Taking Care of Friends

One of my few -- ok, probably my only -- pleasant memories of the infirmary on my college campus came in my senior year. A good friend of mine was stuck there with a genuine illness (as opposed to the self-inflicted ones that landed me there from time to time), and I was among a team of well-wishers that tried to boost her spirits. I was probably the only one who tried to cook her dinner, which I think that she actually pretended to eat.

On the particular visit that I remember best, I read aloud from The World's Best Rejection Letter. As seniors, we were all furiously applying for jobs and graduate schools and planning for The Future. The economy being in better shape back then than it is today, most of us eventually got hired. I was applying for jobs in theater, which meant that most companies apparently felt that their not-for-profit status and limited budgets absolved them from having to send out rejection letters. In response to what seemed like a hundred resumes and cover letters (back in the days before email when you had to actually print, sign, and mail such things), I received exactly one acknowledgement postcard, exactly one job offer, and The World's Best Rejection Letter.

The Letter, which included the sentence "I feel like a jerk" (I couldn't make this stuff up), came in response to my resume, which had apparently been received after the position I wanted had already been filled. The company's director, however, realized that the ad I had referenced in my cover letter actually stated that the application deadline was much later. Apparently, this oversight upset him so thoroughly that he felt compelled to apologize to me quite profusely. Unfortunately, he didn't feel compelled to change his mind and offer me the job.

By the time The Letter arrived, I had begun to despair that anyone anywhere was going to hire me. The fact that someone wrote me a letter suggesting that he had looked at my resume long enough to see which job he wasn't going to give me was a huge boost to my ego. And yes, I'm fully aware of how pathetic that sounds.

On the day that I received The Letter, I brought it to the infirmary room where my sick friend was staying and read it aloud with great expression to the genuine amusement -- and amazement -- of my friends. At that moment when The Future seemed so daunting to all of us, I think we felt better realizing that there might actually be real human beings out there in the world. And at least one of them wasn't afraid to use the word "jerk" in reference to himself.

Twelve years later, I still pull out The Letter when I need a good laugh, or a some encouragement, or a little of both. So, knowing that a friend of mine could use some of the same, I thought I'd dust off The Letter -- and my much-neglected blog -- and remind her that I'm still around to boost her spirits.