Getting My Hopes Up

I got a phone call early this week that went something like this:

Me: Hello?
Guy: Hello, may I speak to Candace?
Me: This is Candace.
Guy: Hi, this is *Joe* from Arlington Public Schools. So, how's it going?
Me: Pretty good.
Guy: Great, so, umm...has anyone from here talked to you about your internship?
Me: What? No...internship?
Guy: Oh, so you haven't heard from anyone yet?
Me: Umm, no...
Guy: Oh, okay...well, it looks like we have you placed in an elementary school...I think Tuckahoe Elementary. Okay, well, we've been really swamped in placing people because we had a lot more interest this year than previously. Let me see here...I'm not sure who we have you placed with. Okay, well...I need to get more details on this. Is it okay if I call you back?
Me: Umm...sure?
Guy: Okay, well, I'll call you back when I work out the details.
Me: Okay.
Guy: Yup, bye.
Me: Bye.

So, I hung up completely weirded out. I sent Arlington my application materials way back in February or March. I didn't hear a word from them since then, so I naturally assumed that I did not have an internship with them. Why would they call me the week before school starts to let me know about an internship? Something was fishy.

The guy called me back yesterday and I asked a bunch more questions and made it clear that I thought I was applying for a paid, school psychology internship (he kept calling the internship a "counseling" internship, which also was fishy). He said, "Yes, yes...it's a counseling, or school psychology internship or whatever..." He told me that it was unpaid, however. I said that if it was unpaid, I'd have to think about whether or not I'd accept the position. He said, "Okay, why don't you call me back on Tuesday and let me know what you decide?" I told him sure, and then a little while later he called me back and told me that he had set me up with a counseling internship, not a school psych internship, "although it is clear on your application materials that school psych was what you were looking for." He said that the two school psych internships offered by Arlington had been spoken for since spring sometime. Yup...so basically some HR guy was confused and didn't know the difference between a school psychologist and a counselor. Eh, whatever...