I start my mornings drinking coffee in front of my computer monitor. First I check my two email accounts---one is for what I call 'better mail' and the other is for sites that send me newsletters: CNN's Five Good Things, historian Heather Cox Richardson, a few political groups like Red, Wine & Blue. Then I check my blog for comments and I end up on Facebook where my feed shows me a mixture of family posts, video posts from the cast of Saturday Night Live and late night hosts Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert plus posts from the five Mahjong sites I follow. If I have an hour to kill---which I usually do---I'll watch Facebook 'Short Reels' where I'm liable to see just about anything related to kittens/cats, puppies/dogs, furniture flipping, people saving wild animals in dangerous situations and science solving environmental issues like they do in Poland using clams that monitor the quality of city water. A city in the USA uses mussels, too. You could compare them to canaries in a coal mines only the mussels don't die when the water is bad, they just close up and set off alarms attached to their shells.
One of the Shorts I saw today was posted by a guy who was a former Stanford University Admissions Director. What he said gave me an idea for blog fodder and God knows I needed something to inspire me today or I'd go off on another tangent about how our post-election country is on the crazy train to hell.
Mr. Interviewer said one of the first questions they ask is one of the most important and they ask it in an off-handed manner that you don't think is more than just chi-chat. The question is: "Tell me about yourself." The answers come in many forms and often in a rambling way---kind of like I write---and that doesn't rate the students very high. He said the correct way to reply is to say, "There are three things you should know about me." Typical of Facebook Shorts you had to find your way to part two to learn what kinds of things you should list and typical of me I couldn't find part two.
But, still the video got me to thinking about how would I answer that question. How does anyone pick out just three things about ourselves that's going to make an impression on someone you just met? It's a given that your answer would depend on whose doing the asking. A college admissions interview is going to be different from a job interviewer or a stranger at a party saying, "Tell me about yourself." In the deep, dusty corners of my mind I recall asking that very question in social settings. It was probably in the late '60s when I was on a search for a significant other and I read a lot of self-help books. Back then I might have answered that question something like, "Oh, my! I love to laugh. I have a passion for art and I take a lot of night classes."
Can you believe it, I was in the work force from 1958 to 2001 and I only had three job interviews in my entire life. One was for the telephone company and---dub!---dyslexic me failed the test involving looking up numbers. Those where the days when you could call an operator by dialing zero and the operator was expected to know how to sound out the spelling of surnames. Another interview was for a wholesale floral company and the interviewer tried to put his hands up my sweater. I ran out of that place, too shocked and scared to look back.
The third interview I must have had but I don't remember it. It's enough to say I got the job of selling clothes in the boys department in a large, upscale department store. I stayed there a year while I built up my own floral design business enough to quit. I left on good terms and the store's owner frequently bought flowers from me because he liked to support, "new businesses." He was a great employer who appreciated his workers where my former employer thought floral designers "were a dime a dozen." He got that idea from silly women who'd tour our greenhouses, retail shop and design rooms and would say things like, "I'd work here for free." Ya, they'd have loved the 12-14 hour days we put in around all the holidays. They'd have loved a boss who paid women a third less than the guys doing the exact, same jobs because "they had families to feed." It was the sixties and I'm shamed of our country right now because we're going to have to fight the same Civil Rights and Woman's Rights battles all over again or we'll find ourselves living in a chapter of The Handmaiden Tale.
