Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Bad Hair Day

15/01/2007
It will not be a bad day. It will not be a bad day. It will not be a bad day. It will not be a bad day. It will not be a bad day. It will not be a bad day..............
It will not be... ZELCH!!!

Oh. Shit!
I think I've just got my hair winded up in the fan of the hairdryer. And I've just burned my hair in the hairdryer. I think I smell something burning. My poor hair...
I looked into the mirror again while stroking my hair with my fingers.
My poor hair.. my poor- OH MY F7-letters GOSH!!!
That stupiG hairdryer fan cut off my hair in the midrange. I looked in the mirror, I taw I taw a puddy tat, I mimicked. My hair looks just like Tweety Bird's! A bunch of hair stood out in the middle of nowhere, half cut!

I tried to think of what to do. What do people always do when they have a bad hair day?? I can call my Mom, I think. Then again,
1) I spoilt her hairdryer with my hair
2) Her hairdryer will smell of my burnt hair
3) Why the hell I use her hairdryer in the first place?!

Darn! Damn Darn! I purposely woke up quite early, do a little revision on Jobstreet, just trying not to be late for everything. And this happened! Think, Z, think!
I went back to my room, took a scissors, and cut off the little kinky shabby streak of hair. I put lots and lots of hair serum and leave-on conditioner on the area, combing and managing it so that the half dwindled hair would not show up. I kept my fingers crossed the whole way to KL in the bus.

Upon reaching, I did SMS my 2 Bratty Sisters. They offered to accompany me to my interview as I am not so sure about the roads over there. My, my, they did touched my heart a bit. So at the moment, I'll be calling them my 2 Angelic Sisters, for the time being. I made a mental promise to myself to accompany my 2 little sisters to their first interview too after their graduation. But the previous night, I did called up TianHao asking him whether did he know where Wisma UOA II was. As usual, he did not disappoint me with the directions. In fact, he gave me an excellent bearings!

---> Arrived at Pudu Terminal, walk over to Plaza Rakyat. Take a Star LRT to Hang Tuah, next to Berjaya Times Square, get down and transmute to Monorail and stopped at Raja Chulan. Get you get off the station, cross the road towards Wisma Genting, walk a short walk on the right side of the building for a few meters, turn left, and you'll see Wisma Cosway behind it. Then turn right after Wisma Cosway, and Wisma UOA 2 is just sandwiched between Novotel and KLCC. <---

We walked into the building at about 4.30pm. I'm still early for my interview. We looked around the building and try to make sure that Jobstreet is at Level 29 of the said address. WE looked and looked, but we couldn't find the name of Jobstreet! My sisters beginning to ask me whether did I get the wrong address? I hope so not and I asked my sisters to look for all the companies at Level 29... and we found... JobsDB... J.O.B.S.D.B!!

Holy shit! JobsDB.com!!!

No wonder we couldn't find any Jobstreets in the list. I am not suppose to be interviewed by Jobstreet, but it's actually JobsDB! Oh my.. I panicked! Left half an hour to go.. How am I suppose to do my company research in such a short time? And with no internet!! There isn't an internet cafe anywhere nearby! I quickly dialled for my Mom asking her to search about JobsDB for me, and have her to call me back later. But 'later' is what I can't wait. I called Oliver next. I know he'll be sitting right in front of his company's PC ranting on his boredom, so I'm gonna give him something "challenging & exciting" things to do! (Hehe, sorry to break your secret out Ollie) Oliver is a good help, he surfed all the relevant information to me, even read over the phone. I scribbled in my notebook as quick as possible while sinking in all the "important" and about-to-be-questioned questions. 10 more minutes to go. I thanked Oliver and head up to Level 29. It feels like the lift is going downwards instead of upwards, you know.

And by the time I realised, I was already inside their office, at the receptionist counter filling up some forms. All their workers walked pass by. All so young. About my age. I haven't seen any of their staffs over the age of 30! Except the receptionist of a Makcik at the age of 40, but with excellent English. I mean, she dresses like a Makcik when all other of her colleagues we dressed modernly. But think twice when u hear her speak her English. Not bad at all. While I was filling up the application form which is 5 pages long (darn it!), asking each and every questions in details, my Mom called me to report what she had found out about the company. I listened to her while writing. I'm so much of a multitasker! Hahaha... She called Mr. Mickson for me, and he said 5 minutes. Waiting... waiting... 10minutes... waiting... 15 minutes. I stood and the Makcik saw me, she smiled to me and nodded me a "wait-for-a-moment". I sit back. I heard her saying on the phone, "Mickson, she's already waiting for like 20 minutes when you said 5 minutes! (Pause nod nod pause nod) OK, I'll bring her in now." To me, "Come, follow me dear." Wow, she called me 'dear'.. Aww.. I'm beginning to like that sweet Makcik.

My first interview starts with an introductory of myself, and my past-working histories, how do I get to know JobsDB, why did I apply for the job, who is their competitors? I thanked Mom to provide me the information that this company is actually Hong Kong based and it's a leading recruitment agency in Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippines, and other Asia Pacific countries, but not in Malaysia. Now who would have know that? Most people only knows about Jobstreet. And finally, the great news was..

