So I was on the last leg of a multiple interview tour, 8 days, 5 interviews etc. Went straight to the airport from next-to-last interview, got on plane, arrived at last interview city ~8PM. Got the rental car, checked in to the hotel and asked for a wakeup call at 5:30AM since next days interviews started at 7:30AM. Also set my iPhone alarms for around 5:15AM.
Next morning, iPhone goes off and I lie in bed snoozing while I wait for the wake up call. Next thing I know its 8:30AM. In a stuporous panic I fumble through my papers to find the phone number for derm department. Call and get through to the residency coordinator. I had no idea what was going on so I say, "I am terribly embarrassed but I just woke up. I don't know what proper etiquette is in this situation so I'll do whatever you want me to do."
I could hear the irritation in the coordinators voice as she said, "Yeah...we were getting worried about you, we've never had someone just skip the interview day before...we weren't sure if we should call or what...you've missed half the interviews at this point, but I guess you should just come on down"
So I shower and dress while I am yanking on my eyebrow hairs in nervous angst and disgust at myself. I go down to the front desk to check out and ask the manager if they had a wakeup call listed for me in their system. The manager looks through the computer and says no, but then says that they've been having problems with their wakeup call system this morning. I explain that I just missed an important interview and that I am very upset about the situation. So the manager types up a note on hotel letterhead explaining the problem with their wakeup call system. I bring the note in with me and give it to program coordinator when I arrive at 10:00 AM. After having a brief meeting, the faculty and staff very graciously allow me to make up all my interviews later in the day. I apologize to everyone and they reassure me that this will not be held against me. Of course I still feel like a complete idiot, especially when answering questions about my motivation and initiative, sort of hard to talk about how I consider myself to be very responsible etc when I just showed up several hours later to interview day!
Anyway, one of my worst experiences in recent memory. Guess I'm posting this as a cautionary tale and for catharsis...any other nightmare experiences like this? 😱
Next morning, iPhone goes off and I lie in bed snoozing while I wait for the wake up call. Next thing I know its 8:30AM. In a stuporous panic I fumble through my papers to find the phone number for derm department. Call and get through to the residency coordinator. I had no idea what was going on so I say, "I am terribly embarrassed but I just woke up. I don't know what proper etiquette is in this situation so I'll do whatever you want me to do."
I could hear the irritation in the coordinators voice as she said, "Yeah...we were getting worried about you, we've never had someone just skip the interview day before...we weren't sure if we should call or what...you've missed half the interviews at this point, but I guess you should just come on down"
So I shower and dress while I am yanking on my eyebrow hairs in nervous angst and disgust at myself. I go down to the front desk to check out and ask the manager if they had a wakeup call listed for me in their system. The manager looks through the computer and says no, but then says that they've been having problems with their wakeup call system this morning. I explain that I just missed an important interview and that I am very upset about the situation. So the manager types up a note on hotel letterhead explaining the problem with their wakeup call system. I bring the note in with me and give it to program coordinator when I arrive at 10:00 AM. After having a brief meeting, the faculty and staff very graciously allow me to make up all my interviews later in the day. I apologize to everyone and they reassure me that this will not be held against me. Of course I still feel like a complete idiot, especially when answering questions about my motivation and initiative, sort of hard to talk about how I consider myself to be very responsible etc when I just showed up several hours later to interview day!
Anyway, one of my worst experiences in recent memory. Guess I'm posting this as a cautionary tale and for catharsis...any other nightmare experiences like this? 😱
