I had quite the lesson in turning the other cheek the other day. We are trying to hire my replacement here at Mount Pisgah. This means that I am doing my first *real* job interview from this side of the interview. We had a candidate (who will stay unnamed) who I decided was not the right fit.

What follows is a response I got back from him after we told him we were no longer interested. And yes, I got this e-mail at 2:30 am on a Wednesday morning, after working a 15-hour day on Sunday, a 12-hour day on Monday, and an 18-hour day on Tuesday! I will warn you, its long. If you are busy, you might want to skip this post.

His first e-mail

Well, Shucks,

I appreciate the chance .
...... Oh! wait you never gave me one!

Well at least i didn't waste my time.
.... Oh wait you did waste two weeks of my time giving me the run around

It seems like you had something going under the table from the start. If [another candidate] was qualified to do this job than I'm a least as good if not better. When we first sat down you made it sound like I was hired. Then I start working with Andy who can't keep up with a phone number and he grinds the whole thing to a halt. I'm not sure what you could have learned about my abilities by now. Andy can barely stop talking about himself for long enough for me to get a word in. It's not like what he does is that great. There's a vidcast tutorial on Final Cut Pro I down-loaded thats produced by a 12 year old. You guy's are going to need a bigger church soon or Andy's head will be too big to fit in it.

I know I'm burning a bridge with this angry rant but right now my wife is crying holding my baby wondering how we're going to pay rent, car payment, the gas bill. I've never come this close do doing something I was so perfect for to have it ripped away so callously. This is just a lesson for the both of you. Please think twice before you dangle some bit of hope in front of someone you consider unworthy. People out here in the real world have hard lives and big responsibilities. You shouldn't thoughtlessly kick someone around for a few weeks because your too cowardly to say what you really think.

Here's an excerpt from Andy's blog about how much money he makes. This was really nice to read after getting your email!

I start to reflect on the topics of most of my conversations with other 20-somethings. I find increasingly that my conversations are on the topic of money, especially regarding the long-term. From the ever so classic, should I buy a place conversation, to 401(k)s, to having my salary deposited directly into a savings account vs. a checking account because I only pay three bills all month (rent, credit card, and tithe) and I could probably make some money on the $2,800 after taxes every month sitting in a 5.05% interest account while I wait to pay my bills. And I think to myself, man the 20s are one sexy time to be alive ;)

Here's me my wife and [son]. We know what working hard and doing the best we can is all about. [Insert picture of him, with his wife and child]

My Response:

I am very sorry you feel this way. Ultimately what it came down to is that I just felt you weren’t qualified to do the job after our conversation on Sunday afternoon. When I asked you what video editing programs you have worked with, you couldn’t produce a name and you said you mainly use “free programs.” I am not trying to sound harsh, but I have worked with a lot of video producers and I have never heard of anyone using a free program. In addition to that, I asked you for examples of your video editing work and you couldn’t produce anything for me. When I applied for my job at Mount Pisgah, I submitted a DVD with 3-hours of work on it, which had over 45 videos.

As far as your personal comments about me, I am going to elect not to respond. With the exception of one: regards to me talking too much, again I am sorry it appeared that way. I will say this, and I hope you read this as helpful as you pursue other job ventures in the future, and you don’t read this as me trying to bash or retaliate as that is not my intention. But one of the other observations I made was that you don’t listen. I really felt I didn’t talk nearly as much as I usually do, and I would try to explain something about how we do something, and before I would finish you would interrupt me. When interviewing for a job in the future, I would highly suggest against doing this.

Again, I hope you read this as helpful constructive criticism, and not a retaliatory bash. In the end, employers don’t have a responsibility to hire anybody they don’t seem fit, and being in talks about a job, does not constitute dangling a job in front of someone. We never promised [an other candidate] a job either, so a comparison to him, really isn’t appropriate in this situation.

I know this probably won’t seem like much, but I will continue to pray for you and your family. I am sorry this venture didn’t work out and I truly hope you find the right job for your skill set.

His Response Back:

What I meant by free was pirated. The work I did was on a PC at least 4 years ago for a less that forthright company which I left for reasons related to that. I've since upgraded the computer. I said i did flash animation and not video. You guys never gave me an idea of what you we looking for. Were you looking for a new Videographer? Or an all-around tech person. I learned to use final cut pro in a couple of hours with free tutorials and would have produced a fine video in no time had I been given the opportunity.

Also, It always seems like people are interrupting when you talk non-stop. Mostly I was trying to get answers - what is it you really need! What projects do you have on the horizon? What's the division of Labor. Since you would barely speak to me on your own I felt it necessary to try to become involved in a conversation.

Next I don't need career advice from a 24 year old. I was working and paying bills when you were living with Mom and Dad and playing video games or what ever. I've started small companies, worked for a corporation with 28,000 employees, produced an entire product catalog, and made countless sales calls. Not that it matters, but I can also play guitar better than you could dream of and was already working on an original score for my video. You new I didn't have video experience from the get go. I told you I had done wed design, music production, power point, photoshop, and flash. If the video part was so crucial why didn't you just say that the first day. When I said I hadn't done video you even said you were willing to train!

My beef is not with the job requirements but with your lack of communication. Why string me along if you're not interested? If i hadn't pushed you you might have drug this out for a month. Oh and I saw your videos on your web page , Big woop! I hope you stay close to the Church because the real world would eat you alive.

Good Luck, [Man’s Name]

P.S. I'm not interested in your reply

Yeah! Good stuff. That's always a pick-me-up right before bed after working 45 hours in 3 days! Anyways, now I am not going to go into all the erroneous claims he made in both his e-mails. If you don't believe that there are erroneous claims, it is alright, it isn't necessary for my observations that follow.

The point is that I obviously feel they were many erroneous claims, of which my gut reaction is to respond to every one of them. And frankly, it took every piece of strength I had not to respond and tell him exactly what I felt. But Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek and for once I listened:

Matthew 5:38-40
You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' 39But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.

Now I am not writing about this because I am particularly good at this. In fact, I am usually awful at this (just ask anyone I work with or just about anyone who I have a conflict with). At one point, I even prayerfully considered sending him and his wife some money anonymously (I decided not to, which was probably a mistake). And for this one success of turning the other cheek, I can probably count 1000 times when I have failed. But Jesus still tells us we should, and I think He's right. It's a hard lesson to grasp, but it is a good lesson to master (if you can).

(P.S. It should be noted that I am about 98% sure this young man has stopped reading my blog as his IP address has not recently been logged, and this happened a little while ago. So please do not think this is a passive aggressive attempt to "send a message" to him)