It happened 2 weeks ago but I forgot to write it

We were in the downstairs showroom and by we I mean the Henry VIII and the Sidekick who, according to her, went home early that day to study; not to disappear and never come back. After much observation I realised that her boss, the Brazilian, exaggerates things and anything he says should be taken with a grain of salt. We were trying on clothes, cos that's what you do when there's no supervision and the opportunity arises, and cataloging them when they're boss, the Brazilian, (I feel like I constantly need to say that cos it more sensory, when I say Brazilian you think a Rio de Janeiro - which he hates - and Miss World and tropical temperatures and cocktails and it all just seems so exciting) comes in and it's decided that he needs to try on some 5 inch heels. I'm not at all surprised when he finds a pair of heels that fit or when his buddy, our interim boss, the Dutchman (I'm running out of creative names) decides that he needs accessories so he adds a belt and one of the fake crowns we have lying about, and I'm not surprised to see that the Brazilian's waist is smaller than mine. I'm not surprised at all. In fact I'm laughing my head off. What I am surprised by is the way he struts in those 6 inch heels AND dances in them, like a regular at Stringfellow's I might add. Does the can can and so forth. It's a riot. It was a good afternoon but that was 2 weeks ago.

You know nothing about people

You'd think that after spending several weeks with some people you'd know them. But I don't. I don't know what about they're families or their journey to get here. I don't know them and I don't make it my business to. I enjoy writing on my blog and a key part of that is to be observant but I find that I care less and less about the people and things going on around me. I'm apathetic about most things right now. Maybe I'm going through one of my depressions, maybe I'm just jaded. I don't know...

You really get to know people

I had a great conversation with Henry VIII the other day. I said earlier that we hadn't really started yet but I think we have now. We talked about university; he told his school that their courses were shit even though he basically failed each year and still managed to graduate, I'm starting to think there's something wrong with me. Why couldn't I tell Stan that his course was shit but he should still let me progress to the third year even though I... ahh, he has the gift of the gab - a gift I'm trying to imitate come August 19th but that's another post. Then we went onto Japan; the lucky bastard got visit a friend in Tokyo the year before, I can at least say that my Japanese is better than his...but that's not really worth shit cos I really want to be in Japan. We even talked about Ghanaian food because he'd tried fufu, this coming out of a English boy had me pleasantly surprised ^_^.

The Queen and her Sidekick: these are two new characters in the saga that is my internship. They're generally pleasant, but they can give off this attitude. I'm not sure whether it's immaturity or the much documented black girl attitude; it doesn't help, in this world, to have that attitude. You have to behave in public, that's all I'm saying. You have to learn to put on a pleasant face when you're pissed off because, guess what, this is an internship. Even if they don't keep you on, you get the experience as well as something great to add to your CV. But they don't get that, the latter more so than the former. Maybe if they'd spent a year in exile, unsure of the future, unsure of plans laid, unsure of everything they would appreciate this opportunity more. I just found out today that the Sidekick left. Just up and gone. She went on her lunch break and never came back. I was chatting with the Showgirl about what a waste it was. It wasn't that bad, but she gave up becuase it wasn't worth it for her to grit her teeth and bare with it. I wonder if that's because of a lack of maturity. When I think about my situation last year, when I think about that sinking feeling and the need to get out of the situation as quickly as possible I wonder if giving up was that simple for her. Granted, she was a moody little cow, hihi (even the models thought so), but she could really talk to people when she wanted to. She could be really charming so that she built up a rapport with the clients - a skill I've only incrementally improved on. She even told me about the clients she had gained, her CV would've been great, what a waste.

I was studying Biology because I didn't take a breath after my A'Levels to truly understand what best suited me, I can be at peace with myself over the decision to quit a degree I had no intention of utilizing except to get my visa for Japan. The Sidekick is a fashion student, can she guarantee that she won't meet any of this people ever again? That they won't remember?

She Judo Chopped me

So, during the busiest week yet at this internship I was Judo chopped. Yes, JUDO chopped... OK, maybe I'm being a bit dramatic. I'd been on my feet all day helping the models change into and out of their clothes. I'd had lunch courtesy of the company but it was awful. I had a Falafel melt from Pret; it's a wrap filled with Feta, sauteed red onions, tomato sauce and Falafel, of course. Don't ever get it, it's pure acid. The Falafel was drowned out by the lemon acidic, tomato puree sauce (hey Pret, you have to balance tomato sauces with sugar or the equivalent) and the Feta just intensified the sharp, biting taste. The only relief came from the sweet red onions but they were scarce.

