A few months after I graduated from college, I applied for an internship at Tumblr. As someone who spent 95% of my day on the site, it really didn’t seem like there could be anywhere else better in the whole entire world to work. I wanted that internship more than anything. I also just wanted to find some freaking thing to do besides send out 40 cover letters a day so that people would stop asking me how my job search was going, you know? But that’s a different story. 

After I sent my resume and a truly heartfelt (but still fun) cover letter, I waited anxiously for three very long days before Meghan got in touch with me to ask if I’d like to meet her for coffee and talk about the position. I responded in about 3.6 nanoseconds. “Absolutely! I’m really looking forward to meeting you and finding out more about the position,” I wrote back to her, making sure to include just the right amount of exclamation points to convey my sincere enthusiasm without being Internet obnoxious. We made plans to meet and a few days later I found myself in a small coffee shop, sitting across the table from one of my favorite Tumblr bloggers, as we sipped on iced coffees and chatted about life as a Tumblr employee. Jack’s (pictured above) is not that coffee shop. But little did I know my meeting with Meghan that day would lead me to end up spending much of my free time in this quaint and cozy coffee shop on West 10th Street in Greenwich Village.

On the day of my interview, I met Meghan at the Tumblr headquarters. I rode the elevator up to the third floor of the Park Avenue building and knocked on the big double doors. A friendly young woman opened the doors and welcomed me in. “Hi, I’m Katie,” I said shaking her hand. “I’m here to meet Megan,” I smiled. “Oh, she’s right over there,” she said pointing me in Meghan’s direction. The office was a big, wide open room decorated mostly in red with lots of modern-looking furniture and desks. Even though I was mostly just really excited to be there, I was also super nervous that I would run into David Karp and say something embarrassing that would make him not want me to be one of his interns. So, I put on my side blinders and double timed it over to greet Megan who was finishing up a few emails at her desk.

“Hi! I’m Katie. It’s so nice to finally meet you,” I said as we shook hands. “Meghan. Nice to meet you too,” she smiled. “I just have to send out this last email really quickly and then we can go grab some coffee,” she said. “Sure, no problem,” I said. As I waited for her to finish up, I nonchalantly looked around the room. It was mostly empty, give or take a few computer entranced employees here and there. Mr. Karp was nowhere in sight. “Darn,” I thought to myself. A small part of me had at least wanted to catch a glimpse of the CEO in action, but I had no such luck. I didn’t sweat it, though. After all, hopefully I was going to be a new employee of his soon. I also looked for the famously known  Topherchris but he and David must have been out on Official Tumblr Business together because I didn’t see him either. 

Meghan sent her last email and we eventually made our way out of the office. I was wearing a floral print dress and I remember she told me that she liked it as we rode the elevator down to the lobby. I smiled and said thanks. I didn’t even really care that she liked my dress, the fact that she was willing to talk to me about something other than the internship eased my nerves and made me feel more like I was about to catch up with an old friend rather than attempt to desperately sell myself by reciting the whole of my past professional experience. 

We ended up going to a coffee shop that was just a few doors down. It was sort of the exact kind of coffee shop you might expect to find on Park Avenue. The entire inside was white. The walls, the floor, the furniture; it was kind of intimidating. We ordered our coffee and then sat down at a nearby table. It’s funny now to think about how badly I wanted the position because I honestly don’t remember one thing she or I said about it. What I do remember, though was Megan telling me the story of how she moved to New York City and worked at tons of odd jobs to make it by until she finally landed a spot working for David at his new startup called Tumblr. I wished all interviews would work that way because it felt so much more professional for us to sit down and get to know each other as peers, as opposed to Meghan just asking me a million unanswerable questions like what my greatest weakness is or which superpower I would choose if I could pick just one to harness.

As we finished up with our coffee, we finished our conversation and I told Meghan that it was so nice to meet her and that I really appreciated her taking the time to talk with me. She said that it was great to meet me too and that she would be in touch soon. A pretty typical ending to a not so typical interview. We left the coffee shop, waved goodbye one last time, and she made her way back up to the Tumblr offices while I walked back to Penn Station and boarded my train back to Long Island feeling confident about my chances of landing the gig. 

About four days later I heard from Meghan. I hadn’t been chosen for the internship. She wrote to explain they had picked another girl who was still in college. They felt a student was a more appropriate fit for the position since it was only part time. Obviously I was pretty upset. Plus, it sucked even more because I had a college degree and someone who hadn’t even finished theirs yet beat me for the position I had wanted more than anything. As much as I was disappointed, I wrote back to Meghan to say that I understood their decision and I thanked her again for her time. I told her I’d hoped we could keep in touch in case she knew of any other positions that I might be good for. She said that she would keep her eye out for me and keep in touch if she came across anything.

Just a few weeks later, I spotted Meghan’s name in my inbox again. She had forwarded me an email from her friends Zoe and Krista who were looking for a part time intern at their PR firm. I got in touch with them right away, met them for an interview, and long story short, I ended up working in the West Village with them. That’s where Jack’s comes into the story. I remember my first time there. It was a bitterly cold, rainy December morning. Zoe was running late with the keys to the office and Krista told me to meet her there so we could wait for her together. We sat down at a table and talked over coffee and tea until Zoe showed up with the keys. After that day, I visited Jack’s all of the time. On my lunch breaks I would go just so that I could sit on the bench outside and play with the dogs that random customers had tied up outside while they purchased their coffees. On days when my train would arrive early, I’d stop by, order a coffee, and sit down to read until it was time to go to work. Zoe and Krista loved Jack’s chocolate chip cookies and they would often send me out to pick up one for each of us when we needed a late afternoon snack. 

I specifically remember one December morning there. I was sitting at a table up against the wall, sipping on a cup of green tea while I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. With my head buried in my book, I overheard another customer say, “I always start reading the Harry Potter series at the beginning of the Holiday season because a lot of the first book takes place around Christmas and it feels so festive!” She was talking to her friend. He agreed with her and said that that was a really great idea. I smiled to myself at the thought. 

Isn’t it weird, the stupid little things that stick out in our memories? And the way we can be reminded of them instantly without any warning, as if someone had just flicked a tiny little switch you’d forgotten was in the back of your mind. This one silly little picture (taken and posted on Tumblr by David Karp) of a dog standing outside of a coffee shop takes me back through an entire series of events that would have never even happened to me if David Karp hadn’t one day decided he wanted to create Tumblr. It’s just a bunch of random coincidences, but even still, it’s pretty crazy.