Jobseeker’s diary

I woke up early to get to work. No one wants to be late on their first day and by 8.30a.m., I was already at the restaurant. There weren’t many people, except the guard and driver. I asked if Linah was around and was told she had gone to town. I decided to wait inside for my instructions as she had promised to do the previous day. I walked to the reception area and sat on one of the luxurious couches, wondering if I would ever be able to afford such beautiful furniture for my own house. There were a few magazines and brochures on the coffee table and I decided to flip through some if only to familiarize myself with Chinese cuisine and culture. Minutes later, I heard voices and soon, about three men, all Chinese emerged. None talked to me and I found it odd. I was about to walk over and talk to them when another man, clearly Rwandan, walked in. I introduced myself and told him I had reported for work. He didn’t seem to know about that and went to ask one of the Chinese. He returned a few minutes later to congratulate and welcome me “officially”. “I’m called John and I’m the supervisor here,” he said. He took me around the restaurant, this time showing me the different rooms, restrooms, Karaoke and conference halls, typical of a small hotel and by the time we returned downstairs, most of the other staff had arrived and were signing a register. I was also asked to write my name down and informed it was the way the supervisor kept track of the days one worked. After that, we had a brief meeting where I was again introduced to the rest of the staff before we were all assigned our tasks for the day. I have no past waitressing experience and I had always imagined that all a waitress did was look pretty, take orders and serve food, snacks or drinks to customers. Imagine my shock when I learnt that the waiters and waitresses here don’t only serve food but also clean, cook and do plenty of gardening! More of that later. While still trying to digest the enormity of our tasks, I heard my name being assigned to cleaning the toilets that day. While giving me a tour of the premises, John had mentioned that we were not allowed to use the indoor toilets which were strictly for clients. It hadn’t bothered me in the least because I don’t even use the toilet that often. But here I was being asked to clean them on my first day! Up to that time, Linah hadn’t yet returned and I somehow felt that perhaps if she’d been around, I would have received some special treatment, considering I was new. That wasn’t all. There were more rules as I realized when I was handed a list of dos and don’ts from John. We are not to rest or lounge in any of the rooms, except to attend to clients. That’s reasonable, I thought to myself. We are not to use any of the China (cups, saucers etc) and if we break anything, our salary will be cut to recover the replacement costs. If you report to work even one minute after 9a.m., that day is as good as a skipped one and it will not be paid. No one, especially girls are allowed to carry handbags to work. This I found very disturbing. I mean everyone knows that bags are our life. So where would we keep our tissue, phones, make-up and a diary in my case? John’s explanation was that the managers didn’t want to risk losing glasses, cutlery, towels and other such items which could easily be stuffed into bags. I wondered why they just didn’t ask the guard to check our bags before we left to ensure no one stole anything, but well, I don’t call the shots here. Then there was the tea rule. While some people are crazy about pork and beer, I’m nuts about tea. I will take up to 10 or more cups given the chance and when I saw a water dispenser at the restaurant, I was thrilled, only to be told by one of the pioneer waitresses that we are not allowed to have tea. “Unless you go out and buy the tea from elsewhere because you are not even allowed to order anything on the menu even if you can afford to,” she said. My gut had been right when it suggested that this job was too good to be true. And if you think I’m just too choosy and should just be glad I have a job, wait until I tell you about the other rules. To be continued…. nsophie77@yahoo.com