Say What? - A Work Adventure

Work is always an adventure…yes?  Anyone that has a job has crazy stories about what misadventures happen while they count down to Friday. 

In my job I do a lot of hiring, which means that I have to do a lot of interviewing.  I am curious about people (my mother calls it nosy), I like to talk and interviewing allows me an opportunity to indulge both of these at one time.  Sounds good.

I know that interviewing is a stressful situation and I have been on an interview once or twice myself, so I know how nerve wracking this situation can be for job seekers.  Every once in a while I am surprised by the things that are said during the interviews.  Whether they were blurted out unintentionally or not, these are a few of the comments that were three comments said to me that have stuck with me.  There are more, as I’ve had to interview people off and on for the last 7 years, but these three make me giggle every time.

“I was so happy when I was a fish”- When I asked this person what their favorite job from their resume was, this was their answer.  I scanned this resume quite a bit and could never find anything that said they were a fish.  So when I inquired about when/where they were fish-ified, they replied in a parade they were in, but that it was not on the resume.

“elle a commencé à parler français fo aucune raison” – Did you understand that?  Good, cause neither did I.  I loved this interview because this candidate was so nice and really enthusiastic.  They were from the U.S., English was their first language and they had spent a year in France for studying abroad at some point.  Then, with no warning, in the middle of answering a question, they switched from English to French for a few sentences, and then back into English like nothing had happened.  They best part was that when I asked them to tell me what they had said, because they had spoken French for a few moments, the answer was an indignant “I did not.” 

“You would be so cute if you dyed your hair” – This came out at the end of the interview when I ask if the interviewee has any additional questions, comments or concerns.  This person was incredibly nervous and I thought this was such a cute thing to say, even though it doesn’t sound that way.  This person had a very cool hair color and I would have loved to have it myself.  I choose to believe that they were referring to a more edgy hair color than that my hair didn’t look good. (I hope)

Do you have any funny stories for your adventure that you call your work day?  If so, I would love to hear about them!

A Sweet Escapade

Here is a post written by the ever awesome Snarky Rachel (aka Bella Rachel in previous posts)  I told her a story about something that knocked me off my feet a bit.  So what did she do?

She wrote it on my blog as me, knowing that I never would have posted it on my own.  So here is Snarky Rachel telling you a story about what happened to me from my point of view.  This is how all blogs are written, right?

I know that usually this blog is dedicated to the crazy things that happen to me and to my friends that are in my near vicinity. But, today, something so out of the ordinary happened to me that was incredibly sweet and unexpected and SnarkyRachel has forced me to write about it.

I came home late from work today, showered and then my husband and I decided that we would like pizza for dinner. I ordered pizza from our usual place and went casually about my business. Now, I will say that I consider myself a good tipper. I feel like delivering pizza must absolutely suck and I do my best to counteract that as much as I can. I digress.

Once the pizza was delivered I paid, tipped, took the pizza, and started to go inside with my food. The delivery guy stopped me, saying “Wait, I wanted to tell  you something.”

“Yes?” I replied, preparing myself for the latest pizza promotion.

Stuttering, he responded, “I just wanted to tell you....(long pause) You are beautiful. And I always am excited to come deliver here cause I know I’ll see you and I’ve never gotten it together to tell you before.”

Stunned, I paused for a moment, trying to collect my thoughts. Then I told him that I am married, but that he had made my night. He said, “It’s not a pick up or anything, I just wanted to tell you.”

I’m not entirely sure what to make of this encounter...but I thought it was incredibly sweet. Or else I’m a better tipper than I thought. 

Do I look like I work here?

Not long ago I was in Portland, Oregon for a family wedding.  I don't know about you, but sometimes, while I find family wonderful, I want to be off on my own and away from good meaning, if sometimes overly protective eyes.

