First, I should mention that the Halloween day job interview was rescheduled to this afternoon, giving me not one, but two interviews downtown today.

I spent much of the 2-1/2 interval between the two interviews roaming around Tattered Cover, eating a sandwich, browsing the magazines, sneering at the cover of the new Coulter offering, mourning my inability to pick up the new Krugman book, and wondering if I still care enough about Thomas Covenant to want to buy the new Stephen R. Donaldson volume.

First up, the "smallish national business" which is, in fact, a Food-Based Organization (hereinafter known as FBO). I like entrepreneurs. I've worked for a number of them and I like start-up companies. I like the excitement and enthusiasm and, to my surprise, I found that same energy in this franchising husband-and-wife duo. I liked them. They liked me. I was taken a bit aback by the promise of long, long hours in the upcoming holiday season. (Surely her joke about getting "an hour of sleep a night" was just that--a joke. Right?) The FBO wouldn't be the first "gift" company I've worked for and I know that around the major holidays, well, that's when they make their money. And that requires a lot of hours. I've worked long hours in other jobs and the prospect of hard work doesn't scare me.

What does scare me is to discover, at the end of an hour-long interview, that a position is being offered for $10/hour and no benefits outside of a bus pass. They went to $12 based on my qualifications (they did like me), but could make no promises of when, or even if, minor things like healthcare coverage might be possible.

I promised to "run the numbers" and get back in touch with them on Monday.

I did "run the numbers" during the aforementioned 2-1/2 hour gap between interviews and discovered that, if I never get sick, my car doesn't need any repairs, I never move and my rent never goes up, and I eat very lightly, I can actually live on $12/hour. (Well, maybe not live. "Survive" might be a better word in this context.)

However, life being what it is, I really can't plan my future on the assumption that I will never need new tires, I will never again fall off a curb (this last experience was my third at that particular piece of stupidity), and I will never again feel the urge to visit an Italian restaurant or walk across the street to Whole Foods and buy a truffle.

Also? I'm not, quite, 30 any more. In theory, these are supposed to be my "peak" earning years. Now that retirement age is no longer some theoretical future possibility but is, in fact, on the middle horizon? Well, let's just say that contributing nothing to my retirement fund during the last fifteen years of my professional life was not a part of my retirement planning. (Nor did I plan for the Feds to raise the "retirement" age to 67 or 67-1/2 or whatever it is now, but I'm ignoring that.) (Except that now I need more money.)

Moving on, we come to the UnNamed Political Organization (UNPO) (the folks who originally scheduled for next week). They work in a cool building and certainly seemed to be an earnest, well-meaning bunch of folks, sadly in need of someone with my organizational and tidying-up skills. They have funding and after establishing this core office, will immediately be moving out to a handful or two of other states. They're just starting out, so the processes and procedures are all to be created, something I'd love to be involved in.

They promise long hours and hard work, but, again, that's to be expected in a start-up and doesn't bother me. It would be a challenge, although I don't have any doubts about my ability to eventually get a grip on it all, but I also suspect that what they really need is someone rather more detail-oriented and more anal-retentive about follow-up than I actually am.

They're offering somewhere around $30-$35k, which is low but a range I could actually live on*. They offer benefits, too. Health insurance, my number one concern, would be provided. The office is across the street from a light rail station, so commuting would be a no-brainer.

They're not going to offer me the job, though, (I don't know why--sometimes you can just get a sense when you're in an interview, you know?) so there's not a lot of point in speculating about it.

Ah, well. Back to the job sites. I am sure there are resumes I need to send....


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* As the R.C. just reminded me, working for someone for less money than it takes me to live on (and to secure my future on), is tantamount to subsiziding my employer.

In essence, what I'm doing is mortaging, if not sacrificing, my own future to ensure the security of their future.

I'm just not as willing to do that as I was twenty years ago.




P.S. Seven minutes later....

I already have another interview scheduled for Monday. This one, again, is coming in at the bottom of the scale for they kind of money I think I can live on, but great benefits and while not a start-up company, their office in Denver is going to be new, so plenty of organizational excitement!

Wish me luck!