Eh. I went, we talked. How's that for brevity?

My obsessive-compulsive attention to Time paid off nicely. I left my apartment shortly after 10:30 and was at the train station in about ten minutes. I took the train to the last stop, Locust Street between 15th and 16th and left the subway about ten after eleven. The Urban Outfitters building was on 18th and Walnut, roughly three blocks away.

Philadelphia's a funny place compared to New York. In Ney York, the streets run east-west; in Philly they run North-South. That alone was disorienting. But then Mike had to get all dyslexic and give me directions that were the opposite of how I should have gone--he told me in order to go from 16th to 18th, I should walk with the traffic on Locust; I had to walk opposite it. He told me that to get to Walnut, I should make a left; I needed to make a right. Obviously Mike's desire to have me move here under the guise of it being good for me was a vicious ruse. He just wants me here so he can get me lost; probably hoping I can't find my way back to my apartment so he and Erin can take it over.

Anyway, I reached the building by 11:30 and spent the next twenty minutes parusing the selection at the Barnes and Nobles that was next door. I also noticed the offices were right across the street from a small but pleasant looking park . It reminded me of Bryant Park in New York, where I spent many a summer afternoon eating lunch and watching the chess matches.

In fact, going into Philadelphia for an interview gave me a fantastic sense of deja vu. Like working from Web Media, I had to take mass transit. Like that job, the office was just a short block from said mass transit stop. Add the park into that equation and this job got points just for the familiarity factor.

When I spoke with the HR rep last week, she told me that the office was "super causal" so I could show up in jeans if I wanted to. Not fully trusting this claim, I opted for slacks, shoes, a button-down shirt and a tie. Even if I lost the tie, I still would have been overdressed. Not a single person in the place wore anything more formal than blue jeans. It's a good thing I didn't go for the jacket because then I might have really stood out.

Once again I had to fill out an application form. I was a dismissive about it as I was for the customer service interview, but as I filled it out I tried to remember if I had to fill out a similar form for Optical Connectivity. I'm pretty sure I had to, so I'm guessing, regardless of position, one has to be filled out for the sake of paperwork. Meh.

One thing I noticed immediately--next to the "super casual" clothing was the age of the people in the office. Firstly, the receptionist--complete with lip ring, barely looked old enough to drink. I think the median age of the place was 25. Which is scary because I'm still used to being the young one at the office; at this place I'd definitely be on the other side of the fence. I was rather amused, sitting there in the recpetion area, filling out the application form in a shirt and tie while a flock of young people in blue jeans began coalessing to go out for lunch.

Anyway, the job itself sounds interesting. My official title would be traffic assistant but the workload and responsibility seems well above what the title suggests. I'd be responsible for the logistics of ocean-freight imports; all shipments from around the world routed into the US, and then distributed to various warehouses across the US. There's apparently an average of 500 shipments a month. Now, to give you a point of reference, when I met with the HR person and she asked me how many monthly shipments did I handle, I said an average of six. Needless to say my experience isn't quite at the level they're working at, but as long as they're looking for quality over quantity it may not be that big an issue.

I spoke with two people, one of the HR reps and then with the Traffic Manager. The whole thing took about an hour. I think it went all right. I didn't hit it off with the manager like I did at the customer service interview, so I think I gave a stronger interview last time. On the flip side, the previous interview was much more structured and formal and I was asked all the staple interview questions. Whereas here we mostly talked shop. I think I held my own in that regard, although there were references made that I really didn't know what she was talking about. But what's a white lie or three?

Like every place else, they're looking to hire quickly. But a breif talk with one of the other HR reps gave me the impression that there would be a second round of interviews before any decisions were made. I think I've got a 50/50 shot of it. If I can get the second interview, having already done the first I know I'd be able to make a stronger impression, but I'm honestly not sure I'll get that far.

I think, given the choice between the two jobs, I'd have to go with Urban. It'd be about an hour commute, and with the hours being eight to five-thirty, and overtime par for the course, I'm looking at getting home between 6:30 and 7:30 each night, which will certainly be different from what I became accustomed to. But just the idea of working in a city gave me a sense of elation, and though I'm not used to the scope of what would be required of me, I know I have enough experience to get me through the adjustment period. And the casual atmosphere of the place would be another plus.
Honestly, in a head-to-head comparison, the Urban Outfitters job wins by a landslide.

But I have to be offered the jobs first. So we'll see what happens.