Mickson: Now tell me, Joleen (I called him to call me that, my real name is too Chinese-y), if you were selected to work here, are you willing to work in KL?
Me: Yes. I do not come here all the way from Penang on a short notice if I weren't serious. (I was bullshitting actually, but I wasn't going to blow up my opportunity here.)
Mickson: Then I will not go around the bush. I am a straightforward person. And I prefer my sub-ordinates to be one too...
Me: (Hell, cut the bullshit!) ............. uh-huh.............. (smiling sweetly)
Mickson: I am offering you a job here. I'm giving you a basic salary of 1.5k
Me: .............. (I think my face just drooped. Or was it my lips? Or my mouth?)
Mickson: BUT we will be giving you a commission, and there will be an increment in salary after your probation. Is that good enough?
Me: Well, Mr. Mickson.. I don't know what to say. I'm still stunned (Hell, I am stunned. Aren't the market price for KL level ranged from 1.6-1.8k??)
Mickson: From your resume, I can see that you don't have enough experience. (Is he a mind-reader? A psychic power, perhaps?) In fact, you don't have any formal experience at all!
Me: (The sharp knife felt painful) ......... Well, when I am in your company, formally, I will have the "formal" experience that you said.
Mickson: Right. So when can you give me your answer?
Me: Well... for starters I have to inform my Dad-
Mickson: How many days you need?
Me: Can you give me about 1 week?
Mickson: Too long. (Scribble scribble something at my resume)
Me: 5 days then.
Mickson: Too lo-
Me: 3 days!
Mickson: (He looked bored with the bargaining, I think) I'll tell you what. I'll give you 3 days.. and you give me your answer on the 17th.
Me: (Hell Hell Hell!!! Stupid Mickson, today's already the 15th evening. 17th is just 2 days away, not 3!!!) Ok, Mr.Mickson.
Mickson: Ok, do you have any other questions for me?
Me: Yes, about staffs...
Mickson: Oh, about them. We have... blah.. blah... blah... Are you clear?
Me: Crystal! Oh and one more thing, do you have any idea where is the nearest apartments or room-to-rents that you know?
Mickson: There is. Nearby KLCC too. But it's quite an high-end area. (You just offered me only 1.5k, you think I can afford that?? Damn you!) Don't worry, most of the staff here are also renting rooms at other places, they travel by LRT to work everyday, you know.
Me: (Keep smiling, Z, show happiness of being offered a job) Yeah.. I know. I mean, Oh, I SEE. I noticed too, that most of your staff here are so young!
Mickson: Oh ya, they're like about your age. Mostly fresh graduates like you too. Average of their age is in the early twenties. Then oldest is only 25-26 yrs. And we have about 90% female staff in my department! (All smiles up from him... yucks!) There's another new male staff, he's quite new too. Been here for about 2 months only!
Me: Wow, he must be the thorn among the roses (I was trying to be sarcastic, but I think it didn't work)
Mickson: Hahaha... So, I hope to hear good news from you, Joleen. (Handshake.. handshake..)
Me: Sure, me too. (Handshake... handshake...)

I whooped straight out of their office and into Berjaya Times Square for dinner with my Lovely Sisters along, asking my impatiently, how was it? I told them the good news, and they are happy for me. My Cute Sisters was so happy that they even urged me to call our parents to tell them the good news on the spot! I'm so proud to have my Supportive Sisters!!! "Muax! Muax!" to both of you! Later I have to go back to Pudu Terminal to get my butt back on the bus, back to Penang.

When good things must come to an end.

The bus to Butterworth I am suppose to take at 8.35pm was late. Very late. I was there at 8.20pm, and it was 9.10pm the bus haven't arrive. I asked around, and one Chinese lady told me that the bus had already gone! I was like WHAT??!! I didn't even hear they were calling and I was there for more than half an hour already. I went back to the bus counter to demand an explanation.
The reply from them was like an ignorance and non-chalant, "Bas tersangkut lah! You tunggu sebentar lah!!"
I showed my angry, oily, tired face to them, "I sudah tunggu lebih dari setengah jam. Masuk 1 jam dah nih, You nak suruh I tunggu lagi? Yang nih ada bas ke tidak? Atau you orang nak tipu kot!"
Then, "Tak Kak... Tak tipu... Bas kena accident tadi... Masa on the way ke KL."
Put on a better sarcastic feature, "Lar.. cakaplah awal-awal. Macam nih susah kah? Kalau bas rosak, cakaplah bas rosak. Tak payah semua customer you duk tunggu kat bawah susah-susah. You orang kat sini ada air-cond. Kita kat bawah kena hidu gas busuk pulak!"
"Sorry ye Kak... Maih, I tulis bas ganti kat tiket Kak, ok?"
Handing the ticket to them, "Nah, tulislah. Baik jangan duk bas rosak lagi! Harap bas tu betul-betul datang. Kalau tidak..."
"Sorry ye Kak.. Memang kami sorry. Sekejap lagi bas akan datang. Bas kami banyak."
"Kalau memang banyak, tak payahlah I duk tunggu 1 jam kat bawah tanpa notis" With that, I walked away, feeling oh-so-satisfied!

The bus did come after 10.15pm and took off from KL at 10.30pm. I reached home at about 3am dawn! I have an interview at 10.30am the day after, and I am suppose to wake up at 8am & drive out at 9am, to avoid the traffic jams in Georgetown!
Hope I can make it!!!

But... YAAAAWN~~~!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Interesting to know.