The Epic Tale of My Job Interview

On thursday I went on Seek.com looking for new job postings. I found a couple that I was qualified for, including a brand-spanking new, like been an active post for 20 minutes tops listing for a new Hungry Jack's that was opening. (Hungry Jack's is Burger King) (Or excuse me, I guess I should be saying HUNGIE-JACKUH).......So I applied and then got an email a few hours later saying that I should go in for an interview at the Annerley store (since the one I applied for wasnt open yet). The interview was for Tuesday.

Monday I decided to make a dry-run of getting to this place, because it was not really far, but there wasn't a direct bus from where we live.
I went on Translink journey planner, and what the bus company told me to do was to take the 598 bus from Indro (the mall) and then ride it all the way to the end, where there was a large interchange where I could get on the 117 bus. Now I thought it was weird that this route:

tells me to take one bus all the way down just to get on a bus that comes all the way up PAST where the other bus had already gone down...so I opened google maps, both individual bus route maps, and found this:



I would take the 598 to Muriel Avenue, get off, then walk to Beaudesert Road and get the 117. Simple right?

Simple NO, Because here is the dumb thing about Brisbane buses - they never tell you what stop is next! Or what stop you just passed! And if you're blind like I am, you don't know until it's gone. Now I did look up the night before a street view of the bus stop. And when we came to a bus stop that I did see said, Muriel Avenue on it, the stop looked nothing like the street view, and I couldn't see the Skate Park which was supposed to be right across the street. So I didn't get off.

This is where I ended up: All the way by the "B" - and the purple is where I was supposed to get off, and the red is where I was supposed to go to get to Hungry Jacks.

So I am in Sunnybank, and I call Emily G in a panic that I'm lost, and could she please go on Translink and tell me how to get out of there.
I remembered from my original search the bus transfer without the walking (see first map image) and on the bus I started panicking and pretty much knew I was lost and saw a ton of buses changing so I figured hey, maybe this is where that original map wanted me to go, so I got off there.
Then Emily G tells me that I have to get on this one bus from the place, and transfer again at ANOTHER strange place...so I was like, uh yeah, I'm just gonna get on a bus back to Indro, because I'm lost and I'm frustrated and I'll just take a taxi tomorrow or something because this is ridiculous.

So then on the ride back I was really relaxed, and then randomly on my left I saw the Skate Park. And I said to myself, oh hey, this is Muriel Avenue! This was the right stop all along! Then I saw that right after the stop we went under two overpasses - so I said, okay, when I come back by bus tomorrow - I will ring for the bus to stop right after those two overpasses. Easy enough to remember!

I decided not to get off at Muriel Avenue this time again, because by this time it had been two hours of my life gone being frustrated and panicky and lost, so I didnt want to get lost on the second bus only to have to get lost coming back to the stop with the original bus and by then it would be night time when I got home...so I was like I'll leave super early tomorrow and wing it. I know where to stop now, and since I'll have extra time, I can just ring the bell once I see the Hungry Jack's on the second bus and walk back to it, instead of getting off hoping its the stop before it (logic logic)

So this morning I get up at 6:15 am for my 9:30 interview. I was ready to go at 6:45, and know that there is a 7:22 bus from Indro, and a 7:57 bus from Indro. So I was like, should I wait? Nah, I'll go now. So I left.

The thing about our bus stop by our house is that every single bus that stops at this bus stop goes to Indro. Every single one. If they don't go to Indro, they are express buses and they don't stop at Indro on the way into the city. So when I see our bus stop, I see a guy there waving down the approaching bus. He gets on, I run to catch up to it so the driver will let me on. The driver had closed the doors, but the light was red and he stopped so he let me on. The bus was an old one so the side didn't have the number on it, but I figured whatever, every bus stops at Indro. Then I get on and see its full of commuters, who are kinda glaring at me? That was cool. Then we start going to Indro, but he doesn't get on the ramp to go into Indro. So I was like, great, where the heck is this bus going now, why isn't it stopping at Indro? EVERY BUS STOPS AT INDRO IF IT STOPS AT OUR STOP WHAT IS GOING ON. So I ring the bell for the guy to stop at the next stop, and wherever it is, I will just walk to Indro from there, because I have time. But he never stopped!

So then I texted Emily G, who thankfully was awake at this time, saying that the one time a bus not going to Indro stops at our stop happens to be the one time I NEED to be at Indro on a time crunch, so then I was like alright, this bus is an express to the city most likely, and I remember seeing on Translink a way to get to the Hungry Jacks by going through the city. So I texted Emily G asking for her to look up how to get from the city to Ipswich Road at Venner - Waterson stop 24.

