June 23, 2009.

While we were headed to Annapolis our friend Bess (who should be a Headhunter) was already here doing some legwork for us. She works at a local chandlery and had her antenna up for a job opening for me.

She told me of a friend who was the service manager at one of the local marinas. I went down and applied and had a pretty good interview. I left with the promise of a phone call in a day or two. On Wednesday the service manager called with a half dozen more questions. He told me he had to discuss me with the 2 guys he works for. By Friday I was done waiting for the phone to ring so I headed down there in the dink.

As luck would have it, I walked in while both of the bosses were in the office. While we were discussing my possible employment an employee walked in and started to discuss a problem he was having while attempting to paint a boot stripe on a boat. They both threw some possible solutions at him and he assured them that he’d tried them all. They told him they’d be right down as soon as they were finished with me. I interviewed with each of the guys separately and aced both interviews. They told me that they had a few fires to put out and after they talked to each other they would call me in an hour or so.

I walked out psyched. I aced the interviews, the phone call was just a formality…or so I thought. The phone call did not come that day. The next morning I called the service manager who told me that the employee that couldn’t handle the painting has been with them awhile and they’re going to give him the job that I was applying for and then use the opening to hire a professional painter. Shit. Talk about crappy timing.

On Saturday we were boatbound by the weather so job hunting was a no go. This enabled me to stew in the juices of my recent employment failure. On Sunday, nobody in charge is at the local marinas so I spent some time embellishing, er, updating my resume.

Monday morning I got a call from Bess. It seemed that some guy with a marine repair service was in to buy some supplies and she chatted him up. Turned out he was looking for somebody, Bess thought of me because I am somebody. She excused herself from the conversation and called the boat and told me to call him in 20 minutes.

We looked his business up on the internet and emailed him my resume. I waited a half hour and rang him up. He said he’d look at my resume when he got home and give me a call later.

5 o’clock came and went, 6 o’clock as well. Shit, another dead end, or so I thought. At 7 o’clock the phone rang and Christy went below to answer it. The look on her face was a little confused at first as she ascended the companionway steps.

The caller said to her “Is your boat white with blue canvas?”
She warily said “yes”
Then he asked “Did you have to go below to answer the phone?”
Now she’s a little freaked out but answers “yes”

It turned out that he’d just gotten home and was out on his deck, having a beer and was reading my resume when he decided to call. By a stroke of dumb luck, we’re anchored directly behind his house. He invited me up to the house to interview right then and there.

I hopped in the dink and headed right over. I had another good interview and was hired and told I could start the following day. I was having conflicting emotions. I was glad to get a good opportunity but after 3 years of not having to get up first thing in the morning for work I was a little frightened by the prospect of waking at dawn. That was when he told me that they usually start at 0900. He thought I was smiling at the thought of a new job, yeah that’s good, but starting at 0900 is awesome.