Crappy jobs I've had

Yesterday I interviewed a lady twice my age.

It felt a bit odd, as I thought of what must be going through her mind, "This itsy-bitsy girl who graduated yesterday, is assessing whether I deserve a position in her team or not?!"

I know these things are normal in the corporate world... blah blah, and the usual 'seniority is by capability' blah blah... 'oh we should be professional' blah blah... but in spite of it all, it is sad as I think of these people senior to me by virtue of age, sitting there in front of me, politely listening to my questions, trying to please me with cover-letter-language answers, desperately trying to get the job.

Being out of a job is a horrid horrid feeling. And I speak from experience. I went through that phase in Oct 2002 when I quit my first crappy job.

This post is dedicated to crappy jobs Sayesha has held. And the weirdest thing is that all of these are MNCs.

Company #1
This company manufactures microcontamination prevention equipment. They are one of the market leaders in the field. This was my first job after I graduated. The pay was really good. But there were rude shocks in store for me.

The company structure was so flat that everyone from the top managers to the engineers to the toilet cleaners reported directly to the CEO! The CEO was rude, racist and thoroughly unprofessional. His wife was the International Operations Manager. His 16-year-old son was the Vice-President. It was a total family thing. Quite Gang-like. He even made me operate the forklift! (You need a licence to operate the damn thing!)

On pay day, we had to queue up outside the CEO's office, and he would hand the cheque only if he felt like it. Once, he actually told me, "I don't think you worked hard enough this month. Come back next week and get your cheque." He insulted the employees' friends, siblings, parents, spouses, anyone! The man was mad! I heard that he recently got one of his bearded employees to sign a declaration that if hair fell from his beard inside the office, he would have to sweep it out himself! How moronic is that??

The turnover rate was so high that in the three months that I was there, 29 people came and left. Would you believe it that I carried my resignation letter in my pocket all the time for two months?! Every time I felt like throwing it at his face, I would tell myself to calm down and get my PR before I did that. Without my PR, I would be at risk of getting kicked out of Singapore.

I got my PR, handed him the resignation letter, and got out of the place. It was a difficult decision to make, considering I did not have another job yet. But it was really becoming a question of self-respect. I had to leave. He asked me to reconsider, but I told him I was not crazy. As I stepped out of the damn office, the feeling was so great, I felt like I was floating on air.

Company #2
After quitting the first crappy job, I realised how difficult it was to find another one. Finally I found a part-time thing with a big credit card company. I was in charge of design and distribution of freebies. My work also included going to malls and personally distributing the freebies. I encountered many rude people on this job. The most common words I heard were:

"Go away, lah. I don't want to buy anything from you. Wait, wait, did you say 'free stuff'??? Come back, you!"

It made me doubt the basic goodness of people. Needless to say, I did not stay long.

Company #3
This is one of the world's largest talent scouting companies. I was with them as a model scout for a trial period. My work involved going to places in Singapore where beautiful people were most likely to be seen. Scouting started off as quite fun, as I found out that a lot of model-like people do not know their potential at all. But then, it got kinda scary later on, as I realised that I was becoming a very shallow person, and hating places where I stood for hours and did not come across good-looking people. Finding hunks and babes became my only objective. Even when I was out with friends, I was always on the lookout. I was not listening to my friends, I was totally distracted. I did not like that feeling at all. I wanted to go back to enjoying my life. So inspite of the huge pay, I did not sign up for the job after the trial period.

Company #4
I was getting bored working on job applications the whole day. I thought I could be a waitress for a couple of hours each day and get some income. Besides, I was going broke. So I applied to this popular pizza place. The interviewer did not ask me many questions. Possibly because as soon as he picked up my resume, he started laughing and continued to laugh for a full 10 minutes. I was kicked out. For being over-qualified.

Company #5
When I was down to my last 100 bucks, I got an interview call from this huge publishing company. I flunked the entrance test because I did not know the editing symbols, and the interviewers did not understand what on earth my engineering degree had to do with that job. I was kicked out. I just wasn't convinced by the reasons they gave me for not wanting to hire me. Two weeks later, I re-applied. The interviewer had one look at me and said, "I've seen you somewhere!" I said, "Yes, in this very room. You interviewed me two weeks ago." Maybe she was amused by this thick-skinned crazy applicant. Maybe she was just in a good mood. She offered me a two-week contract, and told me that if I proved myself, she would consider giving me a permanent position. And oh, I was on a daily-wage basis!

The work I was given did not have any room for me to 'prove myself'. I was asked to transfer amendments from hard copies to soft copies. Microsoft Word. How on earth was I to prove myself doing that?? And so I was very confident of getting kicked out after my super-short contract expired.

They say good things happen to good people. Well, sometimes they happen to me too. On the very last day of my contract, I had finished my tasks and just to keep me occupied, I was given the task of designing some posters. I sketched, coloured and did full mock-ups of the posters. They loved it. I was immediately offered the position of Editor.

I am still in that company. I proved myself. I moved up the ladder. And the lady who gave me the job, is my big boss. And she's a big reason why I'm still here. Not only does she inspire me every time I have a discussion with her, a part of me will never forget that she literally pulled me out of a hole and gave me my first real job, the wonderful job, that makes me, well, me. :)

I've found myself. And I'm lovin' it.