Bitter Sweet Symphony

Yatta!!! Yatta!!! (Tribute to Hiro in Heroes!! ^_^, he just loves saying this words, it means “I DID IT!!”… ya, when he finally managed to teleport himself or even other people, other things from place A to place B, and when he managed to stop the time, ya, Yatta!!)
^_^V

Tomorrow I’ll be starting work again, back to office, after… err… nearly 3 years(??? Come to think of it, I stopped in Mar, 2004, I kept thinking it’s only 2 years…) of hiatus… -_- and tomorrow, I’ll be a pretty cute OL in klang valley again!!! Kakakakakaka!!!

mm… in fact, my job hunting experience since last December is not considered THAT smooth… (ya!!! After being nearly 3 years of housewife, what does one expect huh??)
my very first interview, was with company F, went there, had a nice chat, but in the end… only discovered that, they’re looking for young and attractive ladies (sounds like looking for bar girls? ^_^ nah… but they’re looking for freshgrads) and I was thinking to myself, why called me then, didn’t I state my age CLEARLY on my online resume?? Fine then…

Then… when I was returning to my hometown, waiting in the airport, another company called me (company M) , I told her I’m on my way back to Sarawak, then, she said, she’ll check again with her manager… fine then…

When I came back from my break back home, company H called me… ^_^ it’s a big and prestigious MNC, and for people from my line, I think, that’s one of the ultimate place to work in… well… I suppose so…
First round, with my “possible” direct supervisor, another nice chat session..
After about a week, second round with the centre manager, well… not so nice chat, cos, she’s very very skeptical with my consistency in my job… and mm… she striked me as a very conservative and careful (a little bit too careful) person…
Then another week plus to wait… called me in for the third round of interview with the country manager, oh!!! Lasted for only 10 min, in San Francisco Café ^_^!!! (OK!! Fine!!)

Followed by this, came another period of waiting, till I couldn’t wait any longer, and I wanna show how much and how serious I want the job, I called the headhunter… his “advice” --- keep my option opened…
Oh, ok!! I know what it means…

Then… unexpectedly company M called me again to schedule an interview… well… I’ve to admit that, that’s not an employer that’s in my priority list… however, I still went for the session… another nice chat session with my future direct boss (a very cheerful lady)!!! The horrible thing was, I was given some IQ and maths test… (which err… I thought it’s not so related to the industry… I thought they’d had given me an aptitude test or some case study, but none!!!) and the test… gosh!!! Looking at the fact of how my brain got rusty throughout these 3 long-vacation years… I really really really felt that something inside my head was stuck and twisted and couldn’t function for a few time during the tests… the end was… I didn’t finish any of them, only did the best I could…
1st IQ test was something like, arrangement of alphabets and then you guess the next sequence, for eg. b c k l m d e k l m…
2nd IQ test (as well) was worst to me… it’s those little-little round, rectangular, triangular, shaded, half-shaded, halved, etc. of patterns, and I need to figure out the NEXT pattern… and GOODNESS!!!!!!!! SOME OF THE PATTERN SEQUENCES REALLY DIDN’T MAKE SENSE AT ALL MAN!!! I’m quite sure the person who created the questions is somehow PSYCHO!! ^_^
3rd Maths test… ok… I’ve to admit, this was my strongest part… thou still didn’t manage to finish in time…
However, overall… I’ve to say, the TEST session was quite fun…

After this… my headhunter called me again, maybe he’s extra helpful, or maybe he’s obligated, or maybe as a job agency, you really will get lots of rewards by successfully introducing an employee to a company… he suggested sending my resume to company I (competitor to company H) however, this time, it’s not a sales job that I’ve always wanted… but I told him, well… sometimes, it doesn’t matter… cos, I just want to join an MNC ^_^… and I thought I can handle the mentioned job after he’s described to me…

A week later, I got to meet up with my little friend who’s back from tokyo, went to karaoke… when I was happy karaoke-ing away in the room… the HR called me for the second session… ok… so, I went and met up with the director of the department, another nice friendly err… balding guy (oops, no offense ya!!). This second interview somehow provided me to opportunity to evaluate their company… ya, I evaluated them.. (at the same time, they evaluated me, of course!!) I came to a conclusion that, they (the company) comes to be quite a “clean” company… who earned their businesses through merit, rather than… arrrghh…

So… the day before we went back to his hometown for Chinese New Year, my direct boss (the cheerful lady) called me, asked me how’s the session with the director and bla bla bla… then, she told me, they planned to give me a big “ang pow”… and later briefed me with the benefits and stuff in the company… Yatta!!!

In a way, I am glad that, I was not taken by company H that immediately, cos, the office location is downtown, parking fee is expensive there, and probably even limited… I was even contemplating if I were to get employed, I may need to consider taking the public transport, otherwise, I’d have to start my journey at about 6.30am everyday, cos, the office is horribly located right in the centre of jam place, and the traffic here IS getting more and more horrible after all these years…

As for company M… ooh!!! Hehe… it’s located in just another 2-3 neighbourhood away, at the same part of the city… Yatta!!
So, I thought, when I was not considered by company H, it’s a blessing in disguise, and for the employment from company M, it’s a blessing that came unexpectedly and late… ^_^

However… the “symphony” didn’t end there, immediately I got off the phone, my headhunter called me, asked me why I was engaged and told me that company I wanted to “have a chat” with me… and bla bla bla… then I told him (err… in fact, I didn’t plan to tell him until I officially sign the letter) I’ve just accepted a job offer verbally… and since I know I wouldn’t change my mind, I told him to help me to err… “turn down” the “invitation” for me “politely”… (I didn’t want to burn the boat, so, I thought, it’s better to turn down the “chat session” than after a few rounds of interview only tell them that I’m not interested… or, if it’s another way round that I’ve to reject the “verbally-accepted” job… I felt quite bad, cos, err… my direct boss was err… kinda excited when she’s talking to me… in the aspect… haha!! Well… HE said, usually boss won’t call the subordinate directly, it’s the HR job, ie. She either is damn free, or she likes me so much ^_^, well… however, I think she’s a very nice lady)

Then then then… tomorrow… I’m supposed to start work already right? My headhunter called me AGAIN (courtesy call) to tell me that, the offer from company H has finally come… still briefed me through the details of the package (well… I’ll have to say, it’s a sales job, the commission is very good, but not the basic, however, I wanted it badly cos, it’s a BIG company!!! Kaka!! Funny mindset huh??)… and of course, the result is still the same…

So… now, I guess, my bitter sweet symphony has finally come to an end… Yatta!!

'Cause it's a bittersweet symphony, this life
Try to make ends meet
Your a slave to money then you die
I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down
You know the one that takes you to the places
where all the things meet yeah

No change, I can't change
I can't change, I can't change
But I'm here in my mold
I am here in my mold
But I'm a million different people
from one day to the next
I can't change my mold
No, no, no, no, no

Well I never pray
But tonight I'm on my knees yeah
I need to hear some sounds that recognize the pain in me, yeah
I let the melody shine, let it cleanse my mind, I feel free now
But the airways are clean and there's nobody singing to me now

No change, I can't change
I can't change, I can't change
But I'm here in my mold
I am here in my mold
And I'm a million different people
from one day to the next
I can't change my mold
No, no, no, no, no
I can't change
I can't change
By “The Verve” (Urban Hymns)