So my summer holidays started but I didnt really start looking for a job until around two weeks into my holiday. I just wanted to be lazy and chill. After I applied for a few jobs, I got an interview with this Chinese wholesale company which I thought I had an advantage at since I could speak Mandarin but it turned out that it was a shitty job with a shitty pay. So I turned it down.
Then I got a call from a semi-luxury shoe shop call Dune which I gave my CV to a few months back. I did a phone interview for a sales assistant job and they said they would call me back for an actual interview if I get through the phone interview. I didn't hear back from them until about 4 days before my trip to Italy for an interview. So I went to their store in Canary Wharf on a Monday morning. The interview went okay but they said if I do get the job, I'd have to start that coming Friday. How coincidentally, I was going to be in Rome that Friday. However, the manager was trying to be optimistic and nice, she said, that's fine, we'll call you if we still need more people to work when you get back from your trip. It was obvious that I wasn't going to get the job. And yeah, you guessed it, I never got a call back.
On that same Monday, on that morning itself, I got a call from a lady from Queen Mary's Q-Recruit department asking me about an internship I applied for a while ago. She said, unfortunately, I was unsuccessful for the position I applied for but... the charity organisation I was applying to had another position that they thought I would be interested in. So she said she would email me the details of that position and let me decide if I would like to be interviewed for it. I received the email and although it wasn't really what I wanted but I thought that I might as well give it a go! It's still a good part-time internship (although it was unpaid) BUT... she said the interviews would be carried out on that coming Wednesday. And you know, I just so coincidentally was flying to Rome on Wednesday. Really nice timing right? However, she said they could specially make time for an interview before I leave! which i thought would be great so I thanked her for calling me and letting me know about this internship and for rearranging an interview for me.
Who knew.... that when I was done with my interview at Dune and was heading to uni to print out some documents for my trip and to help my friend Laura move some of her stuff to my place, I got a phone call asking me to go for an interview that afternoon. She said, "Come anytime after 2pm." So I was like, okay would 3pm be okay? And she said yes. So I made my way to uni, which I got lost for a while because I took the wrong bus from Canary Wharf. But I made it to uni and helped my friend move some drawers, a rice cooker and a clothing's rack to my room because she's going home for the summer and needed a place to store her stuff as she was moving out of her dorm. By the time the lady who called me for an interview sent me the address of the place I was supposed to go for the interview, it was already 2pm so I texted her and said I'd only be able to make it at 3.30pm and she said okay. However, on the way to their office, there were delays on the tube. Plus I got a bit lost before finding their office. So... I was LATE, which is like the biggest mistake you could make for an interview. I apologised for being 15 minutes late.Then the interview started. And they asked very difficult questions. I studied and learnt a bit about their organisation beforehand (within those few hours between when I got the call and the interview) but I guess it just wasn't enough. So I guess that's the second biggest mistake you could make at an interview -- not knowing enough about the job you're applying for. And I just... had to make the third biggest mistake that you shouldn't make at an interview. My phone rang. It was on vibration but you know, you can still hear your phone vibrate! Can you believe that???!!!! I was so mad at myself for not turning it on silent! And it was my uncle calling me. Why in the world did he have to call me at that exact time?! How bad could his timing be?! So I had to apologise to the interviewer and another intern who was interviewing me... again. It was bad. Very very bad. I probably answered every question they asked really badly as well. ughhhh worst experience ever!!!! But at least now I have learnt from my lessons. NEVER be late. ALWAYS read up on the company/organisation/job you're applying for. ALWAYS turned your phone on silent or just turn the damn thing off. It's not like I was stupid enough to make those mistakes! I like to tell myself that I was just very unfortunate just so I dont blame myself too much for the whole thing. But you guessed it, I didn't get the internship. I received the email and feedback along with it when I was in Pisa. In the feedback, the lady mentioned that although I was very friendly, I was late for 40 MINUTES! and that showed that I would not be a responsible candidate for the position. When I read that, I was like, O___O I WAS LATE FOR 15 MINUTES!!!! But seriously, 40 minutes is a lot and I obviously wasn't that late. She also mentioned that "it's important to have good communication with the interviewers. You need to let the interviewer know if you're going to be late so that they would understand." One thing that made me even more angrier was the fact that she said that I didnt have a reasonable explanation for being late!!! There were delays on the tube! I can't control that! I know maybe I should've started my journey earlier but I didn't know the tubes would be delayed for so long! Ughhhhh I was so pissed. At them and at myself. When I got back to London and had to face the reality of life again and had to apply for jobs again, I ended up crying one night because I felt so useless for making such stupid mistakes at the interview. But then I comforted myself by telling myself that the job just wasn't meant to be mine. I didn't like it that much anyway.
