craigmcn

So, easily the strangest thing of all time happened to me tonight. Well, I’ve probably mentioned “the strangest thing” before, but we’re definitely in new territory with this one. I decided on my way home from work that I would stop into the Starbucks at the Indigo Books at Yonge & Eglinton for a simple latte ($4 instead of $5). As luck would have it, one of the 2 comfy leather chairs beside the fireplace was free, so Big Cracker sat down. About halfway through the chapter of my book, and halfway through the latte, this young Vietnamese woman stops by and asks me to proofread her resumé. Then she asks whether the resumé’s any good, and whether I feel that there’s discrimination against non-Caucasians when it comes to hiring. The resumé’s quite acceptable, and no, I don’t feel there’s any discrimination, generally. But looking at the resumé, this woman must be at least my age, maybe a little older and went from being a nurse to wanting to be a retail store assistant manager. She got her B.Sc (Nursing) in ’95 from the U of T, then went on to take some courses in Fashion, Cosmetics and Esthetics in 2003.

One of her questions was whether I thought people might look down on her for wanting to change jobs mid-life. So I told her that I have a degree that I’m not using, I started working in hotels and now I write procedures manuals for frontline bank employees. Not exactly one coherent career path. All in all, quite a strange evening.