Coffee

For the last 4 years, I have been in and out of different offices of then prospective new employers. Since becoming “technically unemployed” in 2007, I must have flipped the classified pages and explored the net more than a million times, eternally searching for that elusive career break. The whole experience was fun, albeit frustrating from time to time. Confusing IQ tests have become a routine (too bad I never got to ask anyone of them what my IQ really was.) Offers too, came in diverse setups – spoon fed, ego boosters, practical haggling, name it, I must have gone through it. Having gone through all these customary process of job-hunting, there is only one thing that I relatively dislike – the steaming coffee that usually comes with the interviews! I am not a coffee-hater but neither am I a coffee-lover, perhaps for caffeine-intolerance reasons, and so it really makes me cringe whenever the future-boss offers “Coffee?” to which most of the time I counter with an artificial yet enthusiastic smile that goes with “Yeah, sure!”. I wonder what is it with coffee that usually, almost takes me to the final stages of negotiations. Does it make me give out sensible answers to their questions or does it give them the impression that I easily take orders from them? I’ll never know.

Last week, I got another unexpected (but much prayed for) offer from a friend and as predicted, the new future-boss invites me over for a cup of coffee. The meeting went quite well that resulted to another meeting, and of course, another cup of coffee. The negotiation was fairly becoming vivid and when asked what my chances were, the future-boss assures me of being already “on-board”, with just one more meeting with the company president for formality purposes. Uh-oh, there goes another cup of coffee! I just hope the 3rd cup seals the deal this time. Wish me luck!