Jaunt to D.C.

So I'm back after 48 hours in D.C. and I'm still jobless. I think the woman who would be my boss really liked me and, if it's up to her, would hire me. I dazzled her with my knowledge of medical databases and information retrieval issues. She showed me all around the office and where I would work and we even talked so much that the other two involved in the interview (from the companies who hold the government contract for the reference staff) left us there to continue while they went home for the weekend. The woman I met with first, from the company who would hire me, seemed to like me also although she wanted to make it clear that, from what she's heard, this job is not "challenging" or full of "variety" - two things I said I was looking for in a job. Of course, this woman knows nothing about librarianship and hires people for all kinds of jobs. In her own words, she hires people who seem to be good workers and good employees, regardless of what job they do. So I figured she didn't know. Talking to the woman who would be my boss made things much clearer, however, when she said that the contractors are compeletely blended, although they are not eligible for any of the on-site benefits like the gym or the child care facilities, and that the job is often described as monontonous. Hmm, how exciting that sounds! She said that many complain there is no variety and that they grow sick of answering the phones non-stop and providing stock answers to all of the email questions. Apparently they get a lot of the same questions over and over and over and over and over again. So you see, she did a fantastic job of trying to sell me on the job. To her credit, she said she wanted to be honest and upfront and give me an idea of what to expect but all I could think was, "I did not go to library school to come work for a call center" which is what I got the feeling that was. I may not know a lot of what I want out of job (and out of life) but I do know what I don't want and I don't want to sit around a cubicle all day waiting for a phone to ring. Especially not with a fairly low salary and she told me that the pay would be in the $30,000s but no higher. Therefore, even if they do call me with an offer and even though I'm sick to death of being unemployed and of sending out cover letters and resumes, I just do not see me accepting this.