A Good Example of Hawaii

Today I had a job interview. During work. I took time off work to go to this interview, which was in our conference room for the same job I’m doing, just more hours (as if I need more – 16 hours today, 8 hours to recuperate, then back to work!) – a good example of ass-backwards Hawaii, but that’s for another day. What really got me though is that they interviewed a total of six people, and for months now they’ve been telling me I’m going to get this position. Which is just how Hawaii is. People say things, they might come true, but if they do it will be a long time into the future. But besides that, another classic example of Hawaii is pretty much the whole interview we were just “talking story,” and what questions they did ask me they were totally spoonfeeding me the answer of what exactly they wanted to hear so I could get the highest score of the interviewees. Seriously, if not for their help, I probably would have bombed the interview. They even asked what five good qualities I had, and I stopped after three and said, “Sorry, but I’ve only got three good qualities, and I actually lied about them – I don’t possess those qualities at all. Seriously.” Of course they just laughed, and when I sat there with a blank stare, they told me my other two good qualities.

So of course the interview continued, and I eventually had to do a writing question, which was completely BSed by me with again, what they wanted to hear. But that’s the point– in Hawaii, to get a job it’s not at all about what you know but who you know, even moreso than anywhere else in the US. Which today turned out good for me – I was complimented on my writing response, and on the interview, and even on my polo shirt and jeans I wore (that’s actually considered almost business attire here. Had it been an aloha shirt it would have been business formal).

This whole “ohana” mentality though I think is a bad thing, because it really limits people because they could find someone else better for the job, and I probably could have gotten a better job somewhere else, but since they knew me here, they will give me this position, and since I’m not known by the better job, I won’t get the position – somebody whom they know will.

Is it laziness on their part? Or do they just want to go with the “sure thing,” even though I’ve noticed a lot of times people here will go with that, knowing exactly what they get, and it’s still sub-par. I’m not sure, but I’m glad this mentality finally worked out to my benefit… I hope. But if I do get this position, it will completely prove my point of this mentality being to the point of almost ridiculous here in Hawaii. I was slouching, chewing gum, and playing with a pen the whole time, for Christ’s sake!