The NightFalcon's grand adventure.
Tuesday, 8:00am:
After rolling around in bed fighting off sleep in the cold morning Ipswich weather, Falcon finally kicked his blankets off in an attempt to wake up.
Big mistake.
With the temperature a little over 15 degrees (It warms up later in the day thanks to the sun), exposing one's body accustomed to warmth to the cold suddenly is never a good idea.
"Uguu" he wailed, as he ran back into the comfort of his blankets.
However, the good thing about the sudden cold is that it does wake one up. Reaching down, he flipped open his laptop and did the usual checks on TVSgames.com (a re-found hobby). After shooting some level 5 Cruiser with his Galactic Bomber Alpha, he logged into his email account.
To his surprise, he received an Email from Woolworths (NTUC of Australia? LoL), regarding his application for a cashier a few weeks ago. He was to go to an interview on Wednesday.
Overjoyed that he has a chance to ditch his old job, Falcon made his plans for the next day, since the interview place is at the WoolWorths cooperate headquarters, which happens to be in Acacia Ridge.
Where?
"In the middle of no where" sounds just about right.
---
Wednesday, 9:00am
New day, same things. After the house experienced another "Uguu!" from Falcon, he carefully reviewed his plan.
2pm- Leave work.
2:30- Take Train to Sherwood.
3:40- Bus to Moorooka South.
4:00- Bus to Arcadia Ridge
4:15- Arrival at Woolworths corporate headquarters.
Smiling, Falcon left home, knowing that everything will go according to schedule.
But, as always, nothing goes according to schedule.
---
9:30am:
Apparently, arriving one and a half hours EARLIER does not make a difference. After telling his employer that he is attending a revision class (What, you think he would say "I am going for an interview for another job."? XD), his employer relented and allowed him to leave at 2:30.
It wasn't too bad, since the distance from the work place to the train station wasn't too far, and so, everything fell perfectly into his plan.
---
2:30pm:
Yet another horrid day at work. Although he was complimented that his sandwich making skills were better (They still look terrible to Falcon. He still wonders how the hell people can force themselves to eat it), a few idiots can't speak clearly, and Falcon ended up making a wrong order, which annoyed him because he was very certain that idiot said "A cup of coffee" and not "a mug of coffee".
Idiots.
After doing the usual cleaning up, Falcon ran to the train station, got his slip of paper, and got onto the departing 2:40 train.
---
Wednesday, 3:20pm.
Sherwood Station.
After finding directions to the Sherwood bus stop, Falcon discovered that he could have probably stayed till 2:45, taken the 2:55 train, and still make the 3:40 bus. Not that it mattered. After changing his shirt at the bus stop, Falcon waited patiently for the bus.
When the bus finally arrived, the fun truly began.
Firstly, the bus driver said that he won't be stopping at Moorooka South, the bus stop which Falcon had to alight in order to change service to arrive at his destination. After checking his notes, he was positive that the bus should stop at Moorooka South (Proof.
However, thankfully, there was a guy who knew where Falcon was going, and told him that he was on the right bus, BUT, the website is wrong. He had to get off a stop early and walk 5 minutes to the Moorooka South bus stop.
---
Wednesday, 3:55pm.
Moorooka South Bus Stop
Thanking that guy for helping him (He was headed to Moorooka) many times over after reaching the bus stop, Bus Service 110 to Acacia Ridge finally arrived. On boarding, he showed his map downloaded from Google to the bus driver, hoping that she would know where he needs to alight.
To his surprise and disappointment, she didn't. She recognised a few street names, and traced a finger over the route she would be driving. Finally, after 4 minutes, she concluded that I am to alight at one of the stops.
4 minutes felt like forever to Falcon, as time slowly ticked away. Of course, the passengers on the bus didn't like him for holding the bus either. After saying his apologies to the bus, Falcon sat down near the front as the bus moved towards his destination.
---
Wednesday, 4:25pm.
Acacia Ridge, Bellamy Street.
The bus driver forgot all about Falcon as she did not stop on the drive. However, Falcon was tracing the bus's paths as it moved, and realised that Bellamy Street was one stop too far. Thanking the driver, Falcon followed the map onto Marnham street, which, according to the map, was right across Fox Road, his destination.
The only thing separating him and Fox Road is the rail way tracks.
Thinking that he would still make it in time, Falcon moved towards the rail way tracks.
Suddenly, a huge fence appeared in the middle of the bushes. All tracks in Queensland (And probably Australia) are fenced to prevent people from going onto it. This thought suddenly struck Falcon like a bolt of thunder. Looking a little beyond, he could make out the Woolworths sign at the far side of the road.
So near, yet so far.
Falcon is not about to go down without a fight. Tossing his bag over his shoulders, he attempted to climb the fence.
As he placed his entire weight on the fence as he got a hold, the fence in Australia did something the usual fence back in TPJC did not.
