Note: If you aren't interested in my job search or my life in general, go ahead and skip down to where it says "The Interview."

I've been unemployed most of the summer, partly by choice. I mean, being let go due to downsizing wasn't my choice, but being unemployed most of the summer was by choice. I was let go at the end of May from my factory job and decided I'd take some time for myself since summer was just starting and I've been working 50+ hours a week plus overtime many weekends for over a decade. There were so many things that I've just been putting off until later when I had vacation or holidays, but well I wasn't even using my vacation time. When I was let go, I had over 80 hours of unused vacation.

So, I saw being let go as a blessing in disguise. I've saved up a lot of money from not really doing anything at all. The job got in the way of dating, so I hadn't been dating. I wasn't traveling and I wasn't even going camping or hiking as much anymore. Since I wasn't going out, I had no real reason to buy nice clothes anymore, and most of what I was buying were jeans and shirts for work, and usually the cheapest I could find that would still last a while. Aside from my morning runs and the occasional errand, I wasn't doing much of anything at all besides work, driving to or from work, and watching Netflix or Hulu in my pajamas. I was in a rut, and suddenly having my summer wide open made me really excited!

My roommate and I had some nice dinners out to celebrate my freedom, and that gave me a few opportunities to get dressed up, but then we decided to be smart about my money and make it last. I had also gone on Bumble a bit and had a couple dates, but none of them really amounted to anything and I stopped using it again. I visited my family a few times, and they were a blast. My roommate and I went camping just about every other weekend, and I loved that!

Some of those camping trips included things I might eventually write about here too. Nothing fancy like that hike in a ballgown, but still stories that might be interesting to you folks on this site.

But anyways back to the story!

A couple weeks ago, I finally buckled down and signed up for some job search sites and filled out a ton of applications, many of which I had almost none of the requirements for. It's pretty crazy how many entry-level jobs require a college degree, which sucks because well long story short, college didn't work out for me and I ended up dropping out.

Due to the sheer number of jobs I applied for and also due to my pretty decent resumé, I went about two weeks with at least two screening calls, phone interviews, video interviews, and in-person interviews, sometimes with as many as 5 in one day. I got turned down by some of them. Others, I turned down because either they weren't what I was expecting, or the pay was too low. In the end, I was deciding between two pretty decent jobs. One was a step up in responsibilities, but the pay was lower than I'd been hoping and there were a few not-so-great reviews online from previous employees including for the position I'd been offered. The other was also lower pay and a big step down in responsibilities, but I'd gotten great vibes from the interview and plant tour.

Then, a wrench got thrown in my plans: a company I hadn't applied to found my resumé on one of the job search sites and contacted me. The recruiter was super nice, honest (hopefully, lol), and friendly, told me all about the job and I was honestly blown away. From her description, it would be about the same level of responsibilities as my old job, but the starting pay was over a dollar more per hour than my ending pay at my previous job. Not huge, I know, but that meant it was about three dollars per hour more than most of the other jobs were offering, and no mandatory weekend overtime, no "you work until the job is done even if you have to stay really late," and she was really upfront about what would be expected of me. And that was all during the initial screening call! Obviously, I was intrigued. She set up a video interview for the next day to go over whatever feedback her bosses had about the information she'd gathered about me from the screening call.

When I joined the video chat, I was surprised again. I'd thought she was in her late 20's from her voice over the phone, but actually seeing her, she looked like she had to be a college intern, maybe 20-22 years old and very pretty (although that's irrelevant to the story). Once again, she was super professional, very open about what the job was and what would be expected of me (which is surprisingly rare, even in in-person interviews). I'd just been through a roller coaster ride of overpromising and under-delivering from two other job interviews, so her openness was really refreshing. These two screening interviews with her convinced me to turn down one of the jobs I'd been offered and to ask the better of the two for an extension on their deadline for me to decide whether or not to accept it until after I had an actual in-person interview with my (hopefully) future boss.


The Interview


Typically for an interview, I'd dress a level or two higher than what I'd be actually wearing to work if I got the job. I've been working in factories for the last decade-plus and most of the jobs I interviewed for were factory jobs, so it was usually a pair of nice jeans or khakis, a blazer over a cute top, and the least-ugly safety shoes I could find. For this interview, I really had no idea what I would be expected to wear on a daily basis if I got the job since I wouldn't be working on the factory floor. The lady told me to wear business casual, but that can be anything from khakis and a polo to a matching suit jacket and pencil skirt with stilettos, depending on who you talk to or what websites you read for fashion advice. Now, clearly, a pencil skirt and stilettos would be overkill and would likely send the wrong message for this job, but khakis and a polo was probably too casual if I wanted to be slightly overdressed for the job as I usually do for interviews.

