Oh, it was much nicer than a flat-out "no." There were admissions of the decision being difficult and best wishes for the future and blah, blah, blah.
Best wishes don't pay the power bill, sweetheart.
This whole process of looking for a job just really sucks.
It's like riding a carousel. You stand in line, watching the animals go round and round. You pick out the one that would be just perfect for you, noting a few others that you wouldn't mind riding either. The ticket taker moves the velvet rope and you race forward, trying to be polite and not seem too eager, but moving with enough determination that its clear that you really want the black horse with the green diamond studded headdress.
And then some kid gets there before you. And you have to scramble around, tying your hopes to some other horse, or God-forbid the stupid giraffe that doesn't even move up and down. You tell yourself that the black horse with the green diamonds wasn't as great as it seemed anyway. That a much cooler animal -- maybe the tiger with the menacing teeth -- is just waiting for you to find your way to it.
Every day, you park yourself atop some animal, going round and round and round. You begin to feel sick to your stomach and you're not sure if it's that you've been going around for so long or if it's that you've heard that damn syrupy music-box music one too many times. All you know is that you're ready to get off the ride.