And don't get me started on tariffs. 45/47 said Denmark is getting one too, "until they cede control of Greenland." Sometimes watching him speak it's hard to tell if it's really him or one of the cast members of Saturday Night Live---the words coming out of him mouth are so ridiculous. Like him saying the terrible plane/helicopter crash last week was caused by Diversity, Equity and Inclusion hires, which was his way of drawing attention away from the fact that on his second day back in office (at Elon Musk's direction) he dismantled the Federal Aviation Administration and put a freeze on hiring more air traffic controllers at a time when they are known to be understaffed. Rich boys playing tit-for-tat and this 'tit' came because the FAA fined poor little Elon's SpaceX twice for failing to follow licensing protocols when he did his rocket launches. And now Musk and his band of young tech nerds---one isn't even out of his teens yet!---has unlimited access to the U.S. Department of Treasury's payment system! One of the ways we need to fight back on 45/47's Shock-and-Awe or Wrecking Ball approach to 'governing' is to support/subscribe to a trusted news source or two because 45/47 is now going after the free press and public broadcasting with a vengeance. And once they're gone we're doomed.
Back on topic: How would I answer the 'three-things' question today? If you couldn't tell by the paragraph above, I've been stalling because I really don't know. But let's assume I'm not being asked because I'm looking a job or going back to college in my old age. In a social situation, after all these years I could still naively list that I love to laugh and I still like art but it's no longer in the top five loves in my life. I still enjoy taking classes but I no longer drive at night…and I'm not crazy about daytime driving either. Any classes I take are here on campus or from YouTube. Still stalling…
It just dawned on me that answer to the 'three things' you should know about me came conventionally in a fortune cookie that I got at our celebration of the Chinese New Year buffet. It said: "Your mentality is alert, practical and analytical." Everyone at the table agreed that the fortune fit me. Of course, I also got to laugh too because one of my table mates made us all read our fortunes a second time adding "in bed" to the end. ©
Until Next Wednesday.
Good morning! Nice to wake up to this today. I wouldn't know how to answer that either -- at least not concisely! And that's probably a good thing in the long run. If one can only come up with three things, life is probably pretty non-dimensional. Your routine in the morning sounds much like mine (but no coffee!). These days I'm adding "The Contrarian" and "Timothy Snyder" substacks to my political reading list. But your thing on interviews made me think -- how many did I have in my life? I think only three, four if you count my college job. Probably another in there I can't remember. Now it seems like kids have them all the time and change jobs a lot. I suspect that job market, tight as it is, will soon be flooded again with displaced federal workers. Yes, don't start me, either. Time to do my daily calls to rep/senate offices and tell them to get backbones.
ReplyDeleteI just made a contacts list of my senators and representatives. I'm no a call person but I can do my part in an email.
DeleteWell Jean, you've made me think. Asking myself, "Who am I?" Maybe when I was younger, I thought I knew exactly who I was and who I wanted to become. Now that I'm older, it seems that my goal is to remain flexible so I can be and do whatever is needed, day by day. Since my husband's stroke, my efforts have shifted to making sure he's doing well. I know you understand, since you spent many years helping Don. I also have two little grand daughters who live just 2 miles from us, so I'm busy with them. Some days I grumble because I feel like I'm overworked, but I am very grateful for life. The goal is to simply hang in there, lol.
ReplyDeleteYes, I do understand. Caring for someone else---be it a disabled life partner or a child---their needs have to come first for you both to thrive on the days when you CAN thrive and to just hang in there on the days when things are super tough.
DeleteMy three things would be: I try to be kind, I try to be helpful, and I try to be funny. I think I have always been that way in all my stages of life. I went back and added the word "try" because I am not always successful! ;)
ReplyDeleteI read Heather Cox Richardson and The Contrarian also. They make me more nervous and stressed out but I want to know.
I haven't heard of The Contrarian but you're the second person to comment on it so I need to check it out. This world would be so much better if we all tried to be kind, helpful and funny.
DeleteHmmm... things people should know about me? I'll have to give that one some serious thought. I would probably list 3 core values so people know where I stand (and hopefully prevent some awkwardness later on, like me having to challenge any ignorant statements on drag queens, for example...just speaking hypothetically of course š). Great idea to be prepared to answer that question, Jean. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteDeb
I'd love to see what you come up with after thinking over the question. Maybe some day when you are searching for blog fodder?
DeleteThat's a great idea! Thanks, Jean.
