Harold Arnold: Your Relationship Rocks Coach!

Monday, July 18, 2011

The Waiting Game

Previous episode

Rob and Celia discovered they had both submitted applications – separately—to Starbucks, each hoping to close the financial gap until Celia finds a full-time job.  Celia fears Rob will resent her even more if he works a second job, but Rob made it clear that if it meant he would worry less about money, it would be worth it.

Current episode

Job boards searched, check.  Follow up calls made, check.  Networking emails sent, check.  As she had been doing all month, Celia spent the first hour of the day on her current job, which was to look for a full time job.  Though the process itself was discouraging, observing it routinely provided rhythm and stability as well as something to share with Rob when he got home, to show him she was trying. 

Next, she moved on to promoting her private piano lessons.  She updated her Craigslist ad and started a Celia Benson Piano Lessons page on Facebook.  She sent Rob the link so he could be the first to “like” it.  Few parents started their children on lessons over the summer, though; but perhaps some would file the info for fall.  Meanwhile, she had about six lessons a week scheduled for the rest of the summer.

Her phone rang.  “Hi handsome,” she said to her husband.  Their marriage, strangely, had flourished in recent weeks following Rob’s confession of his resentment, her embrace of the food-and-sex route to Rob’s heart as a compensation for failing to provide sufficient income along with a new commitment to getting a job, and the realization they could both be more flexible in their responses to the current state of their financial affairs. 

“Did you get a call?” Rob said.

“From who?”

“Starbucks.  They just called me in for an interview.”

Celia did not respond as the news dripped into her psyche.  “No, I didn’t get a call.” 

“I’m meeting the late shift manager at 6:30 this evening,” he went on.

“Great,” Celia said, but it did not sound like she meant it.  “I mean, it is great that you got called.  I wish I had been called, too.”  Discouragement threatened to flood her – it was already flowing fast.

“I figured they called you, too,” he said.  “I’ll mention you at my interview.”

What does Celia do next?