Be a Mistress not a Waitress
Went to look for waitressing jobs with Sus today.
The first was at a 'high-class Russian restaurant' in Tudor Court. It was quite a neat little place and there was even this -15 degree celsius bar in the restaurant where you can go and have your Russian vodka in thick winter coats provided courtesy of the restaurant. The pay, though, was bordering on exploitation - a mere $5 per hour. Following this argument, about every F&B establishment in town has deplorable employment practices, leading the pack is probably McDonald's at $3 per hour. Then again, the Banglas and ah peks wiping tables at food courts and hawker centres are possibly paid even less. That, however, is not a pressing concern of mine (or, I believe, yours) at the moment.
Honestly, I don't mind so much about the peanuts that Russia (as the restaurant shall be called henceforth) is paying. It is the learning experience that I find most important. Okay decidedly you can't learn much from juggling four or five plates but still, it is cool to be the 'servant' for once. Talking about servants, do you know how men used to greet each other in Dickens' time?
A: Sir, your humble servant. I am glad to see you.
B: Sir, I am yours. (Insert polite enquiry about weather/wife/children/horse)
So each claimed to the servant of the other when, in reality, the only servants were the niggers.
I have digressed. Yeah so the thing is I am very receptive of the idea of working in such a cool, exotic place except for this:
That's right. That is the uniform I am expected to wear. Well, I have nothing against the uniform per se and I think it will look rather sexy on her:
But on me? Hmm not such a good idea.
So onto Option Dos (Spanish for '2'): a Jap restaurant at Tanglin Shopping Centre.
It was not your usual run-of-the-mill Jap restaurants which serve stuff that bona fide Japanese have never even heard of. I am not going to name names here but you should know which ones I am talking about. Hint: the Green Frog.
Talking about the Green Frog, I actually faked some of the stuff I wrote in the job application form. I was not completely truthful about my past job experiences which were so meagre that I felt compelled to fake some. The Green Frog was one of them.
Anyway, I like the decor of the Jap restaurant. It had a rustic feel to it, as if it were some small, family-owned restaurant in a village in Okinawa. It was all very peasant-y and cozy. I can already imagine drunk, rowdy and red-nosed Japanese men drinking their sake and slurping their noodles and possibly also singing Japanese folk songs out of tune.
And it pays damn well too. At $7 per hour, it is possibly the most humane restaurant in town (or the only one which follows the guidelines and recommendations by the Manpower Ministry). But the boss (who looked 18 and whom we mistook for a waiter) seemed more interested in Sus. No surprise/as usual/it happens 99% of the time (the 1% gives me hope to live another day so let me have it). Lol! So there you go. A hundred bucks she is going to land the job.
As for me, I don't really care if I get a job. If I don't get the one at the Jap restaurant, I'll probably just continue what I have been doing for the past 4 months - slacking at home. I would read books, plenty of good ones out there. I am thinking of laying my hands on a Saul Bellow, possibly Herzog. David Sedaris' books look pretty promising too. Wish the NLB will hurry with the procurement of The Time Traveller's Wife though.
Or I could watch DVDs. Still got about 3 episodes of House left and plenty of Grey's Anatomy left untouched.
Or I could start on Sloman. Nay, I would rather get a job.
Or I could become someone's mistress.
The first was at a 'high-class Russian restaurant' in Tudor Court. It was quite a neat little place and there was even this -15 degree celsius bar in the restaurant where you can go and have your Russian vodka in thick winter coats provided courtesy of the restaurant. The pay, though, was bordering on exploitation - a mere $5 per hour. Following this argument, about every F&B establishment in town has deplorable employment practices, leading the pack is probably McDonald's at $3 per hour. Then again, the Banglas and ah peks wiping tables at food courts and hawker centres are possibly paid even less. That, however, is not a pressing concern of mine (or, I believe, yours) at the moment.
Honestly, I don't mind so much about the peanuts that Russia (as the restaurant shall be called henceforth) is paying. It is the learning experience that I find most important. Okay decidedly you can't learn much from juggling four or five plates but still, it is cool to be the 'servant' for once. Talking about servants, do you know how men used to greet each other in Dickens' time?
A: Sir, your humble servant. I am glad to see you.
B: Sir, I am yours. (Insert polite enquiry about weather/wife/children/horse)
So each claimed to the servant of the other when, in reality, the only servants were the niggers.
I have digressed. Yeah so the thing is I am very receptive of the idea of working in such a cool, exotic place except for this:
That's right. That is the uniform I am expected to wear. Well, I have nothing against the uniform per se and I think it will look rather sexy on her:
But on me? Hmm not such a good idea.
So onto Option Dos (Spanish for '2'): a Jap restaurant at Tanglin Shopping Centre.
It was not your usual run-of-the-mill Jap restaurants which serve stuff that bona fide Japanese have never even heard of. I am not going to name names here but you should know which ones I am talking about. Hint: the Green Frog.
Talking about the Green Frog, I actually faked some of the stuff I wrote in the job application form. I was not completely truthful about my past job experiences which were so meagre that I felt compelled to fake some. The Green Frog was one of them.
Anyway, I like the decor of the Jap restaurant. It had a rustic feel to it, as if it were some small, family-owned restaurant in a village in Okinawa. It was all very peasant-y and cozy. I can already imagine drunk, rowdy and red-nosed Japanese men drinking their sake and slurping their noodles and possibly also singing Japanese folk songs out of tune.
And it pays damn well too. At $7 per hour, it is possibly the most humane restaurant in town (or the only one which follows the guidelines and recommendations by the Manpower Ministry). But the boss (who looked 18 and whom we mistook for a waiter) seemed more interested in Sus. No surprise/as usual/it happens 99% of the time (the 1% gives me hope to live another day so let me have it). Lol! So there you go. A hundred bucks she is going to land the job.
As for me, I don't really care if I get a job. If I don't get the one at the Jap restaurant, I'll probably just continue what I have been doing for the past 4 months - slacking at home. I would read books, plenty of good ones out there. I am thinking of laying my hands on a Saul Bellow, possibly Herzog. David Sedaris' books look pretty promising too. Wish the NLB will hurry with the procurement of The Time Traveller's Wife though.
Or I could watch DVDs. Still got about 3 episodes of House left and plenty of Grey's Anatomy left untouched.
Or I could start on Sloman. Nay, I would rather get a job.
Or I could become someone's mistress.
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