Two Men Enter...

Editors Note: Though this account is constructed with truth and accuracy, names have been changed to protect the innocent. Plus, I've always wanted to write that sentence and mean it.

There are a lot of images one could reasonably associate with a man stepping out of a beat-up 1992 GMC Vandura parked outside a school playground in the middle of the day. Most of them are not pretty.

But on this particular day, that van yields a business professional, a dapper young gentleman armed with a three piece suit and a sunny demeanor. A man with a new kind of mission: A man with intents on briefly joining forces with The Man.

It is 10:20 AM, and I have parked the van across the street from a school located down the way from my job interview. With resume in hand, I glide toward the office building with a sense of purpose. Stepping through a glass door, I smile at the receptionist and give a knowing nod. She greets this with a look of dismay and directs me to the waiting room.

In the waiting room, I meet another prospective employee, a 6'5 clean shaven young man named Charles. Charles seems like a really nice guy, somebody who would be easy to work with. He also seems very professional.

I bet Charles doesn't live in his van.

This thought is interrupted by the receptionist, who continues to frown, only now does so in the doorway.

"I'm sorry," she offers. "I was supposed to tell you to get here at noon, not ten-thirty."

David, the man who had interviewed me in a nice suit earlier in the week, follows her into the room with his hand extended. Today he is considerably dressed down, sporting khakis and a blue polo shirt.

"Sorry for the mix up," he says flippantly. "If you wanna just go grab lunch or something and come back in and hour and a half, that would be great."

Charles heads to a very nice luxury automobile as I head back to the van, suit intact, and bide my time with some rousing games of minesweeper. After the allotted time, I head back to the office, where David greets Charles and me once again.

"Just so you know," David smiles, looking both of us up and down, "we only have room to hire one of you."

He pauses for dramatic effect.

"So bring your A game."