Woke up early today to try my luck for a chance in working with the prestigious Singapore Airlines as a cabin crew.
If not for the fact that my current job sucks big time and with the kind encouragement from a friend (the sister of my good friend... she is working as an air stewardess in SIA) I would never have attempted this interview.
I know that I don't have the looks needed but well-meaning friends seemed to overlook the fact that I look more like Mark Lee then Christopher Lee. I personally think that my friends might have been blinded by my GREAT personality =.= (My neighbor was more truthful. When I messaged her to tell her I am going for an air steward interview, she immediately told me that I cannot make it. Whatever else her shortcomings might be, you can always count on the very 可爱的猪头 Xuan for the truth =.= )
Despite having outbreaks of acne and deep dark eye circles from my stressful 6 days week of working (the late nights spent on non-stop Dota action are not helping also...) I decided to go for IT.
Upon reaching the very nice Sheraton Tower Hotel at around 10 am, I proceeded up to the 2nd floor where lines upon lines of mostly beautiful people are queuing up. I immediately felt out of place (I have never felt comfortable wearing a shirt and a stupid tie. A tie is one of the most impractical and stupid thing ever invented!).
Feeling very awkward, I smsed a few of my friends to try to alleviate my nervousness. Their replies were mostly encouraging, except for my very nice neighbor who keeps giving double-edged encouragement. Thanks ah, very nice neighbor! Next time you forget bring money for cab fare ah... I will laugh at you from upstairs :P
To continue with the story, it is a long wait before I can pass my registration papers to the counter staff and while waiting, I talked with the guy standing in front of me who turned out to be the younger brother of one of my colleagues =.=
So as we continued waiting and making small talks and ogling the many pretty girls around, someone came and collected our registration papers before ushering us into a big room where corporate videos were being screened. We were brought into the room in groups of 10 and those in the same group have to sit in the same row.
We waited in boredom as the videos keep repeating themselves (why can't they put some nice movie out for us to watch while we are waiting? I wanna watch Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull!). Finally, after more than 1 hour of waiting, we were brought into the interview room for the first round of interviews.
There were 2 Malay girls (who looked like they were stewardess in the SIA) interviewing us and we were given a relatively simple task of introducing ourselves. The first 2 to speak gave fairly standard introductions and the whole thing went on smoothly but it's my colleague's brother who nailed the thing.
He (my colleague's brother) stood up and greeted both the interviewers and the rest of us and then proceeded to talk about himself, his passion, where he had traveled, how he got his bronze tan and etc...
All in all, it was a damn brilliant speech with good body posture, hand gestures and stuff. It didn't help that my turn was directly after his.
Still feeling stunned from his great speech, my mind was blank as I stood up and said, " Um...Hi, Good morning to you. My name is (insert my name). I am 24 this year and I am working in (insert workplace). Well, I like travelling and that's why I am trying for SIA. That's all, thank you."
I cursed myself as I sat down. Usually I could talk a lot of crap. I have no problems doing presentations in front of a crowd and usually my presentations are well received by the audience. I don't know whether its a lack of sleep, my self consciousness (from the fact that I know I don't look good) or its just that I am not suited for this job that causes me to flunk this simple introduction. However, what I do know is that I am hungry and without having to go for the 2nd round of the interviews, I can actually go for my breakfast and lunch now.
When the results came out, only 2 out of the 10 of us made it passed the first round. Naturally, I was not among the 2 but my colleague's brother was. After we congratulated those 2 whom have passed, I left the hotel and headed for home a bit dejected. That's one job struck off from my list of dream jobs (I will talk about my list some other day...)
Nevertheless, I've still got more than a year left in my current bond and this means I've still got plenty of time to look for that elusive dream job. Yeah, I planned to change job the moment I've landed any job in my dream jobs list and God (I know, I know, I am an atheist who should be promoting free thought, but if there really is a God up there... Any God will do...) please let me strike Toto so that I can pay off the 10k++ left in my bond and still have money left over to fool around.
Haiz... Life sux...
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
The Two Paper Clips
I just re-affirmed one thing about myself today.
I am either:
a) A very gullible idiot.
or
b) An exceedingly kindhearted person.
As this is MY blog and I do have an obligation to put myself in the best possible light, I have to say option b.
I was on my way home from a long hot sticky and damn tiring day of work when I was approached by this teenager who was holding a cardboard clipped full of paper clips.
As this teenager is a guy and not some cute looking girl, I put on my most 'dao' expression and decided to act like I was in a hurry and just walk away.
However, before I could walk away, the teenager had began his sales pitch.
Teenager : "Hi there, I was wondering whether I could take up a moment of your time?"
Being a very nice and well mannered guy, I found myself replying against my own accord.
