No Sleep Til Employment

I am my experiences. I experience New York. I am New York. 

I continue reaching deeper and deeper into the corners of my apartment, Brooklyn, and New York. Yesterday entailed two classes and a tour of application processes. Four resumes dropped off, two interviews, and my first haphazard attempt at a cappuccino on a manual espresso machine. That proved to be the most interesting interview, however.

My potential employer, the owner of a Swedish coffee shop, asked me what I considered my personal strength to be. I responded "customer service and connection," explaining that I was brought up by a psychotherapist and so developed pretty decent skills at reading people and making connections. Primarily, I sense energy and can pick up on a person's disposition and present situation fairly accurately, telling my potential employer that I understand people. He seemed intrigued, sparked up a little after an initially somewhat brusk interview. 

"Do you now?" he asked. I nodded. "Read me, then."

And I did. I told him exactly what I had picked up from him from the beginning of the interview: how his brusk manner suggested not only that he had a keen idea of what he was looking for and wouldn't accept those who proved to be sub-par, but also that he seemed to be a bit preoccupied and has probably had a particularly busy, if not even difficult, day. His manner also made me think that he was a business man in mind set, used to functioning in check lists and with systems, i.e. of a more analytical than empathetic manner (while I expressed that he didn't seem unempathetic per se, just predisposed to the former). So I sat there, on an interview, psychoanalyzing my potential employer honestly for about ten minutes. At the end he just nodded, saying I had done a fairly accurate job. We then turned to the technicalities of the job and my resume, after which I had to make him a cappuccino.

As I left, I thanked him for the interview, saying that if the barista job didn't work out, I was available for more analyzation, and that at the very least, the interview had been fun. He laughed and told me I'd hear from him soon as to his decision. 

Weirdest interview ever. 

However, I have already received a call back from the manager of a clothing store who was "very taken with my personality" and is thinking of pushing my application directly up to the district manager. So there seems to be considerable potential there :)

This morning, I wake to a large dofey black man singing "We Are the Champions" outside my window, and then come across two break dancers in masks in the subway terminal. Good morning, Wednesday.

A Thought: Going through the city, I encounter types of people. People who remind me of people from home, people from my last school, last city. It seems they exist as part of a group they don't know, these types. I meet someone new and think "Oh, he is like friend X, the same type of person." Though of course everyone is different and unique, I can't deny these similarities.

A Find: The station on the corner of 8th and 14th streets, where the L meets the ACE, has the funniest little metal statues. They represent somewhat socialist ideals, the workers overpowering the business men, but in these comical little depictions. However, their meanings are clear. Check them out if you have a chance.