And, once again, life takes me a little further down a road I didn’t think I’d find myself on in the first place …

About a month ago, one of the supervisors in our office announced her plans to retire. They posted the announcement that her job was available on the bulletin board in the break room, and while I read it over I thought, Y’know, I could do that job. But I held back because I’d been working there only a little bit more than six months and I’ve got what is probably a stupid rule about sticking with a job for at least a year. I feel like bolting the office any sooner than that makes me some kind of an ingrate toward the person who hired me.

Then the weirdest thing happened: My supervisor took me aside and pointed out that she thought I’d be good for the job, which made the thing about feeling like an ingrate go poof. So I asked around about the job and, when I felt good about what I heard, I wrote up an application and submitted it. I was called for an interview about a week later.

The interview could’ve gone better, or so I thought. I’ve never felt comfortable being in the spotlight like that. Everything that comes out of my mouth sounds barely more sophisticated than grunts and moaning. I don’t know what to do with my hands. Every bit of my scalp itches but if I scratch, I’ll only feel more self-conscious. Have you ever been walking past a crowd of people and, when you realize they’re watching you, you suddenly feel as though you’re walking wrong and, try as you might to be nonchalant, every step you take only feels more wrong until you can turn the corner and get out of sight? It was like that.

Well, I thought, I took my shot. It was worth the experience.

Tuesday morning, they offered me the job. I was surprised. Really. They interviewed about a dozen people for it, and I figured the competition would be fierce, so my first reaction when they offered it to me was to sputter semi-intelligently, “Me? You want me?” And then lapse into stunned silence. I’m just that sophisticated.

When I got past that, and got the answers to a few questions about particulars such as wages, I accepted their offer, feeling well-chuffed. “When do you want me to start?” I asked.

“Monday,” she said.

“Oh. Well, okay. See you Monday, then.”

So, effective Monday, I will no longer be a continuing education specialist in the office of education and examinations, and will instead become a program assistant supervisor in the division of credentialing. Beer me.