*This story contains elements of submissiveness/reluctance. It is not a true story, and is not based on truth or any real people. Any similarities are entirely coincidental and should be disregarded, including names. If you are sensitive to this type of material, please do not continue reading.*
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I will introduce myself first. My name is Josh. I am a pretty average run-of-the-mill, straight white man. I have a Wife, and a Son named Lucas. I am of average height, and a little chubby, but not too overweight. I am 28 years old, and eight months ago, I lost my job. I was making a good $20/hr at my old job, so you could imagine it was pretty difficult to replace. My Wife doesn't work but my paycheck was sufficient enough to keep us afloat. When I got fired, I had to cash out my 401k, and file for unemployment. Unfortunately, I eventually found that those resources started to dry up pretty quick, and I was desperate to find a job to replace my old one. Looking everywhere online and applying to pretty much anything that had a starting rate of $10/hr or higher. One job in particular was a management position at a store in the area. Close to home, about an 80k/year salary, full benefits. I would have been making even more than I was at my old job.
Fast forward a few weeks and I am pretty much out of money, I have a couple interviews lined up, but nothing great, and I'm worried that they won't be enough to pay the bills. Finally, I get a call back for that management job. It was a blessing to be sure. I wake up far too early to drive to this interview, and all I really know is that I'm supposed to meet someone named Tyler. I get to the store about thirty minutes early. Early enough to leave a good impression, I think, and ask for Tyler. He's out, or busy or whatever. I'm exceedingly tired and didn't pay much attention to the exact reason. I stand and wait for what seems like forever, and finally a man approaches me.
"Hi, I'm Tyler Briggs, you're... Sean?" He extends his hand and I shake it. He has a very firm shake, and I try my best to match it.
Crap. He doesn't even know my name. Not a great start, I'm thinking to myself.
"Josh."
"Oh, right Josh! You're a bit early. Cool, look over these papers, they explain the general responsibilities and I will be with you in a minute."
I take the papers and begin reading them. Pretty boring stuff, nothing I don't already know, but I want to make it seem like I'm really considering every detail. Really I'm just trying to size up Tyler. He's a black man, a little taller than me, a little skinnier than me, but all in all not that different of a build. Pretty average guy. Biggest difference is he's bald and I keep my hair long and tie it back in a ponytail. I can probably get this guy to relate to me all in all. Might be a good thing.
Tyler sees me looking at him, "All done then?" he asks.
"Yeah, I'm ready." I reply
"Any questions?"
"Not really, seems pretty standard. I have experience doing most of the things listed." I say. This is true. I've trained at almost every job I've held, and I have management experience, a good five years of it.
He walks me to the back of the store into a small Office Room with two chairs, and shuts the door behind us. "Have a seat." He says, motioning to one of the chairs, and I sit. We commence with the usual interview questions and I'm being very aggressive in my answers because of how desperate I am to get this job. "I'm the guy you go to when you need to get things done." "I'm willing to go above and beyond my duties and make sacrifices, and do what I need to do for the Company." Again, all these things are true. I really am an ambitious, hard
working guy.
I'm thinking the interview is all but over, and I really feel like I nailed it and all of a sudden Tyler kind of looks around and says, "So you're willing to do just about anything we want you to do?"
I was a little confused but I answered back,