It's always a bloody feast or a famine, isn't it? When you last heard from your intrepid scribe (me, duh..) I was extremely frustrated, having spent two solid weeks wearing the soles out of my shoes, arsing all over Manhattan, vainly searching for a job. I became quite used to hearing the phrase "We're not hiring right now, but if you'd like to leave your resume (CV), that'd be great…" Bastards. Mark was trucking along nicely over at Mars 2112, slinging cocktails and making a few shillings. Joe was finding things a little tougher, as the nice restaurateurs of New York aren't quite willing to take on a new employee who a): is only in town for a few months and b): has zero experience. Bummer. I'd had a good conversation with Barry, the owner of McCormack's on 26th and 3rd, who informed me that there was a spot (4 days a week) opening up and seeing that I was the only guy who'd contacted him with experience, that it was mine. Woo Hoo!! However, the job wasn't going to open up for another 3 weeks. Ah crap. He advised me to keep looking and if I hadn't found anything in the meantime, that he'd hold the job for me. Of course he was looking for someone long-term, so I sorta forgot to tell him that I was only out for the summer. (Job offer number 1). Well that's something at least… Well, that was about three weeks ago. Jimmy, my old mate from Sally's, put me onto Mullin's on 7th Avenue, saying they might have a gig going for 4 days a week. I wandered into Mullin's and spoke to Kevin, the owner. He's an older gent, full of great stories – the kind of guy who traps you in conversation and holds you there. He could talk the ears off a bloody donkey, this chap. BUT he did say there would be a spot coming up (in about two weeks), that one of the guys was going out sick for an indeterminate amount of time. I said that I was only going to be in town until September, and he was cool with that. And then another guy would be getting married, so there would certainly be shifts there for me. Mullin's is a good stick, busy enough, and has a large function room that does great business. (Job offer number 2). Well, that was about two weeks ago. In the meantime, I called back into Seven, where the new guy behind the bar told me to check out Dom Giovanni's at 23rd and 10th, that they might be hiring. I figured to myself "Hmmm, an Italian Joint? I'll try anything at this stage…" So I ankled it over to the West Side and stuck my head in the door. The manager asked me for my resume and then asked me to wait while he went over it. I stood there nervously, thinking that I was going to get the same old "We're not hiring…" line, UNTIL he started making phone calls and faxed it off to someone else. Hmmm… I managed to eavesdrop on snippets of the conversation – things like "good looking resume" and "lots of experience" and the manager kept looking me over as if I was a piece of prized beef. About 10 minutes later, when he finally got off the phone, he asked me if I had a black t-shirt! I said that I didn't have one on me, but I could go and get one. His reply was that I should go and get a t-shirt and report back to him straight away for training!! (Job offer number 3) Praise Jesus, Buddha, Allah (insert suitable deity here), I had myself a job! It's an old style Italian Joint (they've even got an autographed photo of John Gotti hanging on the wall) and the menu is large but simple. About three hours into my training I met the owner, Kimi (who's a bit of a hottie). She was STILL looking at my resume, possibly not a good sign, I reasoned to myself. Then the hammer fell. Although I had previously explained that I was only going to be around for the summer, Kimi took me aside and explained that she was really looking for someone long-term. Ah crap, can't a guy get a break in this bloody city? But Kimi wasn't done. She asked me if I would be interested in working in her friend's place downtown. Hello? A job is a job, for crying out loud! Of course I didn't say that, but quietly agreed that it sounded interesting. She said that he owned a Spanish Tapas place near the World Trade Center, and that she'd give him a call for me. Two seconds later, she passed me the phone – I spoke to this guy and he asked me to come in the following day for training! Job offer number 4 (it's best to keep count). Kimi seemed very eager to hire Irish people – in fact she kept asking me if I knew any Irish girls looking for jobs, and said that she always had good experiences with hiring them. I said that I knew an Irish GUY (Joe) and was brutally honest with her. I said that Joe was new to New York and had very little experience in the restaurant industry (does McDonald's count?). But that Joe was a good worker and was eager to learn. Kimi gave me her