Tuesday, August 21, 2007

What's a setback?

Back to it. The trip to Dallas was a bust after all. It was a great accomplishment to have been invited to training in the first place. Southwest Airlines receives on average 10,000 applications a month and I was one of seventy-three to have made it though the process of being picked for an initial Group Information Session, two one-on-one interviews, and finally, an invitation to training in Dallas. I put on my best suit, the smile and the positive attitude that have always been a part of my long career in customer service, but I was just too far behind the curve on several pages of information I was to have memorized on arrival. I studied, but I also worked, watched my kids, and slept. I should have studied more. I should have recruited my wife to help me study, but we hardly see each other as it is. It's a busy life and it was just too much. Overwhelmed. Daunted. In over my head. And so, I returned home.

Not quite feeling the failure considering how much I accomplished to have made it as far as I did, but I still fell short of the goal. Like an NFL team with a slow start to the season but a string of heart-stopping victories to make the playoffs, only to fall short one game shy of the Super Bowl, that's how I felt flying home Monday night. There's measurable pride in this setback. As Coach Fisher told his Titans after their Super Bowl loss to close out the '99 NFL season, "A setback is a setup for a comeback."

We'll see. Back to it.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Welcome home, my friend. Sad it ended so quickly but it will all work out. There is no money made the last two nights, so you didn't miss anything. *smiles*

chez bez said...

Thanks, man. It's good to be able to come back.

Anonymous said...

Welcome back! Bummer about the job.

*insert inspirational, pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps quote here* ;)

Anonymous said...

Ugh, I'm sorry. I hope another opportunity for you comes up soon.

The Middle Child said...

Oh no, I'm so sorry it didn't work out. It sounded like so much more fun than what you were doing.
What will you do now? Can you get your old job back? Do you want it back?

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry you didn't get what you wanted. Perhaps this t-shirt, by a local artist, would make you feel better, or this one?

Hang in there. It's a dog eat dog world out here.

Anonymous said...

Mike:

Sorry to hear, bro. Just know you put your sundays best on and gave it all you got. Remeber what Coach Fisher said. "A setback is a setup for a comeback."

Welcome back home and come back to work here.~Jason

matt said...

arghh-that's too bad mike. i'm glad to see you have a positive attitude about it. it's cool we were able to hang out in chicago for a bit tho.

well if you try again with another company maybe we can meet up in new york city. we can go hang out at the hotel chelsea which hopefully wont be a starbucks hotel by then. (just saw it yesterday for the first time btw as well as the guitar store next door. i thought of you and then i went into the guitar store and thought of my bank account.)