On this trip I was the lone member of my immediate family, my parents, brother and husband having stayed in San Diego due to prior commitments and responsibilities.  This left me alone with my aunts, uncles and cousins.  I come form a large, loud family and everyone has an opinion and isn't afraid to share it.  I'm sure people love it when we role into town. 

It doesn't help that I am the only girl in a family of boys and therefore am sometimes subject to loving, if unnecessary, over protective instincts.  I have gone to Europe by myself, am married and own a home, but when with my family, I am 12.  So you can see how this could get a little cloying and claustrophobic.

It was one of the hottest days of the summer in Portland, well over 95 degrees, and our little family group had been wandering all over downtown in a large, loud bickering group.  Knowing that I had an appointment in 2 hours in the same area, I told them to explore the city without me, so that I wasn't late for my appointment (appointment was an adventure unto itself and will be posted about later).  Liberated, I used this as a chance to explore Portlands downtown and Chinatown area.

I wandered the blocks, happily ducking into little shops and chatting with people in coffee shops.  I crossed the street looking for a famous donut shop in the area and decided that I needed a break in the shade and I would call my Mom to fill her in on the day.  Finding a big block of shade on the block while looking down at my phone, I leaned against the wall under the awning and chatted with my Mom.

This block was packed as the line from this shop grew and grew.  I am a fan of donuts, but waiting in the hot sun for over an hour for a donut is just not something that I could bring myself to do.  I was telling my mom about this massive line when a gentleman walked up to me and handed me his drivers license.

Startled, and thinking "why is this guy handing this to me?' I looked up, smiled and gave it back, all the while never stopping the phone conversation.  A moment later another guy gave me his license and I said, "Cool, you're from Washington" and handed it back to him.

"What?", my Mom asked, because Washington was in no way the correct response to our conversation.

"Sorry Mom, its just that 2 guys have handed me their drivers licenses for no reason, so I handed them back.  The last one was from Washington."

"Why would they hand you their licenses?", she asked.

"No, idea", I replied, looking back down at the sidewalk.  I propped one foot up against the wall and noticed that the area near my foot had been painted like a castle or a wall.

"Huh, ok...tell me about whats happening with your aunt", my mom continued, unfazed by the odd conversational turn.

I started talking again when another guy walked by and handed me his license.  I looked at him, gave it back and then said,"Mom, I have to go. This keeps happening and I don't know why."

"Does the donut shop serve alcohol?", she asked.

"Not that I'm aware of," I replied as another guy handed me his license," I've got to go".

I handed the guy back his license, hung up with my Mom and looked to my left and my right.  Nothing looked odd and the donut line was still long, but the guys who had given me their licenses were not in the line. Disappearing into thin air seemed unlikely so, where did they go?

Remembering the castle like paint near my foot, I slowly walked out to the street to look at the awning I was standing under.  As the words came into view I slowly see an anime, Sailor Moon-like girl in a thong on a huge banner.  I realize that I am standing at an adult entertainment store!

Apparently I was standing directly in between these two landmarks

Apparently, I was being mistaken for the ID checker for this establishment.  I started giggling, because how in the world had I missed all this?  It was an old movie theatre converted into a an adult entertainment venue and I was completely oblivious. 

Maybe I need that family supervision after all.

Travel Advisory

New Rule: Beware traveling with Miss Bibliophile Girl!

You may have read our account of the Taxi ride from Hell (click here if you haven’t..I’ll wait)

We got on a shuttle bus with her back to her hotel during Comic Con and at it seemed fine.  We had been walking around for 4 days straight, so sitting in an air conditioned bus was lovely.  The doors close and we’re off.  But then something strange started to happen….the bus driver started talking.

Not talking in a tour guide “See the sights to the right” kind of way.  He was obviously having a conversation with someone in the front of the bus, but he was speaking into the announcement speaker for his side of the conversation, so everyone could hear him.  Here is what we heard:

“Yeah, San Diego has changed a lot…I remember off of  (muffled) street, there used to be lots of them.  I remember the strip clubs and one turned into a Playboy Club!”

