It was a rather friggin' day.
A mid term and then you walk astray.
You donno wot to do
When there is a call for an interview
No! Am not trying too hard to sound rhymy.
My thoughts jus' poured into a rhyme. Thank you very much.!
An excerpt from the interview..
Lady: So, MAN-joo is that how they pronounce your name? [Giggles]
Me: [Not cross! With the most expressionless look] Yes
Note: I gave up explaining Americans how the first three letters of my name isnt an offshoot of the english word "man" but its a vicious world. They jus' dont wana listen to you! They jus' wana eat you and call you MAN
Lady: So you mentioned you have prior work experience on campus?
Me: (the same expressionless face) Yeah.
Lady: Can you tell me a li'l abt it?
Me: (yaawwwwn) It was an office assistant job
Lady: So what kind of stuff you got to do?
Me: (Felt like faking euphoria about ma previous job. But i let it pass.) It was the normal office chores. Photocopying, attending calls, faxing..stuff like that
Lady: Do you know pivot tables?
Me: (Excuse me!) Blank expression
Lady: There was this nice Indian guy who worked with us previously. He did those pivot tables
Lady2: Oh Debbie you dont! You love him so much for pivot tables you would wana search where he is now and get him back dont you?
Lady: I mean it was so awesome. Pivot tables are so awesome.
Lady2: Ya, you always tell me that! (Looks towards me and says) She always tells me that!
Me: (Totally clueless. What is happening here?) Nodding
Lady: So, do you know pivot tables?
Me: (Same blank face) No
Lady: Oh thats a shame!
Me: (wtf!) Isnt this an office assistant job?
Lady: You mentioned Excel on your resume.
Me: (Correcting her) Parts of Excel. I wrote that in there in my CV
Lady: Ya, but you know pivot tables are so awesome.
Me: (Somebody jus' wipe her away from the face of this earth) But that is not a part of the job description you advertised.
Lady: (Shoots a cold look for a brief instant)
Lady2: errr..so manju aside from office chores did you do anything else?
Me:(Oh ya! I socialised with this fat lady in my office and talked about pigs often with her! Duh!)
Well, I used to come early to work, pull up the blinds, turn off the answering machine..stuff like that.
Lady: So...
(one more time she says pivot tables I swear i was ready to storm out of the room but she dint)
Lady:...can you make me a cup of coffee?
Me: Is that a part of this interview?
Ladies laugh. I guess they eased a bit now.
Lady: I cant live without coffee you know!
Lady2: Me too!
Me: Hahaha (like it was a BIG joke! But I swear i didnt know how to react to this)
Lady: So manju temme will you do coffee for us?
Me: Sure i will if you pay me by the cup! And not by the hour!
Lady: (Laughs)
Lady: So describe a crisis situation you were in before and what you did to come out of it.
Me: (I was aching to tell, for example am in a crisis situation now. Stuck with two insane ladies who jus think the world of pivot tables and coffee. To come out of it I can act like am going into a coma??) I screwed up my company's SMTP server once.
Lady: Blink
Lady2: Blink
Me: Its a long story. I came out of it by just informing my manager about it and sought help.
Lady: OK
Me: (Wow! I shut her up! LOL)
Lady: We have another round of interview now.
Me: (Wot da hell???? Wot????)
Lady2: Come with me Manju. You need to do a li'l exercise for us.
Me: (Are you kidding me???)
Lady2: (Takes me to a desktop, logs me in and says) You need to write a small draft. We would want to rate your writing and articulating abilities
Me: (Havent I displayed my marvellous articulation back in there?) Yeah. Sure.
Lady2: You have 30 mins for this activity
Me: (Dont even bother! Am gona shoot this off in like 5 mins. Gimme the damned desktop now)
Alrite. Can i go ahead now?
Lady2: Please do. Once your done, take a print and slip the paper in if am not around. I might be gone.
Me: (You cant put me up with this lame stuff and go out for a smoke!) Ok. Not a problem.
I did finish in like 8 mins. I found her and gave her the paper.
She did the customary "It was nice talking to you" and I did the customary "Same here"
Came out and breathed in some crisp evening air.
Did i jus' tell her it was nice talking to her? Somebody kick me!
2 comments:
hahahha... really funny...!
Don't tell me you do just those stuff in office... (socialising with fat lady, talkin bout pigs, switchin off answerin machines)
Ya sometimes interviewers don have anythin to talk bout... I had an interview that lasted 55 mins of which just 15 mins tech things...!
Good one...!
Hey, you write pretty good -- didnt know you had a blog :). Nice!
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