"Well, you are welcome to have a taste," Sadie smiled. "My
sisters and I used to drive our mother crazy eating off of each others’
plates. But, we always thought it was fun."
Carolyn sipped her tea and then glanced across the table. "So, Deloris, how did you get interested in computer graphics?"
Fork in mid air, Deloris looked at the adjacent table and then back at
Carolyn. "I didn’t like it to begin with; but, the girl who was
responsible had a difficult pregnancy and had to quit work. Then,
my supervisor gave me her work. I learn quickly with the
computer, so it wasn’t so bad. I have an associates degree in
business which they are not even letting me use since there are so many
graphics projects. And, I don’t know if the other girl is coming
back, of if they’re going to fill her position."
Deloris stopped long enough to eat two bites of crab cake and then
continued talking, "Most of what I know about Adobe and Quark, I
learned on my own. It’s been trial and error. If they had
offered me a chance to take a class at Tech, I would have improved
faster."
"Well, Deloris, I think that you have done so much on your own," Sadie
responded to her friend. "It’s terrific and I admire your
initiative."
"I sure wish you could tell that to my boss," Deloris said as she laid her napkin on the table ending her meal.
The waiter returned. "How was everything, ladies?" he said as he
distributed the checks. "Come back on Thursday nights when we
have jazz piano on the patio."
"That sounds wonderful," Carolyn responded. "Have either of you ever
come for jazz night? I think that my husband would really enjoy
it."
"That does sound nice," Sadie responded. "I wonder if my boyfriend would come. We could meet you here."
Deloris rolled her eyes at her friend and said, "Good luck with
that. I’m heading back to the pile of stuff on my desk.
Thank goodness it’s Friday and I won’t have to see it for two whole
days."
"It was nice to meet you, Deloris," Carolyn said as she stretched her
hand forward to shake Deloris’ hand. Deloris returned Carolyn’s
handshake limply and said, "Sure, me, too. Welcome to town. And,
Sadie, I’ll call you about the movies on Saturday."
Sadie and Carolyn made their way to the exit and the sidewalk leading
back to their office building. "Carolyn, Deloris really is very
talented. And, if there are future plans to add a computer
graphics person, I would love to submit her resume for consideration,"
Sadie said.
"The plans are incomplete right now; but, I’ll let you know," Carolyn
looked away as she responded to Sadie’s words. "Thank you for
inviting me to lunch. The food was really good and I loved
sitting out on the porch."
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