I know…I rule…
It seems that all’s ok now in the [tag]ECB[/tag] front.
Phew…
Γαμώτω πως να μην τσαντιστώ απίστευτα τώρα.
Σήμερα αναγκάστηκα να κλείσω το unofficial information dump που είχα στήσει για την ECB όταν ένα email που έστειλα ξαφνικά βρέθηκε στα χέρια ενώς manager (Συγκεκριμένα, της Marjut ) η οποία έστειλε ένα μήνυμα στο Mike για να το κατεβάσω γιατί φρίκαρε οτι θα το έβλεπε όλως ο κόσμος. Αυτό με κάποιο τρόπο έφτασε στα χέρια του HansJacob ο οποίος κάλεσε τους Team Leaders (Mike & Scott) για να τους ρωτήσει τι εστί βερύκοκο. Μετά απο αυτό ο Mike ήρθε και μου είπε οτι καλύτερα είναι να το ξηλώσω όλο γιατί δεν ξέρει ακριβώς τι θα συμβεί και ο HJ θέλει μια λίστα απο τις σελίδες που είχα ανεβάσει για να δουν τι ρίσκο υπήρχε.
Φυσικά και δεν υπήρχε ρίσκο μιάς και δεν είχα ανεβάσει ούτε μισό κωδικό αλλά άντε να τους το εξηγήσεις αυτό.
Κατέβασα την σελίδα. Έκλεισα το domain και άλλαξα τοπόθεσία στον κεντρικό φάκελο για να είμαι σίγουρος. Η ψυχή μου πήγε στην κούλουρη αλλά ευτυχώς ο HJ φάνηκε να μην έχει πρόβλημα με αυτά που είχα ανεβάσει και μάλλον το θέμα πέθανε εκεί.
Ελπίζω να μην ξαναβγεί σαν ζόμπι για να με κυνηγήσει…
Αλλά γαμώ το κέρατο μου το τράγιο, ποιο αρχιδάκι σκέφτηκε οτί θα ήταν καλή ιδέα να το στείλει στο Management…Ο απίστευτος ηλίθιος ο Kiefer…τι να πω…
Είχε και το ειρωνικό σχόλιο “Ummm…Marval KB?”
Αρχίδι!
290 Calls/4 People manning the phones (as low as two at times) + 200 emails = Panic!
Every time I end up in a trendy or “in” place, the experience solidifies my distaste for the whole scene.
On Friday a few colleagues from the [tag]ECB[/tag] had arranged a birthday party at a pizza place on the east side of Frankfurt. As one of them was Greek, I received an invitation as well along with a few others.
I was hoping to meet some people on the way there but everyone went there early and although I happened to enter the same Train as one of the birthday people, Reka, I did not recognise her in order to sit with them. Fortunately finding the place was not difficult.
Most people were having pizza (some with spinach…ugh) while I was busy either annoying them with my new shiny singing monkey balls (more on that soon) or taking videos of them while they were trying to talk. I must say that the aforementioned singing monkey balls were a great success among the participants, especially the two Greeks sitting close to me that were about to strangle me if I didn’t stop.
[coolplayer]http://www.dbzer0.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=674&.mp4[/coolplayer]
I also managed to convince Reka not to kill me for the time being.
After the pizza was finished we visited a night club on the back (I can’t even remember the name). The doorman almost did not let us in since we were not dressed for the occasion. I especially with my leather trenchcoat and long hair must have made him think twice. Fortunately he let us in (although in retrospect I might consider putting an “u” in front of the first word) and we paid 10 euros for that privilege after which I wasn’t in much mood to buy a drink.
The music inside was boring to tears. A monotone beat and some simple melody that changed slightly every 15 minutes or so. No passion, no melody, nothing. Just brain dead music that requires an equally brain-dead person to consider it worth 10 euros. Fortunately the rest of the group were pretty fun to be around and we ended up dancing for a few hours until everybody got sick of the place and decided to leave.