DeleteI'm stuck on the reality that you only had three job interviews in your entire life! It's gonna take me some time to process that, you lucky duck. As for who am I? Every time I join a new social media I address that question when I fill in the bio section. Lately I've been going with: "Free-spirited. Truthful. Creative. Humorous. Charmingly cynical, so I’m told." Not exactly three things, but accurate.
ReplyDeleteI want to be you when I grow up. I am truthful, creative and sometimes humorous but I need to work of the charming, cynical and free-spirited.
DeleteYou have raised an interesting question that is not easy to answer. If I asked some one else to list things about me I am sure they would differ from mine. I like to think I am caring, kind, and helpful but, perhaps, that does not come across to others. My role has changed over the last year as I have become a caregiver but I still attempt to be caring, kind, and helpful but, I will admit, some days are far more challenging than others. I tell myself to celebrate the good days and don’t dwell on the bad days. I also give myself grace when things don’t go smoothly as each new day brings different challenges. JJ
ReplyDeleteJJ I've known for a very long time---I'm pretty sure?---and I can say without hesitation that you are caring, kind and helpful to anyone who comes in across your path. The trick to caregiving is ingrained deep your character even though you might not have served in that hands-on role per say until the last few years. I'm glad you've learned to celebrate the good days and give yourself grace when they don't.
DeleteI have only had two job interviews in my life back when I was a teenager, one was for a short 17 week job to help some gain experience, the other I don't remember.
ReplyDeleteWant to know three words that apply to me, punctual, organised, kindhearted.
All three of those qualities would serve a person well in nearly every situation a job could throw at us.
DeleteHm. I had a lot of job interviews when I was looking for a teaching position. It was 1981, and we were in a horrid job market, so I flooded the zone, and school systems really had their pick at the time. I ended up with my top choice, and after that, I never interviewed again.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Who I Am, I've always known. It's an interesting question, though. And I'm pretty sure it gets easier for people to answer as they get older.
It's an interesting question to think about and wonder how we'd answer it at different points in our lives.
DeleteI think the answer depends on who is asking. For some I say I am a mother of 5, grandmother of 10 and retired. If I am applying for a volunteer position, I would say I am retired secretary, I have worked for both city and county governments as well as private industry and I am a team player. If it is a club - like my crime podcast club at the library, I say that I am an insomniac who stays up late listening to podcasts, I remember things better if I put them in a graph (which I have begun sharing upon requests from the group) and I thrive on research.
ReplyDeleteMy funniest interview story is when I was returning to work and signed up with a temp agency. The agency called and said someone wanted to interview me for a secretarial position and I turned it down because my dad was in the hospital and I couldn't do any interviews until the next week. They called me back and said someone at the workplace knew who I was and could I just start Monday? The person was a neighbor about 30 years prior when I was in high school.
You interview that wasn't made me smile. Thanks for sharing. You sound like an interesting person. I never knew anyone who belonged to crime podcast club but I've heard about them.
DeleteI got stopped for a while at the clams that set off alarms via their shells. For some reason, that seemed as charming as it is interesting. Given our ability to track creatures with various sorts of monitors now, it seems perfectly feasible, but it would be interesting to know which creative person first came up with the idea.
ReplyDeleteSomething else that intrigued me was how easily three things about myself came to mind. If an interviewer asked such a question, I'd say I'm curious, persistant, and creative. While I was thinking about that, I remembered a marvelous observation by William Faulkner that also involves 'threes' -- "
“A writer needs three things: experience, observation, and imagination, any two of which, at times any one of which, can supply the lack of the others.”
That's some wisdom, right there.
I went down that clam 'rabbit hole' too. It was fascinating and I'd have liked to be a fly on the wall when someone proposed it as an alternative to all the monitoring bells and whistles in a normal water processing plant. Short videos induce me to lots of amazing experiments to solve environmental and space issues, like sea farming in places where land is depleted and bike tracks/escalators on streets that help bikers get up high hills.
