Curse of the ASSISTANT position!

I had an interview yesterday with a production attorney who was specifically seeking someone who wanted an entry way into the production arena and not a "career assistant."
I walked in and YEP it happened. He and his assistant gave me THAT look, "oh, you're BLACK" look. I smiled and prayed to God to hold my tongue. The interview started.

He said "I am seeking an entry-level assistant who will be able to write contracts and know what I'm thinking before asking what to do. "

I'm still smiling. I pause before I spoke. My response, "so you're seeking a paralegal, law student or JD?"

His response "I would NEVER insult the intelligence of anyone with a MBA or JD to come in and be my assistant! Plus they would leave me once a better paying job came along." Hmmm, I thought to myself, "why did he call me in?"

I smiled again. At this point he must have thought I was on some happy drug. I paused again and then said with style, grace and cucumber cool, "I have a MASTERS DEGREE." He said, "Oh?" He looks down at my resume again. "I see it's from BOSTON UNIVERSITY. What is CRIMINAL JUSTICE? (A beat) I see you have a lot of assistant work, I'm not looking for a career assistant. I also see you have a lot of temp work, why have you NOT found a perfect fit?" And before I could respond, "the last temp we had was homely and missing a tooth."

My response:
Do you not find me attractive? (He smiled). I am sorry my resume has led you to believe I am a CAREER ASSISTANT. While it is unfortunate, I have been laid off a few times and with that I have had to start from the bottom and work my way to the top more times that I would like admit. With regard to my masters in Criminal Justice, it is indeed a "legitimate" degree. I was an honor student and recruited out of class to teach the masters coming up behind me.

Once he was able to close his mouth, he opened it again and said "well, do you have anymore questions for me?"

My response, "not at this time. Thank you for meeting with me."

The thank you card went out this morning "thank you for the enlightening and eye-opening interview."

Today I have removed all traces of ASSISTANT work on my resume and placed my EDUCATION at the top. I'm also going to ADD my picture so they know I am BLACK! I guess I am NEVER going to get a job now!!!

Happy Times!

Stewie