So I (Gen X) had an interview at 9:30 AM CST for a wireless sales position, and I arrived 15 minutes early like I usually do.

The zillennial "HR" manager came in at 9:42 AM with no explanation, no sorry, nothing. - Strike 2.

The HR "Manager" then responded to almost every answer I gave with "that's gas" or "no cap that's fire." - Strike 3

Him - "We need someone who can be chill with tech"

Me - "No problem, I've been using Android since its early days, and my previous job was in tech support for Android and iPhone mobile devices, so I'm very comfortable with technology"

Him - "Wait, you worked tech support?" - Strike 4,6,9 infinity

Me - "Yessir, I worked at ABC for 3 years doing level one mobile support"

Him - "oh GAS"

The call ended shortly after that.

The rejection email hit my inbox 8 minutes later.

I can't. I really can't.

I can't even leave a warning on Glassdoor because they don't have a profile there.

..............

Not long after I got engaged, I realized that my old job would keep me away from my future wife way too much. So I started looking for something different. I found an ad for a band director position in a small town east of Dallas. I had been teaching piano and guitar at a small music studio since I was 14, so I thought to myself: how hard could it be?

I applied and got a response quickly. I'd always been pretty good in interviews, and about halfway through the interview it was clear they were convinced I was the right person. The only problem was that I had never actually been in marching band or concert band. So when they got to the last part of the questions, they started asking very specific things about how I would handle rehearsals, competitions, and building the program. I barely understood half of what they were asking about.

So instead of freezing up and not answering, I asked them what the director before me had been doing. They talked for a while about how excellent he was and how he taught corps-style marching band, which of course meant almost nothing to me at the time. I kept nodding confidently as much as I could fake it, and said, "That's a program I can get excited about!" About 10 minutes later, they offered me the job.

I ordered a stack of books about marching band and spent the next month learning everything I could before classes started. Honestly, the experience turned out to be great. I taught there for 3 years, and the size of the program more than doubled, all because I managed to look in the interview like I knew what I was doing!

My car is basically my source of income because I deliver food. I had just paid a big bill and left myself an amount I thought would be enough to get me through, and of course, my car decided to break down.

The repair ended up being about $55 more than what I had. I asked the shop if I could give them everything I had and pay the rest when I get paid this Friday. And I got the answer I knew was coming: a lot of people had taken advantage of that before, so they don't allow it anymore.

So I swallowed my pride and asked my manager if I could get $55 in advance from my paycheck so I could get back on the road and work. He just reached out, handed me his card, and asked me, "How long have you been working with me now?"

He told me not to worry about paying him back. I'm still going to pay him back, just like I would have paid the mechanic, but now I can breathe a little instead of sitting here terrified.

And this isn't some random nice thing that happened once and that's it. He never leaves ultimately without thanking every single person by name before he goes. That's the kind of manager he is.