The End of an Era Part II

Oh my gosh.  The relief.  I had been begging God all summer to throw me a bone.  Let someone contact me.  Let someone interview me.  Anything.  And I'm pretty sure the whole time He was sitting there saying, "Okay just hold on, I've got this, calm down already!"

So I was full time and beyond relieved.  About 9 months later Jenna had finished school and was hired on into the same department.  We were on different teams so we didn't see each other much there for a while, but a couple of months after she was hired the maintenance group moved over to headquarters and we had cubes that were right across from each other.

Christmas Party 2011

Although I was still grateful to have a job at Southwest, I started itching to find a different position.  I had always been told that they were big on you moving around in the company, and I wanted to see what I could do outside of technical writing.  So around July of 2010 I started looking at internal postings.  (Actually I think it was around May, but I know in July there was a better prospect.)  There was a position open in Cabin Services for a Communication Specialist.

I was intrigued and it sounded like something that I would enjoy doing.  I went and met with the team and the Manager and it sounded great to me, but there was one small detail that I still had to consider.  I had to make sure I'd be able to apply.  The guideline for internal positions is you have to have been in your current position for at least a year, and I hadn't yet, even though I was close, but sometimes they let you apply anyway.  Not in my case.  I was told, absolutely not.

But after that instance, I hit my one year in August and so I was free to apply for other positions.  Another 10-11 months or so goes by and two other prospects that I interviewed for and was first told that they were no longer hiring for that position and then for the second I was turned down.

But July came and the job in Flight Ops was opened.  I went through all the same protocol, asking the current position-holder about the job, talking to the Manager, etc. On the morning of my interview I found out that Jenna had applied as well and was also interviewing.  While I was still working with Maintenance in our department, she was working with Flight Ops.  I thought, "Oh well she's a shoe-in, I really should cancel my interview."

But it was so late in the process that I couldn't cancel.  So instead I just went in, having not prepared anything or really caring at all, and got a little bold.  I told the interviewers, "I don't know if you're looking to hire two people for this position, but if you are it should be me and Jenna.  We already work well together and get along and we'd both be perfect for it."

Well, we both got it.  :)

On August 10, 2011, we moved into our office that we would share.  We also spent that weekend painting two of the walls purple.  :)

I'm afraid if I try and put these last 16 months into a blog post I will surely be paying them an injustice.  In a nutshell, we have spent them giggling, sharing music, closing the door and having an all-out rant session, drinking wine, running, talking about boys, crying, and basically being attached at the hip around the department.

I couldn't have asked for a better person to share an office with and become one of my best friends.