Me: "Ok sure... So what is this about?"
Teenager: "Would you be more comfortable speaking in english or mandarin?"
Me: "Either would be fine...?"
Teenager: "So are you local?"
Me: "Yah...?"
Teenager: "Oh ok, its just that you have this American accent when you talk..."
Wow, my English pronunciation has always been bad and this is the first time that someone mistook my bad English for an American accent. Either that or this teenager is using a standard compliment for every potential customer he meets...
Teenager: "So where are you studying right now?"
Me: "I am actually working right now..."
Teenager: "Oh... its just that you look very young..."
Hm... that would be two compliments in a span of maybe four sentences. I am flattered despite knowing that it is a standard sales pitch and felt obliged to continue listening to what he has to say.
Teenager: "Well, actually I am from this entrepreneur school and me and my classmates have to pass this graduation project which is to grow our $1 capital into $100 in 3 hours time..."
The teenager then points to a couple of his classmates who are in the area, one of them whom was accosting a rather pretty office lady.
My attention was immediately diverted by the pretty office lady as the teenager continues yada-ing.
Teenager pointing to his cardboard full of paper clips: "So if possible, can you help us buy some paper clips for whatever amount you are willing to pay? Our deadline to get the $100 is at 9pm..."
The mention of his project deadline brought my memories back to my polytechnic days when I was desperately trying to meet the deadline for my final year project. We had been given a total of 6 months for our project. I had procrastinated until the last week to do it and the days of sleepless nights trying (albeit futilely) to complete the project had seemed like hell to me...
I could totally emphasize with anyone who is trying his best to meet a deadline. Thus, I generously pulled out a ten dollars note.
Me: "So how many paper clips would $10 get me?"
Teenager holding out the cardboard to let me choose the paper clips : "As many as you like... but please don't take all of them."
After applying my astounding mathematical skills to calculate the worth of those paper clips (factoring in the cost price, inflation, effort, etc....) I happily took these 2 paper clips.
(Due to the misplacement of my phone's cable, the pictures of the paper clips cannot be shown)
Teenager: " Wow! Thanks!"
Me, before walking off: "Naw... Good luck in your graduation project!"
For some reason, this reminded me of an incident a few years back where I had just drawn $20 from the ATM and this old lady approached me asking for some money while stating that she had no money to go home. As she looked really old and pitiful, I gave her all the money I had drawn and watched her walked off happily...
I am either:
a) A very gullible idiot.
or
b) An exceedingly kindhearted person.
As this is MY blog and I do have an obligation to put myself in the best possible light, I have to say option b.
I was on my way home from a long hot sticky and damn tiring day of work when I was approached by this teenager who was holding a cardboard clipped full of paper clips.
As this teenager is a guy and not some cute looking girl, I put on my most 'dao' expression and decided to act like I was in a hurry and just walk away.
However, before I could walk away, the teenager had began his sales pitch.
Teenager : "Hi there, I was wondering whether I could take up a moment of your time?"
Being a very nice and well mannered guy, I found myself replying against my own accord.
Me: "Ok sure... So what is this about?"
Teenager: "Would you be more comfortable speaking in english or mandarin?"
Me: "Either would be fine...?"
Teenager: "So are you local?"
Me: "Yah...?"
Teenager: "Oh ok, its just that you have this American accent when you talk..."
Wow, my English pronunciation has always been bad and this is the first time that someone mistook my bad English for an American accent. Either that or this teenager is using a standard compliment for every potential customer he meets...
Teenager: "So where are you studying right now?"
Me: "I am actually working right now..."
Teenager: "Oh... its just that you look very young..."
Hm... that would be two compliments in a span of maybe four sentences. I am flattered despite knowing that it is a standard sales pitch and felt obliged to continue listening to what he has to say.
Teenager: "Well, actually I am from this entrepreneur school and me and my classmates have to pass this graduation project which is to grow our $1 capital into $100 in 3 hours time..."
The teenager then points to a couple of his classmates who are in the area, one of them whom was accosting a rather pretty office lady.
My attention was immediately diverted by the pretty office lady as the teenager continues yada-ing.
Teenager pointing to his cardboard full of paper clips: "So if possible, can you help us buy some paper clips for whatever amount you are willing to pay? Our deadline to get the $100 is at 9pm..."
The mention of his project deadline brought my memories back to my polytechnic days when I was desperately trying to meet the deadline for my final year project. We had been given a total of 6 months for our project. I had procrastinated until the last week to do it and the days of sleepless nights trying (albeit futilely) to complete the project had seemed like hell to me...
I could totally emphasize with anyone who is trying his best to meet a deadline. Thus, I generously pulled out a ten dollars note.
Me: "So how many paper clips would $10 get me?"