DeleteI like your three words and the Faulkner quote.
Did you read about Musk’s tirade about Wikipedia? What an idiot.
ReplyDeleteHe's as thin skinned as 45/47! I made a donation after Musk told everyone to boycott Wikipedia. I do once a year anyway, I just made it a lot earlier than usual as show of support.
DeleteIt sounds too much like an Interrogation, I plead the 5th. *Winks* I stole a new Word from a Blog Friend for what's transpiring Politically "Dramedy" and Spellchecker acknowledges, who knew? He knew! So many Words and lately I'm often at a loss for Words about what is happening daily. And it's only 2 Weeks in and way too swift a takeover, our Govt. seems impotent to shut the Shitshow down.
ReplyDeleteThe Republicans need to grow a backbone and put country before party. They think they are protecting their jobs by not putting a target on their backs but what are they going to do when 45/47 and/or Musk decide the time is right to do away with house and senate?
DeleteLet me say, as an educator, that I think the Stanford Admissions Director is an idiot. The only prospective students that are going to give his crisp "three things to know about me" answer are the ones who've had extensive (and expensive) coaching before visiting colleges. What he is screening for here is social class. Maybe that makes sense if his primary concern is selecting students who won't need much financial aid and who will turn into big donors after they graduate. The students I'd rather have in my classroom, though, are the ones who ramble a bit as they begin to answer the question and eventually arrive at new insights into themselves that they didn't have before.
ReplyDeleteI'm just glad I don't have to start my life in my 20s again and worry about getting an education. When I was researching this post I discovered that the 'tell me about yourself' question is quite common in job interviews.
DeleteI was a phone company operator in 1967, and hadn't thought about it for years!
ReplyDeleteThe difference in technology is astonishing, but you also mentioned clams and mussels being put to work to do some very low tech work that is still highly valuable. Fascinating contrast to ponder!
Yes, in my lifetime I've seen the first phone lines being strung down the street and we all had a party line with consecutive phone numbers running along the entire street to us all carrying our cell phones. I friend got me the interview so I wasn't invested in the idea of working for the phone company. I, too, am amazed that mussels can be used in that way. There are a lot of 3rd world countries where they can't afford fancy water filtering that might be able to use them. I saw another video of a sun oven for baking bread that would be so simple to make and run at no cost...perfect for 3rd countries.
DeleteMy 3 words would have changed a lot over the years. From being the oldest of 7 kids (reliable, responsible, and high achiever) to mom of 2 (fair, enterprising, protective) to now (disabled, old, laughs a lot), and many more in between. I'm still the same person inside, but so much has changed and I've had to change with it. Interesting exercise, thanks!
ReplyDeleteThe three words 'challenge' was fun, wasn't it, and surprisingly revealing.
DeleteJean, I thought about you when I read this story about the 100 year old woman who's kept a diary for 90 years. (I'm gifting you the article in case you don't subscribe to the Washington Post.
ReplyDeletehttps://wapo.st/415elRB
Thank you for that link! I don't subscribe and I really enjoyed reading the article. It made me a little jealous, though, that I destroyed so many of my old diaries when I moved here and she was able to keep her's. Thanks again.
DeleteOnly 3 things?? I have so many talents and good points I'd have to have a professional writer to record them all!! Ha ha only joking!
ReplyDeleteLOL
DeleteJean :
ReplyDeleteI had struggled so much after my stroke which retired me from the job I loved & I had equated my self worth with job I had & money I made with it, so I was totally lost without my job, if I am not Asha the software Engineer then who am I, then I was worried that I dont want to be defined by roles I play in this big stage of life, I am more than Asha, wife, mom,daughter, sister,friend, I feel I am Asha spritual being having this human experience. I feel three things I can tell about myself for sure, that I enjoy learning new things & it makes life very interesting for me, & I am no quitter & have go with flow personality. & love to ramble & talk lol.
Asha