Recently, I stopped at a town in County Mayo, called Westport, to break up the journey home from Donegal.

I asked at a newsagents if they had any papers with local jobs in. The shop assistant was kind enough to stop her task of filling the shelves and take a few minutes to open up a paper or two to help me look for a jobs section.

She gave me a free copy of a local paper and suggested looking on the noticeboard in the local Supervalu just up the road. (Similar to a Tesco or Aldi supermarket, in this case slightly smaller).

Scouring the noticeboard full of various handwritten adverts, I spotted:

That evening, I called the number and got through to a lady who asked where I aquired such a lovely English accent. I told her she had an obvious talent for phone conversations and that I was calling in regards to the advertised job. She was unforthcoming about the job responsibilities and added that she wasn’t really looking for anyone right now as they had “taken someone on”. 

She said she’d make a note of my name and number, which I took as being a polite rejection.

I asked her what her name was. She told me. I asked what the name of her establishment was. She said she’d rather not say. I jokingly said “Why, is it classified information?”. She still wouldn’t give away the secret.

I said “ok, no problem, lovely speaking with you”.

Having nothing else planned for the evening, I conjured up the challenge of finding the name of the establishment and the contact email address to send my CV to. Using the only two bits of information I had (name and phone number), I eventually tracked the place down using the power of google and sent my CV with brief covering letter via email. (I’d prefer not to write the name of the B&B on this blog, as the lady was so adamant it be kept private).

The next day, I had a phone call.

“Hi, is that David?”

“Yes.”

“How on earth did you get my email address?”

“Well, you gave me your phone number and I had your name.”

“Yes, but I never gave you my email address and there are more than 60 guesthouses in Westport!”

The poor lady sounded quite shaken and I thought I’d be getting an earful any second!

But instead, she said “what are you, some kind of detective?”

I burst out laughing.

She then said “well, I have to stick my neck out here and invite you over for a chat at 2pm tomorrow”.

So, that was successful and worth the extra effort!

An hour later, the phone rang again and the caller said “Hi David, I’m calling you in regards to the accommodation job you applied for, are you still interested?”

I said “yes, of course.”

“OK, can you come for an interview tomorrow at 2pm?”

Thinking this was the same lady calling me back, I said, “well, yes, that’s what we agreed previously” and continued with our original conversation.

It wasn’t the same lady.

But, she seemed to think she’d spoken to me earlier that day. This completely flummoxed me and we had an utterly confused conversation trying to untangle things. Despite her claims, she absolutely hadn’t spoken to me earlier. I explained I had another interview lined up already that day and that I’d be over to meet her straight after that. This second phone call was related to a hotel named Ashford Castle.

Up to this point, I’d applied for about twenty jobs. I can’t believe i get two job related conversations within an hour of each other, about similar roles.

Anyway, that’s two interviews lined up and all that matters. Successful day!

Music on the iPhone:

Lost in the Dream by The War on Drugs

In Reverse by The War on Drugs

Next post – The interviews