A Typical Job Interview in China
When I was at Newport East Metro Station (新港东地铁站) in China, I saw a big group of Chinese girls and Chinese boys all standing there on their mobile phones.
I am thinking, “What are they doing? Are they playing a computer game? Are they playing Pokemon Go?”
I approached the group of Chinese adolescents with curious eyes.
One young Chinese girl with a red jacket had a cute face, a drooping-lip, and curious eyes. I walked up to them and speaking in Mandarin asked,
“Excuse me, what is going on here? Are you guys playing a computer game?”
“你好, 不好意思. 你们现在在做什么? 你们都玩游戏吗? “The Chinese girl replied, “Examination.”
“考试.”I reacted, “You are doing a test outside? Why?”
“你们为什么在外面做考试?”The Chinese girl replied, “We are applying for a job at this metro station.
“我们正在这个地铁站申请工作.”I said, “Oh, that makes sense.”
“哦，我明白了.”
I thought, “Wow, I have just walked into a job application in China.”
It came as a culture shock to me.
I saw the security guards were collecting names via WeChat (微信), so everyone was nervous.
I don’t know what it is with me today but every time I am walking around as a foreigner in China with a suitcase, everyone is swarming around me. I got a lot of attention.
Five girls were standing around me.
One girl said, “你在这里出差吗?”
“Are you on a business trip?”I said, “No, I am an English teacher.”
One girl moved forward, and could speak English. She was really cute.
When that Chinese girl started talking to me using some English, I asked,
“You speak English, do you?”
She replied, “A little.”
I said, “因为我的朋友在公园前地铁站已经做这个工作. 如果你做这个工作的话, 英文比较重要.”
“My friend has done this kind of work already at Park Front Metro Station. If you want to work in a metro station, English is quite important. You need to speak English because you are going to have customers like me.”
She agreed.
Diary Of A Mad Chaos is a daily diary written from March 1996 until today, of which individual books and book series have been created, namely “The Lost Years” an exploration of young, entwined love, the “Wubao In China (猎艳奇缘)” book series which provides an extensive comparative analysis of the cultural differences between Eastern and Western societies, and the book titled “Foreigner (华人)” an exploration of race relations in Australia.
