Letters of Recommendation

Serena from three jobs ago emailed and asked for a job recommendation. My wife commented on how odd this was "That was ten years ago. She doesn't have anyone else she can ask?"

My ego deflated I said how I felt it was nice but when I did last see Serena she was too young to rent a car and I was just a few years out from being able to.

But, I had to complete this mission, out of not just professionalism, but also lingering attachment to work friends seperat3d by decades.

The recommendation form came via email link and the blinking cursor asked me to use this space to "say anything else you would like to share about 'candidate'". This wad after a series of radial questions gaming on a 1 to 7 (yes, seven) scale where 1 was "call the police" and 7 was "exemplary" It was all sevens with a few sixes to add some acceptable variance.

Here is what I wrote, unbound by any character limits

"You need to hire Serena! If you don't then I assume you must be interviewing an honest to God superhero in the other room. I could ask her to do anything and not only would she crush it but she would find ways to do it better. Remember, we worked a hybrid job split between a warehouse and office. She could be on the phone chatting with a client and then, five minutes later, be helping unload a truck beacuse it showed up when all the dock guys are at lunch. Serena had an amazing, almost uncanny, ability to learn discovering product nuances just from vibes. Clients loved her and our interns found her an ersatz young professional guru/mom. We are lucky she has dedicated her mind, body, and soul to helping humanity beacuse she could conquer the world. If that were to happen, I hope she would spare me since I hired her in first place and wrote this letter so yall can hire her to! Best regards!"

I never learned if she got the job