“If you all know where you are supposed to be dropped off please let me know because they removed all the signs and I don’t remember all the stops”. (Oh so comforting to hear from your driver)

“ (chuckling) me too..”

“I’m super lucky...(muffled, muffled, muffled) I took a busload of people to LA.  And I took them to the Playboy mansion!”

“I totally bs’d my way in and I spent the evening hanging with the bunnies and I got  play in the Grotto!” (more chuckling)

“Hey, I’m making a turn for the first stop, but after that I don’t know where I am supposed to stop”.

Finally an official announcement: “ I am making the turn to the first stop”.

Followed by:” Here we are at the first stop, please exit here if you want to get off here”.

Everyone practically jumped out of their seats to get into the aisle.  All proper exiting the bus behavior that they teach in elementary school was forgotten in the desire to be off this buss with this skeevy guy. 

From now on I think I’ll just meet her places.

Let them eat cake!

This week has been an absurd week of everything going wrong, every piece of technology I touched breaking down, multiple people quitting in one day and more drama than you could get if you pitted a bunch of tween Twilight Fans versus…well anyone who reads good books.

At the end of the night Friday (which in a quick recap involved training a new person, 2 weddings – which are drama in their own right, missing confirmations, every employee at one location not doing their job correctly, lost caterers, a frantic bride, a groom tossed into the pool and more broken technology) while I sat at a property, in a moment of rare quiet, someone from one of the weddings brought me a piece of cake. Which was incredibly nice of them and very sweet and appreciated after my day.

See the picture of the piece of cake? What could be wrong with this picture?

Could it be the chopsticks???

I have no idea how to eat cake with chopsticks, so I am going to try. I am good with chop sticks usually, how hard could this be, right? (it should be noted that they apparently ran out of forks and only had chopsticks, so this experiment was being run by many others at the same time as mine was)

Attempt #1 Cake crumbles upon grabbing with the chopsticks. Must try it more gently next time

Attempt #2 Now too gentle and cannot get any cake to stay between the chopsticks

Attempt #3 Aha! Perfect tension has been achieved ...then Fail! Cake almost got to my mouth before gravity made it fall down into my cleavage

While attempting to clean cake from my cleavage the brides father came over to ask me a question….awkward

Attempt #4 managed to get some of the filling onto the chopsticks and attempting to get the cake to stick to the filling – not working

Attempt #5 took a piece from the frosted side in hopes it was sticky enough for the cake to not need to much pressure to stay in the chopsticks

I am short and sitting at a desk…why is this distance so hard for the chopsticks to navigate?

Attempt #6 got a full layer of the cake, but just cake. Frosting and filling decided to not come along on this try

Attempt #7 trying to get a complete bite of cake containing all elements, cake frosting and filling... the cake crumbled as the filling dripped in plops on the desk and my shirt, the frosting held on tight before making a dive for it

Attempt #8 this is a silly way to eat cake

Huh, turns out this is not the best method for eating cake

Thanks for the tip

Helpful strangers…. I love them

I went to a show this evening and as I waited outside for the doors opened I went to the area of tables and grabbed a drink. As I looked for a table this group of feisty older women were at a table and they gestured me over. They asked me to join their group since I was alone.

I told them that I didn’t want to intrude on their “girls night” but they insisted. These ladies were easily 35-40 years older than me but they were hilarious and were talking about how they were going to see the Tempest. I was going to see George Gershwin: Alone in the theater next door. One lady asked why I was alone and I replied that my husband was at work.

Out of no where this lady at another table, not part of the group I was with, said ”Darling, I hate to break it to you…but when your husband Is at ‘work’ it means he’s screwing his secretary”.

There was a moment of stunned silence from the group as they looked at me. I waited a moment to let the woman’s words sink in and then I looked up at her and said in disbelief,” When the hell did he get a secretary?!?!”