Anyway, I was on a roll; unzipping, buttoning etc. I had just finished unbuttoning a garment and I was about to place/chuck it onto the model's chair. BAM! She got me! It was purely accidental, but in a blink of an eye my glasses were on the floor in two and my vision was a blur. The model was filled with apologies and promises to fix them. She was surprised at how calm I was but... I really didn't care that much, I was too busy and I had another pair; they're not the same prescription but they work. I've been wearing glasses since I was in year three so that makes it about 12 years. My eyesight is bad but not awful. I can function without them but I can't drive, or read or see people very well... that sounds quite bad, though. Thinking about it now, my eyesight is shit. I wouldn't even be able to cross the road. My boss sent me upstairs to get a replacement to assist the models and to fix my glasses, I offered to carry on but she wasn't having it. I don't know what I was thinking, I can just imagine it now; unbuttoning the clothes with them 2cm from my face because that's the only distance at which they weren't a blur, lol.

My boss's boss examined them and decided that because it was a clean break they could be super-glued together again. I was up for it cos I wanted to get back to work. She glued them back together and they were like new. You wouldn't even know that they had been broken. Moral of the Story; don't get too close to the models ^_^    

You get to know people

First impressions aren't always true. You hang around the same people long enough, you find that you peel off a new layer each time. This past month and a half I've learned a lot about the other interns. Some of them have revealed their ages in their stroppy behaviour, while others have revealed their adaptability, their street savvy.

I feel like I'm jumping the gun because I didn't write a post about the Spring/Summer interns of '11 - I planned to but I didn't get to it, mostly because I was feeling lazy; that's how we ended up with Newbies. I think I mentioned before that there were nine of us in all, and of that nine there were only two guys so I'll start with them. The first guy, I'm gonna call Henry VIII cos he looks like Henry VIII, the early years; I wouldn't compare him to the fat, bed-sore ridden, "hoist me onto my horse" Henry VIII in his latter years. He's more like Henry the hunter of game, the lover of sport and trophies. He's 6 ft ish with a bit of a belly though, lol. He's got a really cool fashion sense for a straight guy, and he wears a lot of expensive brands which I'm still not sure how he gets his hands on. I figure he's either a rich kid or he knows someone who knows someone. The type who has a lot of connections. He wears tailored trousers, rolled up so that he reveals his quirky striped socks and brown, leather shoes as is the fashion in London nowadays. Yesterday, he donned a black, sequined cap; it was so wrong but so right. Henry's a Chatty Cathy in a really good way, that's the first thing I noticed about him. He fits in so well. Initially, I thought that he was a permanent member of staff; he'd only started a week prior to me but he knew everything and whatever he didn't know he was quick to learn. He was able to talk to the staff as a colleague and not as an unpaid intern. I don't think that we've gotten off to a good or bad start because we haven't really started. That's what happens when you have so many interns that work on different lines, you can go the whole day without talking to each other or even seeing each other. But when we do see each other it's usually at the office and he's crazy funny, and witty and knowledgeable.

The other male intern is the Raj, he's very friendly and inquisitive. He's really dedicated to his work - which I admire. I think he comes from an affluent family because he's an oversees student, who's still here during the summer. And he goes out for lunch - a luxury I can't afford, lol. I think he's sweet and by sweet I mean gay. Why? The swish of his hips as he walks is unlike any other heterosexual man I have met in my life. We all know that straight men pretend to be unaware of they're hips unless they're dancers. I think we'll get on fine ^_^.

The other interns are OK, there's not much to say about them because no particular personality stands out to me. I'll just say that I can see some issues between certain girls, but we're girls; I don't think we could call ourselves females if we didn't dislike each other at some point during the day, lol.

Why the Fuck are you Here?

So far, at this internship, we've had pretty good clients. They range from pleasant to seriously funny. Today we got an über bitch. The type of bitch you read about in books like The Devil Wears Prada, she was just so pissy. She came later than her colleague, for whatever reason, and I ended up having to greet her at the door. With a smile Julie Andrews would be proud of I greeted her and with a sour-ass face she greeted me, no that's wrong, she didn't greet me, she registered my presence. She was a heavy set woman, which was probably why she insisted on wearing a boring, black, wrap-around dress that skimmed over her. I wouldn't have pegged her for a buyer at first glance. They normally have a sense of style even when it is simple, she could have been on Fleet Street with the way she was dressed. She had blonde hair; not the nice kind, no, it was dull, unnatural... like she'd been dyeing it for some years.  I knew this wasn't gonna go well.

