Lie To Me

I became unemployed back in December 2008 after being laid off from the hotel and after I submitted grades for the one history course I taught at Northern Kentucky University. I would have loved to teach enough classes to sustain a life, but I am unable to teach full-time at the university without a Ph.D. Nor am I able to teach at public schools since I lack my certification. Unfortunately, history is not in as much demand as science or math where one could hope to obtain an emergency certification.

I have always despised looking for a job and now I hate it more than ever. I detest job interviews for making me feel like I have to pretend to be somebody else while someone I have met for the first time is judging me. Subsequently, the employer drags out the agony while he or she takes two weeks to make up their mind. What is even more depressing is that now I cannot even obtain an interview. Now every hotel, bookstore, and coffee shop gives me the same cold response, “We’re not hiring right now.”

What I want is for them to at least recognize my effort by allowing me to fill out an application. Even if they’re not hiring, I would prefer they lie to me and allow me to pretend there is a chance a job may open up. Yet for them to instantly obliterate my hopes gets harder with each rejection. I have had some phone interviews with some charter schools, but those positions are months off and I needed a job yesterday. For now, I am doing my best to sustain my faith in the truth that, “whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”


CJE