I Tackled The Minotaur and Passed The Test
Friday, January 29, 2010 10:19 PM /
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"So," she began looking at my resume, "you have the same name as my husband. I should be nice to you."
Great. She's married, I muttered.
"Tell me about yourself, Ken."
I told her about myself. Basic info first, then my exceptional qualities. The catch.
"Okay," she was writing notes. Must be listing down comments about moi.
"Anything else you want to talk about?" I asked.
"Tell me about your fave sport."
Uh-oh. Jeff was asked the same kind of question. And it's a tricky one. "She asked me about my sports hobby. Tapos pinadescribe sa 'kin kung anung mechanics! Step by step!" Jeff told me earlier. Unfortunately wala siyang fave sport, so he had to make up one - tennis.
"Actually, I'm not into sports stuffs. I'm more into the intellectual side."
"Is that so?"
"Yes!" I smiled confidently.
"Then tell me about your fave subject."
"My fave subject is.." the wheels in my mind was reeling fast. Quick! I need to impress this lady. But I couldn't say Math. What if she asked me something arithmetic or gave me a couple of problem sets? And I couldn't say my fave subject is English, coz that would be too obvious. Too natural.
"Literature," I managed to say at last, "I'm interested in Greek myths actually. I'm reading about Greek mythology these days, more complicated and more exciting than what they taught me in high school." I didn't tell her I was addicted to a children's book series entitled as Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
She was impressed. "So could you tell me about the story of a half horse, half man?"
"Of course. The Centaurs," I began, "were forces of nature like the dryads, they were mostly war-freak but only-"
"No, no." she cut off. "The half man, half horse."
"Right. Centaurs."
"No," she kept insisting I was telling her the wrong story,"the one inside the labyrinth."
"Oh. The Minotaur."
"Yes, Minotaur." she pronunce it as Mee-nah-tor. "Tell me about it."
"Well, the name Minotaur came from the word Minos, the King of Crete. But the King wasn't its father. The Minotaur was created because Poseidon, the god of the sea, gave the King of Crete a bull."
"A bull?"
"Yes, the Minotaur is half-man, half-bull. Although the sea god Poseidon also created the horses," I explained. "The bull was so beautiful that the King's wife got horny and fucked..I mean, made love with the bull. So the Minotaur was born. King Minos kept a scientist named Daedalus who invented the labyrinth. There they trapted the Minotaur because it liked eating people."
"That's great." She smiled.
"Thank you." I didn't know if she meant about my whole story or the part that the Minotaur liked eating people.
"So, Ken. You want to work in a call center?"
"Is that the only one available right now?"
"Yes."
"Well..okay."
"Why?"
"Excuse me?"
"Why do you want to work in a call center?"
A trick, I realized. If I tell her that's what she's offering me after all, that would be the end of it. I would sound desperate and pathetic. And I would likely fail this interview.
"I have many reasons why I want to work in a call center," I began, I also have many reasons why I don't want to work in a call center,"but mostly I would like to improve my interpersonal and technical skills since call centers are about communication and technology." Beat that Janina.
"What qualities do you think a call center agent must possess?"
"Well..he should be open, friendly. Socially adept in dealing with different situations," God, what am I babbling about? "Most importantly, he should be sensitive. Because he would be dealing with people, and not just the people he works with at the office, like his subordinates but also the company's clients. Call centers are BPO so most likely there would be people calling from abroad. He should always sympathize with what the customer's needs."
"You think you got that?"
"Of course!" I gave her a beaming smile. I couldn't say no, could I?
"Then you're in." She stood up and smiled.
"You mean..I passed?!" I can't believe this is happening!
"Yes, we'll be recommending you for the job. But you still have to take a series of tests."
"No problem!" I shook her hand, "Thank you, and I haven't gotten your name yet, Maam."
"Barbara. You can call me Barbs."
"Nice meeting you, Barbara."
I got out of the room and headed to my friends waiting in the lobby.
"Anung pinagusapan niyo?"
"Uh..The Minotaur."
"Was it hard?" they asked.
"Not really," I gave them a smile.
Labels: bouncy, career, chat, do-and-figure-it-out-yourself, ken chua, monsters
1 Couldn't Keep His Mouth Shut
Ken Chua would no longer go underground unless the notorious Martial Law II is declared. He is partly convinced that all his pent-up thoughts are spilled in this account.