AND THE RAINS CAME...

My wife printed my resume on really heavy stock at her office. I put on my best suit and new tie and I was ready for my first real job interview. I got in my car just as the heavens opened up with a torrential downpour. This was either a good or bad sign, I couldn't decide which. As I drove toward a ferry ride (this was before the new southern bridges on the Delaware and an adventure on a windy day) across the Delaware to Chester, PA and then to Ridley Park, wherever that was? My appointment was at 2:PM so I left at 11:AM for the less than one hour trip - just to make sure I was there on early. As I had learned in my PR course - being on time meant you were already late.

As I made my way the deluge continued. The ferry was on schedule and the crossing wet, but uneventful. Now the fun began. This was 1968 and well before a phone with GPS tracking, Google Maps and the ability to call for directions from one's auto. I pulled over and looked at an Exxon map for a hint of just where Ridley Park might be? (Little did I know at the time that Ridley was the mailing address of the Tri-State office, it was actually located in a small called Folsom.) And that was my first and critical mistake followed by many more wrong turns on streets I could hardly see. The rain drummed harder as I headed to the wrong destination. I started to worry. By 1:40 PM I had found Ridley Park but not Tri-State; two different gas station attendant never heard of Tri-State; I got soaked at a payphone and the information operator could not find any listed number in the Whitepage or Yellow Pages; I was hopelessly lost and sweating profusely. AT 2:30-ish I finally found the Tri-State with the help of a policeman. I dashed through the rain to the building’s front door. Good grief - the door to my future was locked, the office was dark.

I just stood there in the rain, soaked through, not believing that I had blown this opportunity and I still had to find my way home and face my wife...

(To Be Continued)

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