My Interview

I had my interview yesterday for my first eikaiwa job. I won’t say who it was with but it is with a large chain.

The day started out okay except I was still dead tired from the plane ride and my head was still floating with the flu/cold thing that I had going on. I had taken some medicine, which helped, but still wasn’t feeling 100 percent.

I arrived at HQ just fine and met another candidate in the elevator (he was also white, dead giveaway) and it turns out he is from near to where I live in the states just on the Canadian side. I love Canadians and spent most of my 19-20’s in Canada for obvious reasons if you live by the border.

We got to chatting and he seemed like a pretty cool down to earth guy. We were taken to a room where slowly 7 other people trickled in (we were about 20 mins early) and then off started the presentation. We were asked what we knew about the company, and a basic overview of the hiring process, benefits, pay, time off, etc. We then had to fill out a questionnaire and choose the schools we wanted to possibly apply at. I chose all school close to where I am currently living with my girlfriend, as I want to ride my bike to work and save on train fare. However we might be moving soon so I also had to take that into consideration.

Afterwards we were all brought into a room one by one and asked some questions. My interview was very short! I think I wasn’t in the room more than five minutes before I was shaking the guys hand and leaving. Is that a good sign or a bad one? Only time will tell I guess.

I left and was ready to get on the train when I noticed I didn’t have my wallet or my sunglasses. I thought back and I didn’t take them out at all during the presentation or interview. I realized that I had put my tie on after I had arrived and remember placing them by a bathroom sink in the basement level of the building. SHIT!

I ran over there and they weren’t there but luckily a cleaning lady recognized me and said she had found my stuff and taken to “information,” ie the police box. She took me there and with a little fuss (what’s your name, what’s your occupation, why did you leave your stuff, what’s inside, how old are you, let me see your passport…) I was back on my way.

It made me appreciate Japan and how honest the Japanese are even in a big city like Tokyo. I have lost my wallet in both the US and Canada and never once did I ever get them back. But here in a city the size of New York a lowly cleaning lady took it upon herself to not only turn the wallet in but then recognize my face, approach me, and direct me where to go.

I might like working in Tokyo.