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The BorD files, episode 1:

A glimpse into a tiny sliver of my life.  You see, I am a re-entry college 
student.  I am getting old (30!), and figured it was time to finish my 
degree.  I work full time, I support a family,  and I do all I can to stay 
out of debt.  I need to finish my bachelor's degree, and I have been trying 
to avoid taking out loans.  I am paying as I go along, getting some tuition 
reimbursement from work, and applying for (and winning) some scholarships.

Tuition at Arizona State University is relatively cheap, (they have a mandate
from the state legislature to make it 'as close to free as possible') but that
doesn't  help when you don't have any money to begin with.  I am sure $1500-
$2000 per semester isn't much to some people.  At this point in my life, it
still is to me.

To make things even more fun, I fractured my knee in April of 1999, and was 
on crutches until the end of July.  This destroyed my plan of delivering 
pizzas during the summer to make a few extra dollars for school.

During Spring semester 1999, our CIS420 instructor told us of a scholarship
opportunity. The scholarship wasn't news to me, I had already applied for 
it.  (The original application deadline was April 15, and I had my 
application turned in by then.  For some reason, they extended the 
deadline to May 15.  Lack of responses?  People who knew better?  I will 
probably never know.)

What WAS news to me?  A comment she made.  She told us that the recruiters
told her that ANYBODY that bothered to apply was funded.  This was great
news for me, as I wasn't sure where my fall tuition money was going to
come from, and I wasn't going to be able to work extra hours or another
job to get it.  I make it a practice to avoid counting chickens before
they hatch, but based on what our instructor told us, it was tempting to
count on the money being there.

Now don't sit there thinking I am having a pity party.  Overall I am very 
lucky and very blessed.  Missing out on this scholarship is pretty minor 
compared to wars and earthquakes and drive by shootings.  I actually find 
this whole experience rather amusing.  I thought it would be fun to type 
up my thoughts, send a copy to the company, post a copy on the internet, 
and see what happened.  Maybe nothing.  Maybe everything.

Can you already guess the ending to this story?  I won't keep you in 
suspense.  I didn't get funded.  I got the famous letter in the mail 
saying that even though I am qualified, I didn't win.  Why is this 
amusing?  If I am qualified, then why on earth WOULDN'T I win?  If I am 
NOT qualified, why tell me that I am?  And why not be a little more 
specific as to how I am not qualified?  The joys of corporate double 
speak.

Losing isn't very surprising.  You don't always win scholarships that 
you apply for.  There are other scholarships that I have applied for 
that I didn't win.  There are lottery tickets that haven't paid off.  
That is life.

In this case, however, I feel that I was robbed, or at least did not get 
the same opportunity that the other candidates had.  You see, I was told 
by the recruiters that I  would be meeting with 'three senior level 
management members, interviewing with them for 45 minutes each.'  It would 
be a grueling ordeal, but I could do it.  

They flew me to Orange County, California, I went to the office, and I met 
with one guy.  Certainly not a 'senior level suit type.'  I was shown the 
door in less than 30 minutes.

So let's back up for a minute.  I was going to take a summer class at ASU, 
CIS440.  It was going to be from July 6 - August 6.  A 400 level course in 
5 weeks.  It is do-able, but I do not recommend missing class dates if you 
choose to go that route.  (Assuming you want the A.  Which I got.)  The 
recruiter asked if I would be able to fly to California on July 16, right 
in the middle of the summer session.  I explained that I did not think that 
it would be advisable to miss a class under the circumstances.  

Could we reschedule, I asked?  You bet we could.  They set me up to go 
interview with them on Friday, July 2.  This was perfect as far as I could 
tell.

That's what I get for thinking.  First my flight gets messed up.  Did I 
mention that I work full time while going to school?  I work 2nd shift, 
from 230pm-11pm, Monday through Friday.  I received my flight information, 
which had me leaving on a Thursday night, staying overnight, interviewing 
on Friday, then flying home on Friday afternoon.  This would not work out, 
as I would have to get people to cover my shift for me in my absence.  Was 
there something else that could be worked out?  

Of course there was.  I would take the 6am early bird flight from Phoenix 
to California.  For an interview starting at 9am.  A 50 minute flight.  
Leaving me with two hours to kill in Orange county.  It wasn't ideal, but 
it allowed me to work my regular shift, go to the interview, get back a 
little bit late, but in time to work most of my regular shift on Friday.

Now in hindsight, I realize how stupid it was to plan anything for July 2.
Here is a hint.  Corporate America shuts down for Memorial Day weekend, 
Labor Day weekend, and the 4th of July weekend.  

(Don't believe me?  Watch the news.  They will show you a big long line of
people that are stuck on the freeway, trying to return from all the fun 
they had at the lake on these weekends, right after they tell you how many 
of them died.)  

Being the naive soul that I am, I thought that these managers would 
actually be there when I went for the interview.  Of course they weren't.
They were off enjoying the good old USA on its birthday.

