Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Interviews always make me cringe


I had the interview with the set of lawyers for the job of running a boarding stable here in Northern California. Interviews always make me cringe. I mean, what is an interview except you trying to tell everyone else how great you are?

Of course sometimes you are great, or great at what you do, but it still is uncomfortable.

I had a 5:00 PM interview in the downtown of Oakland, California. Have any of you ever been to Oakland, California- the murder capital of Northern California? Well, actually that title goes to Richmond, just a mile or two east, but it is the same type of people that live in Oakland.

This was the downtown, so it has plenty of high rise buildings, and I'll tell you the view from the 24th floor of the bay and the city was AWESOME ! I didn't whip out my cell phone camera to take a picture while in the interview- I thought that might be bad form, but I wanted to. You'll just have to take my word for it.

The two lawyers representing the two opposing partners were polite and asked questions like, how many horses have you cared for?

( You mean all at once or over time?)

What do you do with the manure?

(They were surprised that you have to PAY someone to come get it or have it hauled away unless you give it away to gardeners)

They were a little surprised to learn how much a pile of horse poop weighs (Really! I did enlighten them!)

Or how long it takes to clean a stall, or how much you have to pay someone to come and do that job.
There are about 80-90 horses on this ranch- so paid help (read Manuel Labor) is a must!

They didn't know about boarding agreements or insurance waivers and how important those things are, as are up to date medical records for boarded horses.

So they got a free education on the fly if nothing else!

By the time I left, even the partner that didn't want me probably wanted me (and NOT in the Biblical way, Thank you very much!)

So now I wait a day or two to see if they liked me. Or if they will decide to keep horses on the property, I guess the option is to sell the property empty.

In the mean time, Hubby took OD and I to the best Haufbrau in the area for dinner and drinks-
I sure needed that Irish Coffee!