The Badge

Searching for a job is something that deprives us of our dignity, if you let it. And eventually one finds a job and, we move on from that loss of dignity in unpredictable ways. There are so many factors in our life that determine how one moves on. In retrospect, this also applies how we move on after a break up of a relationship. That is we either grow from the experience or we get mired in the mud.

Jack he was a banker recently laid off from his job at a major bank in upstate New York. He had recently emerged relatively unscathed from a non-contentious divorce from his long time partner Jane. Still he landed on his feet, with less battle scars than the situation merited.

It was a lazy Saturday morning after a crazy pleasant week at work. Jack loved his job and especially loved the escape that was the weekend. Weekends were meaningless when he was between jobs. Now they meant a lot to him.

After a breakfast of toast and strawberry jam, Jack reached into a drawer by his bedside table to find a pair of new shoelaces for his running shoes. While looking for the laces, he noticed a bright yellow badge from a company he had interviewed with a few months’ back. This was his desired company on his job search. He felt he nailed the interviews and had more than the desired skill set. In retrospect, he was happy not to land that job. He was happy where he was and could not imagine being more satisfied elsewhere.

He looked at that badge for longer than he anticipated, and felt a certain pang of guilt. He thought to himself, he should have returned that badge.

On his way to work the on Monday he decided to stop by the firm who is the sole owner of that badge. It was on his way to work, and he just felt like it was the right thing to do. Somebody somewhere was in charge of accounting for all those badges. He did have a whimsical quick second thought just because his mind worked that way. That badge is cursed; he who dons it the next time will fall to the curse of the badge. He just had to return that badge. Maybe somewhere lurking in the back of the Centrally Process Unit inside his head, he wanted to make an appearance. He wanted to let them know he was doing fine.

He walked in and he was greeted by  a super bubbly overdressed young man, manning the front desk. He had a tattoo on his neck, which was of a drawing of the Nancy character from a comic strip that ran in the newspaper many years ago. He had to chuckle, as he walked up to the desk. It felt like before work hours and there was very little activity happening. Despite the small sampling size, I guess it is actually true that bankers keep banker hours.

“Hi there, I interviewed here a while ago and I never returned this badge.”

He slid the badge slowly across the table and the receptionist slid it into his left shirt pocket. His shirt was actually pretty cool as it contained two front pockets. Neither pocket contained a pencil.

“Wow half the badges I gave out for interviews never come back. You may be the first person ever to actually return a badge.”

This intrigued him, this glimpse into the human psyche. He never considered the chaos that is a job interview. He felt a little bit silly for returning the badge.

He was sitting at his desk later that same day and his cell phone rang. He usually ignores cell phone calls in the office. They were usually sales calls of some sort. However, he recognized the number as the hiring manager from the bank that did not hire him. They were the owners of the badge.

“Hello”

Hey Jack, this is Lou Sanderson” The silence on the line was deafening.

“Hi Lou nice to talk to you.” He said in a frisky voice, more than curious to what was going on. He relished the moment a little, as he now had a little more control afforded to a job search.

“Thanks for returning the badge. That happens rarely. I realize we didn’t hire you. I know there is a certain bitterness you must hold. Anyway, we are impressed by your tenacity and original approach. We would like you to come in and discuss some opportunities with us.”

Jack sat and listened with a certain air of disbelief. He response was measured and was delivered like he had practiced it many times before.

“Thank you, I simply wanted you to have your badge back. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time.”

“No thanks, I am happy where I am. Please take care of that badge. ”