Chapter 2: The T-Shirt Experiment
Tony Ma came out of his trance and realized how foolish he must have looked. When he realized his mouth was half opened, he hoped he wasn’t drooling. “I am so sorry. I see women in business attires all the time, it’s so refreshing to see someone in casual wear!”
Megan was delighted upon hearing that. Perhaps she didn’t have to refund her casual wear after all. “I’m glad I’m not dressed inappropriately for the job interview.”
Tony looked confused. “Job interview?”
When Megan noticed his furrowed brows, she wondered if the advertisement was a prank. “I was asked to be here for an interview!”
“You were?” Tony scratched his head. “On this floor?”
At that precise moment, his receptionist appeared around the corner and rushed down the corridor with a file folder in one arm while her other arm was holding a big shopping bag. “Mr. Ma! Sorry, this interview is supposed to be held in the conference room. This is the folder Mrs. Tang prepared for you.” She handed him the two-inch thick vanilla folder. Tony browsed the first page and looked up at Megan.
“You are the Kimberley Chan interested in the Live-In position?” Tony was totally surprised. “Sorry, I was expecting someone much older!”
Megan smiled and wanted to give him the ‘Like’ icon. But when Tony continued to browse the folder, she wasn’t sure if his statement was meant as a compliment or not.
Tony turned to the receptionist. “I thought Madam Tang was doing the interview.”
The timid receptionist shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. “Madam Tang said to follow the instructions in the folder. She said she will text later you as well.” Then she handed him the shopping bag and went off to answer the phone that was ringing on her desk.
Holding the shopping bag, Tony appeared lost. In fact, he kind of was lost. “Umm… let’s get you to the conference room first!”
Tony led Megan into a huge conference room which was across from his office. She sat down in the chair that Tony pointed to and kept her focus on him. She couldn’t even allow herself a peep around the spacious room though she was well aware there was a beautiful panoramic view of the city behind her. This was not a standard room Megan was used to having her interview in. This room’s conference table reminded her of King Arthur’s Round Table. She wondered if the knights were going to charge in anytime now as Tony continued to flip through the papers in the folder. Megan felt humoured that she was actually more prepared than the interviewer. In fact, she was surprised how calm her heart was at this moment. She had never felt so relaxed at a job interview before. But, this was her first interview since she was laid off three months ago. She hadn’t heard back from any of the other jobs she applied for over the last three months; except for this one.
Tony suddenly looked up at her and gave her a suspicious eye. “It says here you were fired from your last job because you called a client Mrs. Shithead?”
Megan eyes grew big and round and heat filled her face. “Who gave you that information?”
“We did a reference check!” Tony answered matter-of-factly.
She looked at him and felt the need to explain. “I didn’t call her that. The client’s name was Mrs. Whithead. They said I typed a letter and addressed her as Mrs. Shithead. I don’t believe I did that, but even if I did, it would have been just a human typo error. My finger could have hit the letter ‘S’ instead of the letter ‘W’. You know how close they are to each other.” She looked befuddled. “Wait! I didn’t include my most recent place of employment on my resume!”
Tony took a quick glance at her cover letter and resume. “You’re right! There wasn’t much listed here!”
It was Megan’s turn to give Tony the suspicious eye. “If you did a reference check on me, that means you are planning to hire me? Or else why would you bother?”
Last week, Tony’s receptionist asked him the same question, he didn’t have the answer. Right now, he still didn’t. “I was just asked to do the background check by Madam Tang. She’s the CEO and your job is mainly to look after her estate as a Live-In caretaker.”
Tony continued to recite her employment history and education background as he browse through the folder.
Megan crossed her arms and sat back into the chair; buying herself some time to question what kind of company would complete an in-depth reference check on someone prior to the interview. Then she relaxed and uncrossed her arms and asked with eagerness in her voice. “So now that you know everything about me, will you be offering me the job?”
Tony looked at her with a smirk. “Why do you want this job in the first place? You’ve never worked as a caretaker before.”
Feeling completely relaxed, she just dived into answering his question. “I need a job and a place to stay!” Boy, she had dreamt of saying this in so many interview scenarios when she was young. “Besides, this was the first interview I got after sending out over 30 resumes over the last three months.”
“You sure you won’t be interested in an administrative position?” Tony took a risk in asking.
“Would the position be a manager and comes with accommodation?” Megan wasted no time to respond.
Tony chuckled at her frankness.
Megan smiled. “I didn’t think so! This job is supposed to be my dream job!”
“Your dream job?” Tony repeated with doubt.
“That’s what the Ad said!” Megan gave him a bright smile.
A text chime came to Tony’s phone. After he read it, he cleared his throat and turned all business-like. “Well Kimberly, we still need to find out a few more things in order to decide.” He turned to his side and reached for the shopping bag. He then proceeded to take out five different color T-shirts from the bag and placed them on the table like an assembly line. Tony was confused at this point but he continued by reading off a page from the folder. “Part of this job interview requires you to wear a T-shirt. Please choose one now and wear it for the duration of the interview.”
The shirts looked worn and each one was bagged in a Ziploc bag. Megan figured they were from the caretakers in the past who held the job. “Like as a uniform?” Megan asked. “I really have to wear one of these?”
Tony nodded. After going through the five T-shirts that had each of their own unique scent, Megan finally chose the one she found most tolerable. The shirt had a familiar scent, she voiced out. “Caprina!”
“Pardon?” Tony was confused.
“The soap!” Megan explained. “This shirt smells like the goat milk soap!”
