It took me longer than 25 minutes to walk to Wilton's Place today, because I was using heels. Somebody please remind me that sport shoes allows me to walk faster than heels. Anyway, I arrived at the oh so glamarous *****water****C**p**s 15 minutes before the presentation.
There I was, all dressed up in my cream coloured coat and striped black pants, and curls blown away, by the horrible English weather, standing beside other hopefuls.And every other Tom , Dick, Harry was in BLACK Business Suit.Since there wasn't enought seats, we had to stand, and mind you, everyone was acting the best they could.
From the corner of my eye, I can spot, those pretentious with Financial Times and God-Knows-Whatever-Business-Magazines there were to read, to look intellectual.Hrmph There were the nervous ones, frowning away, dusting away their newly bought blazers(ehemm juts like me?), and those fiddling away with their phones. As for me, I was screening each one, wondering,which level of education are they at? Yeah, you could say that the reception area was tensely silent.
It was about 12.50 pm when we were asked to go to the 3rd floor, and once in the lift, everyone just started breathing properly, you could hear their sigh of relief, and everyone started talking and the tension was over.
There were waiters( I'm not sure if it's the correct term to use, but they seemed a bit more professional, the way they held on to the tray and helped to give out our name card.I was given a name card, with my name on it! SHAMIMI RAMLI!.
Before we went to the dining room, we were given drinks and mingled with whoever struck your fancy. As I entered the room, a Simon immediately acknowledged me, and I just blurted out stupidly "Oh , so under which UNiversity are you studing, which level?". He laughed and said " You know what? YOu are the first to ask me that. No, no I'm working here". Oh shit! Alamak, malunya. I never fail to embarass myself, wherever I go. I should probably learn to shut up.
Then other graduates filled in the room and then another staff came to the group I was mingling with and introduced herself.I asked a couple of questions and just nod and smile when I couldn't understand some of their accent.I guess that's the best option.
About 7 minutes later, we were ushered into the dining room, where we were seated 4 graduates to 2 P** staffs. Instantly I thought to myself, is this a table manners test? And I forgot to learn the basics.Immediately I stared at the table full of SPOONS and GLASSES! Oh My~!
Think quick!, Err, out to in, am I right? Or wait for your neighbours. And wait I did, and used the right soup spoon to slurp my chowder cream abalone soup or something, which was so delicious, I wanted to lick it all up. While, having to create intellectual conversation with the 2 staff/manager of P**, I had to also carefully bite off the bread, as to not embarass myself.The way I scooped the soup also required precise movements.
I was already half full after the appetizer, then came the Main course. SInce I had earlier requested for Vegetarian, I got something which tasted even better than their Honey Roasted Lamb and Potato Champ. Mine was this fish stuffed with vegetables and some kind of pastry and vegetables. The thing with the westerns, is that, they think that everyone eats as much as they do. The other girl seated next to me, also had trouble finishing her meal, as the portion was quite large.
I was about to barf out when the "autumn pudding' came.And I swear the button were threatening to pounce out. It was too sweet for my diabetes(not that I have one) and picked on certain parts, as to not look rude. And the guys? practically gobbled everything. When I thought it was all done, they brought out Petit Fours. Adoi,
And finally, they served coffee, and that I guess was the final stage of my lunch experience.Ok, enough on the food, I'll fill you guys in what I went through. There was a Polish guy seated on my right, his name was spelled like this Prvglcky Pfluckitg.( I thought it was an abbreviation)I could've read it as Pervert Got Lucky F*** Luck It Takes Gut . Haha, so I asked how to pronounce his name, and he same Ann. I was like WTF? You made it so difficult to spell, and you prnounce it that way?
Anyway, this guy is already working, and had obviously all the questions to ask the 2 staff/manager about P**. The other three of us, also had our equal chance of questions to ask. ABout the interview, about working in P**, and also about social issues. One of the guy was going to be one of the interviewer.
There I was thinking to myself, how lucky that Allah gave me the chance to be a part of all this business lunch ways and a chance for an interview to work for a big firm. Although I feel as small( tho im fat) , compared to the other gradutes who are mostly doing their masters, or theor professional diploma in accounting. The guy told us about this other higher professional exams that is not ACCA, that we must take. Sigh~ Work and Study, is quite difficult, isn't it?
I was also silently, telling myself,whether this business really for me? Was it really me? So, then one of the speakers said that during the interview, we are going to be asked about ourselves,they basically are interested to know more about us, about or social activities. Errr, do u mean clubbing? Or do you mean sports activities? I hope it's the latter.
So by 2.30 pm, the lunch ended, and I excused myself about 10 minutes later, and left. Before we left, we were given a "flask". With P** printed on the top of it. Haha. SO useful? So yeah. That's basically what happened during my Lunch with the Staff and Managers of P**.
