Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Interview

So I had a video conference interview today with two people in the San Francisco office with whom I’d be working closely if I were to go permanent in my current temp job. It went pretty well, I’d say; interviews don’t intimidate me very much, probably because I’ve done so many auditions and those are SO much harder. Plus, with this I really don’t care – that makes it very easy.

I stumbled a bit at the question, “So, why do you want to work for Joe Schmoe Partners?” Hell, I don’t even know what they do.

They also asked, since my background is entirely in music, if I would feel intimidated by the investment banking scene. “No,” I responded, sounding perhaps a bit too unimpressed.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

My other work related-story for the day: this guy calls for my boss, who was out today. I take down his name and number and then he asks for mine.

“Irish boy?”

“No, Scottish.”

“Oh. My family lived on the border of Scotland and Ireland.”

Umm…yeah, okay...
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9 comments:

Jess said...

Well, that beats how the rest of us view the various parts of the UK. That is, we barely know which one's which. "Scotland? Ireland? England? Is there a difference?" (Okay, time for me to go hide.) ;)

9:54 PM
Andy said...

JESS! GASP! Ireland is NOT part of the UK.

9:58 PM
Jess said...

Oh yeah. Right, Northern Ireland is. Oops. (See? I told you I didn't know about these things. Actually, I knew that, but I'll blame that on being tired.) :)

10:01 PM
Jess said...

Now that I think of it, I probably shouldn't even mention Northern Ireland. Let's just forget the whole thing! ;)

10:04 PM
Matthew said...

Which brings around an interesting question. How exactly do you live on the border between Scotland and Ireland? A boat in the North Channel? Anywhere in England? Isn't that a bit like living on the border between Canada and Mexico?

1:00 AM
Anonymous said...

Matthew - you make a really important point... no wonder why now everything makes sense, being Canadian AND Mexican... I was born in the border region!!! (just kidding, just in case anyone thinks I'm being serious about being born in the border region -- the part about being both Can and Mex is actually true).

No, seriously... while I lived in Manchester I found it interesting how Scottish people were so adamant about being Scottish... and Welsh about being Welsh. Is this common?

11:18 AM
Andy said...

Actually, I think the more appropriate analogy would be something along the lines of "the Australia - New Zealand border." I don't know, maybe he's part ling cod or something. I didn't ask. Or he was absent the day they taught geography in school.

And it's not really about heritage; mine is similarly blurred. My Protestant Scottish ancestors fled Queen Mary and settled in Northern Ireland before coming to America; my point is, there isn't a border, just the Irish Sea.

1:13 PM
SailRacer said...

You're making me come to terms with the fact I need a real job. I hate that.

6:16 PM
Anthony said...

Re:Richie's query, the Welsh and Scots tend to be precise about their origins so that others don't lump them in with the English, for whom the terms "English" and "British" can be synonymous. It's just about forgiveable for people of other nationalities to confuse these two terms, but for an English person to do this is frankly insulting.

If you want to piss off the English though, point out to them that the true English are the Welsh, who moved into the mountains of Wales to get away from the Vikings.

For the record, I'm English by blood but have lived in Scotland, on and off, for about 10 years. It's been quite an eye-opener.

3:46 PM

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