Megan was asked to try on the T-shirt and she noticed there was a slight rip of the seam just below the front collar. The prints ‘KEEP CALM and DRINK KOOL-AID’ on the shirt reminded her of the Kool-Aid song she used to sing along with the commercial on TV. “I know how to sing the Kool-Aid song, would that help in your decision to hire me?”
Tony chuckled. “Well, I’m not the one making the decision. It’s up to Madam Tang!”
“But she’s not even here. When can I find out?” Megan pouted impatiently and couldn’t believe she was using this trick for the first time in her life. “I actually have another offer, she is waiting for me to get back to her by tomorrow.”
Megan couldn’t believe she would go so far as to lie. She just realized she was that desperate to find a job, any job.
A knock came on the door and Tony nodded for the receptionist to come in. The young clerk, Linda, entered and made quick but petit steps towards her boss and handed him a clip board with papers attached. “Madam Tang said to conduct the questionnaire now.” She turned around to leave but remembered something. “Oh, can you get her saliva so I can send it off before the 2pm courier run?”
“Okay, thanks Linda!” After the receptionist left, Tony did a quick glance over the questionnaire that was just handed to him. He was baffled and didn’t quite know how to conduct this interview. So he looked up at Megan and decided to deal with the insurance side of matters first. He handed her two clear plastic bags with a Q-Tip in them. “All our employees have to do this for life insurance and health benefits.”
“I get life insurance?” Megan felt the hope arising. “And health benefits?”
“All employees get a benefit package!” Tony started to explain; but when he looked at the questions on the clip board again, he himself was puzzled. “Umm, I’m not sure if your position falls under the ATT & MA Corporation, but I’m just following the directions given by Madam Tang. Perhaps it’s to make sure you are fit for the job.”
Tony looked up at Megan with apprehension. “Madam Tang wants the questionnaire to be conducted orally. Are you ready?”
“Sure!” Megan was prepared to answer the usual behavioral interview questions which she had asked many times when she was a manager in her previous jobs. Her mind was configured to use the S.T.A.R. method in responding. But when Tony started asking the first few questions, she was slightly thrown off the curve.
So Tony asked the questions and Megan gave her responses.
“Are you on any medication?” = No
“Do you do recreational drugs?” = What? No!
“Hey, I’m just following order! Don’t shoot the dog.” = Sorry
“Do you smoke?” = No
“Ever?” = One puff when I was 13.
“Do you have any major illnesses?” = Sometimes I get the Flu. That’s major to me!
Tony gave out a breath of relief when he finished with the questions. Megan noticed his bashfulness when he asked about her last menstrual cycle. As he flipped to the next page, she noticed how his breathing suddenly became heavy and she wondered why. Tony placed the clipboard on his lap and swiped his fingers through his neatly combed hair as to make it neater. He looked totally uncomfortable in his position.
“Umm, Kimberley, do you know which Job posting you responded to?” Tony truly had no idea at this point, he didn’t even know Madam Tang was looking to hire a caretaker until two hours ago.
“Yes, I printed a copy for the interview.” Megan reached into her bag and pulled out an A4 size paper that was folded in half and handed it to him.
Position Overview: Live-In Estate Manager
This person will be responsible to participate with the general care and maintenance of the property and its occupants. The residence is located 4 hours to the west of the city. The position is full-time (Thursday to Monday) and live-in. To manage the day to day activities such as hands on housekeeping, laundry, care for the interior and exterior of the residence and property in order to maintain high standards and efficiency. Must be flexible with work schedules to juggle Tuesday and Wednesday as work day whenever required.
After reading the description, Tony was even more puzzled as to why he needed to ask Kimberley the following set of questions. “Well, here are the next set of questions.” He cleared his throat. “Are you currently in a relationship with a man?” Cleared his throat again. “Or a woman?”
“What?” Megan lashed out in shock. Tony had to hold up the clipboard in front of his face to fend off her darting eyes. “Are you making these questions up? Is this some kind of a sick joke?”
Tony didn’t know how else to respond. “I really don’t know why I need to ask these questions? But they are on the questionnaire!”
Megan snatched the pages from his hand and read aloud the following questions. “When was the last time you were on a date? When was the last time you had intimacy with a man/woman? Are you currently taking oral contraceptives?”
Megan read the next few questions silently and Tony could tell she was panting up with anger and disgust. She stood up and gathered her belongings within a few seconds. Just before stomping out of the conference room, she released her anger by crunching the pages of the questionnaire and threw it at Tony. “You ….you … You and whoever else is behind this is sick, just sick! You guys can just go…go to…go to … Hell!”
There she finally said it and God did not strike her down with a lightning beam.
Regardless whether this was meant to be a prank or not, she knew she would never land the job because she would never answer the last three questions that made her blood boil.
Do you have any children? Have you ever had a miscarriage? Have you ever had an abortion?
Megan must have hit the elevator down button 10 times when it finally arrived and on the 8th floor. As if what just happened in the conference room was not enough to make her burn from inside out, the moment the elevator doors opened surely did. Like a fire hungry for oxygen, it consumed her entire being as she stood motionless at the sight of the mail room staff. He, however; was going about his job in a cool fashion until he recognized his own bodily scent. He looked half way up to a woman’s chest and asked.
“Why are you wearing my T-shirt?”
Note on Chemistry of Love – Epinephrine – aka - Adrenaline
This is the chemical responsible for your racing heartbeat, sweaty hands and dry mouth when you meet an attractive person. Also responsible for the ‘fight or flight moments’.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone