Interview with MB chambers
On Tuesday after work I went to the casino with $2000. I initially won and was up $400, but wanted to hit my target of $1200 so I kept playing. It seemed like an easy and realistic target. But then I started losing. I struggled and ended up losing $2000. One odd thing was there happened to be a dealer change very frequently. In fact, I went through four dealers in an hour. The other day I went through four dealers in four hours. Was the casino onto me? Was this their method to counter my 'winning ways'?
It was all too much for me to bear - emotionally. I was there for too long, and just didn't like myself. I didn't like where I was, and I didn't like what I was doing. Even if I was making money. I decided it was time to end it all. I went home, and managed my bank account details so that I would only be able to withdraw $1000 max per day per card. I knew this would be a deterrent as I wouldn't feel safe with a bankroll of $1000 on a $10 table.
The next day, however, my scumbag brain went to work. As random and sudden as it seemed, a thought struck my mind: I could still withdraw from the bank in person, albeit during opening hours. And so, at lunch time, I found myself withdrawing $2800 from the bank and rushing to the casino, telling myself I just wanted to win my $2000 back.
I played next to a woman who seemed to be relatively new to the game. And addicted. She was placing chips everywhere and was noticeable annoyed each time she lost (as if expecting a win every time). I last a while, and although I got a lot of hits on my sector, it never hit the ones where I had heaps of chips piled on. In fact, for about five spins, I just kept getting my money back.
In the end, I lost it all. I had been there for probably just over an hour, which meant I'd been out of the office for an hour and a half. I couldn't believe I had let gambling get in my way of work. I was angry. I didn't want to do this anymore.
So I called up the bank. I knew I couldn't close my redraw facility on the personal loan as that's what they had told me before, but I needed to try. Surprisingly, the guy I spoke to didn't mention anything about that. Instead, he gave me two options: 1) turn off the redraw facility, or 2) reduce my loan amount by the amount of advanced payments I had left so that it would reduce my minimum repayments and this would also close off my ability to redraw. And that's what I did. I only had about $5000 left to redraw, it wasn't much, but it was salvageable. That's $5000 I could have, but did not, lose to the casino.
That afternoon I received a call from the clerk of MB chambers, the one DC works at. She asked if I could meet with their readers' committee on Friday at 4pm. I said yes, but it felt a bit odd that such a positive event was happening right after such a negative event of losing $2800.
Actually, I'm not even sure if it's so positive. Having signed a three year contract, I guess a part of me was content just to work through that. Now that MB chambers were telling me there was an opportunity to join them in October if I passed my exam in June, the stable income could end there. Hmmm. What to do.
So on Friday at 3:50pm I snuck out of the office to go there. It was a bit hard at first, because Mob came into my room to talk about something, and she was taking her sweet, sweet time. I acted natural, but as soon as she left, I put on my jacket and zoomed out of there.
Waiting in the receptionist area, I admired the view from the 60th floor. I could never imagine myself working here. Just being here alone made me feel like I was dirtying the place. I was told that two interviewers wouldn't be available, but the other two, SOH and PC would be. I knew SOH from that trial I did with GS, and I thought it was lucky I was a nice person who always greeted her whenever I saw her around courts, because obviously now it would pay off (a little).
A little while later, PC came out to greet me and led me to a nearby interview room. SOH was there too and we shook hands. I sat down in the so called "hot seat" and the interview began. SOH first asked about my work history, and thought I was still with my old office. I told her I left last April and went to my current work place.
PC asked me a bit about that, and I told him I had just recently done my third hearing. Both seemed fairly straight to the point, but PC seemed a bit more so. He said it didn't look like experience would be a problem for me, but asked me where I thought I would get work from. My answer was that I was hoping to get some from Nom as she liked to use junior barristers, that I had friends who opened up new firms, and I was also trying to maintain good relationships with my current place so that they might give me some work. He seemed pleased with that answer.
Other questions included:
- would I do a trial if it was offered to me on my first day?
- would I be willing to do work for others on short notice?
- would I be willing to do civil work?
- whether I was prepared to survive on six months without work
- whether I was willing to share a room (I told him I thought this was normal)
- whether I was willing to do country work
He also gave me some tips, like if I ever got work from someone, to call the lawyer or client straight away and tell them you're onto it. One tip I really liked was to get to work at 7:30am and just hang around because you never know what might happen, as work could turn up unexpectedly. He said to always keep your door open, and spend time in the kitchen, spend time meeting people and being interested in them.
PC asked why I wanted to come here, and I said DC was my tutor. They didn't seem to know that, and that seemed to be a good enough response. I added that I also knew others on the floor.
We also talked about how there seemed to be a lack of legal aid work, particularly at these chambers, as legal aid tended to give work to SMG chambers. So he said given the increase in commission work, they were trying to focus on that, and because of that, I was a "star candidate". He also asked me if I applied for SMG and when I said no, he asked me why not.
Well, because there's a dickhead there who I don't like.
I said this was my first choice as DC was here, and I didn't want to apply for too many places until I knew my exam results.
We finished by talking about the amount of work around, with PC saying there was an increase in barristers coming to the bar. He asked if I had any questions and I asked if they could elaborate on what their expectations of me would be.
As the interview concluded, PC said the only issue seemed to be whether they had enough room for me. And he didn't mean that physically, he meant whether there would be enough work to go around for me.
