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Scenes From the Grammar Struggle of the Job Search

Mar 20, 2009
By .
WTF?

The job search is in full swing, and I am interviewing quite seriously with a great little non-profit in the City. So that's good. But, I wanted to give a little scene from a job that I didn't get.

I was interviewing with a woman at a conservation organization. The interview was going well, and had a nice light tone. It led to this banter:

Interviewer: So, we are going to give you a little skill test. See what that Bennington education is good for. *laughs*

Me: Well, I was a theatre major. And, I don't really know what a semi-colon actually does.

Interviewer (suddenly quite serious): Oh, the semi-colon is very important.

So, I realize that the joke was probably a bad idea, but still.. How was I to know that semi-colon's killed her grandfather or something? It was just so tonally dissonant from the rest of the interview. I almost laughed when she said it. Needless to say, I did not get the job.

Last 5 posts by Ezra

8 Comments
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8 Comments

  1. Ken  •  Mar 20, 2009 @11:42 am

    So, I realize that the joke was probably a bad idea, but still.. How was I to know that semi-colon’s killed her grandfather or something? It was just so tonally dissonant from the rest of the interview. I almost laughed when she said it. Needless to say, I did not get the job.

    May we assume that the misuse of the apostrophe there is deliberate, for comic effect?

  2. Chris Berez  •  Mar 20, 2009 @11:52 am

    I'm honestly a little surprised at her reaction. I mean, it seems to me that, based on your work experience, you clearly know how to write. Plus, I assume she had your resume and cover letter. I would have thought she would automatically know you were joking.

    Also, I didn't know you were a Bennington alum. Very cool. My sister went to Bennington, and I went to school on the other side of the mountain at Marlboro. Yay, Vermont!

  3. Patrick  •  Mar 20, 2009 @12:23 pm

    How was I to know that semi-colon’s killed her grandfather or something?

    I read this as "How was I to know that semi-colon has killed her grandfather or something? It's an odd turn of phrase to be sure, but that's part of Ezra's charm.

    And I thought Ezra's joke was funny.

  4. Andrew  •  Mar 20, 2009 @12:35 pm

    Perhaps you should have phrased it, "Well, I was a theatre major; I don’t really know what a semi-colon actually does."

  5. Al  •  Mar 20, 2009 @12:46 pm

    Maybe she's a C programmer on the side?

  6. Windypundit  •  Mar 20, 2009 @1:29 pm

    I tend to view these sort of incidents as employer screening. If this is enough to keep you out of the job, you probably wouldn't have liked working there anyway.

  7. David  •  Mar 20, 2009 @7:44 pm

    How was I to know that semi-colon’s killed her grandfather or something?

    He should've had a semi-colonoscopy, but his preventive care was half-assed.

  8. Thomas Lawrence  •  Mar 20, 2009 @11:08 pm

    David wins the comments. Everyone else can go home.