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Published: December 2nd 2006
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Quick recap for those with acute short term memory: the original plan was to stay in Paihia for 4 weeks as that was the terms of the cleaning job at the backpackers...subsequently I decided to stay in Paihia till Christmas (10 weeks) as I had managed to hook up a waitressing job in a local bistro and the owner wanted someone who was willing to stay for the busy Christmas period...
The first 2 weeks of waitressing were fine...I actually enjoyed the job and got on well with the owner/manager then things kind of started going down hill...I think he lost his passion for his business and so despite Char (the part time chef) and I continously giving him lists of things we had run out of he never quite got round to replenishing the stock...one night we were only able to serve 4 things on the menu as we were out of everything else...sooooo embarrassing! He was also really disorganized and didn't plan things properly which made it really hard to help him as he didn't know what he wanted in the first place...he also thought that it was okay to notify you on the day that you had
Maggi the Cameraman
Despite the advances made in e-mail technology all backpackers stil insist on having their own copy of a photo... a shift that night and got really upset if you already had other plans...I got to the point where I absolutely hated my job and would return home fuming (great for my hostel mates), so I handed in my notice...the situation deteriorated after this as Paul decided that he was no longer talking to me and so would walk across the kitchen to Char and then tell her to inform me of something...she would then yell across the kitchen to relay the information to me...! I was so grateful when I arrived at work on the last day and he sent me home as he had employed someone else (poor girl)!!!
Aside from the job I actually really liked Paihia and decided that I would stay till Christmas anyway, so started looking for a job...I asked around at a few places and ended up leaving a note for the recruitment manager at one of the local hotels asking her to let me know if they had any vacancies available (thinking that I could then decide whether I was interested in any of them). Didn't hear a word until a week later when I got a letter in the mail
thanking me for "applying for the recently advertised position(s)", it continued to say that unfortunately I had not been selected for an interview but ensured me that this was not as a result of my lack of qualities but instead reflected the high calibre of the other applicants...mmm, seems that this means that I did lack certain qualities then...would also loooooooove to know exactly what I applied for as it would be handy to know which positions I shouldn't bother applying for in the future 😊...
Forunately I managed to survive the disappointment of not landing a job I didn't even apply for and ended up getting the BEST JOB IN THE WORLD!!!! Yip saw the job advertised and applied, the interview consisted of me being asked "do you have any coffee making experience" I replied that I didn't and was told to start the next week (boy, would have hated to have messed that one up)...my new career is .... drum roll please... gelato scooping!!!! Yip, I am an extremely dedicated employee and I am very serious about keeping my flavour knowledge current!!! Basically I get to chat to tourists all day long about gelato!!! On opening day
Emma (a colleague) and I were handing out free sample flyers in the streets and a few people asked us where we hung out on Saturday nights...only later did we remember that our t-shirts say "one lick is never enough" 😊
Now the uneducated may be wondering "what exactly is gelato?" (shock horror I know, but then again some people didn't know the 7 natural wonders of the world ... ) Okay so the sales pitch : In NZ for ice cream to be called ice cream it needs to have 12.5 or more %!f(MISSING)at. Gelato contains 4-6%!a(MISSING)nd has a smaller overrun rate (amount of air pumped into it) so the flavour is more pure...mouth watering yet? This little spiel together with the free tasters mean that life as a salesperson isn't all that hard (knock on wood)! At the moment my favourite flavour is Kiwi Pavlova although Melon is a close second...Have been practising my Afrikaans as there seems to be an abundance of South Africans passing through Paihia...turns out my vocabularly has deteriorated quite a bit!
It's so interesting watching people enter the store...there's the "I-am-so-not-buying-anything-I-am-just-here-cause-my-friend-dragged-me-in-here" stance. Easy to spot as they always stand
Mini Golf Crowd
Chris (UK), Dan (UK), Sandra (Germany) & Hannes (Germany) as close to the door as possible and need to squint to read the flavours. You also get the "Ice-cream-sales-person-is-no-better-than-a-used-car-sales-man-but-I-might-want-to-have-an-ice-cream-later". Their response to any greeting (regardless of whether it's "hello", "hi ya", "good morning/afternoon/evening") is a very abrupt "I'm just looking". The majority of people are "oh-man-look-at-all-the flavours-I-can't-decide-which-to-have". These people always fall into the store as they trip over the entrance step!
Contrary to popular belief the gelato doesn't magically scoop cleanly...we actually spend time cleaning the trays, but people often comment on how lucky we are that the trays remain spotlessly clean!!!
When it's quiet we have invented a few games to keep us occupied...the favourite is "guess the nationality of the next person to walk by the store" easy to win as there's no way of proving that you were wrong..."guess the nationality of the next person to come into the store" comes a close second but is easier to lose at..."guess the names of my siblings - no clues" isn't quite as popular as I thought it would be...!
My colleagues are awesome and my boss is so laid back, it's actually a pleasure to work for him...am loving the job and so will go
to Auckland for Christmas and then return before New Year. I've arranged to work till end of January and will then start travelling again.
On Tuesday my roomie Hannes (by the way I've stopped cleaning and am now in the long stayers dorm) mentioned that he had booked a dolphin swimming trip through the hotel where he works...I invited myself and booked the same tour...later another roommate (Steffi) decided to join us too...On Wednesday morning we all headed to the wharf and while Steffi and I happily boarded the boat, Hannes was sent back to the office as he did not appear on the passenger list. Steffi and I weren't to worried until our boat started pulling away from the wharf and he still wasn't on it...in the end there was a frantic guy whistling which caused our skipper to stop the boat and Hannes came running down the gangway and fell on the boat having dealt with all the red tape that comes along with getting a free trip from your workplace.
We had no trouble finding dolphins (I know you hate me Tim) and as the pod wasn't too big and there weren't any baby dolphins
(no idea what they are called) around we were allowed to swim with them...was so awesome!!! They swam so close to us and if it weren't for their super sensitive skins (apparently) we would have been able to touch them!!! Was so funny as the people on the boast would keep yelling "they're behind you" but who exactly they were talking to was impossible to tell...without a doubt the best thing I've done in New Zealand so far!!!!
Other than work things have been pretty quiet...a bunch of my friends have left but there are still some awesome people around...sadly the majority of them will be leaving this week so then I'll have to start making the effort to make friends again...sigh!!!
On my list I still have visiting Cape Reinga (haven't been yet...so sue me) and maybe parasailing...watch this space!
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Moeks
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Ghost writer?
It would have made my life so much more interesting this year is if the good old Church of England worked on the same recruitment lines as the hotel you mentioned. How about a photo of you in one of your blogs? Would be appreciated and proof that you aren't employing a ghost writer... The Lord be with you luv Moeks