Nonsensical Nothings

my first job

on tuesday, van, eelynn, khaiyong and i went to apply at blue arrow, a job agency. i'd heard that they'll call you if they have a job and u can turn them down if you want to, so i thought i could just try it for a while and work when i feel like it. then when we were at they agency, i found out it wasn't as easy as it sounded.

the training itself was so tough. we waited a few hours for the guy, rohit to be free to train us. then he took so long asking so many questions to the china students who were having trouble with their english. finally, he taught us the how to carry 5 plates in one hand. which i found extremely difficult to do coz i couldn't even get a proper grip on the first plate while everyone else could carry 5 easily. after carrying plates, he told us about table settings and a bit about wine waiting, which is separate from food waiting, and only wine waiters get tips if they make the clients happy. all in all, we were in the agency for 7 hours, from 3-10pm. and before even earning money, we had to spend money to fit their very strict dress code - plain white long-sleeved buttoned-up-to-the-neck collared shirt, plain black pants, plain black shoes, and black socks. i couldn't find a cheap white woman's shirt so in the end i got a man's shirt for the three of us.

my first job was yesterday at a horse race course. it was the ayr gold cup weekend or something like that for horse racing and there were marquees set up for the rich people to have lunch and tea. we arrived at the race course at around 8.30 and rohit assigned me and eelynn to food waiting even though he knows i can't carry plates. i spent the first 3 hours polishing cutlery(polishing is just dipping in hot water and rubbing with a cloth), setting chairs, folding napkins and filling milk jugs, which was easy and pleasant enough. the tiring part was having to stand straight for so long when the guests arrived. when they sat down, i clumsily laid their napkins on theur laps. luckily, when clearing the tables i got away with carrying only one plate in each hand. some people were carrying more than 5 in one hand, and so effortlessly! the food served looked so good but i was busy so i only managed to get one spoonful of rice and beef stroganoff from van and it was really good. i had a 15 minute lunch of one ham sandwich(which was given in our lunch bag) at 4pm. i later had a bit of leftover cake and sandwich and grapes while polishing cutlery. and they wasted so much food, throwing away the half-eaten or uneaten buns and cheese and etc.

then, because the guests in my section were not having afternoon tea like in the other sections, we had to become wine waiters. we had to watch out for empty glasses and keep filling them with wine or water, and take orders for drinks. i served this man gin and tonic maybe 3 times and on the last time, he gave me a tip of 5 pounds! (our wage is like 5.35 pounds per hour) at that time, my contacts were irritating my eyes and i was so surprised that i guess i might not have thanked him properly coz when i left, his friend laughed and said he didn't think i looked very satisfied. actually i think i was a bit stunned. haha.

after the last race, i was sent to polish cutlery in the kitchen. do you know how unhygienic they are?! the cutleries weren't even washed! all we had to do was put them in hot water and then wipe them with cloths which had already been used to polish them in the morning. the cutleries were still oily! and if any cutlery dropped on the floor, it was just put back into the pile without cleaning again. and i think the same goes for the glasses and stuff coz when we had to reset the tables for the next day, the cups and milk jugs didn't seem very clean. my goodness!

anyway, we worked for 11 hours. yesterday was silver cup day and today is gold cup. eelynn and van are back there working while i'm lazy to spend another day on my feet. i shall rest for this weekend. i am still sick, afterall. :)

posted by Cherie @ 7:27 pm