Archive for November, 2007
November 30 2007: Maternity Wear Is A Cutthroat Business
Here’s a general tip for all those looking for work, or who have just had their work terminated: don’t send your parents in to fight your battles.
My workplace has recently been looking for new staff. We have two locations in Melbourne: one is constantly short-staffed, and the other will be once I’m back to university next year. For this reason, we’ve been trialing new people every few days. They come in for a day as a trial of how well they work, how well they approach the customer, etc. If they suck…then we don’t call them back after that day. If they don’t suck, then they come back for an extra day and we move them on to more advanced work.
None of the five trialled so far have made it past the second stage. One had serious kleptomania issues, another had problems overcoming shyness and approaching a customer, yet another couldn’t figure out how to operate a computer. The others were simply incompetent and slow. My manager is a member of Mensa. She doesn’t work well with incompetents.
On the whole, the people we’ve trialled have accepted that they hadn’t made the cut. Then today, one of the girls trialled burst into tears, and ran out of the store when told that we wouldn’t be requiring her services anymore. Her mother came in an hour later, and demanded to know why her daughter had been let go. Never mind the fact that she was never technically hired in the first place (thus, trial), that she spent half the time that she was in the store on her phone making personal calls, that she told a pregnant customer that she had a “fat gut” (seriously, WTF?). Her mother was adamant: her daughter was a good worker goddarnit, and we better hire her back!
Keep in mind that the ‘girl’ was thirty-years-old. What kind of a thirty-year-old sends their mother in to fight their battles for them?
Filed under Uni/Work with 10 Comments
November 29 2007: Homebake
…I am so excited right now.
I just bought two tickets to Homebake music festival for $56.05AUD off eBay. Two tickets for $56.05AUD. That’s one ticket for $28AUD. The cost price of the tickets was around $80AUD each…did I get a bargain or what?
Excellent thing is, it’s on in Sydney the weekend that I’m actually there, so the timing is perfect. Now all I’m lacking is someone to go with…so Sydney-siders, let me know if you want to go! It’s on Saturday the 8th of December, and tickets are actually sold out, so this is a limited opportunity! My shout of course.
This has actually been a long time coming - the last concert I went to was Fall Out Boy, and I’ve been severely lacking live music for the past few months. Somehow, the local band at the local pub isn’t quite the same thing.
Filed under Media & Travel with 10 Comments
November 28 2007: Potluck
How do you throw a dinner party for seven people without raising a sweat? It’s not hard: you just need to make it a potluck dinner.
While you as the host should provide the very basics (drinks, chips and dips, appetisers, a pot of rice, etc.), all the guests bring along their own specialty main courses. That’s why at my potluck dinner party tonight, myself and my friends ended up with:
- A pot of rice
- Corn chips and guacamole
- Myriad bottles of drinkables
- San Choi Bao (Lettuce rolls - you get a vegetarian filling of fried corn, carrots, mushrooms, etc, and wrap it up in lettuce leaves)
- A mango salad
- Cold pasta with olives and sun dried tomatoes
- Spicy tofu and broccolini
- Fruit platter
It’s a real mix, and the great thing about potluck dinners like this is that you have a real mix of different cuisines. You get to try dishes that you might not normally eat, and have the chance to expand your culinary tastes.
It takes only minimal effort to set up, and rather than spending $30AUD on dinner out at a restaurant with friends, you’re spending $10AUD for the ingredients of a meal in the privacy of your own home, in the company of those you love.
It’s a win-win situation.
Filed under Friends & Life with 10 Comments