Wish me luck

[skauwt]

i myself did stained glass and pottery a few years ago at college and hoped to do it full time but sadly like yourself found it very hard to find a job in that market and this part of scotland people would rather have fake looking stained glass than the real thing

so all the best and remember " whits for ye wont go by ye"

[Kilt TN]

good luck

[starbkjrus]

Best of luck to you Phil. Let us know how it goes. ith:

[Bugbear]

Hope all goes well.

[wyldathart]

Keep your chin up and shoulders back. Showem how how it's done Good Luck m8

[GlassMan]

Oh I am steaming mad now.

My first two phone interviews for the position were amazing. They had even been talking about a slightly better placement than the head-hunter had originally considered. And I may have forgotten to mention that I was contacted by their head-hunter because they had recognized my abilities from posted sources. I did not go looking to them, they came to me.

So today was supposed to be a pro-forma thing where I meet with the HR manager in addition to the lady I spoke with by phone. I was also going to take a technology competency test to check my programming abilities (over 10 years experience)

I get there early and I'm dressed to the nines. I'm in a charcoal grey jacket with matching vest, my Yale school tie, starched white shirt with french-cuffs & cufflinks. Yes, I am in my kilt, but I've got on wingtips & my semi-dress (silver canticle) sporran.

The only other obvious item in my attire is my WHEELCHAIR.

The minute the lady sees me her voice changes completely. She starts talking in simple sentences; talking down to me like I'm a child or have mild retardation, etc. She can't keep her eyes off the wheelchair. She makes up an excuse about how the HR Manager isn't going to be able to see me and also that I won't be taking the competency test today either. She actually has pretty much nothing else to ask me at this point. I ask a few questions, and she manages to come up with a few more of her own.

Then she ends the interview with a "reassurance" to me that they'll make their decision based on my qualificiations and not my handicap.

Before I had even had a chance to call the head-hunter to tell him how I thought it went, she had already called him and decided I was completely wrong for the job but gave no reasons. He thought I must have failed the IT test or something. When he found out that she really hadn't done an interview and hadn't given me the test he called her back up to determine what had gone wrong. She told him I had arrived looking completely unprofessional and simply did not look right in an office environment. Yet, I was actually the only one there wearing a coat & tie! My outfit cost more than she earns in a month.

So I sent the head-hunter a photo of myself as I was dressed for the interview since I had just barely gotten home by that time and still hadn't changed. He agrees that I look absolutely professional.

Wanna know what the best part was? She apparently didn't even pay attention to the kilt. So if the kilt wasn't an issue, I'm certain that my tailored jacket & vest weren't the issue. It couldn't have been the absolutely perfect full-windsor with exactly the right dimple in the center that was tied for my YALE tie.

I can only assume that the problem was the one thing she kept staring at the entire time I was at the interview - my wheelchair.

I'm so incredibly angry and upset. She didn't even bother to determine my qualifications or give me a fair hearing. What a joke. Business is slow both for my web design company and for my commissioned stained glass artwork. I could have really used that job. It was an executive position and would have paid almost $100 K per year! And I'm now completely wrong for it, and why?!?!?! Because I have to use a wheelchair for distances? Argh.

I can't tell you how upset I am.

[GMan]

I am so very sorry to hear this Phil.

People just cannot see beyond the minor things.

[lethearen]

What exactly does a wheel chair have to do with an executive IT/Programming type job? People are astounding. Unprofessional? Ok, I could see the kilt coming off that way to some people, but a wheelchair?!

Sorry man. Ignorant bunch, those. Any way you could push for ADA discrimination? Not that you'd actually want to work there if people are like that...

[KFCarter]

There's got to be something better out there for you than working for an organization that would tolerate that kind of unprofessional, short-sighted behavior.

It's got to feel like $%#! to be treated like that, but remember, it's their loss!

[GlassMan]

Not only is it horrible that they did this, but by telling the head-hunter I was unprofessionally attired it could have sabotaged any future job placements that company might have had for me. I had to send them a photo of what a looked like and how I was dressed to prove to them that I did go there dressed well.

I do feel absolutely horrible about it right now. I mean, if I really had to I could always go out and get a pair of pants made that had the left leg with velcro up the side so that I could put them on without aggravating my ankle but I can't see how that would look any better. However, there is absolutely nothing I can do about the wheel chair. I mean, it makes me feel like "Why should I even bother going to an interview if they can't see past my chair?" I just don't feel like moving or doing anything.