Are you your own worst enemy?

I was invited to an interview for an Editorial Assistant post. I was chuffed to bits to be shortlisted and the money was good as well. I knew somehow I'd f**** it all up and I didn't disappoint myself. I managed to get lost on the way to the interview, despite the interview venue being approximately 20 minutes from my house. I failed to take my mobile with me so I couldn't contact them and spent ages walking around in circles trying to find the damn place. Needless to say, when I eventually arrived home, I got an unhappy call from the place and no, they wouldn't interview me again. It still makes me angry to this day.

The Editor of a local English Daily had offered me the post of a sub-editor a couple of years ago. I refused it on the ground that night shifts would be inconvenient for me. My children were very small and I thought better opportunities would come my way. Now I repent for having missed the opportunity. All I can do now is.......... regret.

I was offered the opportunity of staying in my old mans left testicle but do you think I could see the sense in this? Not for a second, I couldn't wait to go egg-hunting and I've paid for it ever since.

Yes. I am. I lost my temper big time today and probably lost my bargaining position in a very acrimonious divorce and life is crap. What more can I say

I once had the chance to work in a warehouse where you got to wear a hat, i turned it down and now work in a warehouse where no one wears hats, except for teenagers who wear baseball caps the wrong way round, i often wonder if i'd took that job in the warehouse where they wore hats, if my life would be different today. That may have been a critical decision.

Depends if you get hit on the head or not, Flash.

i had an interview recently for a fairly good job, i was perfectly experienced, no problem doing it....but the interview was like an out of body experience, if there was a way to @!#$ it up i found it, i found new ones, invented new ones....i spoke fluent garbage and nonsense..... the inside voice was telling me the right answer, but it didn't seem to communicate with my outer voice.... i could see the incredulous look on the interviewers faces as they tried to help me dig myself out of the whole i was intent on digging and succeeded in getting dug... possibily my worst ever interview...

I was accepted by Dartmouth, Yale, and the University of Michigan honors program. I chose Yale. Big mistake. Granted, it had the best reputation and all that, but Michigan was just as good academically, and more important... Michigan was a real college with both male and female students in a normal ratio (not 25 to 1 like Yale at the time....25 males to every female). I've often regreted that decision, bitterly in fact. Other things have worked out better, though. I have been turned down for jobs at companies that latter went on to make headlines in the financial press for perpetrating massive frauds. One guy asked me in the interview if I was willing to fudge the numbers (in so many words). In so many words, I told him 'no.' Never heard from them again. I think a few of those guys did jail time in the early 90s. I took myself out of the running at another company, only to find about 5 years later that they were engaged in what amounted to financial fraud and book-cooking. The whole world found that out because it was front-page news again in the early 90s. So those were two near misses. I wouldn't worry so much perhaps about missed 'opportunities' because he opportunities that I've actually taken advantage of have usually turned out to be nightmares. You never know how these things are going to work until it's all over. On the other hand, I had an opportunity to sponsor a First Tuesday event a few years ago in an effort to get some publicity for the company I was trying to get off the ground. That's where I met Tony and John Bird, got invited to the website launch party, and the rest is history. The company I was 'running' never got off the ground, but at least I have a 2 1/2 years association with abctales to show for it, which is a much better deal than I've gotten from other investments!

I like that Dorothy Parker-esque remark (can't remember who said it or about whom) "So-and-so is his own worst enemy" "Not while I'm alive, he's not"

LOL andrew

In the pub last October just after I'd finished my novel I met someone I used to work with: Ruth. I used to fancy the @!#$ off her but she'd come out of two violent relationships and was seeing a gay bloke who wouldn't shag her; though she was attractive, I was put off from making a move by the sheer tonnage of loserdom that oozed from her. Anyway, so I met her in the pub, and eff me if she isn't going out with a bearded millionaire author. When I told her I'd written a book she called him over and bla-di-bla-di-bla, he said he could arrange for the top man at (I think) Arrow to look at the book. There are nil networking opportunities in Camelford, Cornwall - nil on toast - so this was a ridiculous opportunity. I never followed it up. Didn't like to presume, ifn you know what I mean: feared it might have been pub talk. Now who's the loser? d.beswetherick.

no someone else is my worst enemy. It saves me having to do the job myself and as he lives on the otherside of the world i have the satisfaction of knowing the job is being done without having to see him.

ooo like your thread Wolfgirl. i did something really stoopid a couple of years ago. i got this temp job for a magazine publishing house as an editorial assistant. there was a permanent vacancy but the money was only £15k. i thought i was worth more than that(!) and didn't go for the job. they got someone else in and i left. i then realised that was one of the best jobs i had had in a long time and spent the next 2 years trying to get exactly that same type of job and failing!!

I have no regrets There are a few memeories (okay more than a few) that can make me squirm with embarrasment but generally i think everythings a contributing factor to who I am and, all in all, I like who I am. So... no regrets....yet.

absolutely. yes. apart from the dire rear that is mostly posted by the usual suspects.