And now, back to our continuing story….

Friday, around three in the afternoon, I finally heard from a recruiter. I remember them- keep telling me they have plenty of stuff for me, love my resume, never call. You know, them. They actually had a job for me, a good high-paying one for two weeks, maybe more, starting on Monday.

Great, but one catch- I have jury duty.

I tell the recruiter this and he tells me that it's a shame because he's got a bunch of stuff for me, all starting on Monday. He then tells me I might be able to get out of it jury duty because he knows people who have and it's real easy. So while I'm on the phone, I grab the summons, do a little reading, and discover he's right, I can get a 90 day deferral. It is easy; all I have to do is call. I tell him I'll do what I can and then I'll call him back.

So I call the 1-800 number and find out that I can't get out of appearing over the phone on Monday because it's too late too. I wait on the phone a little longer, get an actual human, and find out that if I make it to the courthouse by 4:15, I can get deferral. I call the recruiter back, leave him a message telling him I'm going to get the deferral and that I'll call him as soon as I get it taken care of.

Now the great part of all of this is that for the first time in about seven months, I went to a Bikram class. I had gotten home around 2 from class and was still pretty much in my yoga gear when the recruiter called. In fact, I hadn't even showered yet. I had also just finished lunch and was pretty much looking forward to doing nothing that afternoon but getting blissy with it. There went that idea. I hopped in the shower, quickly changed and ran to the bus stop.

No bus.

Knowing that I only had about half an hour to make it there, I started walking to the courthouse. The courthouse is about twenty to thirty minutes away and doable, but not really something I want to do after an hour and a half yoga class in over hundred degree heat. I also have new shoes on which I haven't fully broken in yet and when I walk for long distances, I start getting shin splints. But walk I had to, and walk I did, shin splints in all. I got to the courthouse about four, filled out the form, and got my deferral. Work, here I come.

I get back to my place and call the recruiter. He tells me he was hoping it would all work because he thinks I'd be great there, hadn't really called anyone else, and started giving me the info. Naturally, there's a problem. I realize that it's a place I've already interviewed at before. Twice. Once the last time I was unemployed (they were the one's I thought I'd get a job because I had all these whacky connections to) and once right when the Recent Unpleasantness began. They turned me down both times, partly because they're looking for someone with slightly different skill sets than I have. All of this is kind of a pisser because they're always looking for people, I'm always around when they're looking for people, but they never want to hire me. Still, the Temp Agencies keep trying to send me over. It's like being constantly set up with the same woman only to be constantly turned down.

I tell them what the problem is and while I'm not sure it's a problem, the company might. He thanks me for the info, tells me he'll find out what the deal will be, and then tells me he'll call me right back.

And so I wait. Ten minutes go by. Then fifteen. I call them back and find out it's still not settled but another recruiter asks me for like the tenth time if I have any experience doing what the company needs and for like the tenth time I tell them I should be able to do but I'm not sure (I know, I know, I should lie but as the job is kind of technical, it's not an easy thing to BS. And bad things happen if I try to BS ). They thank me for the info and tell me they'll get back to me. And so I wait some more. Ten more minutes go by. Then twenty. It's almost six and I call them again. Oops. Sorry, they didn't want me back there. Forgot to call me back.

So, after all that- the franticness, the running to the courthouse, the getting out of jury duty, the waiting by the phone, I got bupkus. Nada. Nothing. No job, no money, not a thing.