Grr . . . stupid HR people

[shmokes]

Ugh . . . I applied for a summer internship with Caterpillar a couple weeks ago.  Hadn't heard anything back from them until Thursday evening, I got home and checked my email just before 9:00 p.m.   I had an email from someone at Cat asking for some information that they hadn't asked for when they advertised the internship.  The last line was, "Please email me by 5pm today."  Of course I went ahead and sent the info, four hours late.  But who sends an email out of the blue like that with such a short deadline.  They had my phone number . . . it's not like they couldn't have just called for the info.  I'm afraid that someone was supposed to have done this work a week ago, so when his/her boss came out and said, "Hey . . . do you have those applications ready for me?  I want to start calling on those first thing in the morning," so the employee had to scramble to have it all ready, and my app arbitrarily didn't make the cut, cos it didn't have all the info needed.     I have other have applications out for other internships, but the Cat one is my first choice, so it's super disappointing to think that I may not even get a shot at an interview because I didn't happen to be sitting at a computer during the three or four-hour window the person gave me to respond.  ---smurfy---.

[patrickl]

If they need it by 5PM they won't be forwarding it to anyone anyway. Earliest time they would actually use the e-mail would be next morning anyway.

While I was studying I had a dispute with the study financing people. I was running my own busines and their systems/rules weren't really equipped to deal with students who had their own company. Anyway, it would generally take them half a year (!) to reply to my letters. They would invariable give me an 8 day deadline to respond to their replies. Sounds like a lot, but I had a lot of vacations back then. I would simply backdate my mail a few days though. In these days of e-mail that would have been harder 

[Singapura]

While I was studying I had a dispute with the study financing people.

You're Dutch right? 

[patrickl]

While I was studying I had a dispute with the study financing people.

You're Dutch right? 

Yeah    Studiefinanciering rulez.

[ark_ader]

While I was studying I had a dispute with the study financing people.

You're Dutch right? 

Yeah    Studiefinanciering rulez.

Really?

Do you wear clogs?

[patrickl]

While I was studying I had a dispute with the study financing people.

You're Dutch right? 

Yeah    Studiefinanciering rulez.

Really?

Do you wear clogs?

All Dutch people do. We also eat tulips and live in a windmill. What else?

[shmokes]

Mother of god!  All Dutch people live in a single windmill?

[patrickl]

Mother of god!  All Dutch people live in a single windmill?

Don't be silly. There are many windmills 

Actually the more young and hip people pick one of the many wind turbines:

[Grasshopper]

All Dutch people do. We also eat tulips and live in a windmill. What else?

Well you also smoke dope whilst sipping your lattes.

[patrickl]

All Dutch people do. We also eat tulips and live in a windmill. What else?

Well you also smoke dope whilst sipping your lattes.

That's for the tourists. Just as the area where we collect the girls from all over the world and show them with the pretty red lights. 

[Singapura]

And don't forget we all ride bicycles.

[shmokes]

Well you also smoke dope whilst sipping your lattes.

Actually (and I'm not Dutch, so correct me if I'm wrong), but the oddest thing about an Amsterdam coffee shop is that you can't actually purchase coffee there.  And, similarly, you can't purchase or smoke weed at a Cafe.  It's just a bizarre naming convention.  Like an official euphemism.

[patrickl]

Well you also smoke dope whilst sipping your lattes.

Actually (and I'm not Dutch, so correct me if I'm wrong), but the oddest thing about an Amsterdam coffee shop is that you can't actually purchase coffee there.  And, similarly, you can't purchase or smoke weed at a Cafe.  It's just a bizarre naming convention.  Like an official euphemism.

They do sell coffee in coffeeshops. No alcohol though.

If a bar is caught to have allowed a drug dealer inside, the place gets closed down. So indeed the bars tend to be pretty strict against drugs being sold inside their place. I'm not sure if people are allowed to smoke a joint in a bar. In my days that was allowed, but that's about two decades ago 

In a few months there will be a complete smoking ban in bars, People are allowed to smoke in coffeeshops, but the shops have to sell the softdrugs in a smoke free area. It's the anti smokers mafia at it's worst.

[patrickl]

Next time something is your #1 choice, or even your number #42 choice, you need to be a little more proactive.

I was wondering about this too. Not knowing the situation of course, but I'm pretty sure I would at least have called the person the next morning to straighten things out.

[Grasshopper]

In a few months there will be a complete smoking ban in bars, People are allowed to smoke in coffeeshops, but the shops have to sell the softdrugs in a smoke free area. It's the anti smokers mafia at it's worst.

God I hate anti-smoking fanatics. I wish they'd just mind their own bloody business. They almost make me want to take up smoking just to spite them.

[shmokes]

Next time something is your #1 choice, or even your number #42 choice, you need to be a little more proactive.  Polite persistence is the only way you're going to get what you want when you're dealing with someone that's got plenty to do and couldn't care less about you as an individual.

It's not a typical job application.  It's a very formal bidding process, where internships are posted to the university's computer system, and students can bid for interviews through the system.  Students have a limited number of bids they can use, and bidding on an internship does not guarantee you an interview.  Your resume, transcripts, cover letter, writing sample, etc., are all transmitted to the employer electronically.  The employer does not post contact information.  The only avenue of contact a student has with a potential employer is through the system, and even then you are limited to being able to submit a bid which includes any documents the employer has requested, and a note, if you wish to leave one.  Beyond that, there is typically no contact.  Now, I have an email address, of course, because I was emailed and asked to email more info.  I sent that email (four hours too late) and followed up the next morning with an email asking if that sufficed and if there was anything else I could provide, etc., but got no response.  There's little more I can do, and that is by design.  The employers do not want to be rushed by 1000 law students all jockeying to make the best impression to snag the summer internship. 

[protokatie]

And don't forget we all ride bicycles.

I thought that was the Chinese? 

The one singaporean that I IM with daily says she uses the bus mostly, or walks if it is a short enough distance....

All I know: Dont bring spray paint cans to the Lion City...

[shmokes]

They do sell coffee in coffeeshops. No alcohol though.

The ones I went in while I was there, which was only maybe three or four total, didn't sell coffee at all.  They generally had a variety of bottled juices, and soft drugs, and that's all.  Not much of a sample, but that was my experience.  That was about 10 years ago.

[patrickl]

They do sell coffee in coffeeshops. No alcohol though.

The ones I went in while I was there, which was only maybe three or four total, didn't sell coffee at all.  They generally had a variety of bottled juices, and soft drugs, and that's all.  Not much of a sample, but that was my experience.  That was about 10 years ago.

Sure, there are bound to be a lot which don't sell coffee. Most people (practically all I'd say) just buy the stuff and leave. Not much use installing an expensive espresso machine and drip coffee is probably too much of a hassle. Especially the ones in the tourist areas.

[Jdurg]

Now is marijuana, magic mushrooms, etc. legal in all parts of Holland, or is it just in Amsterdaam?  I'm a bit confused.

[patrickl]

Now is marijuana, magic mushrooms, etc. legal in all parts of Holland, or is it just in Amsterdaam?  I'm a bit confused.

Soft drugs are "legal" all over the Netherlands, but only in stores that have gotten special permission. Dried mushrooms (and marijuana and hashish) are considered soft drugs, but fresh mushrooms are not. I think you could sell fresh mushrooms wherever you want. You can grow them yourself too and even find them in nature.

I think they are still trying to get fresh mushrooms will be put on the soft drug list soon though.

I'd have more to say/complain about our current government, but that would be more for PnR and I derailed shmokes thread enough already