I arrived at Dr. Mundy’s office at 11:50 for our noon interview. He had not arrived yet.
While I waited I read a few articles and posters on his door. He is a fan of The Onion, as am I. He also is a supporter of LGBT rights and equality. As shown by the bright posters on his door.
I took a seat outside the office. When Mundy arrived he rushed right past me and into his office.
As I entered his office shortly after he had already begun working.
Was very friendly in his greeting. I quickly took of all my layers and we spoke about the cold weather outside.
I asked if it was okay if I used my laptop, but immediately recanted that statement because I needed it to conduct the interview. Mundy kindly laughed.
When I asked him about school his blue bright blue eyes lite up. His eyes matched the Carolina blue dress shirt/sweater combination he wore. It was clear he was a snappy dresser.
As he talked about his time at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill I noticed the three, framed degrees on the wall to his right, all from UNC.
He also had various, minimalistic pieces of art on his wall. A piece of printed pop art, framed, to the left of his desk.
The entire environment was organized. Not many items on his desk, a filing cabinet clearly labeled behind him, a virtually empty table, and a neatly displayed bookshelf.
When he spoke his answers were long winded and he talked extremely fast. At one pointed he was speaking so quickly that the word memorable came out as “memeral.”
At one point we discussed a particularly stressful experience he had while he worked in PR. He was giving a speech about the 2,000 layoffs Nortel would be seeing, but he ended up rambling. He said, “I’m sure you’ve noticed that I ramble,” as an aside. In the situation he rambled so much that it ended up backfiring as coming off as impersonal.
After that story a co-worker interrupted us. She was wearing gym clothes. She dropped off four boxes of Girl Scout cookies. The two joked about the gym together.
Dr. Mundy mentioned that while he was in school he desired to live in a big city, like most young people do, but after years spent in Atlanta, he found himself burnt out from the lifestyle. He continued on to say that he would rather work in a mid-size city like Winston Salem.
Dr. Mundy occasionally fiddled with the left sleeve of his shirt where it was rolled up at his elbow.
We talked about how he loved working at Coke. Dr. Mundy spoke on the fact that they had one of the largest privately owned art collections and that occasionally employees could take some of the art. At this he lit up and gave a genuine look.
When he talked about his typical workday when working for Nortel, he put his head in his hand and leaned toward me onto his desk.
As he spoke he used his hands often. He sometimes pointed to the desk with his fingers to exaggerate a point.
Dr. Mundy also moved from question to question rather than feeding into conversational cues. He gave off a sense of urgency and focus, yet he did not lack a genuine attitude.
Reactions
I observed that Dr. Mundy was humorous, but was also very interested in academia and spreading his love of learning to others.
Dr. Mundy is very passionate about his interests and he wants to show others what his passions mean to him.
Dr. Mundy’s punctuality suggests his former experience in business. It is likely that he is used to having many scheduled meetings an appointments and was held to high standards.
It also seems that Dr. Mundy was used to moving in a fast paced environment, moving from one task to another to ensure efficiency. He hold himself accountable wants to produce quality work.
Dr. Mundy’s immediate inviting attitude gave light to years of interacting with others and understanding how to communicate effectively and personally.
The way Dr. Mundy spoke about his experience at The University of North Carolina further supports his passion in certain