The Impromptu Job Interview

As she stepped through the revolving doors of the First National Bank Tower building, the wind slapped Kelsi’s scarf back over her face, causing her eyes to cloud immediately from the bitter gust. Kelsi pulled her coat tightly to protect her exposed skin as she precariously descend the steep steps to the bus stop at the Marietta and Forsyth Street intersection of Five-Points in downtown Atlanta. This had become Kelsi’s new normal route now - her daily routine.

She snagged her first desk job that would one day launch her to an affluent corporate dream job. Kelsi had achieved one of her great aspirations as noted in the exuberance in her stride. She pulled her long shoulder strapped handbag close to her side and slipped her hand in her coat pocket to confirm her ticket was still there. Her heels clicked on the concrete as she strolled confidently towards her stop.

Kelsi’s considered her plans for dinner and her options for the rest of the evening, when she heard a voice call in her direction. “Do you work here?” the woman asked. Not recognizing her, Kelsi looked around to see if she was possibly addressing someone else. Maybe she was speaking to someone behind her. But there was no one there. Turning to face her again Kelsi wondered if she might be someone from her new job. But seeing her closely Kelsi had no recollection of her face.

Immediately her defenses perked as she considered the possibility that the woman may be a con artist or have some devious intention to rob or attack her. She pulled back to put a little distance between them and replied hesitantly, “yes, I work here”, looking back over her shoulder to the building she’d just exited. Still cautious about providing too much information and uncomfortable about her reason for such questioning Kelsi hesitated to say more.
But the woman pushed on, “Is this a good place to work?”
Now, what kind of question is that? Kelsi tilted her head curiously, unsure how to answer her so she just responded with a simple, “yeah?...”.

She gave a politely closing (fake) smile and started to turned away when the woman asked another question. “Do you do well?” Now, that really caught Kelsi off-guard. “Why was she asking that, was she trying to see if she could get a job here too”, she thought. Again Kelsi hesitated and answered, “I do ok.” Was she able to see through Kelsi’s skeptical façade? She didn’t want her to know she had just started her job and was a rookie with the stock exchange and had not yet reached her potential? Was it obvious that she was just a simple file clerk? Kelsi tried to conceal her embarrassment. “I really enjoy it”, she said as she definitely lifted her chin. But inside Kelsi wavered, thinking the woman may see through her ruse.

Then the woman struck the final blow in our impromptu interview. “So, how much do you make?”
That was it. Now she had pushed a little too far, that was personal and Kelsi thought unfair. Why would she ask something so forward when she didn’t even know her? She noticed Kelsi was obviously taken aback (as she stood with her mouth gapping open) she restated, “about how much do you make an evening?”

Did you hear it- the whistle blow? The sounds around her blurred and Kelsi could hardly catch her breath. She tilted her head and looked the woman directly in the face. Then she caught herself looking a little closer at the woman’s extremely short skirt (if you want to call it that), her spiked heels, her tussled, loudly multicolored, spiked hair and her absolute lack of covering…just a strapless tank top. Had she been that raw, that inexperienced, that she missed the neon sign right in front of her? She was a street-walker, a prostitute,…

With embarrassment and a total loss for words, Kelsi responded, “I – uhh, work here at the stock exchange.” The woman quickly replied as she belly-laughed, “me too.” Before she could take another step, Kelsi stepped forward a bit and said curtly, “I work in this building.” Then Kelsi turned quickly and walked as fast as she could in her Stiletto heels to the other end of Forsyth almost to two blocks before she turned back to see if the woman had followed her or if anyone had noticed them interacting.

She was flustered and disgusted that the woman would mistake her as competition and that the woman would even consider that Kelsi, an obvious Christian woman, would be mistaken for someone like her. If a black woman could turn red she would have. When Kelsi finally stopped she turned and noticed she was standing at a store front with a wide window that exposed her full reflection. She scanned her surroundings to see if anyone noticed and begin to examine herself very closely. She bit her lower lip and took a deep breath and pondered, “do i really look like a prostitute or act like a prostitute?” She checked her makeup then her clothes, then quickly closed her coat tightly and ran to the nearest bus, unaware which direction it would take her. She just needed to get away quickly, to think.

“Who do I really reflect? I consider myself a conservative Christian woman, a woman of integrity, above reproach, but do others see Jesus or someone or something else?”

That day, Kelsi learned a life-changing lesson that has stuck with her to this moment. She should always seek to reflect her Father's image. God. If she was His then she should always resemble Him, outwardly and inwardly, not trying to keep up with the world’s view of what pleases. This was one revealing Impromptu interview that Kelsi would never forget. She would share her experience with other girls so they would learn from her textbook of mistakes and not from their own painful experiences.