It fought back.
Instead of just sitting there rigidly, it absorbed Falcon's weight, making getting any kind of a foothold virtually impossible unless he takes his shoes off. However, as the stations nearby just got an upgrade, the fence in the area has been upgraded with sharp stakes at the top to discourage anyone from climbing. If Falcon had tried, not only would he be injured, his clothes would also be sliced like cheese, making look ridiculous during his interview.
Slamming a fist against the fence in frustration, only god knows how far Falcon had to go in order to get to the other side.
However, as if the angels themselves have heard his cries of frustrations, he noticed something he initially did not in his haste to get over the fence.
Some kind soul has broken a hole in the fence.
Laughing, Falcon dashed through the hole, over the tracks, and to the corresponding hole on the other side. It seems like he isn't the only one who has been hindered by the fence.
After trekking through a bit of forestation, Falcon reached Paradise road, and finally, Fox road.
Running the final 100 meters, Falcon walked into the front doors of the Woolworths Corporate office.
Picture (From google maps):
Finally.
Or so.
Unfortunately, he was 4 minutes late.
---
Wednesday, 4:34PM
Woolworths State Corporate office, Fox Road, Acacia Ridge.
After suffering so much drama just getting to the place, Falcon entered at the same time as someone who was lucky to have his parents dropping him off. In the reception area are only 3 people, which struck Falcon as strange, as he would have thought that more people would have been selected.
He was right.
After being ushered into Conference Room, Falcon looked around the room.
Quite a few High School students.
As well as some people wearing formal clothes, ie a suit and tie.
Looking at his T-shirt and Jeans, Falcon took pride in that he was at least somewhat presentable after his fight with the Public Transport network.
But still....
Thinking that they were probably applying for some management position, Falcon filled up his form, which he was required to fill in what position he wants (CEO. HARHARHAR), and the places he is available to work at, as well as the time he is available.
After a few minutes, the HR person in charge of these came in, and gave us an activity. It's a usual ice-breaker activity everyone plays in CCA/JC. You're to introduce the person across you, and according to the questions you're given, you are to give some information about the person. Falcon partner was Morgan, some nice dude who had a year of working experience and is applying for his position.
Need I say he was in a suit too? LoL.
Anyway, the round of presentations went on, and Falcon realised almost everyone wanted the cashier position. Even the guys in suits and the ladies in some formal wear.
Not good.
Next, after the ice is broken, the HR person talked about the rules of Woolworths, about how you are to wear green and black yada yada, no tattoo etc etc.
Just when everyone was about to go to sleep, she gave them their second activity, which was to have a role play. There's going to be a main character, and there will be some irritated customer who is missing food or something.
Falcon's team had to do a role play where the main character has to take care of a missing cake, out-of-stock on Sultana cakes, a delivery, and a burnt victim (Yes, we are in the bakery area. Whee).
Falcon volunteered to be the customer who has a cake, and just acted like a total moron with some accent which seemingly every Asian person on television has (You wonder why...). It was a fairly interesting thing to do, although the girls in his group slightly annoyed the guys by going off track and wasting time talking about what they would do in an exaggerated manner, since the team only had 5 minutes to invent something.
After the role play, everyone was called up one by one to arrange a second interview as well as submitting their official documents such as identification. Falcon was surprised how some people didn't bring theirs even though it was stated quite clearly in the email.
As Falcon arrived late, he was the last one to be called up. The HR lady muttered something about her knowing that she would get a VISA person today (Since Falcon was the only one who isn't Australian among the 28 of them). He was to fill up another form and he had his photocopy scrutinized, as well as the photo on his passport cross checked with his face (Granted, Falcon looked cooler in that photo.... But still... that picture was barely a year old).
Finally, everything was done. However, unlike previously where Falcon had to walk through that hole and hope for the best in fighting the public transport again (The nearest train station, Salisbury, is an hours walk away. Woo hoo!), another kind soul offered a lift since he was sending another person back and we happened to be in the same train line (He lives in Graceville).
Thanking them a lot, Falcon looked back at what happened today.
In general, Australians are very helpful when you really need them. Without the guy on the bus, Falcon would be screwed before the interview even began, and without the guy and his mom sending Falcon to Darra train staion, Falcon would be navigating in the dark trying to figure out the nearest way to get home (He would probably end up at Salisbury, head to Roma Street, and THEN back to Ipswich. Hey, that sounds like Gold Coast!)
And.
The public transport, sucks.
Well, granted, Queensland is huge, but, Falcon did expect the drivers to know where they are going, especially when they are given a map.
While Falcon do hope that he would end up getting a more permanent job in Woolworths in hopefully the future, he is very sure that the place is not very friendly to a person who does not have a car, like him.
But still, admittedly...
It was fun.
posted by NightFalcon at 7:42 pm
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