Apologies for not updating this blog! We keep forgetting! But we’ll have to start back at it again because our trip to LA was just so funny!

So where did we leave off……oh yes….

When we had finally recovered from our exhausting, demanding, arduous exercise experience, we thought we perhaps should do what we had come all the way from Ireland to do…..look for work! We had almost forgotten as we spent most of the time sitting on our moderately sized (but gradually growing) asses on our tiny little blue couch dreaming of all our summer prospects which, ironically, could not be reached without a few dollars – well considering our plans – a few hundred…..million dollars. We had planned to take trips to Tijuana, Las Vegas, San Diego and finish with one big shopping spree in New York…..needless to say that the nearest thing to a shopping spree was us in Rite Aid stocking up on our usual supply of chocolate and water.
 

So jobs it was then! But where to start? Ralphs and Rite Aid had no work – we were hoping we could get free water and chocolate! So we ventured out into the world – that being the Westside Pavilion and Santa Monica Place – two large shopping malls near us. We were girls on a quest. I mean, surely, if nothing else, our extraordinarily white exterior would catch the attention of employers – it might even lure customers into their shops to see what we were! What are they mom? However, while we imagined ourselves receiving magnificent, high-paid jobs – perhaps with a large business company where they would require that we dress in Gucci suits and Manola Blahnik shoes – we had to settle for….yep….you guessed it….a dump! Only kidding – we actually couldn't even get work in a dump!

The Westside Pavilion seemed to hold a whole host of opportunities. Out of the 119 shops, we applied to…well…. 119 of them. For example, Robinson May, Nordstrum, Lady Footlocker, KB Toys, Gymboree, Guess, Gap Kids, Disney Store, Cathy Jean, Ordinary Gap, Bodyshop, Bath and Body Works, Barnes and Nobles, Banana Republic, Anne Taylor, American Eagle Outfitters, Bebe, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, T-Moblie…..are you getting the picture? Well 119 shops basically. And you know what 119 shops meant – yep, you got it – 119 applications. We seriously spent hours, upon hours, upon hours upon end filling out the same drivel, nonsense, twaddle, claptrap, hogwash….you get the picture. Each application asked for your educational background, your college major and the usual stuff and of course previous relevant job experience..great…..we thought, our slightly podgy faces beaming at each other, just great – we have none.  So we decided to concoct an impressive and inspiring employment history.

That is to say, that when applying to restaurants, we listed an vast amount of fictional restaurants that we had worked at back home, for toy stores, a list of fictional toy stores we worked at back home – you get the picture. We weren't lying, per sae, just bending the truth to the extreme. But we had no other choice – it was either this or back home to rainy Ireland. However, because each application form required us to write contact numbers for all past employees, we spent most of our mornings afterwards frantically ringing relations at home in Ireland to inform them that they now owned a number of businesses in the culinary area, hospitality field, children’s toys, women’s fashion, coffee production and orange juice companies – yes we even applied to Jamba Juice…the extraordinary health experience unlike any you've ever tasted!...apparently!

So out of 119 applications, we were convinced the phone would be continuously hopping. However, it wasn't so much hopping as lying completely motionless or more stock still for endless hours or weeks you might say. Days passed until a little bleeping noise was heard from one of our phones – "Oh my Gosh, finally…" we thought, dancing sprightly around our teeny apartment living room "Oh wait –the battery just needs to be charged." No, to be serious, the phoneline was quite busy – yes out of 119 applications – we got 4 phonecalls – well one was from a fax machine so I guess that doesn't really count. But 3 were from prospective employers, all waiting to hear our superbly outstanding ideas of what we'd bring to their companies. 

                                                                                                                               This would be interesting we thought as we listened confused to the chirpy voices at the end of the line. They seemed to be taking this employment thing very seriously! Did these employers actually expect us to know anything about their companies? I mean, what was that about. We just needed money. It wasn't like this was going to be our career. They were already discussing pension options. Ok so even if we had to pretend like we were interested in Gap Kids to the point where we actually dressed in their clothes even though they were 100 sizes too small for us, we would do that for a few dollars that could buy us Cadburys!

Check out what happens at the interviews…..next time!