I Never Thought

Chapter 31

Chloe's POV

I hadn't thought about the answer to this question until now; I didn't have the chance to prepare myself before I got here. I felt like I was diving head-first into this, everything was moving so fast. Less than twenty-four hours ago, it felt like my whole world was crashing down around me, and now out of nowhere, I was in the middle of an unplanned job interview.

Before I could stop them, my eyes shifted to look down at my intertwined hands which sat in my lap. What do I even say? Do I even know why I want to be a medical assistant? It felt like ten minutes had passed before I said anything, but it really must had been a minute at most. Despite the growing panic that appeared in the pit of my stomach, the bright smile that lingered on Dr. Adam's diamond-shaped face was reassuring. She nodded slightly as she awaited my response.

"Because," I began and with the clearing of my throat, I continued. "I have come to realize that I hadn't figured out what my calling is yet. I've considered other options such as history or even veterinary medicine, but nothing seems as appealing to me as working in healthcare does."

"Working in healthcare can be tough." She jotted something down on the notepad that sat next to her hand. "There are times when you will be faced with difficult people, whether they are your colleagues or your patients. How do you think you would handle that?" The way she spoke so confidently and clearly made me want to straighten my posture, but there was a tranquil mellowness to her tone that made me relax just slightly. She meant no harm. The fact that this was my first job interview had me feeling nervous, which is why I could barely come up with the answer to this question as well.

In real life, the way I handled difficult people was to be dismissive. I had no patience for people who meant no good and who had it in their intentions to just be terrible to others. Yanique crossed my mind and my stomach dropped. I ignored her last night; I didn't say one word to her even though she was trying so badly to portray me as a horrible person. And what did I do? I barely acknowledged her. But how would I even put this encounter into words appropriate enough to tell Dr. Adams?

"Well," I briefly searched my thoughts. Why hadn't my brain come up with an answer yet? "Can you please elaborate?" I wanted to cringe at the thought of her thinking that I was incompetent. I was beginning to expect her to ask me to leave before the third question.

"Of course," she chirped before adjusting herself in her large, leather chair. "To be more specific, what if you encounter a co-worker who, let's say−expresses that they feel superior to you? What if they refuse to help you when you need it and call you names from time to time? How would you react?"

I actually liked this format better because it made me feel less stupid. A sensible response slowly began forming in my mind.

"The first thing I would do would be to talk to my manager whom I assume would be you. Then, I would only communicate with this person when it is work-related so that they wouldn't find the need to be rude. And if they do happen to be rude again, I would be professional and not say anything back to them." I hoped that she would accept my answer and not think it sounded as generic as it sounded to me.

With another nod of her head, she moved on to her next question. "Now, Chase mentioned that you have never had a job before which causes me to ponder on how you are with responsibility. What are some responsibilities that you have and how do you maintain them?"

I began to feel like I was sitting a verbal sociology exam, except, this one was ten times harder.

Being that my parents were barely ever home, I had numerous responsibilities, so I felt pretty confident answering this one. I told her about what it was like maintaining a whole house, from the security system to keeping up with the furnace and water heater. I also mentioned that they were technically my parents' responsibilities, but how would they be able to do all of these things when they traveled so much?