I had the weekend to decide, and I literally tore through my closet to pull out anything that looked remotely business casual. Just for fun, I did try on my old "interview suit" that I used to wear back when I was freshly dropped out of college. Sadly (depending on who you talk to lol), my body has changed a bit since then and I was afraid to bend over or sit down in the skirt or button all the buttons in the blouse for fear of ripping anything. My neatly tailored suit didn't account for the fitness kick I started about 6-7 years ago. A few years of squats and lunges really fill out a tight skirt, if you know what I mean. LOL So anyways, my interview suit was no longer an option.

After digging through my closet and trying on a lot of different options, I finally settled on a sky blue silk blouse, a casual black blazer, and matching, "professionally tight" dress pants with black flats. I wanted to wear heels for that added bit of confidence I get, but I thought they'd be unwise since this was still a factory position, even if I wouldn't be working on the main floor.

So, I went for the interview, embarrassed myself by trying to go in the wrong door and called the HR lady almost in a panic. I was now late for the interview and had no idea how to get inside the building since it was just after official business hours and the doors were locked to visitors. She was really nice, calmed me down, and told me how to get to the right door, and then even had my interviewer meet me at the door when I got there. Fortunately, he was really understanding and laughed off the goof-up on my part. Apparently, I'd made such a good impression on the HR lady during our screening interviews that she'd talked me up to him, so being a bit late with a reasonable excuse didn't bother him much.

To be honest, the job was quite a bit more entry-level than I thought based on the lady's description of it, but I didn't realize that until near the end of the interview with my future boss. I was really nervous because it sounded like such a great job (and still does, even if it's not quite what I thought it was) and I didn't want to blow the interview. I would definitely have approached the interview differently if I had known the stakes were lower, but I'm happy I didn't know at first. I really blew my future boss away, and it took him all of twenty minutes after I left the interview for him to talk to HR and his second-in-charge before he called me and offered me the job at the highest pay that the position allowed! Of course, that means he's going to be expecting a lot more out of me than he would of a normal new hire, but I'm super excited!

It was really hot outside and since I'd parked by the wrong door, I had a long walk back to my car in the bright afternoon sunlight. By the time I got back to my car, my silk blouse was sticking to my skin. To make matters worse, my car had been sitting in the sun for the last two hours, so it was like a blazing furnace inside. As soon as I opened the door, I realized that keeping the blazer on would be a VERY bad idea, so I took it off and laid it neatly on the passenger seat before getting in.

My route home occasionally provides glimpses of Lake Michigan, so I started thinking about going for a swim. Unfortunately, the idea of getting into a blazing hot car again afterward kinda discouraged me so I just kept driving home with my air conditioning blasting. Once I got home, I couldn't stop thinking about the water though, so I decided to do something about it. A nice, cold shower sounded wonderful, and would be a great way to celebrate. And of course I was going to wear my interview outfit (no, not the too-small one I mentioned before, but maybe someday).

I put the casual blazer back on over my sweat-soaked silk blouse as I walked toward the bathroom. As I was about to enter the bathroom, I decided I didn't want to wear the flats. They're cute, as far as business casual goes, but I don't like showering in flats. I very much prefer the sexy, exciting feeling I get from wearing heels. So off to my bedroom closet I went. I kicked off the flats, then tried on a few different pairs of heels until I found the pair I wanted to wear: black satin open-toe slingbacks with a tall, slender heel and a small platform.

My outfit was now complete! My curly, long brown hair was pulled back in what would be a very professional-looking ponytail if it wasn't so obnoxiously curly, even more so due to the humidity and heat. I wore a pair of simple sapphire drop earrings with a matching necklace, a thin silver chain with a small sapphire pendant. My black blazer is casual, but still classy, and had a single button just above my belly button. The sky blue silk blouse was clinging to my skin everywhere else, but what you could see of it between the blazer's lapels still looked fresh and neat. My black dress pants weren't super tight, but just tight enough to show off this body I've worked on for years, and flared out from the knees down. And finally, peeking out from beneath the hem of my pants, the pie de resistance, my black satin, open-toed, slingback stilettos, one of my favorite pairs of heels (and one that has stood up to getting wet surprisingly well in the past).

