This then turned into a discussion between a couple people on the bus; the ticket seller, driver, and several people who were saying where they thought. I was told to go to Sancun'r again, and that made me feel pretty confident that it was the right place to go to. So I got off the bus at the next stop, went to the opposite side of the street and took the 110 4 stops to Happy Third Town (Xingfu San Cun). A little ways from the bus stop was an office, I was walking behind two Chinese guys and they asked someone the question I was going to ask; where do we apply?
So I knew I was going to the right place and I followed them in to the office. They asked the woman behind the desk if this is where you applied, she asked "driver or ticket seller?" They both said ticket seller and the women behind the desk looked at me like "What are you doing here?" I said, "Ticket seller." She then asked, do you have a Beijing hukou. Nope. Well, then there's no way.
That seemed like it and she tried to kick me out, but I kept asking and pressing about it, whether I can do it anyway despite this small fact. She kept saying that without the hukou I could never do this job, despite all the reasons and my real strong interest. While we were talking about these things she was helping the people that kept coming in. In the fifteen minutes we were speaking, there must have been like 20 people that came in to apply. Apparently people apply and then a few are selected to start school. When I realized this really wasn't going to cut it, I knew I had to get bumped up to a higher level, so I changed my tack.
I started talking about working as an intern, someone just learning the trade of the ticket seller. I said, can't you ask a manager about this and see if they might want someone like me? So I took out a business card and wrote "wants to be an intern" on it then handed it to her. She went back into the office and I thought I'd wait for her to see if there was any prospect. Maybe five minutes later, she came back and was like, come with me. She took me back into the office and upstairs where I went in and started talking to a guy about being an intern.
He was basically one hundred percent against it. A little bit of interest, but he had the same excuses I had heard yesterday. You know, it's not just like you can come in here and tomorrow start working on a bus. I told him I understand that I would have to go to classes to learn the how to be a "bus service person." And I said that's all part of understanding the culture and becoming more familiar with the language, and it's what I want. Then he said, "well, the school probably requires a Beijing hukou, as well." He was not going to crack and actually ended the conversation twice before I finally left. Probably not good on my part, but I definitely did not want to give up without a fight. I ended by saying, "You have my contact info, so if the opportunity does arise, I'll still be interested."
Feeling kind of bummed, I went down and thanked the woman who I had been talking to. She said, "It didn't work, why are you thanking me?" Well, thanks for asking and letting me trouble you like this.
And I left their office thinking... now I can either get a fake Beijing hukou or try to apply for a real one... but you can only apply at this one place, so if it was fake, the women would know that I had some how gotten one and wouldn't let it pass.
And as I was walking down the steps and out the gate my phone started ringing. Didn't know the number and answered. "This is Mr Wang, from yesterday at the line 1 office..." And he brought up the possibility of an internship with them, it could only be on the line 1 bus (which is a pretty cool one, cuts the city right in half and drives in front of Mao's picture on Tiananmen). It could only be on a week by week basis, "are you interested?" YES! "Of course you are!" he said. "Well, I still have to talk about it with the other managers, but I'll call you about it."
And while nothing is set, or guaranteed, it seems like I'm getting closer to my goal. If I don't hear from him before tomorrow afternoon I'll give him a call and see what the status is. I can only hope for the best. At least seeds are planted now, both at the main office and at the line 1, those are the two places I left cards. It just leaves me feeling very hopeful. It's funny how much I really want to be on the bus selling tickets, I mean, riding the bus is fun, but working the bus would be so interesting.
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