Les Responses d@Escalier Part 2

[David Davis]

 

Les Responses d’Escalier: Part 2.

 

So there I am at New Street Station in Birmingham, ready to go for a job interview but having left the address of the hotel I needed go to on my telephone table at home. But there was no need to panic, it was only 12.30, the interview was at 14.00, I had a Birmingham A-Z and I knew that the hotel was in Queensway. I started to walk down Queensway to see if the names of any of the hotels would jog my memory. They didn’t. I walked into the most likely contender, where, surrounded by Japanese air hostesses I asked whether the Shaw Trust had booked a room. The young man behind the counter showed me his list and we both agreed that the Shaw Trust hadn’t booked a room there.

 

By now it was one o’clock. I whipped out the mobile and dialled 118-500. A man answered. I asked him for the headquarters of the Shaw Trust. “Certainly Sir, which town is that in?” I couldn’t remember!

 

I explained the situation and he gave me the telephone number of Birmingham branch of the Shaw Trust where I spoke to the receptionist who was called Sharon. She put me through to someone else who put me back to Sharon. I explained the situation to her and she said she’d take my number and phone HR to find out where I had to go. After an agonising five minutes the mobile rang and I was told that I had to go to the Thistle Hotel in St Chad’s Queensway. I thanked her profusely and said that if I got the job, I’d send her a bunch of flowers. I asked the receptionist of the hotel I was in for directions to the Thistle Hotel and he said that it was near the Hyatt Hotel. It wasn’t.

 

But I was now on familiar ground having worked out of Broad Street for nine months in the past. I knew that Birmingham Corporation Headquarters was in Centenary Square and that there was bound to be an information desk there. I walked up to the desk to find it unmanned. I pressed a bell push and a lady in a grey uniform appeared. It was now 13.40.

 

“I have a job interview at two o’clock at the Thistle Hotel in St Chad’s Queensway,” I said, “is it far from here?”

 

“Oh it’s quite a walk,” she said.

 

“In that case, where may I get a taxi from?”

 

“Oh I can call a taxi for you!”

 

She phoned the taxi and I followed her out of the building to a bus stop where the taxis picked up their fares. A cab went by with its lights on. I almost hailed it but within seconds another appeared and in the distance he switched on his hazards to acknowledge that he’d seen me.

 

During the journey the driver told me that there were two Thistle Hotels in Birmingham and lots of Queensways. But we’d got the right one and he got me to the hotel with twelve minutes to spare.

 

 

The Interview

 

I was asked to go to “The Director’s Office” which turned out to be a shoebox in which were two women. I waited until they were ready for me and one of them began by explaining the nature of the vacancy to me. It was such a comprehensive introduction that she’d already answered most of the questions I’d prepared for the end of the interview. I was then asked what it was that appealed to me about the job and how I’d prepared for the interview. So I gave an answer which covered all of the conventional bases and while I was talking, I thought, shall I tell them about leaving the address at home? If I tell them it might seem that I’m disorganised but it would also serve to indicate how I behave in a stressful situation. I decided to go for it and soon had them laughing.

 

The rest of the interview went fairly well but I thought that it might have been a bit too jovial as if they’d made up my mind not to have me and were spending their time as pleasantly as possible. They told me they’d let me know the next day.

 

 

Sequel

 

I felt really low and quite drained on the train back to S