Like. Whatever you gotta do. But later, he came to me and apologized, saying "I'm sorry for not shaking your hand. In my religion, I cant touch women like that and I didnt know if you were a man or a girl."

"Oh, right! Okay," I said. "I'm a guy!" And he nodded and we carried on with our day.

At the end of the day, as I was leaving and so was he, he turned to me and offered his hand to shake, saying it was nice to have gotten to work with me today and I have to tell you, as a trans guy who does not pass very well, I was pretty moved.

1. Where do you live?  If it’s an ultra-conservative area and you’re able to get out, by any means, do so.  Get to a state that’s green on this map or at least to a more liberal part of your state.

2. Have you been rejected from a lot of jobs, or are you afraid to apply?  If it’s the latter, you gotta try.  Just go in and be yourself and don’t apologize for it.  Unless things are so bad in your area that you feel physically unsafe, don’t assume you don’t have a chance without testing the waters.  There are more people than you might think willing to shrug and go “eh, as long as you do the job.”  (It’s not right, but: this may be more true for jobs “behind the scenes” than customer service work.)

3. Again, unless your physical safety is at risk: Don’t delete your social media.  Don’t try to pass as straight or as your assigned gender.  If you do that, you’ll always have a secret and always live in fear of being “caught.”  That’s something that a lot of LGBT people have had to live with over the years, but it’s awful and it should be a last resort.

4. Are there any LGBT-owned businesses or organizations that you might want to apply at?  LGB doesn’t always mean trans-friendly, but it’s a good place to start.

This is my “I’m so sick of full-day job interviews” face.

i also went on a job interview and despite not binding for it, was treated as a man the entire time. there was no hesitation in using male pronouns or my name. they also have indicated they would be happy to hire me; in fact, we met up in the parking lot and the person i interviewed with clapped me on the shoulder and told my mom, “we hope your son decides to join our practice.”