Retroexposure

Chapter 29 - Job Opportunities

Sunday 1st June 2008 4:40pm

A chicken and an egg are lying in bed. The chicken is smoking a cigarette with a satisfied smile on his face while the egg is frowning and looking slightly annoyed. The egg mutters, "Well, I guess that answers that riddle..."
I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where's the self-help section?" She said, " If I tell you, that would defeat the purpose, wouldn't it?
4:45pm

Saturday 7th June 2008 5:40pm
I know it's been a week almost since my last entry. I think for the first time since I started this diary, I haven't felt the urge to write as often as I used to. What's happened in this last week? Well, yesterday, Sven wasn't feeling at all well, having left me a severe case of diarrhoea all around the kitchen! I was already planning on cleaning the kitchen anyway; I didn't need any encouragement from the dog! Mum and I are entertaining a couple of friends tomorrow with an Indian meal, so when we did the shopping yesterday, we couldn't help but giggle when we saw the curry sauces that we were planning on marinating the chicken breasts in. Let's just say that we decided against the chicken korma marinade!
Today would've been Mum and Dad's 28th wedding anniversary. Mum's obviously been upset over the last few days. But I guess that's to be expected and will happen every year. There are times when she feels bitter that there are other couples who have been married longer than she and Dad ever reached. I just tell her that, sad though it is, there are also many couples who haven't even been married as long as she and dad were. As I'm still single, for the moment, I'll use this famous phrase 'it's better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all'. It's a cliché, I know, but apart from some unrequited loves, I've never had what Mum and Dad had, but I hope that it will happen to me in the future. 5:56pm

Monday 9th June 2008 6:36pm
I've finally broken things off permanently with DAC. After having a 4am transpacific conversation with J, I told DAC how I stood with this so-called relationship. But I haven't spoken to her. I took the coward's way out – I dumped her by text! S did it to me, so I've done it to someone else now. I'm not proud of it and I do feel really bad. But it's getting ridiculous. She was constantly jealous of J even though she was twelve thousand miles away. And in recent weeks I've been getting fed up of hearing about this ex that has reappeared on the scene although apparently DAC is enjoying 'winding him up'. I just wonder what her definition of what 'winding him up' is. I tried to leave it in a way so that we could try and remain friends, but I don't think that's going to happen somehow. I just hope that DAC can move on with her life and find someone more suitable and closer to her! 6:51pm

Wednesday 11th June 2008 11:40am
DAC didn't get my text. She got one from her sister instead saying that I hated her and that I didn't want to talk to her ever again. So DAC contacted me to find out what was going on. I rang her and spoke to her to explain my feelings, and, surprisingly, she took it quite well. I said that I wanted us to remain friends and that if it was meant to be, then we might get together in the future. Who knows what could happen? I'm just glad that I've still got a friendship. I don't love her like she loves me, but I do care about her, and that will never change! 11:45am

Thursday 12th June 2008 8:33pm
Last Friday while I was out shopping I had a missed phone call and was subsequently left a message. When I topped up I heard the message back and discovered that it was from a skills centre. There was a potential job opportunity at a company called APPLE and I was to ring the number provided to find out more. I rang the number and a guy called Michael was on the other end. He wanted to help me fill out some kind of application over the phone, but as he was driving home from work he was, (understandably), unable to help me out right there and then but said that he would ring me the next day and we could go through it then. Excited at this turn of events, I looked forward to hearing from him on Saturday.

He didn't ring on Saturday.

