The Battle with Stubble

The other day, I went to the ophthalmologist for a follow-up on my retinal detachment, and as expected, it was crowded. All twenty or so seats in the waiting room were taken, and there were even a few people standing.
Among those standing was a middle-aged man with long hair tied back. He looked to be about my age, or perhaps a little older. I know it's none of my business, but he looked rather unkempt. I convinced myself that it must be his hairstyle.
I was a long-haired heavy metal fan in my student days, but I'm sure I didn't look that unkempt. Of course, that's just what I think about myself; to others, I must have looked just as unkempt.

In general, back then, I had a lot of trouble finding part-time work because of my hair.
At the time, convenience stores and video rental shops were the only places that would accept that kind of look, but even they turned me down, so perhaps there was some other major problem besides my hairstyle.

One time, Kidera invited me to go to a job interview with him.
The interviewer didn't seem to expect two unkempt, long-haired guys to show up, and ignoring his own stubble, he threw extremely rude questions at us, like, "Did you really think you'd get hired?" and "Neither of you has ever done any creative work, have you?" I started to feel sick, so I gave some vague answers and finished it as quickly as I could.

In the end, only Kidera was hired.
Since we were both equally unkempt, I didn't feel great about it, but when I thought about how unpleasant it would be to work for that guy with the stubble, I somehow felt resigned.

"So, what was the job anyway?"
"You went to the interview without knowing?"
"Well, you didn't tell me, did you?"
"I suppose that's true, but..."

According to Kidera, it was telephone solicitation for an English conversation course. I realized then that there was no way I would have been hired in the first place.