I took her upstairs - oh, I forgot to mention that she was so late that her colleague had already picked out the collection she thought would work best for them. She walked in like a tornado and said 'No. No. Don't like it. Can't sell it.' All with a sour-ass face. She didn't like anything that made the collection unique. She wanted safe and easy. I despise safe and easy. When she left as sourly as she came in, her colleague quietly apologised to my boss for her boss. But this is the fashion industry, there are pricks and sour bitches everywhere you turn.

A Cocktail and a Farewell

That lucky bitch got to model for the Designer. I'm sorry to jump straight into it like but I'm so green, so what if I'm barely 5' 2'', so what if I have a hips that hate me. I could have done it. Okay, so I've had my rant and I've left la-la land. Life's comme ci, comme ca - if your wondering. I've been at this internship for a month and I'm definitely starting school this September... I just don't know where. I'll either be at a university or at a college. I don't have to state which I'd prefer, do I?

I was reading wanderinginmiyazaki today, she was leaving Japan after a 2 year stint as a teacher. I was... what's the word... not as strong as melancholy but thereabouts. I was sad to see her go because the blog was great and real and welcoming. But I could still see that she had had a great experience and it was time to move on. She seemed like she had learned and grown from life in Japan. Good Luck ^_^

Newbies

Interns are plenty, for the showroom alone there are nine. We don't get travel but we can help ourselves to biscuit and diet coke - as long as we don't gorge. I give myself a coke when I've worked particularly hard but I try not to make it a habit, don't wanna be accused of stealing. We do anything and everything ranging for getting tea, coffee, lunch and aiding in general sales. We work in pairs for each brand, I work with a showgirl... at least that's what I'm gonna call her. I know a lot of people that would dislike her, but I'm not one of them. Why? Cos I don't give a shit. We work together and have pleasant conversations. That's it. I don't take her too seriously. I think it's that attribute the makes it easier to live in a place like Japan, which has a  pretty homogeneous population. I'm spectacularly unobservant.

The Players

I got an internship thanks to some much needed nepotism, my CV is quite scarce. The interview was so informal; it seemed more like a formality, really. It took place in one of their offices with my soon-to-be boss, her boss and my sister. When they invited my sister to sit in we both looked at each other with that 'what the fuck expression?'. Thinking back, that look could have been because she was off in la-la land on account of the cold/flu that had been going around the family. She looked like hell that day, so she donned on some sunglasses - thanks to the freakishly warm English summer - and the simplest maxi she could find. I escaped relatively unscathed with a brief cough. It went by really quickly, but that might have been because I was still in shock about my sister sitting in. You see, I had a plan. I had questions to ask and things to tell them. That all went to hell though.

On the first day of work I was introduced to the players, like one of those crime capers where you get a rag-tag team of crude but skillful crooks trying to get their biggest score. There's the Boss Lady; tall and as friendly as you'd expect your boss to be. She has a continental accent but I still haven't been able to figure out her origins. She was lovely at my interview but as a general rule I try not to look her directly in the eye - it's been a habit of mine since primary school to limit eye-contact with persons of authority. The Kooky; she's my boss, she's great, she's funny, she's mad about the World Cup - a person after my heart. As a general rule don't ask her to explain how to do anything, ever - you can see her mind bouncing around like an energised bunny. She's the only one in the office who wears heels, which I have to applaud her for. I only wear heels at home, on my carpet for like 5 minutes at a time (just to show off to my sisters how much smaller my feet are then theirs and why I have inherited mum's vintage shoes instead of them, haha. (A bit off topic, hihi).

The rest of the gang have small but important roles in my education, there's the Jeweller; a fan of all things animal print, he's amusing and a wonderfully eccentric - in his fashion sense - Italian. I worked with him for the first week because Kooky hadn't received her stock. I didn't know that I would love bags and jewels sooooo much but I really, really do; I've been using the same bag for like 4 years, so you can tell how much importance I normally place on accessories. Maria the Nun; outspoken (very much so) and has a wacky dress sense that I can very much appreciate. The Brazilian; an avid fan of my hair, whenever I walk in without the curly fro he shouts in his accent 'Why you not doing your hair?!'. And last but not least the Man; he's really easy going and cordial but there's more to him than meets the eye... but that's for later.

Oh, and a big Fuck You to the Jobcentre ^_^