I told her thanks for the advice since she meant well, but really people, try to keep your "helpful" impulses in check until you know someone a little bit more.

How’s that first date going?

One adventure that I am happily no longer a part of is the dating world. Which I don’t think I was ever good at to begin with, but I think I was better than this guy.

I overheard this in the lobby of a theatre while waiting for the doors to open. The couple was behind me and they were standing awkwardly next to each other, very aware of their personal space and close they are to each other and all dressed up with nowhere to go (until the theatre doors opened).

Guy: “I want to join the Peace Corps and die in Uganda”

Girl: “Oh..um….wow? That’s…..ambitious.”

Nervous silence for a moment

Girl: “Do you go to school here?” (UCSD)

Guy: “Yeah, I’ve been going to school here for a bit and never realized this theatre was here.”

Girl: “Really? I love this theatre since it’s on campus. I try to come as much as I can.”

Guy: “I never really made it past the playground”.

At this point the conversation stopped, the girl took another step away from the guy and the theatre doors opened. After the show I noticed the girl walking away from the theatre by herself. Maybe she didn’t want to go to the playground with him?

Bizzare foods At Home

Obviously, if you read this blog you like people who have a taste of adventure, which is why I must recommend this blog to you!

This blog is a chronicle of Aubrey as she eats her way through some stuff that I would never even touch! (I love adventure but I love my food to not make me want to vomit) If you like watching Anthony Bourdain munch on entrails or Andrew Zimmern eat…whatever the heck it is that he eats than this is the blog you should be reading.

Here is the link to Bizarre Foods at Home www.bizzarefoodsathome.blogspot.com

Are you as brave as she is? (I’m not!)

Deep in the heart of Texas

You all remember Julie from the highly entertaining guest post on this blog titled Who knew that a job hunt would be so… entertaining??

Well, she has gone on another adventure this time to the great state of Texas and she has put pen to paper to tell us about the first few days of her journey.

Do you think she’ll find the bicycle in the basement of the Alamo while she’s there?

You are now entering Texas….

I decided to take a road trip to see family and friends all throughout the US. I packed my suit case, bought a cooler, grabbed my dog and headed out for my first stop Texas… Here are a few ways you know you are either entering or IN the most “interesting” RED state of them all:

1. I passed a giant billboard saying “Miss Me Yet?” next to it is a picture of George W. Bush. (No Comment).

I’ll comment “Hell No”

2. A man walking through the motel parking lot, no big deal.. A man walking through the motel parking lot at 9 pm without a shirt on but who would notice since he’s soooo white it looks like he’s still wearing a tee-shirt. (No Comment).

3. Day three of my trip, day two in TX, I’m listening to a local morning radio show as I get on the road at 8:30 am. As I pull onto the highway I hear the group of radio personalities discussing potato salad recipes (EWWWW), one person talks about adding bacon the other mentions adding both bacon and ham (HELLO people it’s not even lunch time!!!) Then she says.. “If anyone has more Wedding Recipes give us a call to share.” (No Comment).

Every girl’s dream wedding is one that features various types of potato salad

4. I passed by a car on the side of the freeway today, pulled over by highway patrol lights flashing and all. At first I thought it was because of their bumper sticker but several minutes later the car speed past me in the passing lane. Ohh yeah the bumper sticker it said “I heart CATS”. (No Comment).

5. They put chili con carne on everything, and then they call it Mexican Food. (I have heartburn, forgot to pack the antacid).

That is not Mexican food, that is just….horrid

As you can imagine I’m a little concerned by my experiences over the last 36 hours as only a year ago I was planning to move to Texas. As I will be here for several more days, I guess I should not bank on meeting the love of my life in TX and swept off my feet as I don’t miss him, I make it a habit to always wear a shirt in public, and WILL NOT ever serve potato salad at my wedding!!! Only 4^th of July BBQ’s please…