I said it had to be either King George Square or the Cultural Centre. A lot of people get off at Roma Street, and I stayed on to go to King George Square in case it was that one. I looked at the timetables on the wall and saw that the 117 bus didn't go through there, so I got on a bus to the Cultural Centre.
Once at the Cultural Centre, I look at the time tables and see no 117 either. Then Emily texts that its platform 1, so I went to walk over there but that was in the wrong direction, so I stayed on platform 2. Then the timetable is repeated 3 times because there are so many buses that go through there, so I finally found the 117 just as Emily texted me that it would get there at 7:53, and at this point it was 7:35. So I waited with baited breath (I was super smart because I wore my GLASSES today).

Then the 117 pulled up and I nearly rolled my ankle running to get on it. Then I count the stops, even ones we don't stop at (oh thats another thing the buses do - yeah you figure you can just count the number of stops until your destination - but the bus doesnt stop at the ones that have no people hailing them while no one wants to get off there - so you could hypothetically pass one or two and not know if its on the route or if its just on the street) ((there were times in London where I cursed the fact that the bus had to stop even if there was no one getting on or off- because it took longer - but at least I always knew how many stops! PLUS London buses SAY THE NAMES OF THE STOPS BEFORE THEY HAPPEN - AND ONCE YOU GET THERE! INGENIOUS!))

So I count, we pass the Hungry Jack's, so I hit the button to get off. It's now 8:10 and I have until 9:30 to do whatever. So I decided to call my parents and chat about how I had a job interview, was waiting around outside for it, and blah blah. Here is a map of the way I ended up going:

The blue being the route I took, and the red being the route I was supposed to go on with my current plan - and what I had spent the previous day trying to figure out.

Now you look at the map above, and you're like, wow thats a big circle, just to go in a fairly straight line from house to destination. Well there ain't no route across that bridge by St Lucia.

It was an ADVENTURE thats for sure.


Then I get inside the Hungry Jacks at 9 am, order a frozen coke, and read my book until 9:27, when I went back up to the counter and said that I had an interview with Brad. Brad says to give him 5 minutes but take a seat. So I took a seat. Then Brad comes over , we shake hands, he takes out my file, and starts talking about the job. The new store is opening in the Fortitude Valley train station (you can see Fortitude Valley on the map above) and was opening on April 9th. He needed to hire about 30 people, and he had 15 so far. He hired lots of University students, so he needed people to fill in late afternoon / evening on weekdays (weekends were taken by younger students). I say thats all well and good, I'm available blah. So then he says that the only thing hindering my application is the fact that I'm on a fixed-term visa. He was hesitant that I would be part of this rigorous training and lots of work as the foundation crew of this new store, only to be forced to leave it in 6 months or I'd get deported - but I had said earlier that I would be in Brisbane until August at the latest, because I was going back to University. So then the interview was pretty much over in his opinion, only having upwards of 4 months working. But then I asked if the store in Annerley, where we were sitting, if any of the employees there were transferring, and if they were, I could change my application to work at that store and replace them instead of going through all of the group training sessions and what have you, so he said that would be fine, he'd give my application to the Annerley store recruiter, and then would email me.


(I have since gotten an email that my application to the new store was unsuccessful, but nothing about the Annerley situation.) Then we wished each other a good day and I left and walked to the bus stop nearest Hungry Jacks. I barely had time to look at the timetables before a bus stopped, and I saw it was a 124 and not a 117, so I asked the driver if he stopped in the Cultural Centre, and after pausing, he nodded. So I was like, okay here goes nothing - WHAT ELSE COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?

I ride the bus and it did indeed go to the Cultural Centre, but I decided to stay on it since I'd have to cross the bridge anyway, and I knew how to get back from King George Square, and I know my way around central city pretty well anyway from our outings. So I got off near King George Square, walked around for a few minutes and then waited for the bus back home.

Then I got off at Indro to buy Emily G a bubble tea for saving my life two days in a row.
Then I finally got on a bus home, and once inside I drank my bubble tea.
Then Cal left for HIS interview at this sketch telemarketing place. I don't think he's going to take the job either, because it was really sketch.
I have since applied to two more Hungry Jacks, a clothing store, and am working on an application for Sizzler. If I don't hear anything about the Annerley Hungry Jacks in the next few days, I'll send my application in again, to refresh it.

In the mean time angel cakes, I hope you enjoyed this pictorial map representation of my bus drama, and now you sort of know what Brisbane looks like on a map?

Win some and lose some :/