And now, we wait...

My job interview yesterday, for the Special-Ed (SPED) Assistant job for high school students with autism, went great. I met with a SPED teacher and school social worker.
I could tell I did well-- I felt good connections between us, and I got a "good answer" to a question about a hypothetical situation.

I'll hear today or tomorrow if I get the job.
Ergggh.... Waiting is the worst.

I think I may well get it. FINGERS CROSSED
My two references who work in high schools told me they gave me glowing reviews when the school contacted them immediately after the interview, and both thought I had impressed the interviewers.
I don't know if they also called Big Boss... (I didn't even alert him till after the interview!)

[UPDATE: BB just texted me:
"They called yesterday. It went well."
He's always said he'd support people getting better-paying work if they could find it, so I expected he wouldn't be obstructive.]

One of my references, Abby, from the thrift store, said, "You're a shoo-in".
I wouldn't even doubt that, except that I don't have the supposed job requirement: direct experience working with teens on the spectrum.
But this requirement can be waived--and I know schools need more SPED workers than they have applicants who meet it.
I'm hopeful.

I emphasized that I have lots of experience working with lots of different kinds of people with lots of different abilities and access to social opportunities, and that's what I talked about:
the young coworker who makes videos about his experience living with schizo-affective disorder (in his teen years, it came on him, he says, like an attack by orcs);
the regular customer (every other Tuesday) who talks intensely about trains and who I recruited to price vintage toy train sets;
my neurodivergent grown-up friends whose struggles when they were  girls weren't recognized, and to whom help wasn't offered;
my experience in Activities with people with dementia--the importance and challenge--and fun!--of entering into their reality (the interviewers laughed when I talked about witnessing staff getting into power struggles with people with Alzheimer's--"you aren't going to win"):
and how much I liked my coworkers from around the world and around the social/economic/racial geography of the US.
One of the interviewers used to live near George Floyd Square, so when I talked about the store's neighborhood, she was nodding along.

I also talked about recently studying SPED and autism through videos and books. I'm super glad I did that research, as I was able to use proper jargon in answering questions. "The student will have an IEP, right? So I won't be in that [hypothetical situation] without knowing something about them."
IEP = individualized education plan, which I didn't know until the other day.

I'm so glad, too, that I'd thought to print out copies of my resume. It'd come in online only, and clearly the teacher hadn't seen it. I'd printed out the list of my references with phone numbers and email as well, for easy access.
I'd brought a couple of my books to show too--including Fandom, saying I'd learned a lot from fans with autism online. They laughed: "Video games!"

At the end of the interview, I said, "I want to work here."
I said it not as a rote thing you're supposed to say in an interview: I truly meant it. I'd felt an immediate connection with the SPED teacher--she reminded me of a couple people I've had good experiences with--and I said to her specifically, "I'd love to work with you!" I really would.

The other interviewer was a social worker. I liked her too--and I reeeaally liked that at the end of the interview, she said, "We have a great SPED team, and we really support our workers here. This school does a great job of supporting staff."

Wow. This is so the opposite of the thrift store, I practically wanted to beg for sanctuary.

Also, I was surprised--relieved!––by how much I felt at home in the high school.
I'd wondered if I might experience a PTSD-like flashback to my own awful high school years, but quite the contrary:
I felt like a free, independent person with a right to be here (in the Universe)... pretty much the opposite of how I felt in high school.

And the students, as I said in the interview, reminded me of my workplace. The students I saw in the halls were like our customers--lots of them looked like they came from Somali or Hispanic families; lots of Black kids, and white; and nobody looked wealthy.
The mood was pretty happy too--lots of kids were chatting in the halls, not cowering or slinking.

 I also felt comfortable in how run-down the the old (1924) brick building was. I didn't say this, of course. I was surprised though, at just how run-down the facilities were--old carpet, worn woodwork, cracked plaster.
That's not ideal, maybe, but I'd have felt far less comfortable in a wealthy, private high school, with the social expectations that come with that.

I said I hadn't applied to any other schools because this was the one I wanted--because it's my neighborhood and I know the area and its resources.
"We like to hear that," they said.

So. We wait.

Meanwhile, Big Boss did indeed hold job reviews last week. We met on Thursday, and our meeting confirmed my desire to leave.
It was weird because he said--genuinely, and I believe this is true--that he thinks I'm an exceptional person---that he's always been impressed by my engagement with people. And, he said, that while he didn't always understand my ideas because I'm so "sophisticated", he appreciated them. "You're a deep thinker."

But his idea for my future at the store?
That I should help hang clothes--a job that always needs doing.
Yes, not what I see as the best use of human potential and staff resources.
If I were to stay, I was thinking more along the lines of studying Non-Profit Management, not putting clothes on hangers.

I hadn't told BB that I'm job hunting. I still felt a little uncertain, until after our performance review. Just a little unsure I wanted to leave. Afterward, I was sure.

If I don't get this position, I will apply for others. The public schools have lots of job openings for SPED assistants.
But I hope I get this one!
I'll let you know...

And thanks for your good wishes, folks who've sent em!
___________________________

"Why everything you know about autism is wrong"
This morning I watched and admired this Ted Talk by autism researcher and advocate Jac den Houting, #ActuallyAutistic Activist.
What they say reminds me of what I've learned so deeply at the thrift store:
Lack of opportunity and support dis-ables people. Many people's gifts are dis- abled by societal engineering.

Jac den Houting says, ""I'm not disabled by my autism, I'm disabled by my environment". They give the example of the design of American shopping malls, and how dis-abling they are (not just to people with autism--I hate them too--they're literally designed to trap you.)

This comment on the TED Talk gives such a good counter-example:

"I’m an autistic woman in America. I went to Japan recently and everything was quiet and clean and not lit with bright lights. Nobody made me small talk, and I wasn’t bothered by employees or servers. I actually enjoyed being in public there. I can back home and everything sucked again."