What's So Funny

Earlier this week I interviewed for a sales position at the L. L. Bean store during the upcoming holiday season. Assuming I was a shoo-in, I was virtually stunned when I was not hired, for reasons unknown. Until yesterday, when I got a call from a nice lady from Human Resources. She was calling to "debrief," and also to get some feedback about their hiring process. I gladly obliged, sharing with her my thoughts that the whole thing reminded me of the time I tried out for the popular TV game show called Password, back when I was in college. I didn't get picked then either, having been deemed "too serious" and "very knowledgeable, but not sympathetic to audiences." And that was when I was only 20, and much better-looking.

Illustration by Paul Dwyer

This time it turned out that the main reason I wasn't chosen to stand on my feet all day long behind a cash register was because I was considered to be "too funny." Confused, since I had been raised to believe that laughter is the best medicine, I researched the concept of humor online and learned that people can be considered "funny" in the following ways: by behaving in an unusual manner, by being in an unusual place or by being the wrong size. Naturally I am wondering which one of those applies to me, and hoping it was not the one about size.

Apparently my "great humor" was thought to be "possibly too much" for the customers and my co-workers. However, the nice lady suggested--no, insisted--that I come in next week to the corporate headquarters and interview for a different job, as it was also noted on my chart that I was a "great candidate." Of course I'm going, if for no other reason than to see what kind of positions they offer where a sense of humor is permitted.