So I got an email from the lovely folks at the government department for which I applied to work. Finally! Considering my interview was supposed to be LAST week, and this week is almost over... It basically said "Hi, Kate, we'd like to call you - is there an embassy or something nearby where you can go? We want the interview to be next week"

To which I replied, "Sure, there's Canadian High Commissions in London, Edinburgh and Birmingham, and it's about equally easy for me to get to any of those. But if you want, you can just call my mobile." And I gave them my phone number.

"That's great, Kate, but we need someone to confirm your identity, so can you make arrangments with the High Commission and get back to us with the number we'll need to call you at?"

So I called the High Commissions down in London. After much on-hold-ing and being passed back and forth (I was initially sent to the department for which the job interview will be, then to consular offices, who decided that since I didn't cause an international incident, they didn't want to deal with me, then back to the department in question), it was decided that London didn't want to have to start IDing random interview candidates and so they basically emailed the folks in Canada and politely told them to F off. I'm still waiting to hear Canada's reaction to this one.

This seems to be particularly problematic.

Edinburgh and Birmingham are just Honorary Consulates, so I'm not sure what facilities they have, and if LONDON isn't willing to accommodate me...

But that's just the start: what if I'd just given the folks back in Canada my land line number (which, ironically, is less reliable than my mobile in terms of connection quality when dealing with transatlantic calls) and gotten a friend to be the 'consular official'? Seriously, ANYONE could have taken the interview for me, and the lovely folks in Canada would have no way of knowing. Surely they should have arranged with one of the offices in London in advance and told ME where to be and when, and that I would need to take ID. I'm not their HR girl. Maybe if I was being paid by the government for any of my expenses in this matter, I'd feel differently, but right now I shudder at what a last-minute train ticket down to London or up to Edinburgh is going to cost me, knowing that there will be no reimbursement... not to mention the credit I've used up on my mobile making all these calls...

I'm now stuck, since my contact in Canada is out of the office until Monday. How great is that - 'let us know where to call you, but I'm not going to get your email until Monday anyway'. So that leaves me all weekend to agonize over this.

I don't know whether to start studying for this interview or not, since I have no idea when or where it would be. And I don't need my brain to be full of that for any longer than a couple of days - otherwise I need to be thinking about death and blood and burning.

Not to mention that the appeals process for competitions has changed, so if I don't get the job I can't even whine about what a shitty process the competition was, how badly organized, and how many loopholes there were.

My mother (who happens to work for the department in question) has offered to intervene and ask London again for me. I asked her not to, though, as I don't want to be seen whining to my mother (I will gladly whine to her in private, but I don't need her meddling in this). That would look really great, wouldn't it? The responsible, mature, self-starter's MOTHER had to arrange her job interview.

Oh, and my supervisor mostly liked my draft of my dissertation, so at least that's one thing to worry less about.


I Am Reading
Academically: Nothing. Nada. Zilch. And it's great! (Although I'll have to start editing soon...)
For Fun: Suite Française (Irène Nemirovsky) - I copped out, I'm reading the English translation.
Pile of Books on my Windowsill: 8 - Mostly unread, but skimmed for pertinent information.