Not the best of days!

I had an interview at 9.30am this morning at a company in Wellingborough so I was a little nervous, as the last time I had been interviewed was 2004 when I went to work for Duncan's wine shop in Market Harborough!

I dropped Sophie off at uni first but I'd given myself loads of time so I was sitting in the car park of Tesco's in Wellingborough at 8.45am! It was a lovely morning with sunshine and blue skies and very mild temperatures for the time of year. I moved at 9.10am and parked near to the offices where I was having my interview. I did wonder if people thought I was loitering with intent!

Having tried to park nearer the company I ended up back where I had been waiting and walked the short distance to the office. The main doors were locked so I pressed the intercom and a woman buzzed me in. Once through the doors I found myself in a workshop/factory with no clue as to where reception was. I looked around for a door, feeling very lost, and then a man and a woman arrived at the same time. The man asked if I'd come for the interview and he explained that the man I was supposed to be seeing was not very well so he would be seeing me instead.

He asked me to follow him but before we could go any further the woman interrupted him and they had a short sharp argument about something...not the best of starts! I followed the man up a flight of stairs and onto a mezzanine landing which was freezing. We sat at a long table and behind us there was a cleaner vacuuming the carpet! It was all really bizarre and unreal!

It was obvious, right from the start, that the man "interviewing" me did not want to do it and felt very uncomfortable. He gave me a general idea of what the job involved and explained that I would be job-sharing with another woman so they wanted me to work afternoons. I asked about how many employees they had and they employed less than five people, all of whom seemed to be family members and were close to retirement. We had a general chat and he even asked me if I had any children and what ages they were!

I could see that the man (I forget his name) just wanted to be rid of me, so after a bit more chat (he said that the job was quite boring and that the phone hardly ever rang) I thanked him for his time and left. When I got back to my car, the time was 9.37am...is this the record for the shortest interview ever?

I was really upset because I felt I'd been given the brush off - it was rude of the man I'd supposed to be seeing to fob me off with someone else and I thought that if this was the way they treated me at interview, how on earth would I fare if I was an employee?

I drove home and called the recruitment agency and explained what happened and they did apologise but it wasn't their fault! Keith had gone to have his hair cut and to do some shopping so I couldn't even rant to him! I did manage to vent to Sophie and my Mum though, so that was something!

In the afternoon, after giving Mike a lift into Moulton, I went into town as I had two meetings scheduled with the Citizens Advice. I was early (again) so I bought a bottle of water and a brownie in Caffe Nero before going to the office. One of the advisers, Judy, was already there, plus another woman who was stuffing her face with noodles. I would never have dared eat something like that in a meeting room!

One by one the other volunteers trooped in and Gill came to sit next to me. The meeting was mainly about an audit that had taken place but there was also time to discuss other topics as well. By 3pm it was finished and I congratulated Hadeer whose sister had had a baby in Saudi Arabia while the meeting was in progress!

I stayed behind for another meeting about the changes happening where I volunteer as a Receptionist, and then it was time to head back to the car and call Sophie to tell her I was on my way to pick her up.

We still had to go back out in the evening to collect Mike and Keith bought some beer because after my day I really wanted a glass of wine with Sophie and my husband didn't want to be left out!