Oh and there's the other creepy incident with another internship offer... that I didn't apply for. So, on the day before I left for Rome, I got a phone call by a creepy guy with a creepy Irish accent (no offense to any Irish out there, I'm just not used to it yet). He called and he knew my name and he said he got my CV from somewhere and was offering me an internship at, like, a record/music company that had bands and musicians playing at a pub in Old Street (the same place I had that interview for the other internship. Coincidence?). He kept telling me about what the whole company is all about and how great the job is, which he said that all I had to do was admin stuff and filling out grants. And he said the job was really good for putting down some good work experience in my CV. Basically, he just made the job sound interesting but I was not sure about it. Because how can you trust someone who just calls you out of the blue and says they somehow got hold of your CV with your personal details on it. When he asked me whether I was interested in the job, I didn't really have much time to think about it so I said yes. It was stupid but I thought that I shouldn't let the opportunity just pass by like that. But then... he continued talking and he said he knew another Malaysian girl and he said (not exact words), "I know a Malaysian girl named XXX and she is this small-sized girl but she can drink more than any guy I know!" And that was when I knew it wasn't a good idea. And I couldnt wait to hang up the phone. Then he asked when I was free to go for an interview. Then I said I wasn't free for the next week because I was going abroad and he asked when I was leaving, I said, tomorrow. And I wasn't kidding or trying to get out of it, I was really leaving for Rome the next day but he laughed. I dont know whether he thought I was joking. In the end, he even added me on Facebook and asked me to call him back when I get back from my trip. Of course, I didn't call him back. He totally gives me the creeps.
After those bad experiences with jobs and interviews, I left for my trip to Italy. I told myself not to worry about anything relating to jobs on my trip and to just relax and enjoy my time there. But of course, I still thought about it, and still stressed a bit about it. I kept worrying about what I was going to do for the rest of the summer. On the first day back to London, I was already all stressed up. I emailed my aunt to let her know I got back safely and she replied with an email all about "independence". What a great welcome-back gift. She said I need to start earning for my own allowances and that I need to have this huge amount of "dead money" in my bank account for emergencies. I used to have quite a nice sum of money in my bank account that I saved up from my previous salary but I had to spend it all on my trip to Italy because my uncle who was supposed to send me some money for my trip had problems with the transfer/payment process and despite me going to the bank twice and calling the bank, the problem still couldnt be resolved. And now, after so many weeks, my uncle has decided not to send me any money until he figures out what went wrong. So I'm kinda broke right now. TT_____TT So I told myself, as much as you fear applying for jobs and afraid of any more rejections, you're not going to stop worrying about what the hell you're going to do for the rest of the summer if you dont apply for any jobs. I tried looking at some internships on Queen Mary's career website. Not going to apply for any internships from other weird websites anymore after that creepy Irish man incident. But there wasnt many choices on the QM website so I just applied for some retail jobs and some waitressing jobs that didn't require any experience working in restaurants. Thankfully, two companies/restaurants got back to me. One was a pan-Asian restaurant called KIN and another was a restaurant chain called Nusu that sells healthy food in a fast-food way. Both are nice places to work at but I like the idea of working at KIN more. Asian food makes me happy. And the boss of KIN asked me on Tuesday noon whether I could go in for an interview at 5.30pm on that day itself and I was like, yes! Of course! So I got ready and went for my interview at the restaurant, which I was not late to. It was a nice and cozy restaurant and the boss was really nice and friendly. It was a waitressing job and it had very flexible hours which was what I was looking for and he said I could work full time during the summer and when my classes start in Autumn, I can reduce my working hours which is great because I dont want to need to find another job again. He said he would let me know whether I get the job this weekend or maybe even before that.
The other interview with Nusu's manager was on Wednesday morning. I met with the manager at 9.30am at a restaurant called EAT. Because they are a restaurant chain, they were more formal and had contracted hours for the position I was applying for. The position I was applying for was a 11am-3pm shift and it's a permanent role, which means I probably wont be able to continue working when my classes at uni start. So although the job was nice but I was hoping to be able to continue working even after the summer. A funny thing about the interview was that the manager's top was worn inside-out. I noticed it once I sat down across her and I told myself that I would let her know about it before I leave but when I was about to leave, I totally forgot about her top. I only rmb-ed it when I walked out of the restaurant. LOL I hope she thinks that I didn't notice it instead of not telling her. Anyways, she said she'll let me know if I get the job or not on Friday.
