Taking The Chance

“It’s Jeremy Maxwell from the Wiggler HR department, we met at the interview last week” I sound surprised as I mumble “oh… y…yeah I remember” I just expected them to not even contact me and I brace myself for the bad news. “I’m just giving you a call to ask if you would be able to come into the office where we had the interview this afternoon”. Listening to his question, my face is one of total shock “Uh… yeah of course, what time were you thinking?”.

Jeremy pauses for a moment “well, we were hoping as soon as you possibly could come, I know it’s a workday so whenever you can will be fine, as long as it’s before 7”. I’m still shocked but feeling pretty confident “How does 2:30 sound?” I say asking with my schedule free for the afternoon here at work.

“Just follow the same process as last time, thanks Kyle,” Jeremy says as we exchange goodbyes. I sit there with a sense of shock and excitement “Holy fuck… I can’t believe this” I say before settling myself down “But then, this quickly after the interview probably isn’t a good sign”. I finish my work off for the day and head out of the office driving down to the office space that Wiggler have been using in the town. I park my car in the multi-storey carpark across the road and compose my nerves before buzzing to head upstairs to the office. I wander in and see that Jeremy is waiting for me “Afternoon Kyle, come straight through” I follow him into a different room than where the interviews “Can I get you anything at all? Water, Coffee?” he asks me as I sit down, I decline the offer before he sits down.

“So Kyle, thank you for coming today I know it’s only a few days after the interview but as we said in the interview, we were looking to fill the position pretty quickly after the interviews had concluded, which is why I asked you here”. I listen to Jeremy and feel a sense of tension in my stomach, knowing that this about to be a rejection of a job that anybody could dream of.

Jeremy looks across at me “Following all the interviews Kyle, we would like to formally present you with an offer of Employment with Wiggler Inc” I have to pinch myself to make sure that I am not daydreaming “Me…. Me?” I ask really nervously with Jeremy just smiling “Yes Kyle, after assessing all the candidates and meeting them in person, we feel you are the person best suited for the job and the Wiggler team”.

I read through the contract “The thing about the role is that there is a key aspect that has changed to it, unfortunately, the role is not going to be based in Diamond Valley as it was advertised, it will be in our main headquarters at Junction Square in Harrington Cove”.I sit there stunned not sure what to say, “I might need a couple of days to think about it, just with the logistics of finding a place to live and moving my stuff down there,” I say to Jeremy who nods “That won’t be an issue, Wiggler will cover the living arrangements as well as the moving costs”. I sit there nodding “Well I still need a couple of days, so I will give you a call on Thursday?” He nods and gives me the contract details as I shake his hand and wander down out of the office.

“Holy shit… this really is happening isn’t it,” I say to myself as I get into the car shaking with excitement. The first person, I call is Mum who I hope is home from work “Afternoon darling, what do you need?” she says answering the phone. “I GOT THE JOB,” I say loudly down the line and I hear her squeal “Oh my god… Kyle, I’m so proud of you” I smile as I hear her excitement before trying to calm her down “There is something I need to talk to you about it though when I get home”. I say to her before hanging up and driving home.

I get home about 45 minutes later after checking in at work to tell my boss that I got the job, her excitement was at the same level as Mum’s. I know she’d be disappointed to lose me from her team but at the same time, she helped me even get my foot in the door for the interview. I get home and see mum has already got balloons and streamers out of the cupboard “Jeez Mum, calm down you know”. I laugh and feel embarrassed as I wander in “Can we talk for a minute?” I say to her as we head into the dining room.

“So I told you that I got offered the job but things have sort of changed about it,” I say as her face changes even though it’s still got a smile “It’s not in Diamond Valley originally planned, it’s on the other side of the country in Harrington Cove.” I look at her face “It would mean, that I would have to leave everyone here and move across”. She looks at me with an emotionless face “Why would that be a problem Kyle? You need to move out some time and for a job like this you just can’t say no”.

I give her a big hug “But you know how far that is and it means I can’t just come over on the weekends like I promised if the job was in Diamond Valley”. She stands there nodding “I know that but Kyle, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and you can’t miss out on it”. I stand surprised that Mum is so calm and reasoned about this as I look at her “guess I’ve got to call Jeremy to accept the job”.

I take a moment to compose myself and I know that I told Jeremy I would need some time to think about the job offer but after talking it through with Mum, I don’t want to wait too much longer and I call Jeremy straight back.

ird mix of nerves and excitement “I know I said that I would need a few days to think about it all but I’ve made my mind up already and I want to accept the job with Wiggler and that I’ve talked it through with my family and both them and I are comfortable about the move to Harrington Cove”.I can hear a sense of relief in Jeremy’s voice “I’m glad that you accepted the job this soon Kyle, your resume was far the strongest amongst the candidates we saw and your personality matched the vision that we are looking to create for Wiggler”. I smile to myself hearing Jeremy talk up my interview.The relief that I had is immense because I thought for sure that I’d blown the interview when I forgot the name of Divine which is the new Wiggler audio downloading software. Jeremy finishes talking to me and says that he’ll be in touch early next week when he gets back to the main Wiggler office in Harrington Cove. I get on my phone straight away and ring Will to tell him but I don’t get an answer so I just head back downstairs to Mum.

“I’ve gotta go back to work for a bit Mum, so I’ll see you tonight when I get home” I give her a hug “And no parties or anything alright?” she doesn’t acknowledge what I said and I know even if she had, I doubt she really would’ve listened to me anyway.

I head back into work and go into my boss’ office to thank her, I knock on the door and I wander in and see Cassandra sitting at her desk beaming “I can’t thank you enough for encouraging me to take this opportunity and I know that it probably hurts to lose me”.

Cassandra sits there and looks at me “Kyle, you don’t need to thank me for anything this is all your amazing doing”. I sit there and look at her “You are amazing at your job, you’re creative, intelligent and just an all-around generous person and I’m glad that they saw everything I see every day”.

I smile listening to Cassandra’s words “That a compliment of my skills or you trying to flatter me to ask me on a date”. Cassandra laughs “Well you know if I was 15 years younger, not married and you were straight maybe I would with your personality”.

After listening to Cassandra chatting me up in her way, I walk back over to my desk of the last 3 years that initially started as a part-time role before moving onto a full-time role when I finished uni. I look through the projects that I have and the main one I want to finish working on is a website and portal for a support network for Teenagers and Young Adults who are struggling mentally with their sexuality and facing violence at home.

This is something that is important to me because for a long time before I just decided that I needed to come out for my own good I had never thought my family would be so accepting as they are and I truly thought the only option was to end things. I took the chance to tell first Will and then my family about being gay and I never forget my mother’s words when I told her “Ok… thought you had some major news to tell me”.

It’s this love and support from my family that makes me want to be a support network to those who don’t have it and be an ear to anyone struggling, which I hope Will lets me be a major part of his journey to being able to come out to his family.I keep working on the project until about six when I realise that I should go home for dinner, I drive home and just like I thought there are several unusual cars parked outside our house and I wander inside as I see mum has spent a few hours blowing up balloons and creating a banner all for me.