However it still does not fail to amaze me that these places are actually popular. What the hell do people find enjoyable there? The boring music or the look-alike people that inhabit them? Seriously the dress code is completely stupid. They force people to dress like everyone or they will not get in. As if we don’t have enough conformity in our lives that we need some more.
It is depressing to see so many people flock to these places just because the “beautiful girls” go there or whatever other excuse they find for themselves. Why are people so uncritical of this? When did pop music become so absolutely bland? How can people actually enjoy this and even pay dearly for the privilege is beyond me.
A thousand times better to go to a metal or rock place. Even Gothic music is leagues better than the stupid House and the people you meet or see in the former are certainly more interesting. At least now I know much better than to visit another such club in the near future.
‘Ναι, παίρνω τηλέφωνο για να μου ξαναδώσετε το PGP κλειδί ενός χρήστη’
‘Λυπάμαι αλλά δεν έχουμε τρόπο το να βρούμε’
‘Τι εννοείς, αφού εσείς έχετε το αρχικό κλειδί και δίνετε μόνο μια κόπια’
‘Να αλλά δεν ξέρουμε πιο κλειδί του είχαμε δώσει και άλλωστε χρειάζεται υπογεγραμμένη ειδική αίτηση’
‘Μα αφού έχει ανοίχθεί ήδη ticket για το συγκεκριμένο θέμα, το οποίο έχετε λύσει με την φράση “Το κλειδί δώθηκε” και η υπογεγραμμένη αίτηση είναι μέσα. Απλά ζητάω να κάνετε την ίδια διαδικασία γιατί ο χρήστης το έχασε’
‘Να αλλά δεν ξέρω ποιό γκρούπ κλειδιών του δώσαμε’
‘Μα αφού εσείς κάνατε την διαδικασία. Πες οτι είναι η πρώτη φορά.’
‘Ναι αλλά δεν ξέρω…’
‘Κοίτα, μπορείς να ρωτήσεις αυτόν που έδωσε το αρχικό κλειδί; Ίσως θυμάται’
‘…’
‘…Ναι; Είσαι ακόμα εδώ;’
‘…’
‘Εμπρός;!’
‘…Εχμ ναι, φαίνεται οτι εγώ το έδωσα…εχμ…αλλα δεν έχω τρόπο να βρω ποιό ήταν’
‘Μήπως αυτό είναι ένας καλός λόγος για να αρχίσετε επιτέλους να συμπληρώνετε λύση σε λεπτομέρεια στο πεδίο που λέγεται “Λεπτομερής Λύση”;’
‘Ερρρ, ναι…μισό λεπτό…’
‘…’
‘ΟΚ βρήκα το γρούπ του χρήστη. Μπορείς να έρθεις να πάρεις το κλειδί’
‘Ευχαριστώ…’
Κάτι τέτοια είναι που σε κάνουν να κλαίς. Εαν δεν είχα τον πήθικο συνάδελφο να με κάνει να γελάω με τις μαλακίες αυτές, θα το έκανα…Ugh
Επιτέλους με έβαλαν στο δεύτερο επίπεδο υποστήριξης στην ΕΚΤ. Ναιμ είναι μόνο για ένα μήνα, αλλά το γεγονός οτι αυτό έγινε μόλις 3 μήνες αφότου προσλήφθηκα για Helpdesk είναι καλό δείγμα πιστεύω.
Σήμερα ήταν η πρώτη μέρα μου σε αυτή τη θέση και αν και δεν μου ανέθεσαν πολλά προβλήματα, δεν κόλλησα σε κάτι χαζό και ότι παρέμεινε απλά περιμένει τον χρήστη να επικοινωνήσει.
Δυστυχώς είχα ένα πονοκεφαλιάρικο πρόβλημα στο οποίο δεν κατάφερα να βρώ λύση και με μεγάλη μου δυσαρέσκεια αναγκάστηκα να το στείλω στο τρίτο επίπεδο υποστήριξης.
