A Dry Run

I found myself sitting in the little waiting lobby, surrounded by pamphlets for bicycle and boating safety when a sharp panic struck me in the face like a wet sock:

Jesus! Is my fly down?!

These pants, the dress slacks that come with most suits, will out-maneuver me at the crotch every time. It's something about having to take the extra step of fastening an extra button at the waist that totally makes me forget to zip my fly.

I lifted my London Fog and glanced down; fly was upright.

I was at the local police department, waiting for my interview board. As I stated earlier, for shits and giggles, I decided to follow thru with their application process as they're looking to hire another road cop. After essentially dominating the PT aspect of the process, I was given an interview date and time to sit for a panel.

These panels are designed to look into an applicants suitability as a candidate for the position being offered. Questions about ethics and morals are usually the order of the day. In the very least, this should be an opportunity for me to brush off my interview skills and have a "dry run" at the OCS board now only a week or so away.

Let me tell you, that I feel very fortunate to have had the ability to go in for a practice swing.

I'm not saying the interview panel went badly... I just don't think I did as good. I felt shaky, as I tried to give the best answers possible; somewhere between what was the god's honest truth and what they wanted to hear.

At some points, it felt like I didn't have an answer to give (when was the last time you got really angry.....?). And you can't just sit there and be like "gee, I don't have an answer for that, sir."

I arrived a few minutes early and took a seat and was met by a detective in his formal dress blues who escorted me back to an interview room/bullpen. There I was met by the panel... a Lieutenant whom I had met before, a patrol sergeant, the detective who escorted me in, and two civilians, likely on the town council.

I was dressed in my "new" suit, which Jill had purchased months ago, and I had altered shortly there after. I was happy it fit well, as my weight has fluctuated a bit since September, when we bought the suit. It's not to say I've gained weight, just lost more of it.

But the suit fit fine... I even had forgotten it was gray, because it's been hanging in a bag since we bought it. I wore a blue tie and my corframs... shoes I had in the CG that are always super shiny. I even noticed a member of the panel glance down at them while I was talking.

The interview lasted maybe twenty minutes. As I left I was already taking stock in what to do next time for the OCS board: don't talk too much, make better eye contact (I felt at the time, I looked around the room too much) pause for a few seconds before giving an answer to collect my thoughts and to give the impression that I was thinking about the question. Have better questions to ask the panel when that time comes (my only questions for this panel consisted of benefits and shift differentials).

Afterwards, I was led to a small back room with a computer and a Youtube video queued up. I was to watch the clip (about 45 seconds in length) of a shoplifting and then right a report (spelling and grammar counted) of what I witnessed. This was fairly easy as I was already accustomed to report writing. I think I did ok here.

And then, after all of that, I had a photo taken of me for my "file" and then was sent on my way. I was told I would receive a call-back in a "few weeks" to determine if I was going to go forward in the process or not.

Next step: The OCS Board, March 21st. Wish me luck.