Teenager holding out the cardboard to let me choose the paper clips : "As many as you like... but please don't take all of them."
After applying my astounding mathematical skills to calculate the worth of those paper clips (factoring in the cost price, inflation, effort, etc....) I happily took these 2 paper clips.
(Due to the misplacement of my phone's cable, the pictures of the paper clips cannot be shown)
Teenager: " Wow! Thanks!"
Me, before walking off: "Naw... Good luck in your graduation project!"
For some reason, this reminded me of an incident a few years back where I had just drawn $20 from the ATM and this old lady approached me asking for some money while stating that she had no money to go home. As she looked really old and pitiful, I gave her all the money I had drawn and watched her walked off happily...
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Weird Day...
Today has been a weird day. And when I say weird, I meant the kind of weird that leans more towards being shitty. In fact it leaned so much towards shitty that it's more like a shitty day that leans towards being weird.
Yeah, I know I am not making much sense and yeah, I know I am full of shit, but today has been a really shitty day. And when I say shitty, I really meant it. Literally.
For those of you who are curious about the shit I am talking about... here is the gist of the story.
I was taking the train to Queenstown to work today. Yeah, I know some of you might be wondering about what is so strange with taking the train to work when thousands of other people are taking the train everyday for reasons as simple as being poor or as obscure as being a freaking green peace member who is obsessed with saving the environment. However, what is weird is not my train journey but what I saw while the train was moving from Bukit Batok towards Jurong East.
People who take the train regularly will know that the journey can be awfully boring, especially when it's like the 321241th time that you are taking that particular train at that particular timing everyday. This is especially so when there are no cute girls on the train.
So what happened is that I was looking out of the window at those nice nice stretch of grasslands underneath the mrt tracks when I saw this middle age man squatting under one of the mrt track.
Now, this in itself is already very weird as the place where he is squatting, is in the middle of exactly nowhere. Thus, out of curiosity, I strained my eyes to get a better look. The man was squatting with his trousers down, butt facing in my direction. At that exact moment when my eyes focused and gained perfect clarity on him(Yeah, my eyes are like camera lenses... it takes time for them to focus), I saw a string of slimy looking brownish stuff coming out from his butt. I curse my Lasik given good eyesight =.=
If this is the only thing that happened today, I would have shrugged it off and not bother to blog about it for I am a very lazy, um... I mean laidback person. After getting off at Queenstown, I went directly to the toilet inside the mrt as I have a urgent need to pee. While peeing in the very empty toilet, this weird guy suddenly came in and proceeded to pee at the latrine that was nearest to me.
Those of you who are guys will know that straight guys absolutely do not pee directly next to each other if they have a choice. This guy reminds me of the gay I knew in my training school and as if this is not enough to creep me out, that guy actually grinned at me while I was washing my hands. Being a paranoid kind of person, I decided to let him leave the toilet first before leaving myself to ensure that I am not being followed by him.
After leaving the toilet, I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that weird fucker heading towards the opposite stairway from where I was heading. And so, after getting down from my side of the stairway, I headed over to the Kopitiam where I usually have my lunch. This was when I saw the weird fucker walked past me.
At this moment, I was rather alarmed and thoughts like, "How the fuck did this fucker get here", "Is this Fucker stalking me?", "Fuck, is this fucker from the CPIB? But I never did anything?!", "Damn, I hope I remember what I've learnt in my combat training so I can wack this fucker upside down" were running inside my head.
However, the weird guy just walk past me and disappeared somewhere out of sight. Feeling stupid and a little bit gu niang, I went on to have my lunch. I was running abit late after my lunch and as I was walking towards my workplace, the weird fucker appeared again out of nowhere in front of me. Fuck! Is this guy a ninja or what?
The weird fucker then approached me and introduced himself. Fuck! He is really stalking me!
Basically, this is what I recalled from the conversation...
Weird Fucker (From now on he will be known as WF) : "Hi, I am Lee... Can we exchange numbers?"
Well, if its a girl asking for my number... I will give it without a second thought... However, as this is a potentially gay fucker, I answered very coolly in a 'dao' manner.
Me: "No thanks, I would rather not."
WF: "Oh well... Do you stay around here?"
Me:"No, but I work here in -Confidential Info-"
WF:"Oh well, I am actually running a business in Well Being... yada yada yada (I've forgotten what he said)"
Me:"Huh? Well Being? What is that about?"
WF:"Well, basically our customers are young ladies who are interested to maintain a healthy and slim body and to increase their bust lines"
Basically I have no idea what he is talking about...
ME: " Uh huh...?"
WF:"So we are looking for young people like you to help us promote the business and yada yada.... "
I've forgotten most of what he said except the important key words such as young ladies, slim body and bust lines. And so, as it sounds like an interesting business, I took down his number and promised to call when I am free.
