Oh Wow What A Week
Okay, so, this week has been pretty interesting so far for me. Seriously. I've got job interview which made me feel like I've stepped into Twilight Zone and my office building caught fire and my assignment for usxuk's Secret Santa arrived--which made me all 'ohmigodseriouslywhy?!'...
Pretty interesting, right?
So, let's start with the first one. That interview. That somewhat surreal interview. But before I go there, let me tell you about the background.
So I've been working in this IT Software Company for nearly 3 years, right. Our company provides consultations and IT solutions for our clients and we only deal with corporate clients--financial corporations, to be more exact. Name one major banking industry in my country and chances are they're our clients. We're a pretty big player here, and, yes, that means we got the big names as our clients. But when you land big fish, said fish tends to give painful bite. So it's quite often that I find myself annoyed by my clients because they so love to ask something impossible.
Moving from there, last Wednesday I got an interview. I've been planning to get another job for quite a while now. And it seems pretty ironic that after years of dealing and cursing my clients--which are major financial corporations--now I find myself applying for a job in this big financial corporation.
Irony, yes, whatever.
So I went there this Wednesday and... let's face it, I've been working in a software house for three years. It's nothing fancy (despite the fact that my consultation service as printed in those legal contracts apparently costs USD 300 per day... heuh, now where did all those money go, I wonder?) and we're computer engineers, okay, so our office is also... far from being fancy. And then I went to this office building where I was supposed to be having my interview and faced spacious lobby with high ceilings and polished tiles and offices with glass walls and plush carpets and employees with fucking ties, I felt a bit 'eh, huh, wow'. It felt surreal. And then I was led to this office (with glass walls! and city view!), sitting in this comfortable chair, and saw that they had this sweet flower arrangement on the table. As a matter of fact, they had several of those. Then I realized that it's made of real flowers and that time, that time right there, I went from feeling 'uh, a bit fancy' to 'whoa, man, totally different world!'.
...no one in my company would think of decorating their office with real flowers in some vase. Seriously. It seems so posh. And it makes me cry a bit inside at the realization that apparently something which seems pretty normal (well, I believe no one would react as strongly as I did upon finding posh office and employees with good fashion sense) seemed so out-there for me. I blame the fact that I'm a software engineer.
The interview itself went well. I enjoyed my time and from what I could gather, the job specification was well within my abilities. Let's just see if I can get this job. It seems like fun working there, though, and the head of their IT dept was really kind--he commended me on my English and somehow we spent the latter half of our interview in English before he stopped and pointed it out to me.
(And they also have lawns. Like, actual lawns with grass and park benches and pedestrian area and all.)
Heuh. Moving on, point number two. Today my office building caught fire. The fire did not reach my floor, thankfully. But the smoke was pretty thick and it's enough to make the management decide to evacuate us all. My office is on the twelfth floor. It's no fun, really, to walk down the emergency stairs without light--the electricity and phone line are both down because of the fire--while wearing skirt and heels.
I got to get home early today. The fire was still on when I went home. None of my friends got hurt, it's a blessing.
And when I got home, I checked my mail and got my assignment for usxuk's 2011 Secret Santa. I took a look at the name of my recipient and I nearly shrieked in horror. Dear God...
Do you know that feeling you get when you find that you have to do something for this great person and you feel like you're apprehensive because you're afraid you'll fail them? Yeah? That's about what I'm feeling right now. Euh... >_____> I shall just do my best, I think. But, man, talk about being intimidated!
Anyway, so, that's all from me. Time to end this huge chunk of text. To sum it up, I had a pretty interesting week. And how about you, f-list? How about your week? Anything interesting you want to share?
Pretty interesting, right?
So, let's start with the first one. That interview. That somewhat surreal interview. But before I go there, let me tell you about the background.
So I've been working in this IT Software Company for nearly 3 years, right. Our company provides consultations and IT solutions for our clients and we only deal with corporate clients--financial corporations, to be more exact. Name one major banking industry in my country and chances are they're our clients. We're a pretty big player here, and, yes, that means we got the big names as our clients. But when you land big fish, said fish tends to give painful bite. So it's quite often that I find myself annoyed by my clients because they so love to ask something impossible.
Moving from there, last Wednesday I got an interview. I've been planning to get another job for quite a while now. And it seems pretty ironic that after years of dealing and cursing my clients--which are major financial corporations--now I find myself applying for a job in this big financial corporation.
Irony, yes, whatever.
So I went there this Wednesday and... let's face it, I've been working in a software house for three years. It's nothing fancy (despite the fact that my consultation service as printed in those legal contracts apparently costs USD 300 per day... heuh, now where did all those money go, I wonder?) and we're computer engineers, okay, so our office is also... far from being fancy. And then I went to this office building where I was supposed to be having my interview and faced spacious lobby with high ceilings and polished tiles and offices with glass walls and plush carpets and employees with fucking ties, I felt a bit 'eh, huh, wow'. It felt surreal. And then I was led to this office (with glass walls! and city view!), sitting in this comfortable chair, and saw that they had this sweet flower arrangement on the table. As a matter of fact, they had several of those. Then I realized that it's made of real flowers and that time, that time right there, I went from feeling 'uh, a bit fancy' to 'whoa, man, totally different world!'.
...no one in my company would think of decorating their office with real flowers in some vase. Seriously. It seems so posh. And it makes me cry a bit inside at the realization that apparently something which seems pretty normal (well, I believe no one would react as strongly as I did upon finding posh office and employees with good fashion sense) seemed so out-there for me. I blame the fact that I'm a software engineer.
The interview itself went well. I enjoyed my time and from what I could gather, the job specification was well within my abilities. Let's just see if I can get this job. It seems like fun working there, though, and the head of their IT dept was really kind--he commended me on my English and somehow we spent the latter half of our interview in English before he stopped and pointed it out to me.
(And they also have lawns. Like, actual lawns with grass and park benches and pedestrian area and all.)
Heuh. Moving on, point number two. Today my office building caught fire. The fire did not reach my floor, thankfully. But the smoke was pretty thick and it's enough to make the management decide to evacuate us all. My office is on the twelfth floor. It's no fun, really, to walk down the emergency stairs without light--the electricity and phone line are both down because of the fire--while wearing skirt and heels.
I got to get home early today. The fire was still on when I went home. None of my friends got hurt, it's a blessing.
And when I got home, I checked my mail and got my assignment for usxuk's 2011 Secret Santa. I took a look at the name of my recipient and I nearly shrieked in horror. Dear God...
Do you know that feeling you get when you find that you have to do something for this great person and you feel like you're apprehensive because you're afraid you'll fail them? Yeah? That's about what I'm feeling right now. Euh... >_____> I shall just do my best, I think. But, man, talk about being intimidated!
Anyway, so, that's all from me. Time to end this huge chunk of text. To sum it up, I had a pretty interesting week. And how about you, f-list? How about your week? Anything interesting you want to share?