Dissatisfaction and Avoidance

Dissatisfaction: I love the mediation program -- I believe in it, I recruit for it, I want everyone to try it out. And so I'm not that sorry to spend, say, a total of 15 hours in 3 days going over applications, organizing interviewers, getting evals and impressions from interviewers, assessing applicants, blabbity blah blah.

But I work with someone who, for some reason, irks me. Not all the time. But enough. And 15 hours in 3 days with someone who irks you is a dissatisfying thing. Particularly when you really like everyone else in the program and think they are really pleasant, lovely, patient people, and you have no idea how this one person could be so abrupt and impatient and blunt in such an environment, with such other people.

Now the flip side of this person's abrupt, impatient bluntness is that she is extremely efficient, uncomplaining, and quick in mind and action. But I'd rather have someone a little less efficient and a little more pliant.

Avoidance: Not a bad thing, this one. I heard from the human rights job in Cambodia that I applied for on a whim, and probably could not have turned down if I'd gotten an offer. They negged me. I was a little surprised -- the dude said I had great credentials up front -- but not disappointed. Instead, I was relieved. I've just avoided a major decision crisis over whether to turn down a firm job (thus burning bridges at that firm) in favor of this elusive Cambodia position, and having the decision taken away from me is a damn good thing.

So, it's really, really set. Seven weeks in New York at Mighty Big Passive Aggressive Firm, four weeks in London with Magic Circle firm, four weeks in Hong Kong with same Magic Circle firm. Y'all are welcome to visit, if you don't mind not seeing me most of the time.