But guess what? I got an answer from one of them at 12.30am last night. It was from KIN! I got the job at KIN! He mentioned in his email that he decided to give me a trial week next week which scares me a bit because I might get fired next week if I dont perform well enough. Yikes. But I'm trying not to think about that and just be happy that he gave me the opportunity to prove that I can do the job well. I obviously have no experience in being a waitress but he said that I'll get full training for the job so *fingers crossed* and pray that I wont screw this up. Then I had to email the manager at Nusu to let her know that I found another job and that she could remove me from her list of applicants.
So yeah.... I got a job. And this is going to be a whole new experience. Working in a restaurant which can get quite busy at times, in (almost central) London! The restaurant is near Farringdon so it's not the nearest to where I live but not too far so it's not too bad. I cant wait to start working and start earning money!!! I have so much stuff I need to buy~~~ One (or two) of those stuff is Beast's new album! Cube had to be annoying and release two versions of the album. LOL
Besides all that serious stuff, here are some photos~
I borrowed more books from the library before I left for Italy so that I had a book to bring with me on my trip. I decided to bring Attachments' by Rainbow Rowell along with me because it was a nice size to bring around. It is an amazing book!!! I loved it so so so much. I feel like I'm going to love every one of Rainbow's books. Attachments is about a guy whose job is to read other people's emails because he needs to make sure people are actually doing their jobs in the office and not just sending personal emails around. But then there are these two ladies that keep sending personal emails to each other so this guy keeps reading their email and weirdly falls in love with one of the ladies. And this lady falls in love with this guy too, before they even talk or actually meet each other. So at the end of the book, when they finally meet each other, this lady asks the guy, "Do you believe in love at first sight?" and the guys replies with something like, "Do you believe at falling in love even before that?" And I was like, *swoons*~ I like myself a nice chick lit. I couldnt put this book down. When I was on my flight back from Pisa, we took a night flight and I was very tired by that time but I just couldnt stop reading. The only time I put it down was when we were about to land and the lights were switched off. And that's when I fell asleep. hahaha
I'm currently reading Fangirl and I've read and watched a few reviews of the book and I have a feeling it's going to be an amazing read, considering the fact that I'm a huge fangirl myself.
After I helped my friend Laura move her stuff to my room, she gave me a rice dumpling~ It was so nice of her and it tasted really nice~
So far, London's summer weather has been nice. It can be quite warm sometimes but it's okay. I can't really complain considering that Italy's weather is 10 times worst than it is here in London. I need to be thankful that I dont need to go through 30 degress celcius weather.
Yesterday, after I went for my interview, and after going to the dentist to register myself, I went over to Nia's place! I've missed her so much~ I'm the kind of person that just always needs a friend to empty all my thoughts to. So I probably didnt stop talking for almost 2 hours when we met. hahaha
I finally had to stop talking when we had to go to the park to have lunch! Nia's mum cooked some really delicious fried rice~ and we had some fruits and snacks and the weather was so nice!
We spent a few hours at the park before we headed back to her place. Then we had an early dinner at around 5 or 6pm. The food her mum made was really yummy~ It made me miss my mum's cooking....
And her mum, like any typical Asian mum, kept wanting to feed me more food hahaha and Nia told her mum and I never reject food hahahaha which is true. kekekeke
After dinner, we decided to play Monopoly. Nia's flatmate joined us in the game as well.
Nia won in the end! I was thinking that I might just be too old for the game hahaha
Nia's mum also gave me some fried onions! Which is something I used to not love but now I love it so much I want to add it into everything I eat. Well, not everything. Definitely not pasta. but hmmm.... it might go well tgt. hahahaha
and she gave me some food to take away as well~ which I had for dinner just now!
I can say that I love Vietnamese food now~
Look at this goodness~ Mihun topped with vege, onions, pork, peanuts and fried onions. and some home made soup/sauce~ yum yum in my tum~~~
That's all for now! It's almost 3am and I need sleep~ been sitting in front of my laptop for wayyy too long today. But before I go.....
Please do watch my boys' music video~~~ I'm sure you'll love it because it's awesome.
And if you liked that music video and want to watch more, please do watch their live stage of We Up and Good Luck because We Up is a sexy song with really cool dance moves to go with it and although Good Luck doesnt have the best camera angles to show its awesomeness, its still worth watching.
If you didnt like that then you might like this. You need to listen to Beast's ballad because they are always the best and also because they are number one on the charts. Thanks. : )
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