So near and yet so far

I am sitting here at the UNLV Student Union waiting to process some hiring papers with the Starbucks assistant branch manager and the Hiring manager. I wonder if this will really push through. I really hope it does. I'm so psyched to be a barista.

***

Two phone interviews scheduled next week:

San Francisco job
Tuesday July 31
2 p.m. Pacific Time

Boulder, CO job
Thursday August 2
9 a.m. Pacific Time

The tricky thing here is if I get offered the California job on the same week and if they do offer a work visa. This is going to be a tough choice. It's going to be one of those times that one needs to do a Pros and Cons list.

***

In the middle of this hopeful time comes a Murphy's Law instance. "Things will go wrong in any given situation, if you give them a chance." This time it's our phone line. for some reason, my mother just decided to switch carriers without telling my sister and I. And so I was sitting at my sister's PC composing an e-mail to Boulder Colorado HR person when my internet connection went zonk. About the same time, C. called my cellphone and said she hasn't been able to get through to my landline. I though of the Boulder interview, which at that time was scheduled on Monday, and thought oh no! Murphy's Law.

It seemed that I was going to have to take the calls on my cellphone. And we all know that even that is susceptible to Murphy's Law. But we'll see. According to Vonage, we are supposed to get some doohicky in the mail and that this is what we need to get our phone working again.

***

I have always dreamed of living and working in San Francisco. It's my kind of city. Unfortunately, it is also an expensive city. One of the most expensive places to live, in fact. I'm kind of excited about the interview, but I wonder if it will be feasible for me.

I met a fellow-Filipino today. Her name is M. and she works at Starbucks. :)

Thoughts on a Sunday

I have a job interview on Friday at a remote outlet town between Las Vegas and Los Angeles. I think to myself, "Well, at least its in a 'Manhattan Transfer" song." It shouldn't be so bad. But I am having doubts about this job interview. In the first place, I have doubts that the company would be able to sponsor a work visa for me. Secondly, I am thinking of the cost that a two city job might entail. I will need to spend three days out of the week in city A and the rest in city B. Think of the petsitting expenses. Think of all that driving. And think of the fact that deep inside me I can feel the nesting instinct growing and growing.

At the minimum, I think of this interview as an opportunity to practice. Still, at this point I am feeling a little fatigued and yearning for a pick me up, like an exciting workshop, going to the Comic Con or maybe finally nailing that job at Starbucks (they have put my hiring on hold because they want to offer me another position) :P.

In the meantime, I think I will have a mango.

A job offer! ;D

TODAY, I accepted a job offer to be a Starbucks barista. :) :) :)

I know, I know. I have two masters degrees, left a stellar career back home and all I want to do is make coffee?

You may not believe this but many, many writers harbor secret desires to become baristas. In Manila, many years ago, I was with some writer friends who were tired of their teaching jobs or their editing jobs. Around that time, I was near burn-out myself. And so I said, "You know, I only really want to be a barista right now." And one by one my friends revealed that have wanted that job as well.

But this was the Philippines, where stepping "down" the career ladder is not just unheard of, it is also, well, seditious and out of the norm. So I knew that as much as we sighed and dreamed, none of us would be baristas. Coffee shop owners maybe. But not barista employees. That was a job for college kids.

***

On a whim after that conversation, I decided to fill out an application for a Starbucks barista position at the branch near Ateneo de Manila on Katipunan Avenue. Then I waited and waited and never got a call back. I told my burnt-out friends about this and although it ignited a spark of interest in them, they said they weren't really surprised I wasn't even interviewed.

"Did you tell them you have a Masters degree and currently work for the number one newspaper in the country?" one friend asked.

"I told them, but not that way," I retorted. "And you're supposed to be honest in a job application right?"

"You're over-qualified," one said. Just say you have an undergrad.

I applied at another branch, this one nearer a restaurant district. No call back. My friend said, "Maybe you're still overqualified this time because your undergrad degree is from UP."

***

With this job offer, I thought I had escaped the stigma of the "overqualified" label. It was touch and go. My interviewer, an upbeat young man, kept asking me if I was sure I wanted the job even if it just paid $7 an hour.

I told him about working as a darkroom lab assistant for less and being the most dependable lab assistant (maybe) ever and that seemed to win him.

...Until he told his superiors about my application and my background in communications and advanced degree in education. Now they want me to come over tomorrow because they have an opening which pays more but is in a different area. I assured my interviewer that I really am just interested in being a barista, but that I would speak to his superiors tomorrow.

I don't know what they want to talk to me about...But I really just want to be a barista :)

Good News for Ms. N and Ms. C

TODAY has been a day for good news for both me and C. we both got replies or signs of life from several companies we have applied to. This morning C. shared news about a development with a Texas company application which she interviewed with two months ago. Nothing definite yet but definitely something positive. She was asked to do an online evaluation test. C. has also gotten a few more calls from the recruiting company, albeit nothing definite as well.

On the other hand, I got a call today from a company I have always wanted to work for: Starbucks! In the quest for a full-time job, I of course need a part-time job. And one of my dream part-time jobs is to become a barista for Starbucks. Could it be this dream will soon come true? I've set an interview with the university branch manager for tomorrow afternoon. Tonight I will dream of free coffee!