Unusual interview questions

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Today I conducted an interview. One of the question asked to the candidate was:

Tell me, what do you see on the image up there?

If you are the candidate, what would be your answer?

I will share with you various interesting & unusual interview questions presented to the interview candidates to gauge their personalities in the upcoming posts.

The fire breathing dragon!

Image source: http://prettygirlwallpaper.com

Have you encountered a fire breathing dragon amongst us human?

A human dragon huffs & puffs when bottled up with anger & frustration. Some have a longer light fuse while some very short fuse. Some explode like the M16 machine gun while some may be a walking time bomb.

Not all are bad dragons. Made friend with a few dragons recently. They aren't really bad tempered dragons when you have the chance to know them better. They just need to vent out the frustration inside them & they feel better after that. Main reason they gave me is that they have no one to talk to about a bad day at the end of the day.

One dragon particularly admitted that when she was staying with her sister's family, she felt better after playing with her little nieces & nephews. Laughing & playing with the children made her anger vapourised & her calm down. Now that her sister's family has moved to another country, she lives alone with no pets. She doesn't have anyone to cheer her up on a bad day.

Never underestimate the power of laughter! Just a simple sincere smile to a person may transform an angry dragon to a happy one.

Remember your smile is priceless.

Is the Glass Half Empty or Half Full?

The cafeteria at my work place holds the award for cooking the most unhygienic, greasy, lumpy & salty food I could ever find!

Imagine overnight balance chicken from the chicken rice stall being deep fried & resold the next day.

Imagine finding a nut bolt among your meehoon goreng (fried rice noodle)!

Imagine finding baby snail, caterpillar & bits of sand in your leafy vegetables!

Imagine getting upset tummy *ahem* more like severe purging after eating their sambal belacan...

Therefore, I would rather walk in the fastest stride my 2 chubby legs could managed for 10 minutes under the scorching hot sun to reach the nearest edible food court, huffing & panting for air. Spend between 10 to 15 minutes eating lunch before hurrying back to the office again in the next 10 minutes.

Fyi, my lunch break is only half an hour.

If one is wiling to go through this vigorous walk everyday just to have a decent lunch, how good can the food at the cafeteria be, right?

To pacify my dissatisfaction over the super short lunches, I took it as a way to have my daily 20 minutes exercise. Otherwise, I would just end up sitting in front of the computer from 9am to 5pm & being a couch potato at home in the evenings & on the weekends.

At least I won't be killed by a hidden nut bolt in my meehoon goreng.

How to ease pressure at work in Theory vs Reality

In theory: When working in a condusive environment...

Rules from: 'How to stop worrying & start living".

1. Do not imitate others.

2. Apply this 4 good working habits:

a. Clear your desk of all papers except those relating to the immediate problem at hand.

b. Do things in the order of their importance.

c. When you face a problem, solve it then & there if you have the facts necessary to make a decision.

d. Learn to organize,delegate & supervise.

3. Learn to relax at your work.

4. Put enthusiasm into your work.

5. Count your blessings - not your troubles.

6. Remember that unjust criticism is often a disguised compliment.

7. Do the very best you can.

vs. in Reality: For the unlucky ones who work for the Boss from Hell (Boss)

1. One may find that the Boss usually follows the Big Boss's style of management - Unconciously, they imitate ways of doing things. E.g. Big Boss likes meetings. Daily meetings with staff for updates. Then weekly meeting with staff for weekly updates. Basically you get to repeat what you have said to Boss from Monday to Friday in the weekly meeting.

2.a. A clean table without paper is a flag up for your Boss to ask you, "So you don't have much work, eh?" A very dangerous situation because when comes to cost cutting time, they usually cut the headcount of people whom the Boss think is redundant; i.e. idle staff.

2.b. In WHOSE order of importance? Things you may find is important but your Boss thinks otherwise..How?

2.c. What happened to order of importance in 2.b.?

2.d. Everything that you do, you have to report to the Boss every day who then reports to the Big Boss every day. How to organize? Everything must follow Big Boss's style.

3. How to relax when your every moves are being watched? E.g. Whenever you walk away from you desk, the Boss would so coincidentally passes by & asks you, "Going for tea, eh?"

4. What enthusiasm? Do less, less chance of being targetted by the Boss. Do nothing, nothing for the boss to complain about.

5. Counting the blessings yes, but what blessings???

6. If getting sarcasm remarks from the Boss are compliments, then one gets many compliments every day... *Yeah, pun indetended*

7. Yes, no matter what, must have the Die-Hard spirit!

Ok, so how do we survive the reality when the going gets tough?

