Would you hire me?

Recently I attended a job interview.This is how it went....

Interviewer - Bla di bla di bla tra la la la la la oompa loompa doom-pa-dee doo

Cherrie - (thinks When will this company history get over)

Interviewer - So..run me through your career since you left education.

Cherrie - I started my career with company 1. I worked in the retail and hospitality domain for a US client. Was involved in web development and database development. Then I left company 1 to join company 2.

Interviewer - Why did you leave company 1?

Cherrie - The domain did not make much sense to me. I feel one needs to know the business to be able to code well. But I was lost with what is the difference between a condo and an apartment.

Interviewer - What is the difference between a condo and an apartment ?

Cherrie - I don't know and never understood .

Interviewer - Stupid Americans and their terms. Both are places to  live 

Cherrie - Exactly. So in company 2 I was in the financial services domain and worked on a voluntary rewards application for my client . Then I left it to join company 3 for personal reasons. Then in 2010 we moved to the UK and I joined company 4.

Interviewer -Why did you move to the UK?

Cherrie -My husband came here and I followed him (thinks tongue showing smiley :P)

Interviewer - So if I asked your current employer to describe you in 3 words what would he say?

Cherrie- Hmmmmmm (for 20 seconds) well...(for 10 seconds) I think he would call me a team player.

Interviewer - Thats 2 words

Cherrie - Hmm okay

Interviewer - Ok I give it to you, 2 more words.

Cherrie - Has good object oriented concepts and good business knowledge

Interviewer - (smiles) 

Cherrie - (smiles)

Interviewer - If I asked the same question to your husband what would he say?

Cherrie - Hmmm.. (60 seconds) (Thinks What the.... Starts day dreaming about K ;)  )

Interviewer - You have to be quick.

Cherrie -  Hmmm..he calls me assertive.(Pauses for close to a minute)

Interviewer -  You have to be quick you know.

Cherrie - He calls me a good cook and also a travel agent since I research holiday plans.

Interviewer - So he eats what he is given and goes where he is told.

Cherrie - He definitely does NOT eat what he is given and seldom goes where he is told. ( Where the hell did that come from? ) 

Interviewer - So define how your worst day would be? A day from hell.

Cherrie - Am I in office? 

Interviewer - Maybe.

Cherrie - First up I am late to work and my mild OCD kicks in and I start thinking how other things are going haywire because I am behind schedule as per my personal timescales. Then there is some network and firewall issues. I have no clue about them since I am a mere programmer but I have to coordinate with networking and security teams. I am answerable but situations are not under my control.That is the day from hell.

Interviewer - At the end of such a day how do you unwind?

Cherrie - I walk from work to home. I hear music at a volume which could turn me deaf. Thats my unwind mechanism. 

Interviewer - And if it the best day?

Cherrie - I am on time :) There is an appreciation email from someone. Something I have been researching or trying starts to work. And people don't  bother me.

Interviewer - (Emphatically writes down something and says 'don't bother' I think that is what he writes down)

Interviewer - Where do  you see yourself 5 years from now ?

Cherrie - There is the idealistic plan and the realistic plan. In an ideal world I would love to do an MBA. I know friends who have done it and they are changed individuals. 

Interviewer - The change is called confidence. 

Cherrie - Maybe. The realistic plan is I would still be coding and hopefully knowing much more than I currently do.

Interviewer - Hm.. so  do you have any questions for me? 

Cherrie - (Thinks no let me go my kid is waiting) None that I can think of now.

Some usual exchange of pleasantries and the interview ends.

So would you hire me?

DareDevil

Hmm one thing I hate is crossing the railway tracks. But it is what I do every day.
I take the local train to commute from home to office.
Evenings we have a drop from the office to the station.
Now there are two ways to get to the platform to board the train: -
1. Go over the foot over bridge
2. Jump over the tracks

The entry points for taking either of the routes subsequently are different.
The employees of my firm literally coax the driver of the cab which takes us to the station to park it so that they can go over the tracks rather than take the foot over bridge. ( much to my annoyance)

Jumping over the tracks freaks me out.
A relative of mine once had a pretty bad experience when her shoe got stuck in between the tracks with a train being pretty close.
I always get terrorized by that thought.
And many a times I can hear the whistle of the train, or the light cast by it, and still I huff and pant and struggle over the tracks mustering all my courage. ( now don't ask me why do I do it, if I dislike it so much. Maybe the thought of being all alone on the platform while all my colleagues would be chugging their way home, is not very palatable for me)

So many a times I have ended up scrapping my precious shoes over the pebbles on the track, hurt my foot innumerable times, stumbled, dropped my laptop, and been through a literal rough patch while crossing the tracks.

But yest I just crossed all the limits.
There was not just our train which are coming, there was another train from the opposite direction as well. So basically there were two monsters heading on towards me.
People were scrambling to make it to the other side.
One of my colleagues who is a close friend, reached the safety of the plat form quite soon.
She stood there calling " Come on Make it Fast,Come on"
And here I was scared, petrified, in dilemma and very tensed- Looking at the two sets of tracks to be crossed.

Then I just decided to go for it.
I literally covered one of the tracks in one leap(Boy! did nt it feel amazing! ).
I hope my mom never gets to read this blog, cos she was hell worried when I had mentioned the 'track jumping' act.
If she hears of me making it with the train being so close, and more over with two trains heading towards me, I think she will make me leave my job :D

PS: My friend told me, my train crossing reminded of her of the famous Aamir Khan train run from the movie Ghulam :D :D :D