Παρ’ολ’αυτά τώρα πια έχω λίγο περισσότερη αυτοπεποίθηση στις ικανότητες μου για αυτή τη θέση γιατί θα παραδεχτώ ότι είμουν λίγο αγχωμένος όταν ξεκίνησα το πρωί. Εφόσον δεν έκανα καμία μεγάλη μπαρούφα και τα προβλήματα που με προβλημάτησαν έκαναν το ίδιο και στους άλλους συνάδελφους, είμαι καλά
…Αν εξαιρέσει κανείς την παρατήρηση που μου έκαναν επειδή μίλαγα πολύ δυνατά.
Πολύ ενθουσιασμός ίσως; 🙂
“Konstantine I have some really bad news”
This is how my Agent for ECB opened the conversation last Thursday when he called me to tell me what progress we had.
“Oh no” – Is what is thought, with “no” echoing in my head.
To make a long story short, what my agent told me, is that they changed their mind and decided not to hire me after all at ECB. I was dumbstruck…at least until desperation set in.
I felt like the earth opened up and swallowed my hopes.
“How? Why?” – I asked, choking back some tears.
“I don’t know, but Melva (The intermediate between agency and ECB) is very angry and is going to a meeting to find out what happened.”
At this point, I couldn’t really say anything. I was just incredibly sad.
My agent continued – “I’m truly sorry Konstantine, I will try and find you another job…” but I was too gone to really carry a conversation.
“How can a company as big as ECB do this?” – I kept thinking to myself.
I’ve truly never heard before of an employer “changing his mind” about a job offer after he made it. It just seemed incredibly irresponsible and I was determined to get to the bottom of it.
After letting my sister and cousin know, I couldn’t really gather the courage to go job hunting for that day. Having the single break I had these five months so cruelly shattered, dissipated any enthusiasm I would be able to gather for job search. I left it for the other day, although It’s frankly something that I cannot afford to set aside.
Since I didn’t get the job afterall, I now need to pay rent and I don’t have a job.
An unforeseen consequence of all this is that I lost two jobs that could sustain me. The day my agent told me I got the ECB job, two people called me for bar work and I turned them down because I thought that a) I wouldn’t need it. b) I would be leaving soon and there was no reason to leave them hanging.
How was I supposed to know.
That day, I did manage to sent a (pretty dramatic) mail to Melva to ask what happened but I never received a reply. I left things as they were for the time and attempted to call her Monday afternoon. What she told me was unbelievable.
They never did accept me. All they told the agent is that I had things looked very good and that they were waiting for the final result. Why my agent decided to tell me that I got the position is anyone’s guess.
Furthermore, when I contacted him 5 days later to ask what was happening, he would tell me that “my position has not been compromised” and that “I should not worry”.
Now how can that be, when they never even said yes in the first place?
Funny thing is that I had a gut feeling that something was going to go awry (and so did my sister) but…hell…damn the optimist in me.
Anyway, Melva did not know why they decided not to hire me after all and they do not need to disclose the reason, but deep down, for some reason, I have the feeling that it’s because they read my last entry and did it to punish me for jumping to conlcusions.
sigh
So, here I am. Still at London and not going anywhere. My big break came and spat me in the eye for being so damn happy about it.
Great.
AAAAaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
I found a job.
FINALLY!
After many months of searching and many more weeks of waiting, I finally was accepted in a position, and what a position it is!
I find it kinda strange how I left Greece and came to London to find a Job and I will end up in Frankfurt… eh
Finally a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. No need to try and find a whatever job just to be able to afford the rent (which in retrospect, after visiting today a friend who is paying much less than me for a room not much smaller, I realize was a bad choice). Fortunately I was saved the experience of having to become a bar tender at a gay bar (and concert hall, but I believe the first fact is more important)
So European Central Bank, here I come!