The waiting game

Yesterday, via email: "I enjoyed speaking with you as well, Anithe. We'll be checking references today, and hope to make our decision tomorrow."

What's that? No, I haven't been checking my Yahoo mail or my cell phone messages every ten minutes. Thanks for asking. I've applied for several positions via the local job-huntin' Web site, and scoured the employment classifieds for a third time. I've cleaned both bathrooms, done all of the dishes and several loads of laundry, and created places to hang the mop, the broom, and several jackets. I took care of rearranging the living room yesterday, otherwise I'd have done that too. At least suspense enhances my housekeeping skills.

I get the feeling that bad news, if that's what's coming, will be in the form of an email, much like the letter I received last Friday. And good news would likely be in the form of a phone call.

Email option
"We were fortunate enough to receive a large number of qualified applicants."
(I imagine you were, since another company in our field closed its local office in December, and there are now a blue million people with similar quals bouncing around the city's job market.)

"We thank you for your interest and enjoyed meeting you, but feel that you're overqualified for this position."
(Because you sort of hinted at that in last Friday's interview. I hope I did a good job of addressing that, and that my follow-up email served as more proof that I really WOULD like this job. Who cares if the job consists of tasks that are somewhat mundane? Not me. It's a paid position, not volunteer work. I find that sufficient motivation.)

Phone option
"Anithe? Hello. We've checked references, and found yours satisfactory; we feel that you'd be the best fit for this position. Can you come in on Friday for some preliminary paperwork, and begin officially on Tuesday?"

Place your bets now! Email or phone, good news or bad. I'm sure you know which one I'd prefer. For now, I am going to go acquire some mundane yet needed household items, which will at least keep me away from the computer.