Winds of change

A few months before I went to a soothsayer, and I asked after my chances in an organisational department. He made me pick cards, three of them as with all other queries brought before him. 'Features looks good' came out of his mouth, while the rest of his face said 'is that so?'

The manager of that department told us applicants to sign up for our application interviews on a GoogleDocs spreadsheet. I had even taken a screenshot to remind me what time my interview was. After class today I met a friend (let's call her Naomi) who stayed on in our original department during the summer whilst I had a job. She greeted me thus: 'I heard the news! you're dropping that department and re-applying for ours!' I said that 'I hadn't done anything of the sort,' and asked who told her this. She replied that it was her new boss who got promoted when our old one left.

According to him, I did not sign up for any interviews in my desired department. This I found strange, but I decided that he probably said that because he wanted everyone to return to the department after some of us had gone on summer holiday. I left Naomi, as my sister wanted to lunch with me in the nearby petrol station.

I went to see my sister at the café, and after giving my belated souvenir/advanced birthday present, we headed upstairs for dessert. I had told her that I needed to be at my application interview by 13:30. We stayed awhile, eating yoghurt when I asked her what time it already was. I was 6 minutes close to being late when I rushed to the meeting place.

My time was only ten minutes, and I arrived with only three minutes left. I entered the meeting room in a slight daze, and most of the heads of the departments (including the new one for my old one) were meeting. Tired and panting from rushing to the room, I asked and thought she meant that I forfeited my interview for having been late. Apparently, my name did not appear on her saved spreadsheet. I asked the new boss of my old department where he got that, and he cloyingly remarked that he thought I had dropped out because I did not sign up.

The boss of desired department then said that there were no interviews line up at that moment, so she was willing to entertain me. We sat in the anteroom, and I showed her my screenshot of the schedule. She said someone had tampered with the spreadsheet the previous week, and that many interview schedules had been erased. I could not think of who would do it, but I merely surmised that it had been some accident. Our interview lasted for less than the intended ten minutes, and she said she would resend one of the materials needed for a requirement.

Indeed, the soothsayer's words are coming to pass.