I was supposed to go for another interview at an offshore fiduciary services company today, but what would have been a smooth process turned out to be so dramatic!
My interview was at 5:30pm in the evening, so I left my office at around 4:30pm, intending to take ample time to arrive at the company. I thought of taking a bus, which would take about half an hour the most, based on past experiences.
However, when I left my office, it was raining very heavily, that I was stranded. My office area consists of lots of buildings and hardly any shelter, so it was quite impossible going all the way downhill, down the stairs, go up the overhead bridge, and then reach the bus stop in the rain. I waited a while and then decided to call a cab.
However, no cabs were available despite calling for so long. I then called my headhunter and explained to her the situation. She said she would inform the company that I would be late. I waited for about half an hour, before the rain finally let up a bit at 5:20pm. So I decided to just brave it and go to the bus stop.
When I reached the bus stop, the bus I wanted to take just left. I waited about ten minutes for the next bus. I finally took the bus at 5:40pm, and called the headhunter again, telling her I was on the way, and that I would probably reach about 6:20 or thereabouts.
However, because some of the roads were still closed due to the Formula One race, plus the fact that it was still raining and the ground was still wet, I was caught in a very bad massive traffic jam, all the way from the highway to past the railway station. Vehicles were literally not moving at all! So I called my headhunter again and explained to her the situation. She said it was not a problem as the interviewer was willing to wait until 7:00pm or thereabouts.
The traffic became a bit smoother only when the bus passed the railway station and turned into the business district. Finally, I reached the bus stop at the nearest train station at the location at around 6:45pm. Because the ground was still wet and slippery and I was wearing a new pair of heels, I could not walk as fast as I wanted. I reached the company only at 7:00pm.
Luckily the interviewer was quite nice and understanding. However, the firm turned out to be a service provider (as I guessed), and not an in-house role. So even though the interviewer was nice, I did tell her my preference would be to look for an in-house role.
The whole interview wrapped up about 7:30pm. Imagine, I took more than two hours reaching that place, only to have a half an hour interview, and then it was a role which did not even interest me! It was a real experience indeed!
