Lots of Irish students travel to the US on JI working visas during the summer holidays and I was lucky to go and have a great time. Look out for stories about that trip later. I went to Canada the following year, which was more unusual as there are fewer visas available and it’s harder to get work.
I was 19 when I went to Canada and travelled with a college friend staying in Toronto for 3 months. Our job search was quite an adventure it itself. The most memorable was the “packing stationery in a warehouse”. Well that is what the job advertisement said. We went to an office in an industrial estate and were told we had to complete a written questionnaire. It had a mixture of general knowledge questions, grammar, spelling and maths. We handed in our papers and then were told that “the Director JD would see us both together”. We were brought into this large office which was much more luxurious than the waiting room. JD was a large bald man wearing lots of gold rings and he had a very loud voice. He shook our hands firmly and then spent what seemed like an eternity telling us how impressed he was with our written applications. Apparently we both scored 100%. He told us we were going to have bright futures and that he was going to take us both to the annual conference in Palm Springs. He went on and on and on and every time he took a breath one of us would ask, “can you tell us more about the job” or “what will we be doing on day 1” etc. While we both were very polite and respectful in the interview, we could smell a rat and couldn’t wait to leave.
I remember us collapsing laughing outside and getting a great kick out of the idea of going to Palm Springs. We had our housemates in stitches when we returned home, particularly as the words “stationery” and “warehouse” had never been mentioned. Later that night the phone rang. We were told we were both offered jobs and we were to go to the same office the following morning at 9am for a training session. I can assure you, as the night went on, the guesses about the jobs became more outlandish. As money was becoming a problem, we had decided we would go the following day but would make sure we would stick together.
The following morning, we arrived at the office and there was a large number of people waiting around. We were told that we would each be assigned a trainer. The plan to stick together was gone out the window straight away. I was told to go with a young man called Randy in a white van. My friend was sent off walking with an extremely good looking blond hunk. I certainly hesitated before getting in the van but Randy seemed harmless enough so off I went. Anyway, to cut a long story short – the job was actually selling counterfeit jewellery in different locations. My friend and her blond adonis were assigned office blocks in the downtown Toronto area and Randy and I drove to a suburb called Mississauga. Our market wasn’t office workers though and our target customers were ladies working in various brothels.
So there I was driving around to Brothels in a white van with Randy and boxes of counterfeit jewellery. While all the ladies I met that day couldn’t have been nicer to me (off course fawning over my accent and amazed I was so far from home), I decided pretty quickly the annual conference in Palm Springs was no longer my goal. I really didn’t know how I would explain to my protective parents what I was working at, during my phone calls home. Poor Randy did his best with me that day and I have to admit I did know all about the various prices of jewellery and his sales pitches when we finished. He also told me, he thought I would have a great chance of being a good salesperson and getting considered for the honour of that trip to Palm Springs. When we got back to the depot the coordinator was frantic and told me that my friend was missing. Apparently she had gone to the bathroom and not returned so was clearly lost. Her trainer had searched all around for her and had actually had a passerby go into the ladies bathroom to look for her. I did my best to feign shock and assured them she would turn up. When I got back to the apartment, there she was sitting by the pool sunning herself after giving her trainer the slip. She said she had been over an hour hiding in the bathroom and she thought it was hilarious that I lasted the day. I had decided it was safer to stay with Randy than try and find my way back to our apartment.
Later that evening the company rep called again and I took the call. They said I had passed my training and was offered a full time job and that my friend would have to take another days training.
I politely declined and told her as exciting as it all sounded, we didn’t see our futures as a jewellery salespeople !