Jackson arose feeling as energized as he could, considering his lack of sleep. As he was brushing his teeth, his conundrum from the night before returned to his mind. All his life, he had just assumed he would do what everyone else did: go to college, get a job, start a family, and then retire somewhere with nice weather. He knew that he couldn’t get a low-skill job because automation was finally starting to reach the point it was at before the war with North Korea. Luckily for Jackson and countless other young job-seekers, much of the research related to artificial intelligence and machine learning had not yet been recovered from the old servers.
But now, Jackson was wondering if it was worth it at all. What was the point of continuing if life was just full of suffering? He had had a few good experiences in life, but he wasn’t sure if those made up for the pain caused by the deaths of his parents.
Jackson looked at his watch. It was 7:30 a.m. and his interview was at 7:45. He needed to leave now. As Jackson drove to the tutoring center, he shifted his thoughts towards his upcoming job interview. He wanted to make sure he could give the right response to any questions the interviewer asked. However, the strip mall in which the tutoring center was located was only a mile from Jackson’s current residence, so he didn’t have much time to collect himself. Jackson took a deep breath as he pulled into the parking lot and got out of his car.
Jackson had driven past this tutoring center many times. It was in decent condition, but the building’s architectural style revealed its age (it had been around since before the war). The building had imitation stone pillars built into the wall, separating it from a sushi restaurant on one side, and a barber shop on the other. In between the pillars were glass panes with posters advertising the tutoring center. Looking around the posters, Jackson could see lights on inside. He walked through the door and realized that the inside of the tutoring center had not been renovated since the outside had been made. He found himself in a small room with a partial wall hiding the rest of the center from view. The floor was brown title, the walls were tan, the sofas were beige, and the receptionist’s desk was black. Although Jackson liked the older style, he did think the decorations made the room look a bit dark. Jake walked up to the receptionist’s desk, where a smiling woman directed him behind the wall and towards “Mr. Rallison’s office.” The room behind the wall (which Jackson later learned was called the “learning hub”) had dozens of rectangular tables scattered about, with plenty of space in between each one. Here and there, Jackson would see a few tutor/student pairs, which surprised Jackson, given the fact it was so early. There was also one double-sided whiteboard for every two tables. Surrounding the large learning hub were many doors with names on them. Jackson found the one with the name “Jason Rallison” on it, took a deep breath, and walked in.
The office Jackson entered was small but very crowded. Jackson felt like he had walked into the office of a newspaper editor from the 1930s. There was a large mahogany desk with intricate designs in the center of the room. There was a bookshelf on one side of the desk, while the other side of the desk was left clear as a walkway. The walls were all tan, matching the rustic style of the rest of the building. To complete the look, there was an older man (Jackson guessed he was about 60) sitting behind the desk, watching Jackson. “Hello. You must be Jackson,” said Mr. Rallison, rising to shake Jackson’s hand. His voice was husky, and he smelled like mothballs. He spoke slowly. As he rose, Jackson noticed that he winced a little bit. Jackson thought he must have some kind of ailment.
“Yes. It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Rallison,” Jackson said, shaking Mr. Rallison’s hand.
“Please, have a seat,” said Mr. Rallison
Obediently, Jackson sat down.
“Now Jackson, you may have noticed that our application is longer than most. You cannot just submit a resumé and be done,” Mr. Rallison said.
Jackson had, indeed noticed. He spent twice as long on his application to the tutoring center than anywhere else. If it wasn’t for the fact that Jackson was desperate for a job, he would not have gone through with it.
“We do this,” Mr. Rallison continued, “for two purposes. The first is to deter those who don’t have enough grit for the job. Working with kids is hard on its own, but working with children who are unmotivated or highly stressed is far worse. The second reason for such a long application is to allow us to filter out applicants more quickly. You were one of the applicants who met our high standards. With that being said, you must know that there are other candidates for this job who are more qualified than you are. That begs the question: why should we hire you instead of one of the other applicants?”
Jackson had prepared a response for this question. He had been asked it so many times since he started applying for jobs that he practically had it memorized.
“I am a highly experienced, highly driven individual. I am used to dealing with large amounts of stress over prolonged periods of time. I am working to survive, which is one of the greatest motivators,” Jackson said.
Mr. Rallison looked at Jackson for several moments, almost as if he was expecting Jackson to continue. Finally, he spoke.
“You just described every other applicant. Try again.”
Jackson had not expected that. He had learned in a speech class, however, to be completely silent until your response was formed, so he thought for several seconds. Every time he thought about what he could say that would make him look good, Jackson could not think of anything that could not apply to dozens of other people. Finally, Jackson gave up.
“I’m sorry sir; I don’t know what could set me apart from the other applicants.”
“I suppose this interview is over, then,” Mr. Rallison responded.
Jackson stood up to leave. He didn’t know what to do now. As he stood, Jackson realized that he had nothing to lose, so he turned around and faced Mr. Rallison.
“Sir, I know I don’t deserve this job, but I recently lost my parents. I need this. I’m sure there are other people who could do this job better than I could, but I am asking, no, begging you, for this job.”
Jackson looked at Mr. Rallison, who appeared lost in thought. After several minutes with no response, Jackson walked out of the office and towards his car, feeling embarrassed and depressed.
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