Since my family were not going to be helpful about my taking a cooking job, I decided I would look for one all by myself and not to tell them about it till I'd got a permanent one. I had seen an agency advertised in a local paper, so as soon as there was no one about to say "Where are you going?" I rushed out of the house in search of it. I was wildly excited, and as nervous as if I were going on the stage. Finding the place quite easily, I tore up three flights of stairs, and swung breathlessly through a door which said "Enter without knocking, if you please." The simple atmosphere of the office calmed me, and I sat down on the edge of a chair. The woman at the desk opposite looked carefully at me. Then she questioned me in a low voice. I answered softly and started to feel helpless. She wondered why I was looking for this sort of job, so I felt I had to give her the idea of a widowed mother struggling against poverty. But I felt more helpless when she told me that it would be difficult to get a job without experience or references. Suddenly, the telephone on her desk rang. While having a mysterious conversation, she kept looking at me. Then I heard her say: "In fact, I've got someone here who might suit." She wrote down a number, and my spirits rose as she held out the paper to me, saying: "Ring up this lady. She wants a cook immediately. Cook a dinner for ten people tomorrow. Could you manage that, I wonder?" "Oh, yes," say I--never having cooked for more than four. Then I rushed out and called the lady, Miss Cathy. I said confidently that I was just what she was looking for. "Are you sure?" she kept saying. Anyway she decided to employ me and a permanent position if I carried out the promise of my self-praise. I asked her what tomorrow's menu was to be. "Just a small, simple dinner: lobster cocktail, soup, turbot Mornay, fruit salad and a savory." In a rather shaken voice I promised to turn up in good time tomorrow and rang off. Why didn't the woman give the author the job at first?
Because the woman found that the author didn't respect her. Because the woman realized that the author made up a story. Because the author hadn't been a cook before or got a reference. Because the woman had already hired a more suitable cook.