Chapter10
Finding employment, changing jobs, years ago was much easier. The offers came quickly but had always resulted in some dead end mundane corporate accounting position. The unchallenging routine repetitive, and the free time furnished a la Excel convinced Mac that the jobs held to date could have been performed as a high school freshman, and drunk. The daily monotony was the source of most mental challenges, for it was the cause of such fantastic reverie, the careless, nightmarish numerical consequences having to be untangled month end.
It was also his perfect excuse to keep drinking. Knowing these jobs could be done most of the time with minimal effort kept the vodka flowing. The flowing vodka leading to two DUI's and a criminal record; a criminal record he foolishly allowed too many recruiters in on. Naivety, or perhaps alcohol induced confusion, led him to believe that discretion ranked as one of their 'profession's' more admirable traits. How foolish of him.
Mac allowed a background search to be conducted by one of the first employment agencies he interviewed with when his latest job search began, a search delving into his personal life and all public records. Calling this agency inquiring about the discussed opportunities and listening to the lame excuses aroused suspicion, but when was asked very early within the next interview if he had any criminal convictions he became paranoid. Another recruiter noticing something on her computer screen during an interview, never to be heard from again, and another admonishing Mac not to forget anything, emphasizing anything, when answering application questions regarding possible convictions transformed his paranoia to being convinced these sales people were spreading the news: "There's a guy going around town looking for work, but he's got a criminal record, do not touch him, bad news." The way this harmless looking female recruiter said those words so nastily and the other obviously noticing Mac as a red flag on her computer screen betrayed their knowledge of Mac's convictions.
These specific people, accepted as sleazes by Mac, had to be avoided. He knew that they would not be able to sell his work experience with a criminal record attached to any company of any repute. Even if these recruiters' prospects would be scooping up horse shit after a small town parade-this, of course, being a lifetime opportunity for any prospect; that recruiter would be receiving pay for every scoopful of that once in a lifetime opportunity shit-they would not jeopardize their reputations . He had to steer clear hoping their gossipy tentacles left untouched some part of the metro area.
He began to doubt this as the months passed, his unemployment benefits consumed and personal savings being tapped into; the phone not ringing offering a job. Was it so evil, so damaging to a person, to be convicted of two DUI's? The fact that one of these involved a hit and run accident did figure into this question, but his resume was solid illustrating a worthy employee entrusted with confidential corporate information, and also in charge of the safe handling of thousands of dollars of cash on hand. The Great Recession wreaked havoc upon so many but he had weathered that storm and the economy was making a definite comeback; one certainly able to afford one lucrative opportunity for Mac.
His paranoia swelled, envisioning frugal companies not yet willing to receive consent to conduct a costly background check talking with previously dealt with recruiters asking if they may have encountered a Kevin McGarrett in the past, and the recruiter, certainly to be rewarded sometime in the near future, responding with, "Well, I really shouldn't be telling you, and you didn't here this from me, but Kevin has…." Those bastards! They must be! He had to finally admit it. He had at least been branded, possibly black listed. The drinking severely wounded him and left its scar. A scar society had deemed warranted. Time was not ample enough to