THE DR. LEON O. BRENNER CENTER FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT AND CONSULTATION

UGH!

To do justice to my present frustration, we have to go back about two weeks...

I got a phone call from a potential internship site for next year. They wanted to set up an interview. YAY! It was one of my top choice sites. Happy, happy Kate. But, lo! They wanted to interview me on a Wednesday, and Wednesdays happen to be very busy at my field site this year, so I politely asked what other times they had available. I said, hey, I could do a Wednesday, but if there's another day that would be mutually agreeable, all the better. They said they would have to call back with another available time. Fine, said I. We hang up. The fear immediately crosses my mind that they are not going to call back. Days pass. A whole week. A fortnight. FINALLY- after I'd given up hope and cursed them to the sky- they call back. Very, very nice gentleman, different person than last time, schedules me an interview.

The night before, I fuss for over an hour trying to find the best clothing. I've lost about 25 pounds (on purpose- yay!) and haven't updated my wardrobe yet, so nothing fits well or looks quite right. Finally, I settle on a simple wool skirt, blouse and sweater combo. The day comes. I go to my current site and leave early. I leave really early. Google Maps tells me that it will only take 20 minutes to get there, but I give myself an hour. I'm taking NO chances. The directions are familiar to me until the last three turns, so I think I'm in good shape...

But two things happen. First, snow begins falling from the sky. Hard! This is what they call a 'snow squall,' in fact. Cars are going even slower than usual. People are backed up behind lights, sitting for two and three cycles. Street signs become difficult to read. Second, in spite of diligent efforts and only being TWO RIGHT TURNS and LESS THAN A MILE away, I get horribly, horribly lost. It is 5 minutes before my interview and I know I'm going to be late. I know, at most, I'm two miles away- but two miles can take a long time in Boston, especially when you aren't totally sure which two miles you need to traverse.

I was good, I did the right thing: I called them. Receptionist was very nice but had no idea how to get me there from where I was, even though she agreed I wasn't too far away. She put me on hold to talk to the very, very nice gentleman with whom I was to meet. At this point I'm hoping he also happens to have a GPS installed in his brain. But no luck! Instead, she comes back to the phone and tells me that he is very busy that day (I add in my mind: most likely interviewing other people who have found their way there! Oh, catastrophizing mind!), they are running late anyway, why not just reschedule for some day next week. They put me through to the voicemail of another one of the site administrators to set up a time. They are nice and reasonable about it, but I am frustrated, disappointed, and angry at them, myself, the weather, the roads, Google (oh yes, those smug billionaires are going down, too!), you name it. I leave them a phone message trying to sound pleasant. I don't bother to use the 'listen and approve' menu option. I hang up. I am deflated and miserable.

They didn't call back that day. Fine- they were busy, that's why they told me to reschedule. But will I hear from them Monday? Any day next week? EVER? At this point, I don't even care- okay, that's a lie- but it's been a comedy of errors with this site. Maybe it's just not meant to be. I have five other interviews in the next two weeks. I'm trying to forget about this one... but it's like a bad break-up when you chastise yourself thinking you could have done something different or better to make it work,even though you know you did your absolute best. If only x, y, z. Ugh.

kate.