Remember Tests?

I went in for a tutoring job today. If you've ever randomly looked through job listings in New York, you've heard of this company: they're constantly hiring. They interview in groups, eight at a time, and they seem to run through candidates the way Homer Simpson downs donuts.

When I signed up for my group interview slot online, they sent me an email with the invitation to ask questions. This, I now realize, would have been an ideal time to forewarn them about my vision. I didn't.

I also failed to mention the blind thing when we went around the room, introducing ourselves and explaining why we were there. I have to interject, on this moment, that everyone (including myself) lied a little. This always happens in interviews, but rarely do you get a chance to hear eight people do it in a row. Everyone claimed an altruistic motive for wanting to work there, and while the job doesn't pay well, it does pay -- and in this economy, that's the main reason for anyone wanting to apply. OK, done; moving on.

After everyone told their tales, the staff member asked us to fill out a short survey. Oe page, pretty simple. Small type. She left the room just as I was taking out my monocular to try and fill it out quickly, but when she came back, I was the only one who wasn't done. I'm used to that from college and such, but it's been a while.

Next, she informed us that we could now turn over the stapled packet in front of us... which was a test. Reading. Math. Science. Tiny, tiny print.

"Start with the section you feel strongest at, so that you don't waste time needlessly," she instructed us. "You have until the clock reaches the three."

As I briefly contemplated the fact that I haven't taken a strictly-timed test since I was... well, really, I can't remember when that was, since my teachers gave me extra time since the fifth grade. So as I realized that, the staffer asked for my survey.

"Sure," I responded as I passed my quarter-finished survey, "but I think we're going to have a problem." I explained that I was partially blind, and I asked if I could possibly have some extra time.

She reacted as though I had just asked for the answers on the test -- not as though I was being malicious, but rather, that I had just asked her something completely unorthodox and unheard of. After a little stumbling and stuttering, she said that she would be outside if I needed her.

I spent about three minutes trying to read a single math problem before I picked up the test and walked outside. I spoke with the staffer for a little while, and then she turned to her boss, sitting right nearby, who offered to have a large-print version printed up the next time I came in. They were nice about it, and I apologized for not giving them the heads-up... because, hey, I didn't.

All told, they handled it pretty well, considering they clearly had never run into this issue before. That, in and of itself, does surprise me. Are there really no other partially blind people in New York who want to tutor? Have these folks never, over the course of college or high school or other jobs, encountered someone who couldn't read small print? Are there really that few of us? Or, do we (as a group) willfully avoid situations where someone might have to accomodate us? In retrospect, I've done that last one a lot.

I'll probably go back in for a more prepared interview (in that they'd be prepared for me), and we'll see whether they and I like each other enough to keep going with the process. In the meantime, I'm going to continue to recover from wisdom tooth surgery, which doesn't really care how blind I am. Ah, pain.