My Big Day

I dreamt restlessly that day, tossing and turning. My dreams were the very definition of strange. Colors and swirls of offices and mops, dazzling lights and filing cabinets. I awoke a minute before my alarm clock would tell me to awake. I turned it off with some haste and lay there for a minute, still, delirious. Today was my interview, my big day. I finally rose from my stiff air mattress, and headed to the washroom. Should I shave? Well maybe just a little touch up. I meandered back to my room and found my one shirt that contained a collar. It was a green shirt. I was dressed to impress, sort of. I gathered all of the spare change on my desk and headed out into the world.

It was hot out, must have been 85 degrees already. I headed down the sidewalk toward the bus stop on Ventura. At the corner, some road rage was brewing.
"Hey asshole get a move on", followed by a bundle of angry horn honks. Still I kept walking. Past the mini mart, past the law offices. Past the borderline run down Mexican kitchen. Past the homeless, the employed, the confused. I finally came up to the bus stop. I'd never taken the bus before. I had myself a seat at the bus stop. The bus arrival time was set at 10:58 am, and it came right about that time. Only it didn't stop for me, it kept right on going. I stood up confused, and then realized that you must stand practically in the road for the bus to stop for you. So I sat around and waiting for the next round. A half hour later, another orange bus came shooting down the boulevard. This time I was determined to get on. I stood poised, and sure enough the bus driver pulled to the side and picked me up.

I boarded the large, loud vehicle, paid my fare, and had a seat. I was one of four passengers on the morning bus. We got going down the busy morning street. We stopped to pick up some passengers at the next stop. A disheveled gentleman entered, walked back and took a seat. He nervously glanced around, took a flask of cheap vodka from his pocket and took a swig. He squirmed around in his seat for about thirty seconds before going to the driver and asking to get off the bus. He exited. The entire bus smelled of his cheap putrid vodka. It was 11 in the morning. Still the bus kept on moving. We crawled through the morning traffic. I sat and mentally prepared for my big interview. I would be ready for this one. I practiced some responses I had cooked up in my mind. Finally we neared the stop. Hart Street. I pulled the weird metal cord to signal the bus to stop, thanked the driver, and exited the machine.

I needed to walk a couple blocks to reach the office. It was on Canby Avenue, surely a big street. I walked and walked. I was still a half hour early somehow. I finally arrived at a large desolate looking building. Suite 108 was painted on the door in front of me. Taking a deep breath, I entered the building. A young attractive woman greeted me.
"Hi are you here for the interview? Name please."
I responded with my name, and she handed me a paper to fill out. I sat down in the waiting room and nervously filled out the application. There was loud rap music playing from a door adjacent to the waiting room. The secretary and another applicant were chatting nearby.
" Yeah, me and my friends used to go to Vegas a lot, but then I found the lord."
"Oh, yeah I know how tempting a place like that can be."
"Ya know I just feel so much better knowing that Jesus loves me."
Just then the door opened, and the music got louder. A thin strung out Asian gentleman stood, dressed in a black suit looked around the waiting room.
"Who's next Nancy?" He screamed over the loud music.
" Oh I'll send Tim in, here is his application."
I watched Tim in his full suit walk into the room. I heard some sort of yelling coming from the other side of the door. The door opened about 30 seconds later, and Tim sauntered out.
" They only hire people with cars, good luck".
"Well, I hope Jesus guides you on your job search." The strange secretary shouted. He was gone.
Finally after waiting for what seemed like forever, Ryder, the Vice President called all the remaining males into the room. We looked at each other and then him, and entered the office.
The office was a small room that had several paintings on the walls. There was Donald Trump's newest book lying on the table. We filed our way in and stood in front of Ryder.
" Hey guys how are you doing today."
Before we could answer he was already going into his pitch.
" Do you guys want to make money? I mean a lot of money? While you guys have been standing in here I have already made about 1000 dollars. What I did was get trained and then kicked everyone's asses in sales. I made my way up to this office. We have offices all over the United States. I'm talking Chicago, Cleveland, Miami, Florida, uh, Cincinnati, places all over. So many opportunities. If you get sick of it here in Los Angeles I'll fly you out to a new city, take you around in a helicopter to see if you like the city. You see that book, That's Trump’s book. I follow it like a bible. It’s a guide you know, guide's are perfect. It's like if you go to Hong Kong and eat a Big Mac, it tastes the same as a Big Mac you eat in California. Because they are all made with a guide. That's what we train you on. A guide for you to make money. Then you make residual income. You get like eight people under you, and make a ton of money. I make money when I am hanging out with my friends. If you are good you can make 80 thousand a year."
Just then someone cut him off.
" So it's a pyramid scheme?"
"Oh no no nothing like that"
" Yeah, I'm out of here, thanks."
The gentleman that spoke up left the room. I followed him. Once we got out of the office the man spoke to me.
“I knew it was a scam.”
“Yeah, what a crock of shit.” I responded, as we walked our separate ways.
“Well, good luck with your job search.” He yelled.
I reciprocated the same message of good luck. Was luck what we needed to find jobs? Certainly luck did not lead me here today. I wandered back to the bus stop, and got on. The bus was crowded, it was now midday. I nestled in and grabbed a hold of the metal bar. I rode the bus all the way home. The job search continues. Good luck.