I left, feeling kinda excited and relieved that it was all over. I went back to the office and texted Victoria about it, saying I'd tell her more next Sunday. She replied saying she was very interested and looking forward to it.
After work I went to the gym, then met up with Matt for some ball at KGV.
It was all too much for me to bear - emotionally. I was there for too long, and just didn't like myself. I didn't like where I was, and I didn't like what I was doing. Even if I was making money. I decided it was time to end it all. I went home, and managed my bank account details so that I would only be able to withdraw $1000 max per day per card. I knew this would be a deterrent as I wouldn't feel safe with a bankroll of $1000 on a $10 table.
The next day, however, my scumbag brain went to work. As random and sudden as it seemed, a thought struck my mind: I could still withdraw from the bank in person, albeit during opening hours. And so, at lunch time, I found myself withdrawing $2800 from the bank and rushing to the casino, telling myself I just wanted to win my $2000 back.
I played next to a woman who seemed to be relatively new to the game. And addicted. She was placing chips everywhere and was noticeable annoyed each time she lost (as if expecting a win every time). I last a while, and although I got a lot of hits on my sector, it never hit the ones where I had heaps of chips piled on. In fact, for about five spins, I just kept getting my money back.
In the end, I lost it all. I had been there for probably just over an hour, which meant I'd been out of the office for an hour and a half. I couldn't believe I had let gambling get in my way of work. I was angry. I didn't want to do this anymore.
So I called up the bank. I knew I couldn't close my redraw facility on the personal loan as that's what they had told me before, but I needed to try. Surprisingly, the guy I spoke to didn't mention anything about that. Instead, he gave me two options: 1) turn off the redraw facility, or 2) reduce my loan amount by the amount of advanced payments I had left so that it would reduce my minimum repayments and this would also close off my ability to redraw. And that's what I did. I only had about $5000 left to redraw, it wasn't much, but it was salvageable. That's $5000 I could have, but did not, lose to the casino.
That afternoon I received a call from the clerk of MB chambers, the one DC works at. She asked if I could meet with their readers' committee on Friday at 4pm. I said yes, but it felt a bit odd that such a positive event was happening right after such a negative event of losing $2800.
Actually, I'm not even sure if it's so positive. Having signed a three year contract, I guess a part of me was content just to work through that. Now that MB chambers were telling me there was an opportunity to join them in October if I passed my exam in June, the stable income could end there. Hmmm. What to do.
So on Friday at 3:50pm I snuck out of the office to go there. It was a bit hard at first, because Mob came into my room to talk about something, and she was taking her sweet, sweet time. I acted natural, but as soon as she left, I put on my jacket and zoomed out of there.
Waiting in the receptionist area, I admired the view from the 60th floor. I could never imagine myself working here. Just being here alone made me feel like I was dirtying the place. I was told that two interviewers wouldn't be available, but the other two, SOH and PC would be. I knew SOH from that trial I did with GS, and I thought it was lucky I was a nice person who always greeted her whenever I saw her around courts, because obviously now it would pay off (a little).
A little while later, PC came out to greet me and led me to a nearby interview room. SOH was there too and we shook hands. I sat down in the so called "hot seat" and the interview began. SOH first asked about my work history, and thought I was still with my old office. I told her I left last April and went to my current work place.
PC asked me a bit about that, and I told him I had just recently done my third hearing. Both seemed fairly straight to the point, but PC seemed a bit more so. He said it didn't look like experience would be a problem for me, but asked me where I thought I would get work from. My answer was that I was hoping to get some from Nom as she liked to use junior barristers, that I had friends who opened up new firms, and I was also trying to maintain good relationships with my current place so that they might give me some work. He seemed pleased with that answer.
Other questions included:
- would I do a trial if it was offered to me on my first day?
- would I be willing to do work for others on short notice?
- would I be willing to do civil work?
- whether I was prepared to survive on six months without work
- whether I was willing to share a room (I told him I thought this was normal)
- whether I was willing to do country work
He also gave me some tips, like if I ever got work from someone, to call the lawyer or client straight away and tell them you're onto it. One tip I really liked was to get to work at 7:30am and just hang around because you never know what might happen, as work could turn up unexpectedly. He said to always keep your door open, and spend time in the kitchen, spend time meeting people and being interested in them.
PC asked why I wanted to come here, and I said DC was my tutor. They didn't seem to know that, and that seemed to be a good enough response. I added that I also knew others on the floor.
We also talked about how there seemed to be a lack of legal aid work, particularly at these chambers, as legal aid tended to give work to SMG chambers. So he said given the increase in commission work, they were trying to focus on that, and because of that, I was a "star candidate". He also asked me if I applied for SMG and when I said no, he asked me why not.
Well, because there's a dickhead there who I don't like.
I said this was my first choice as DC was here, and I didn't want to apply for too many places until I knew my exam results.
We finished by talking about the amount of work around, with PC saying there was an increase in barristers coming to the bar. He asked if I had any questions and I asked if they could elaborate on what their expectations of me would be.
As the interview concluded, PC said the only issue seemed to be whether they had enough room for me. And he didn't mean that physically, he meant whether there would be enough work to go around for me.
I left, feeling kinda excited and relieved that it was all over. I went back to the office and texted Victoria about it, saying I'd tell her more next Sunday. She replied saying she was very interested and looking forward to it.
After work I went to the gym, then met up with Matt for some ball at KGV.
posted by toey | 15:24
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