Starting over from square one

I am at my friend K's this morning because D and her son are flying in from Houston this morning. I may be weird, but I am looking forward to spending the weekend with D's 10-year-old son: he is a good kid, I've known him since he was a baby, and I have a lot of fun things planned. I hope all goes well.

I had my job interview yesterday afternoon at Other County. Let me just say that I didn't think it went very well. The panel's first question was "why do you want to become a criminal prosecutor." Hello?! I already AM a criminal prosecutor! Seems that they didn't even bother to look at my resume or the 20-page(!) supplemental application I had to fill out! They also seemed to take exception with the fact that I do not want to work in the juvenile division and only want to prosecute adults. They also indicated that it was their intention to assign me to the misdemeanors/preliminary hearings unit. No thanks. I told them plainly but politely that if their job offer was going to be do that, I would decline. Ihave been on a felony trial team for seven months; I have done more trials than one of Other County's attorneys would do in five years; I'm not going back to square one.

I didn't like prosecuting misdemeanors: I was MISERABLE 90% of the year I spent doing that at my current job. I literally went home crying 1-2 days a week in that position, it was so horrible. The only reasons I stuck it out were that it was my first job out of law school, I was gaining valuable trial experience, and there was hope that I could someday move on and try felonies (and I did).

On the other hand, I've really liked being a felony prosecutor. I fail to see what useful purpose would be served by making me start all over from square one. I would not be averse to a month or two of misd/prelims to learn how this particular office works. . . . but more than that would be a waste of time, in my opinion. For f#%^s sake, I practice law in the same state in a neighboring county: how different can this job from my current one?! All the laws and rules of procedure are the same. Only the names and faces of the judges, defense attorneys, and defendants will be different. . . and maybe some office policies.

Anyway. . . I am not optimistic about my chances of getting an offer. My law school friend M, who has worked there for nearly two years, said she had an equally "bad" interview there, as did her husband (who also works there). She thinks that they just act antagonistic to everyone to see how you will react. Whatever. Unless they were not serious about sticking me down on the first rung of the ladder, I won't take the job even if it's offered. And I don't think it will be.

The way this interview went makes me wonder how this office manages to recruit any experienced prosecutors from other jurisdictions. I'd venture to say that few attorneys with trial experience would want to go back to doing what they most likely started out doing.

M's take on my interview was totally different from mine. She thinks they will make me an offer and let me basically skip the lower level in the office (or at least be there for only a few weeks). She doesn't understand why they made such a big deal about my not wanting to work in juvenile because she says there are people lined up to work in that division in the office at the moment, and it does not have a high turnover rate. Also, as to misd/prelims, she said that the office has hired 29 "conditional hires": people waiting on July bar results. The bar exam isn't even until next week, and those people will not be admitted to the bar, even if they pass, until late October. Every single one of them will have to start from square one since they have never been attorneys. So M says they don't really need people for that area of the office either. These facts are the reason that M believes the panel was just testing me by bringing these assignments up. You know, was I going to say "I'll go wherever I'm needed" or stick to what I'd written on my paperwork.

Anyway, I'm over it. I can stay in my current position, where I am not unhappy and have some very interesting trials coming up, and avoid the inconvenience of moving one hundred miles away. SL will not have to hurry up and look for another job. Sure, I'm doing my current job for about $5000/year less than I could be in Other County. But oh well. It is certainly not worth the money to me to go back to doing what I've already done for another year or two! I wouldn't go back to square one for $10,000 more a year!

On to happier topics. . . I had dinner last night with M & our friend V. It was very fun to see them and to catch up! And we had a great meal: I went a little overboard with the eating. (Part of the reason was that I had felt icky all day due to nerves over the interview, so I'd not eaten much.) I even had a raspberry margarita--yum!

I also got to spend some time with K. (I am at her house right now.) We didn't get to hang out as much as I would have liked because she worked 12 hours yesterday and 12 hours today. . . but we did get to chat for a couple of hours. And she looked at my bridesmaid dress swatches. :)

I am looking forward to getting home later today. I miss Sebastian (who is staying with Dickens at K&J's). Also, we had our carpets cleaned yesterday and I want to see how they turned out. :)

SL is coming home on Monday. Yea! I have actually missed him more than I thought I would. It'll be nice to have him back. . . though he's joked that he wants to stay in Alaska until September: the daytime highs in Anchorage haven't even been above 65 since he's been there, and he is really enjoying being out of the heat. I know he misses me, though, and he's not REALLY going to stay in Alaska two more months.