My husband says this post would totally get me kicked out of the

Shaolin Temple (from the series Kung Fu).

I don’t really like to take time and space to talk about my pet peeves.

Really, I don’t.

But there’s this one thing that we all do……..

We know people. We have connections. We try to help people with our connections. We mean well, right?

The conversation goes something like this: “You’re looking for a job? Oh, great! The manager at “Blankety-Blank” is a friend of mine, and he just told me they’re hiring. Just tell him I sent you.”

Ugh! Does that really work? I mean, if using that supposed foot-in-the-door line ever got me one interview, I’d be less worked up about the whole thing, but it hasn’t. Any job interview I’ve ever had was never at a place of business where my friend thought his/her name would set me apart from other applicants.

Either I’m told, “Who did you say told you we were hiring? No, we’re not hiring,” or a confused, ”Who did you say sent you again?” How about the less than enthusiastic, ”Uh…okay….Just leave your résumé with the receptionist.” What’s that one supposed to mean?

So then, in my humiliation, I over-think it: “Did this manager hire someone in the time between his conversation with my friend and the time I came in with a résumé?”

“Did this employer not want his friend’s help finding new hires?”

“Did this employer assume that I expected a job be given to me just because I dropped a name?”

“Maybe the employer doesn’t actually like our common friend, and the fact that I know this person reflects poorly on my character.”

“Maybe the employer didn’t like my face….Maybe the joke’s on me….Maybe it’s just a dumb way to help a friend get a job.” And so it goes.

And after the over-thinking, I end with, “Oh…my…GOSH! What a sucker…I did it again! I depended on someone else’s reputation to help me out.”

May I never again be persuaded to believe that line.

Yeah, we’ll see.