number and said to get Joe to call her, she might be able to sort out a busboy position or something. This woman's a bloody legend! (And did I mention that she was a hottie?) Skip forward to the following day – I arrived at Azafran (Spanish for Saffron) decked out in a nice black silk shirt ($11 at Macy's – I LOVE New York!). I walked into a beautiful, post-modern and chic restaurant and met with the manager Pablo. He didn't seem to be aware of the fact that I was only over for the summer – I think he wanted someone to run the bar for him, get things organised and make the bar run smoothly. I had a look at the wine list (very extensive, about 80 bottles and ALL Spanish) and the menu (very cool, and again exclusively Spanish Tapas), and agreed to give it a go. It's a fantastic place, looks great and has an excellent menu. So what's the catch, I hear you ask? It's not very busy, that's what. But at the same time, I would be the only bartender on duty, so I would be working flat out. There was also the matter of the 5 page test I would have to take before they would agree to hire me – all about Spanish appellations, tapas, and all manner of other stuff that I would have a fair idea of, but not encyclopaedic knowledge of by any stretch of the imagination. There was a niggling sense of doubt about the whole thing in the back of my mind. It's not that I'm afraid of work, but I'd rather work my ass off and make money doing it, than work my ass off for nothing. The spot over in Mullin's on 7th Avenue was looking more and more attractive… THEN I got yet another phone call… Mustang Harry's, a place owned by my former employers, had just lost a waitress, and had shifts available! I spoke to Dee, the manager there, and explained the whole Azafran/Mullin's thing. Dee said that if I got the gig in Mullin's that she would give me shifts in Harry's to work around my hours over there. Perfect! (Job offer number 5, sheesh…) The opportunity was now there for me to work 7 days a week and make pots of cash doing it. Again, Woo Hoo! So I decided to knock Azafran on the head, and accept the two part-time positions in Mullin's and Mustang Harry's. I don't need a day off until the 4th of July… heh heh heh. I did feel a little bit guilty about leaving Azafran, especially after Kimi hooked me up there, but sometimes you gotta look out for number one. So there. And besides, the guys at Azafran were very understanding about the whole thing. Joe went up to Dom Giovanni's at 44th street (they have two locations) to begin his training the other day. Unfortunately for Joe, he kinda forgot to eat much of anything the previous day, and skipped breakfast that day too. Less than an hour into his training shift, feeling a bit light-headed, Joe went and "pulled a Bob." Yup, one minute Joe was feeling a little woozy, the next minute he woke up in the office with the managers looking at him in a very concerned manner. He had managed to pass out on his first day at work! Oops. The owners (including Kimi) were very worried about Joe, wanting to know if the reason that he hadn't eaten was because he had no money. (It wasn't, he just forgot to eat, the berk). Nevertheless, they gave Joe some money and a big bag of food and sent him home. Legends! Joe was a bit worried that they wouldn't want to hire him (would you?), but once again, the owners proved to be uncannily generous, and invited him to try again the following day. So Joe has been training all week and it looks like he's got himself a job. Yay! As for me, I went back to the nice people at the Social Security office, sheaf of documents in hand. I was served by a different, slightly more pleasant lady who asked me why I hadn't applied sooner. Aaaargh. I patiently explained about the previous "pleasant" lady and her dismissal of my application, after which she looked at me a bit dubiously. Not to worry, she accepted my pile of paper and said I would have my SSN in two weeks. Yippee. I start this week in both Mullin's and Mustang Harry's – so I've got myself sorted with a couple of jobs too. Thank f*ck. The hard slog of pounding the streets of Manhattan for what felt like eternity resulted in a total of 5 job offers in the space of just a few days. The biggest dilemma I faced was which ones to accept… And so I'm off to work. Woo Hoo! -- Roibeard O Mhurcu # 54144094 CS1 Class Rep. DCU Drama, Chairman (Chairperson/Chairthing, y'know like, whatever). www.dcudrama.ie "They have the Internet on computers now?" "Okay, brain. You don't like me, and I don't like you, but let's get through this thing and then I can continue killing you with beer." "Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true!" "Do I know what rhetorical means?" - Homer Simpson, America's second biggest schmuck -