A few weeks ago a good friend calls me. She's sees something on her boarding school newsletter that she thinks might interest me. A son is looking for someone to help his mom stay organized.
The mom, I'll call Mrs. Q, is a recently retired film and TV executive. She lives only a few blocks away. Is in good health. And needs someone to help organize her busy life, as she no longer has a personal assistant to do that for her.
Mrs. Q doesn't think she needs anyone to help out. Her two sons disagree. They are tired of unjamming the printer.
I'm a great organizer. Mrs. Q has Apple products but needs help using them. I love Apple. I'm a good teacher. We share similar backgrounds. She lives less than a 15-minute walk away. The pay is fair. The hours flexible. I apply.
The first Zoom call occurs in early June with one son. A second Zoom calls happens soon after with both sons. I start to get excited. It seems like a perfect match.
The next and final step is to meet Mrs. Q. The first meeting in late June gets cancelled as she isn't feeling well. It's rescheduled for the following week. That too gets rescheduled. She is still not feeling well. A third meeting gets scheduled for next week.
Then I get an email. It thanks me for my time, but says, in part: "Things have changed since we last spoke. We need to find someone who can do medical management, which will probably not be interesting to you. "
Hmmmm. I think the mom just doesn't want anyone. Or maybe it's something else. But whatever it really is I'll likely never know.
I'm getting tired of trying to question that keeps me up at night, "Now what?"
What a drag. Yet quite frankly I would not be optimistic about the longevity of a job working for someone whose sons and not me decided that I need organizing. While probably 100% true from your story get the feeling She would’ve been a pain in the ass and reluctant to let somebody else help her manage where years past she’s successfully done it herself. So maybe you dodged a bullet??
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