And Just to Prove What a Book Dork I Can Be

Continuing in today's literary vein, I was paid a visit today by one of the very many new people who started work at My Company in the two+ weeks that I was off for the bar and such. He stopped by my desk and asked me if I had time to chat. Seeing as how all I was doing was poking a bunch of spreadsheets with a stick to see if I could scare or at least annoy the numbers into making sense, I jumped right up and followed him to a conference room.

We sat down and he asked me if I was still interested in the manager position that I applied for a while ago . Well, yes, I am, but I was also confused because he had been introduced to me as "the new contracts manager". I didn't let on that I was confused, and he popped the big question, the (completely fair) one that's driving me batty in my job search, the one where he wanted to know why I wanted to take that job when I just took the bar exam, which, as he put it, would seem to point to a different career path.

I replied "I don't really want to be a practicing attorney. The bar exam is just my white whale."

Not a flicker of understanding the reference passed his features. In fact, he looked confused. I quickly added "I took it more for personal reasons, to try and conquer something that I failed at the first time I tried, than for professional reasons." That he understood.

Note to self: Unless you are looking for a job in a bookstore, or in a library, or teaching English, you may want to think twice about literary references in the context of an interview.