However, after some serious consideration, I've come to the conclusion that this is either:
1) A scam that targets innocent looking guys like me and probably involves me parting with a substantial sum of my money.
2) This guy is a gay fuck.
And thus decide against calling the WF.
And to top off this splendid day... I waited for 1.5 hours for my younger sister so that we can have dinner today. Damn... I am such a nice brother.
Yeah, I know I am not making much sense and yeah, I know I am full of shit, but today has been a really shitty day. And when I say shitty, I really meant it. Literally.
For those of you who are curious about the shit I am talking about... here is the gist of the story.
I was taking the train to Queenstown to work today. Yeah, I know some of you might be wondering about what is so strange with taking the train to work when thousands of other people are taking the train everyday for reasons as simple as being poor or as obscure as being a freaking green peace member who is obsessed with saving the environment. However, what is weird is not my train journey but what I saw while the train was moving from Bukit Batok towards Jurong East.
People who take the train regularly will know that the journey can be awfully boring, especially when it's like the 321241th time that you are taking that particular train at that particular timing everyday. This is especially so when there are no cute girls on the train.
So what happened is that I was looking out of the window at those nice nice stretch of grasslands underneath the mrt tracks when I saw this middle age man squatting under one of the mrt track.
Now, this in itself is already very weird as the place where he is squatting, is in the middle of exactly nowhere. Thus, out of curiosity, I strained my eyes to get a better look. The man was squatting with his trousers down, butt facing in my direction. At that exact moment when my eyes focused and gained perfect clarity on him(Yeah, my eyes are like camera lenses... it takes time for them to focus), I saw a string of slimy looking brownish stuff coming out from his butt. I curse my Lasik given good eyesight =.=
If this is the only thing that happened today, I would have shrugged it off and not bother to blog about it for I am a very lazy, um... I mean laidback person. After getting off at Queenstown, I went directly to the toilet inside the mrt as I have a urgent need to pee. While peeing in the very empty toilet, this weird guy suddenly came in and proceeded to pee at the latrine that was nearest to me.
Those of you who are guys will know that straight guys absolutely do not pee directly next to each other if they have a choice. This guy reminds me of the gay I knew in my training school and as if this is not enough to creep me out, that guy actually grinned at me while I was washing my hands. Being a paranoid kind of person, I decided to let him leave the toilet first before leaving myself to ensure that I am not being followed by him.
After leaving the toilet, I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that weird fucker heading towards the opposite stairway from where I was heading. And so, after getting down from my side of the stairway, I headed over to the Kopitiam where I usually have my lunch. This was when I saw the weird fucker walked past me.
At this moment, I was rather alarmed and thoughts like, "How the fuck did this fucker get here", "Is this Fucker stalking me?", "Fuck, is this fucker from the CPIB? But I never did anything?!", "Damn, I hope I remember what I've learnt in my combat training so I can wack this fucker upside down" were running inside my head.
However, the weird guy just walk past me and disappeared somewhere out of sight. Feeling stupid and a little bit gu niang, I went on to have my lunch. I was running abit late after my lunch and as I was walking towards my workplace, the weird fucker appeared again out of nowhere in front of me. Fuck! Is this guy a ninja or what?
The weird fucker then approached me and introduced himself. Fuck! He is really stalking me!
Basically, this is what I recalled from the conversation...
Weird Fucker (From now on he will be known as WF) : "Hi, I am Lee... Can we exchange numbers?"
Well, if its a girl asking for my number... I will give it without a second thought... However, as this is a potentially gay fucker, I answered very coolly in a 'dao' manner.
Me: "No thanks, I would rather not."
WF: "Oh well... Do you stay around here?"
Me:"No, but I work here in -Confidential Info-"
WF:"Oh well, I am actually running a business in Well Being... yada yada yada (I've forgotten what he said)"
Me:"Huh? Well Being? What is that about?"
WF:"Well, basically our customers are young ladies who are interested to maintain a healthy and slim body and to increase their bust lines"
Basically I have no idea what he is talking about...
ME: " Uh huh...?"
WF:"So we are looking for young people like you to help us promote the business and yada yada.... "
I've forgotten most of what he said except the important key words such as young ladies, slim body and bust lines. And so, as it sounds like an interesting business, I took down his number and promised to call when I am free.
However, after some serious consideration, I've come to the conclusion that this is either:
1) A scam that targets innocent looking guys like me and probably involves me parting with a substantial sum of my money.
2) This guy is a gay fuck.
And thus decide against calling the WF.
And to top off this splendid day... I waited for 1.5 hours for my younger sister so that we can have dinner today. Damn... I am such a nice brother.
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