One Voice Mail by J. Kenny

I’m calling to follow up on my job application. I emailed your wife about the position last month but I didn’t hear back about an interview. And then I saw the job still advertised today. And I’ve emailed another résumé through. I don’t know if it was a misprint or whatever. Those things happen, I can understand that.

It just seems strange to advertise the job again if it hasn’t been filled but you have an application from someone with the qualifications just sitting there. I have the qualifications, you know. I did the Masters degree. I’ve got experience in a similar position… that’s all in my application.

I remember my father telling me to study hard and it’d pay off. Study hard and get good grades, he’d say, if you put the work in then you’ll get somewhere, you’ll have a good job. So I worked my arse off, you know, and put myself through university and did the post grad degree. And then the economy, you know? This damn economy. So I lost my job and now I have to support my wife and our kid somehow.

So now I’m working at some cheap hotel. I look through the paper and find these jobs during my night shifts. I’ve got this useless degree, all these useless pieces of paper, and people say I’m acting entitled to want to work in the field I studied instead of being grateful for any job. I’m not even sure how much longer I can go on and come home to face my wife. It’s not just the way she looks at me – it’s more than that.

You’re a man of the world, and you know what I mean. It doesn’t work like my father said it would. It’s about connections, not qualifications. My old boss’s son, Jarrad, that kid’s got my old job and he never even finished college.

I don’t even know what I’ll tell my daughter when she gets older. Can I still tell her to study hard and that everything will work out? Can I tell her that even though I don’t believe it? and I know it to be untrue? You can work hard and get the top ten percent of every class you’ve taken – it’s all in my application – but that doesn’t mean anything.

Please look over my application and try me for an interview. It will be nice to see you again. Yes, we’ve met before. You come in every Wednesday to that hotel with women who aren’t your wife. Maybe I should hand you my résumé then. Though I think it’s your wife who’s in charge of hiring; it’s her email address on the job listing.

Persistence, you know. That’s another thing my father used to say. Persistence will get you where you want to go. He never told me that it’s about who you know. Anyway, I’m rambling now. See you when you’re checking out. Or next Wednesday, I guess. Or maybe earlier for an interview.

J. Kenny is a novelist, poet and composer working in his adopted home of Berlin. His work explores themes of the subjective angle of self-constructed identity and memory. His work as an arts journalist and ghostwriter has been published in the US, Australia and Europe. Kenny contributes sound design to visual art installations, and composes music in band and solo guises. Find J. Kenny at @thejknny and jasonkenny.com.