Tips on how to outwit, outplay & outlast the Boss:

1. Follow the Boss's style. mimic if need be.

2a. Always...repeat ALWAYS have a table filled with reports, papers, books to show that you are very busy with tight datelines.

2b. Boss's priorities are YOUR priorities

2c. Do things in order of importance? See no.2b

2d. Organize, tag & label everything that you do to give the Boss ease of checking what you do when you are on leave.

3. Always stay alert, not relax & let your guards down, especially on the Boss's mood of the day.

4. Put enthusiasm into staying out of the Boss firing range. Always keep Boss's command in black & white in case he uses his 'at will dementia skill' when questioning your work. E.g. "Who asked you to do that?!" Do only when be told. Tell only when asked. Don't be a smart aleck. The Boss may not appreciate having a subordinate who is smarter than him.

5. Every day if you could survive from 9am to 5pm without getting any firing from the Boss is your blessing already. Don't be demanding!

6. If you could practise no.4 & get the result of no.5 then you can most likely reduce the number of 'compliments' you get from the Boss.

7. Lastly, "Never say die!"

Addiction!

Picture source: http://blogs.westword.com

Are you craving to eat something today? Do you crave for a puff of ciggie after meals? Do you crave for alcohol?

Cravings is a form of addiction. When one becomes abnormally dependent on something that is psychologically or physically habit forming, that's when trouble starts.

I'm a food addict. I love to eat. I always find myself daydreaming of what to eat 2 meals ahead. This is not a problem when one has high metabolism rate. One could eat as much, enjoying all the sinful indulgence & not put on a pound. Ah, such blessings!

Somehow, age has caugth up & the biological clock jump started. This blessing was lost ever since. I still feel hungry all the time & have an appetite that would make most chefs happy. I crave for certain food out of the blue (must eat or I keep seeing food floating in front of my eyes) just like a pregnant woman when I'm not!

Slowly the needle on the weighing machine swayed further to the right giving me fright every time I weigh myself. My health started to give way as the extra pounds added on. I pant easily while walking, felt heavy when I run & of course the worst part is I can't fit into all my favourite clothes!

When one has been enjoying all these delicious, mouth watering food & hasn't actually built up any self-defence mechanism against temptation to eat, it's any uphill battle against the addiction for food. It's really difficult to lose weight & get back into shape by not eating when I want to, what I want to eat & how much I would like to eat. In short, I'm addicted to delicious food which also include junk food, snacks, desserts & what not. I went slowly from M to L size in 3 years, a total of 7 kg!!!

Writing this down, I hope to gather enough strength to keep my addiction for food in control so that I could try to lose the unwanted pounds (for health reason) & tone up my physic but still get to enjoy food that I like, albeit a smaller portion. To remind myself, how nice it felt to walk uphill without panting, to be able to run with light feathered agility & of course to fit into my favourite clothes again.

You are welcome to share with me your experience on your addiction & how you kept the it under control, especially food! It will be a good source of inspiration in my attempt to break the magic spell as a food addict & regain back my good health.

Birth, Life, Fun, Depression, Death, Reborn

Picture source: http://www.chopra.com

Belle's Bubbles was born on 06 Oct, 2006 out of curiosity. It lived a short life 3 months on the internet, filled with fun filled posts. Then just out of the blue, it was hit by depression. Lost. Wondering & searching for the existence of Belle's Bubbles.

It went into a death-like coma, awakening briefly to whisper, "I love you, mum" before slipping back into deep slumber.

During this coma, many things had happened. Happy & sad events. Good & bad things.

Now, arousing slowly from this deep slumber, it emerges with a new lease of life. Like a beautiful butterfly coming out from its cocoon.

A Love Letter to My Mother

Dearest Mum,

As I’m growing up, you have sheltered, nurtured & protected me with all the love in you. You gave me your unconditional love, endless tears (and nagging, hehe!), guidance and advice on life. No one can cook my favourite food better than you!

When I’m sad & down, you are sadder than me & when I’m happy, you are happy FOR me. You have been by my side holding my hands as I learnt how to walk, fell & got on my knees again.

You gave & gave all that you have to me & never expected any returns from me. You are everything to me, my mother, teacher, counsellor, doctor, my shopping partner…. The list is endless like your love to me.

Mum, thank you for everything. You have given me the best childhood I could ever have & guided me to be what I am today. Your love has made me feel I’m the luckiest child in the world.

I cherished all the special moments that we have shared together & will continue to cherish my everyday life with you.

Happy Mother’s Day! I love YOU!