What is Your Hobby

“What are your hobbies?”

“eerm, I Love to play football, Tennis, Chess, Swimming, Reading, Travelling, eer......”

“Oh great, So do you think Manchester United is going to win the league this season?”

“eerm, I think Chelsea will win”

“For real?? Chelsea is not on the first 4”

“Oh, yea I was trying to be opti....”

"Okay, which country do you think is the most attractive for tourist?"

Thomas stared into the blank wall for some minutes, a lot was running through his mind, his brains calculating faster than the speed of light, trying to make sense of all the places he had been, even though the brain had so little resources to work with.

"I think the Bahamas is a great place to be" he said, nodding his head in accomplishment. “The great Island too is...”

"Where is the great Island..?" The interviewer interrupted, "I will like to go there on my next vacation, I love Islands."

"I think"....

"I see you are a man of great thoughts Mr. Thomas, is Socrates a role model of yours?"

Thomas didn't know how to react to that question, he did not know whether it was amusing or annoying, he just kept a straight face staring at the interviewer.

"Okay, tell me about one or two books that you have read and how their contents can be applied to the position you seek in this organization.?"

"Okay let me start with the 48 Laws of Power, ....."

"48 Laws of Power?" the Interviewer interrupted his thoughts again

"Yes" Thomas retorted, he was beginning to feel anger build on slowly and conveyed through his voice.

"Mr. Thomas you are applying for the role of Marketing Manager, do you honestly think applying the laws in a book teaching you how to exercise power over humans work in your office?"

"Sir with Due respect..., Sorry, I mean...."

Thomas paused for some seconds, trying to exercise the breathing therapy for nerve calming, he watched in half consciousness as the interviewer and his colleague’s stare at him calmly and sternly.

He knew he had messed up, and was trying to create a redemption chance for himself.

He knows he needs this job, its a big hit for him and would be a great win if he gets it. how could he slip or let an interviewer goad him into losing his temper? This is not the first interview, neither is it the hardest or strictest.

But then he realized, the questions he has been asked so far has nothing to do with professionalism or anything relating to the job he is applying for, but rather he is even getting upset as a result of questions coming from simple everyday discussions and activities, at least according to the hobbies he had listed, yea his hobbies.

That was the problem, my hobbies.

"Are they really my hobbies?"

"Of course they are" He answered himself.

"What is the definition of a hobby?"

"eerm, I think if I can recall well, it is the activity that one does regularly in his leisure time"

"So when last did you watch football"

"Bro I don’t even have a TV subscription that displays football channels"

"How many books have you read this year?"

"I think a couple, and some newspapers"

"Name three titles of the books you read last"

"I don’t have time for that now"

"Okay, one more question, Road or Air"

"Hey, the faster the better"

"So how do you take care of sight seeing when travelling, seeing its a leisure "

"Dude you are asking too much questions"

"Nah Bro, you are not answering any question"

Thomas knew that if this was a someone else talking he would probably have smacked him on the lips or better still walked away, but well, I bet you can not walk away from yourself.

Neither can you lie to yourself, Thomas knew all this while he has been claiming what was not the truth. He does not play football, neither does he watch those that play. Maybe as a teenager he had developed keen interest in football and had participated in some major local tournaments, but as life caught up with him, he thought he should get busy and so somehow football became a distraction till it became non-existent.

Then he went to this seminar two years ago and listened with keen interest as the motivational speaker spoke with great oratorial skill on reading and the benefit of reading, stating how he is where he is today because of the books he had read. Thomas was so convinced that he vowed to make reading his hobby, and so he went home that day spending a good amount of investments on books, both offline and online books and materials. Fast forwarding to today, he has only been able to complete the 48 Laws of Power, but that was after 6 months of reading, sometimes he had to even start afresh because he could not remember where he stopped due to extensive break in his reading practice. So far, he has tried to read some other books but have not gone past the middle chapter.

Tennis? that is another move that he self could not explain, during one of his jobs as a reporter, Thomas had to watch some top class Tennis star play, and so had fallen in love with the game or so he thought, and so the next day after the job was completed, he went to register in a Tennis club, till today he never renewed it.

Chess??? oh let’s not get started on that, Thomas had almost gotten in a fight because he lost to an Amateur titled player. The pain was not so much about the loss, it was the fact that Thomas refused to resign, even when he knew that he has completely lost, and so his opponent decided to play along with him and went on to crown 4 queens before checkmating him slowly. Since then Thomas has been so angry at chess and chess players.

Swimming, oh Thomas loves to swim, but even as an adult swimmer he cannot go deep into water, he can only stay on the shallow part and this is as a result of his fear for water, and maybe if he had taken it seriously as a hobby, he perhaps would have overcome his Aquaphobia.

Travelling??? oh this is one laughable topic for Thomas, the only places he had been is from home to work. After he got his first car, he had picked up real interest in driving, there was something fascinating about sitting on a chair and navigating a big piece of device just by pedaling and moving a round shaped tool in front of him. So even when he does not need to, Thomas would enter his car and drive off to some unknown pre-planned location.

Next, Thomas started considering driving to other parts of the country, he would always state to his friends about how he is going to drive to this other state and get some good vacation. He would spend hours browsing for Tourist spots or at least nice spots in every state and spend the next hour drawing routes and planning itineraries. Well guess what? Thomas never visited any other states except the one he is, at least not after he had bought his car, but as you can imagine, this only happened the first 3 months of getting his new car.

Welcome back to the interview room, well I don’t know the end of the story, I just know that I cannot help to wonder and hope that Thomas got the job.