Yesterday on the Other Side of the World

This is a chronicle of my life and times in the US, first as a foreign student from Malaysia/Singapore, and then as a cog in the wheel of a large US company. It aims to be a synthesis of (a) reminiscence of things past; and (b) blog entries I might have written if I had a blog then.

Name:
Location: Malaysia

Friday, June 22, 2007

on-campus job

I was once supposed to get into the food services industry. Rebel that I was, I conveniently forgot to attend the meeting that would have launched my food services career. In a sense, I took the road less taken, and it made all the difference.

My studies at Princeton were financially supported not just by my dad but also by a generous need-based financial aid package. The financial aid package was mostly in the form of grants. However, the remainder was supposed to come from my earnings from a part-time on-campus job. As such, a job was earmarked for me with the Department of Food Services. This would have been kicked off at an orientation meeting, an orientation meeting that I somehow forgot to attend.

The Department of Food Services, affectionately known as DFS, is what provides 3 meals a day for hundreds of freshmen & sophomores at Princeton. DFS employs many students who cook, serve food, clean up and so on. I think students who work for them are put on a roster for the various duties. I'd know the details, but then again my career in the food services industry never did take off, did it?

I used to be very respectful of authority, so my non-attendance at that DFS kickoff meeting was a radical move that stirred up large dust clouds of guilt within me. The dust clouds had not yet settled when I heard that CIT was hiring. CIT stands for Computer & Information Technology. Now that was something I felt would be more to my liking.. and which might assuage my guilt. Moreover, I had the notion that being a high powered computer consultant beat beingif a lowly dish washer.

Did I really want a job? Maybe not really. I was afraid that the office of financial aid would somehow track me down and find out that I had not taken up their DFS assignment and ask nasty questions. I would have something to show them as a substitute. I would show them how resourceful I had been. However they never did come by to ask.

I was interviewed by a guy called Irwin. He gave the impression of being more at ease with computers than with people.

Then came the long wait. I had read that it was good to ''show interest" to improve one's chances of getting the desired job. So I went back to the computer center a few days after my interview, to look for Irwin.

''Have you decided yet?

Not yet.

Awkward silence.

Well... I'm here because... I really want this job ...

(I was out of things to say; I had not prepared for this)

Nod. Irwin, a man of few words too.

Finally, I got the job. I became one of the few, the proud, the computer consultants! When you need to use a CDROM but don't know how to make your computer read it, who do you call? CIT! When you need to login to a unix computer that has the software you need to do your homework, but you've never used unix before, who do you call? CIT! When you're all stressed out and pulling all-nighters to complete a paper before the deadline, and then your stupid computers conks on you, who do you call? CIT!

Of course, we computer consultants were not all equal. When we first began, we each had to complete some self- training modules, after each of which we would be grilled by more experienced fellow consultants who had long since completed the modules themselves. Some of these guys exuded such an aura, a mystique, that when they walked by, they would leave a trail of obscure computer knowledge in their wake, and those of us in training would ooh and aah like little girls at a wedding as the bride walked by. One of these superstars was K. ''You mean K is a student too?" I once asked a fellow consultant. Images came to mind of K sitting in class, asking questions. It was incongruous, mind boggling!

Computer consultants could sign up for shifts in the computer center or in some of the computer clusters sprinkled around campus. Some of us prefered computer center shifts where you'd work with a bunch of other consultants to handle calls and walk-in customers. Anti-social guy that I was, I prefered shifts in the clusters where you could get to be a lone ranger hero when printers ran out of toner or some damsel in distress was having problems opening files, etc.

Picture an operating room table with an unconscious patient lying on it. He's surrounded by folks in surgical scrubs and masks.

Yo, check out this guy's lard tub and how it jiggles.

Stop it! You're killing my appetite.

I was told that such scenes do occur. But its not something that doctors would be proud of. Its not cool to make fun of the customers. Similarly, in computer consulting, one sometimes had to fight hard to keep a straight face when faced with severely "computer challenged" customers. Unlike patients on an operating table, these folks are capable of seeing you roll your eyes up and so on. And they're capable of feeling outraged too.

It helps if you're doing phone consulting, so long as you can control the tone of your voice. The following is a true story. It happened to an unnamed consultant.

The mouse is not working.

What kind of computer is it?

I dunno.

Is it an IBM PC? A Mac?

uh... a Mac..

Are you sure?

Yeah, a mac.

Can you click any of the mouse buttons?

uh, buttons?

Yes. As in left button and right button... On the mouse

There's only one button.

Wait a minute- are you sure it's a mac?

uh...

Look at the front panel of the computer. Is there a picture of a colorful apple there? Or does it say IBM?

The letters I, B and M?

You got it.

Yeah. It says IBM.

2 Comments:

Blogger nicole said...

Hahahahaahah! This is really, really funny!!! By the way, my friends who did catering jobs in uni always picked up nice jackets left over by students and they never return them. mean, huh? but they were really expensive and nice jacket. my friends also stole the commercial toilet roles and used it in their apartment. super funny. I? I was secretarial assistant in the university hospital and was guilty of bringing pink sticky notepads home...I think I am going to read your blog instead of my new book...

9:55 PM  
Blogger the deLicious Word said...

what's a pink sticky notepad compared to a jacket or toilet roll? I'd choose the jacket any day!

12:41 AM  

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