On Monday, I then got a phone call from a guy called Giles, a colleague of Michael's. I explained that I had waited to hear from him the day before, but got nothing. Giles apologised saying that as an alternative could I arrange to meet up with someone, himself maybe, at a library to go over my application then? I said that as it happened I would be going to Wigston Library on Tuesday, could I meet them there? Giles said that he would send out Michael to meet up for a 15-minute chat to go over the application details. He also told me there would be an assessment day on Friday 13th at 10am. I was a bit baffled, as Michael had told me that it would be on the 12th at 5:30pm. Which was it? Giles said that he would send me all the information through the post including a map as to where this assessment day was.
Tuesday came and I waited for Michael for the appointment at 12pm.Did he arrive on time? No, he bloody didn't! He didn't even show up! I rang him and hung up when I got no answer. However he rang back a couple of minutes later. I asked where he was he said that he wasn't aware of the meeting. Turns out Giles forgot to tell him! These two weren't exactly filling me with the greatest of confidence! When I asked about my application, they said not to worry; they'd sort it with the APPLE representatives.
Since Tuesday, I'd received the information through the post as Giles had promised and been juggling in my head whether or not to go to this assessment appointment. Even up to 3:30pm today I wasn't sure if I was going to go.
Now, I'm glad I did.
It was awesome, a very American-style presentation. I'd been having kittens about the jobs on offer as I thought I had to be fairly knowledgeable about Apple Mac computers. I'd forgotten that there was so much more to it. The iPods, the iPhones, and Macbooks.
The guys that did the presentation were very enthusiastic to say the least! They showed footage of their flagship store on New York's Fifth Avenue. The glass cube that provides the entrance to the store has to be an iconic piece of modern architecture now.
The session (I don't know what else to call it!) went by so quickly. I don't think it was supposed to last 2 hours, but it did! The presentation team had so much energy; I take my hat off to them. Especially when you realise that they must have done this presentation at least 5 times today. And they've probably got another 5 tomorrow!
I was concerned that they would let successful applicants know whether or not that they got to the next stage of interviews by email, and that I wouldn't know until it was too late. But I think they will hopefully phone me instead. One or two of the female applicants reckon that I stand a good chance of getting one of the 30 vacancies available. One said that she saw me as an ideal Mac specialist. Really? I thought I'd be better as a concierge. There are six concierge posts going and about 20 or so Mac specialist posts. There are also a handful of backroom vacancies too, but I definitely see me as front of house personnel! The girl that saw me as a specialist, thinks that an American guy called Azar, and me, are probably the most likely to get somewhere out of this process. Why can't I see in myself what others see in me? In the session, a guy called Eddy described me as humorous and confident. I'd told him about my humour but he added the confident description when we were asked about what we could bring to the APPLE Company. I can't wait to hear back from them!! 9:15pm

Saturday 14th June 2008 10:56am
Yesterday was Friday the 13th and I'm glad to say that nothing unlucky happened to me! I should've watched some horror films or something! Instead I watched a film called The Magdalene Sisters and finished reading a book called A Lions Tale: Around The World in Spandex by Chris Jericho.
It was an autobiography that focussed on his wrestling career before he joined the WWE. I just hope he's planning on a second book that focuses on his WWE career, as the first one was a brilliant read. I hired it out on Tuesday and finished it by last night. Had I read it without interruption, I'd have finished it within 24 hours. I'm sure of that. Of all the wrestling autobiographies that I've read, I've not been able to put this one down! I remember actually reading Mick Foley's first book and reading it through the night. That was a first for me! Jericho has a website, so when I go to sign on, on Tuesday, I'll see if I can leave him a message! 11:06am

Monday 23rd June 2008 4:30pm
Not very much has happened over the last nine days apart from Mum officially going bankrupt! She filled the necessary forms in and as from last Friday, she's now bankrupt. All she's waiting for now is a telephone appointment with the receivers. What exactly they can do, I don't know. The job I enquired about with APPLE hasn't come to anything, apparently. Giles, the guy that set me up with this opportunity, promised to ring me earlier today and hasn't. Why am I not surprised (?) He told me that the main reason APPLE turned me down is because I didn't know enough about the product, or the company. That's probably because I didn't know that APPLE had stores in the UK. Not to mention the fact that I can't afford to own the products...yet. Besides, isn't that what training is for? I am bitterly disappointed, as I was looking forward to the challenge, as for Giles and his skills centre? Well he can go and take a running jump! 4:39pm