So I think I've mentioned in the past the on-going saga of "Is it time to go back to Work?" that is a reoccurring topic of conversation and drama in the Sketchy household. My poor husband. He is always supportive of which ever neurosis hits me.
Some days I think 'My youngest is in school! Let the vacation money, college savings plans, debt paying off party begin!'
And then I think 'I don't ever want to put my kids in a position where there mommy won't be there for them if they need her! And Alex is only in school for about 2.5 hours anyway, that still means daycare for the rest of the time. And I barely keep up on things around the house the way it is!'
Sometimes I do this 2 or 3 times a night. And of course then I lay this all on my poor husband, whom I think it is quite wonderful that he hasn't at the very least yelled at me to make up my mind already!
But then a couple of weeks ago I saw an intriguing ad, and it was in one of my debt paying off modes. A local private school was looking for a bookkeeper.
'Hmmmm,' thinks I, 'it says full-time, but that could mean anything from 32-40 hours. And I can't imagine they have that much accounting work anyway, maybe they are just not wanting to scare off potential applicants by saying part-time. And maybe their summer hours would be reduced...'
So I threw caution to the wind and applied.
And I didn't hear anything.
I assumed they had filled the position.
And then they called! They set up an interview for the following day!
And I got subsequently very excited and very nervous.
Today was the interview.
So. I show up about 15 minutes early. I was going to wait in the parking lot and listen to the radio until it was time to go in, but then I noticed I was getting a few odd looks from employees, and this is a school, so I assume safety issues are a priority. And just sitting there was making me even more nervous. So I took a drive, wasted about 10 minutes, figured that 5 minutes early would show an attention to promptness. So I went in.
"Hello Kimberly!" I was greeted.
"It's Sketchy." I corrected.
Slight confusion, apparently Kimberly is the next interview. He'd been going through resumes on his desk before I'd come in and mixed them up. No problem. Got that straightened out and things were going well.
He seemed impressed by my demeanor, my experience. My obvious comfort in a school setting. I hate to brag, but I think I had the man eating out of my hand. I wouldn't have been too surprised if he'd started introducing me around the office as the new employee.
And I was similarly happy. The accounting job would be about 30 hours a week, however if I needed full-time their business manager had retired recently and they thought they might switch some of the responsibilities to the accounting office if that was what it took to get the right person. '30 hours is perfect.' I thinks. AND summer hours are very reduced, they have some teachers on a 12 month pay schedule, and a minimal summer staff, so a payroll (I think it's monthly - sha!) and paying enough bills to keep the lights on, and keeping up the monthly reports. EASY. 'Awesome!' thinks I, 'this may be the perfect job!' And the pay was in the higher range of what I'd dared hope for, for a non-profit school.
And then he asked the tragic question. The R question.
Did I mention this is a private Christian School? A private Christian School in an area with very few members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?
I sort of gave him the perfect opening. He had mentioned their need to keep an orderly budget and I asked, "If I were to notice budget discrepancies would I bring them to you? Or would I need to go to board meetings and such." Which led him into a story where he'd worked as a young man and he noticed some "budget discrepancies" and he'd reported them to his superior, who was apparently the embezzler. oops. And then he'd been invited to share in the bounty, to which he declined and turned the crook in to higher authorities. And I said, "What's the worth of a soul?"
And then he said, "So, what religion are you?"
I had wondered if this would come up, beings as it is a Christian school. Before I admit it briefly crossed my mind I could just say "Christian," I believe in Jesus Christ fully after all. But I am happy to say I discarded that thought immediately. I knew that while I consider it an honest if not entirely complete answer, they probably wouldn't. And I wouldn't want to be in a position where I had to hide who I am all the time anyway. So if it came up I would tell the whole truth.
And it did.
So, I took a deep breath and said, "I'm LDS - a Mormon." I added the last just to be clear.
His response was almost comical, I was soooo tempted to laugh. His eyes got really big. Then he closed them completely. Then he looked down at his desk.
Meanwhile, I was trying to reassure him, "I certainly would not be seeking to proselyte in my work situation and I have the utmost respect and comfortability with the tenants of Christianity and I would definitely support that dogma within the school."
By this time he managed to look at me again. Barely. I thought about asking if he'd like to feel my head to check for horns just to reassure himself, but I restrained myself. Barely.
He somewhat feebly managed to mention that as the bookkeeper I wouldn't be required to interact much with the students anyway, perhaps pray with them if they were hurt on the playground and no one else was around. (Which was sort of an odd job requirement to me, my first instinct would be to bandage first, and then pray. But still, sort of refreshing in today's day and age don't you think?)
And then I managed to ask a more business pertinent question and steer the interview back into safer waters. And I think I left him at least thinking, 'Dang for a Mormon she was a pretty nice person.'
Maybe that's the best I can hope for here.
But I suppose I can always hope that Kimberly turned out to be awful and they think maybe if we're all really clear that there will be NO proselyting we could stand to hire a ...a ...a Mormon. shhhhhhh....
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