So picture this.  A stupid college student, taking the time to learn what 
he can about the company, getting some questions together to ask the 
management team, conducting mock interviews, getting himself prepared for
a tough series of interviews.  Then, picture him getting off work at 11pm
the night before the interview, getting to sleep by midnight if he is lucky,
then getting up at the crack of dawn to go to the airport.  

Newscaster types recommend that you be to the gate at the airport an hour 
early these days.  I guess they figure that if you're early, you will be 
too tired to blow up or hijack the plane.  In any event, I took that advice.
I put on my suit, packed extra resumes, packed questions to ask the 
management team, grabbed my crutches, and went out the door.

Did I forget to mention?  I am still on crutches.  I still have a bad leg.
Did you remember that little detail from the beginning of this saga?  So 
once again, visualize gimp boy (that would be me) putting on a suit, a 
backpack, gimping around airports and airplanes on crutches.  I am sure it 
made a very pretty picture.  

I am hoping that isn't a factor that counted against me when the final 
decision was made, as that would be discrimination.  Naaaah, things like 
that don't go on in corporate America, do they?

So, I fly to Orange County.  Nice flight.  I am now on the ground two hours 
early.  How do you entertain yourself in the John Wayne airport for two 
hours?  Well, you can read, you can watch people, you can twiddle your 
thumbs, you can pretend you're interested in the nearby attractions, read
promotional literature, and time will still crawl by.

It is also a balancing act, as you don't want to be late to meet with these 
people.  After all, these are three important executive types that are 
taking time out of their super busy schedule to interview you.  You don't 
want to waste their time.  You want to make a good impression.  It's hard 
to do that when you are a gimp, but you still do your best.  Take a cab 
over to the building so that you have plenty of time to make it to the 
meeting.  Then kill a little more time in the lobby of the building.  

OK.  It is three minutes before 9am.  Finally.  Take the elevator up.  Tell
the receptionist that you are there.  Have the receptionist hand you a
benefits package, hear her tell you to look it over.  (Be sure to get their
hopes up, make them think they might actually have a chance, before you
crush them like a bug.  I learned that in Management 101.)  This 
scholarship is in the bag, not only will they fund me, but I bet they will
offer me a job in sunny California! This is terrific.

So, you meet the office manager, then the receptionist.  And you wait.  And
wait.  And wait.  For these three busy executive types.  I am sure they are
dealing with problems that mere mortals could never possibly understand. 
Oh wait.  We forgot to mention.  The suits won't be here today.  Here, come
meet with our junior executive.  We are training him to learn how to conduct
interviews.  What do you mean the interview is a waste of time and is over
in 30 minutes??  

So, you are on the sidewalk by 9:45 am.  Your flight home isn't until 1pm.  
What do you do in this situation?  Well, if you are me, you tell the cabbie 
to take you to the beach.  That's right.  In a nice suit, with a backpack 
and crutches, I went up the pier, had a nice meal, watched the ocean, 
watched the people, and tried to forget about the stupidity that I just 
witnessed.  

How much did it cost this company to fly me to California?  How much will 
it cost to reimburse my expenses?  Granted, I didn't waste much of their 
employee's valuable time, but that could be considered a waste as well.  
I DID waste my time, and I blew a few vacation hours in the process.  And 
for what?  A lottery ticket that never had a chance at paying off.  I think 
I would have preferred to have them write me a check for the flight and let
me use that for my tuition.  But the world doesn't work like that.

So, of course, like anyone else might, I sent email to the recruiter and 
asked, what went wrong?  What happened?  Where were the suits?  The reply?
We will get back to you.  Over the course of two months, I still do not 
have an answer as to what happened.  Why weren't the management people 
there?  My guess is that the suits were out enjoying the 4th of July 
weekend and the recruiters simply shouldn't have set up an interview for 
that day.  But I have gotten no official word on this.  I doubt that I 
ever will.

Why did other students get to have the interview with the three management 
types while I met with someone else?  

How do I know that they did?  Some of them go to ASU.  I talked with them.  
Their experiences were very different from mine.  They met with the 
executives, and they got funded.  They are plenty happy with their 
contacts with this company.

So here I sit.   The last I was told was that my concerns were being 
forwarded to a senior vice president.  I am taking them at their word, 
that some VP somewhere is actually looking into it.  The reality is they 
are hoping I just go away and leave them alone.  

That was a few weeks ago.  Still no word.  

What do I want?  A fair shake.  Let me meet with the executive types.  
Give me the scholarship.  Give me a break.  I am just tired of other 
people screwing up, while I pay the price.  I want an apology.  I want 
accountability.  I want to be sure that some other slob doesn't get the 
same treatment that I got.

The funniest / most ironic thing?  This company was founded by people 
that were very familiar with the IBM AS/400.  What is the machine that 
I have been using for the last 10 years?  You guessed it.  The IBM 
AS/400.

It isn't what you know.  It isn't how hard you work.  It isn't your 
grades or your GPA.  It is being able to arrange your schedule to mesh 
with the suits.  This is probably the most important lesson I have 
learned so far in college.  

So, on the plus side, I got to fly to California.  I got to see the 
ocean and enjoy some nice cool weather for a few hours.  I met a 
friendly cab driver, and I found out where I do not want to work.

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