My Best Friend Introduced Me As Newly Retired—Eleven Days After I Was Laid Off And Started Looking For Work
PART 2
Carol did not agree to standing Tuesday lunch.
She agreed to lunch the following Tuesday after her interview because that was how normal adults made plans.
The interview lasted forty-three minutes. The company sold scheduling software to medical offices, and the hiring manager spent too much time talking about being “scrappy,” a word Carol had learned usually meant somebody had decided adequate staffing was a personality flaw.
Still, she liked the operational problem they were trying to solve. She liked asking questions. She liked the small alertness that came when another person described a messy system and expected her to understand where it might break.
When the call ended, she wrote notes while they were still fresh.
At eleven twenty, Diane texted.
Freedom lunch at noon?
Carol typed: Interview done. Lunch yes. Freedom under review.
Diane sent three laughing faces.
At the cafe, Diane had brought another brochure.
“This is not a class,” she said before Carol could speak. “It is one museum trip. Thursday.”
“I have two applications due Thursday.”
“Applications are not appointments.”
“No, they are work I have to do if I want appointments.”
Diane sighed. “You know what worries me?”
“Your plumbing?”
“You are acting like unemployment is a test you can pass faster if you never enjoy a weekday.”
Carol stirred sugar into coffee she did not need sweetened.
“That is probably partly true.”
“Then come to the museum.”
“I might.”
Diane studied her.
“What?” Carol asked.
“You look offended every time I suggest something pleasant.”
“I look offended when you suggest pleasant things as replacements for things I am choosing.”
“Looking for work is not a moral duty.”
“I know.”
“You do not have to keep proving you’re employable.”
The sentence landed harder than Diane meant it to.
Carol set down her spoon.
“I am not trying to prove I am employable.”
Diane’s face changed immediately. “I didn’t mean—”
“I know what you meant.”
“Do you?”
Carol looked at her friend across the little table.
For the first time since the layoff, she was not sure.
