Craigslist

In my job search, I have spent a lot of time on Craigslist, which isn't always the most reputable or safe place to go around looking for jobs. I've found some interesting stuff on there.

For example, I found my job with the Uniformed Services University there. I applied for an Assistant position that had only a small description, received a call from a man asking me to come in for an interview, things you might expect. Except that we must remember that he was a total stranger from the internet, and he informed me that since I did not have military clearance I would not be able to get onto the facility grounds on my own and I needed to MEET HIM IN A PARKING LOT somewhere.

Warning bells, anyone? I admit, I thought about it. But I wanted mooooneey. So I said, "Sure! I will meet you in a parking lot somewhere whenever you want." He told me he drove a gray Scion.

I got directions, and on the appointed day and time I showed up in the parking lot and pulled in behind a gray Scion. I could not see the driver from my angle, he was just large and shadowy. He made a gesture/signal out the window, and pulled away. I followed. We went through security and down many winding paths (place is larger than you might think) and into a parking garage. Down, down, down, all of the floors until my cell phone lost reception and we were alone in the very bottom, under ground, with absolutely no one else around as it was a weekend.

This is not a super situation for young females to get themselves into, and yet...there I was.

As we know, I was not violently murdered, I was given a pretty sweet job, so it all turned out rather well. Still, though, not one of my more brilliant moves.

A few days ago I applied for a job I found on Craigslist as a babysitter. The mother decided she wanted to meet me. Before replying to her, I had a sudden moment of lucidity. I talked to my father. "Father, do you feel the odds of me being violently murdered, chopped in pieces, and having my extremities hidden in a freezer and dropped in the Chesapeake are high or low if I go to this internet stranger's house?"
My father said, "I just watched that movie about the Craigslist killer. But you should do whatever you think is right. I have to go make chocolate chip ice cream now. Goodbye."

I wrote to the woman and told her I would prefer we met somewhere public. She suggested some gym/rec center she takes her kid to and sent me the link to their web page. I copied the address off the bottom and put it in mapquest. It was quite far away, but I figured whatever I can do it.

So this morning I set off, on the Beltway (going on the Beltway for any reason is ALWAYS A TERRIBLE IDEA) going EAST. Long story short, I drove a million miles, got off in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, found the address listed after about eighty million u-turns and circling and shouting, and discovered that the address did not belong to anything remotely like a rec center or gym. I called the woman, who informed she had absolutely no idea where I was but it was certainly not even remotely near where SHE was, which was up I95 somewhere.

NOT HAVING A GPS, I of course had no way of figuring out how to get to her, so we had to reschedule. "Can you at least get home?" she asked. "Oh yes, of course," said I. We hung up.

I had come on the Beltway EAST so I figured all I had to do was look for the Beltway going WEST.

There WAS NO BELTWAY GOING WEST. There were only North and South. So more u-turns and circles and shouting ensued and eventually I decided the most logical course of action was to take the South and hope life eventually worked itself out. Except then there was construction and I got confused and nearly missed it and had to switch lanes suddenly and NO ONE WOULD LET ME because they're all BASTARDS and so I ended up shouting obscenities out the window and getting honked out and then shouting some more but I made it onto the Beltway and then cried a lot and only eventually made it home.

And this evening I get to go to this woman's house to try again.

I hope she doesn't murder me.