I was working with a wonderful staffing agency at the time who set up and prepared me for this interview down to the finest detail. I was excited , confident, and prepared to get the job. The interview itself was easy, farely casual, and comfortable. The woman who conducted the meeting was soft spoken and non-threatening in the least. I was treated similar to a guest in an expensive hotel, with smiling faces gently making sure my every need was met, all the while being sudly reassured that I got the job and fit in perfectly.
Although this experience may sound enjoyable enough , looking back now, I realize that it was simply a show, and I was watching a well-rehearsed performance from these people that morning which they had been ordered to do. I accepted the job offer eagerly, and no sooner than my first week at the office did I feel I'd been had, and that this job would be a far cry from what I was made to believe at my interview. I was "trained" for less than 2 days by the current receptionist who had been doing this job for several years, and just so happened to be the only surviving employee with the knowledge of what kept each staff member happy and the office running smoothly every day. There were many, many procedures, personal employee preferences to memorize, orders to be processed, sales to be initiated, phone calls to be returned, and also some quite bizarre expectations to be fulfilled for a select few agents (which I soon learned to be the multimillionaire, corner office holding, come and go as they please, kingpin oldtimers who demanded nothing less than everything). I thought I was surely being fired the day I didn't know (because the old receptionist didn't bother to tell me) that a certain man was used to having his mail hand delivered to him within minutes of its arrival instead of retrieving it out of his labeled slot in the hallway where everyone else gets theirs. The guy ended up getting the thing he was looking for after he somehow came up with the bright idea to look in his mail slot after a few hours, but that didn't stop the sarcastic and demeaning banter that I had to endure for days and possibly weeks after.
I never fully felt like I knew what was expected of me there, what all I was supposed to do, how to learn to do it, or even who to ask in the first place. Although I hated the job immensely, I was determined to push aside my fear and do my best. One day a young attractive girl (about my age) walked up to my desk and asked for the woman who conducted my interview months before and basically had never shown her face again since then. Apparently, her job duties did not require her to stand, walk, or essentially leave her desk chair whatsoever unless there was a new receptionist to be interviewed. I knew right then that was the end. That evening I got a call from my staffing agency explaining I did not need to report to the office the next morning. They didn't even have the courtesy to tell me they had decided to let me go.