Lessons from Piercings

I have pretty bad hearing, especially when it comes to phone calls, so when a guy from Bank of America called to set up an interview, I completely missed his name & had to call him back to ask for it again. I tried to keep the conversation as short as possible to spare myself the embarrassment, but before I hung up, he asked, "Are you a runner?" I was caught off guard. Did I run? What kind of a question was that? "Oh no, I'm not." I replied, laughing uneasily, expecting an explanation to this unexpected question. But he just said, "OK, see you Monday then," and hung up.

I was left wondering whether or not he was some sort of creepy character whom I would have to work for, for an entire summer. And sure enough, this morning, I was greeted by a short, skinny, middle-aged man with a spiky piercing in his left ear. I also spied one of those therapeutic baseball necklaces around his neck, underneath his plaid shirt. "Very professional," I thought. Maybe my speculation about his creepiness did have some merit afterall.

I've done a dozen interviews before, but this one really made me think. I really didn't know what I ultimately wanted to do in life. Was I supposed to pull out some bullshit answer like become a manager of an investment firm? Start my own fashion line? Invest in high-end restaurants? Sure, those were things I want to do, but they sounded silly, even inside my head. I have no idea what's it's like to do any of those things, so I just gave him the truth: "I don't think I've figured that out yet."

But, I did tell him that right now, at least, I'm interested in the psychology of consumers and how that factors into their decision-making. Luckily, it struck a conversation. I sat in my seat, nodding and sprinkling a few "mhmm's" and "right's" here and there while trying to wade through corporate-speak in order to understand the essentials of what he was saying. Hopefully, I didn't look like a deer caught in headlights. I'm sure part of his speeches were gimmicks to motivate me even before I started and to show me how interesting and valuable it would be to work for him, but I believed it. I haven't talked to too many people of his, ranking, let's say, but I wondered and hoped that every manager I would encounter in the future would be like him-- not the creepy part, but the no-bullshit and motivating part.

Sure, I've been in leadership positions before, but I don't think I've really reached the pinnacle of what it means to be a leader, bringing out the best in others and capitalizing on the unique skills of individuals. Perhaps I'll be able to take a few lessons from Mr. Single-Piercing and give it my own Mary flair. But before I get ahead of myself, I think I'll just try to master office duties and work on figuring how what the hell it is that I want to do in life.