Now even more excited than before, I started to head for the bathroom. I paused at my bedroom door and called out my roommate's name to see if she was home, but heard no response. Her car wasn't here, but I still wanted to make sure. She thinks it's silly that I get my clothes wet on purpose, especially in the shower, but generally doesn't care. She does, however, really hate the sound of high heels on the bathtub floor especially if she's downstairs in the living room beneath the bathroom, so I try not to do that when she's home.

Confident that she was gone, I practically skipped to the bathroom, the sound of my heels echoing on the hardwood floor of the hallway and the tiled bathroom floor. I closed the bathroom door behind me and locked it, then stepped over to the combination shower/bathtub and opened the sliding door. I leaned in to turn the water on, pulled the lever to redirect the water to the showerhead, then ducked back out quickly as the water sprayed out to avoid the inevitable ice-cold burst.

I let the water run for a moment while I opened up Spotify on my phone and started playing my Nightwish playlist. After setting my phone down on the counter next to the sink, I reached out with my hand to test the water's temperature. Normally, I like somewhere between lukewarm and boiling hot for my showers, but I was already hot and wanted to cool down. Once it felt just right, cool but not ice cold, I was ready to step in. I slid the doors so that I could enter at the back of the tub, away from the spray, and carefully stepped up over the tub's side so my heels wouldn't catch on the edge (which can happen really easily when you're short like me lol). The tiny splashes from the water hitting the tub floor were speckling my shoes and pant hems with dark spots and I couldn't help smiling.

I slid the door shut, then placed my hand against the wall for balance as I lifted one foot and slowly moved it under the spray, savoring the feeling as the leg of my pants darkened and clung to my calf. The water running through my shoe and out the open toe kind of tickled and after a moment, I pulled my foot back and repeated the process with my other foot. I was loving the way the thin, soft material felt clinging to my legs. I switched back to my first foot and stuck it further under the spray, soaking my leg up past my knee. Stepping back again, I lifted my leg so I wouldn't accidentally soak myself early by bending forward and ran my fingers along the smooth, wet material.

I stretched my leg forward again, letting the spray re-wet the material from my knee down, enjoying the way it glistened. Then, I stepped forward, letting the cool water soak me from my waist down as I held out my hands and watched the water soak the sleeves of my blazer. I thought about detaching the showerhead and slowly soaking myself little by little, but changed my mind. I stepped forward a little more, keeping my face out of the spray but letting it soak my blazer and blouse, running my fingers over the wet material.

The blazer was a bit stiff and not as smooth and soft as the pants, so I decided to remove it and slung it over the top of the sliding doors near the back where it would be out of my way. The long-sleeved, button-front silk blouse underneath was much more to my liking, and I loved the way it clung to my skin and bra. Silk is by far one of my favorite materials to get wet, and this blouse didn't disappoint! So smooth and clingy, and looks so much different when wet I just love it!

I didn't want to get my hair wet because my roommate and I were going to go out and celebrate me getting the job when she got home from work, so I stepped back as I turned around and brushed my fluffy mess of a ponytail over my shoulder, then stepped back into the spray again, letting the water soak the back of my blouse. I just stood like that, enjoying the cool water running down my body for a few minutes until the music coming from my phone was interrupted by my alarm.

My roommate would be home in about twenty minutes, so I sighed and turned off the water, savoring as the last bit of water ran down my body, then turned around to look at the water as it ran down the drain. With one last careful-yet-defiant stomp as the last of the water ran out, I couldn't help but giggle as the little bit of water that had gotten trapped in my shoe squirted out. I bent down and slipped of my heels, making sure there was no water left in either of them even though I knew there wasn't. This is my favorite thing about ending a shower in heels, but it doesn't work so well with open-toed shoes.

Then, heels in hand, I stepped out onto the bath mat and began the process of drying off, stripping down to my underwear, wrapping my clothes in a towel, and throwing on my bathrobe in case my roommate got home early. Picking up my heels again, I then returned to my room to hang my clothes to dry before changing into something cute to wear to dinner with my roommate.

The pants are washable and the blouse and heels were fine once they dried. The blazer dried out ok too, but I didn't really like wearing in the shower. I doubt I'll ever get it wet again. I loved getting the rest of the outfit wet though!