Audrey Attitude

Prior to being discovered in 1951, Audrey was giving 21 performances a week in the West End, bringing home $150 a week, as well as attending ballet classes. In her own words she " worked my [her] ass off." It is thus clear that Hepburn had a formidable work ethic which would be the steady foundation to her career. This was the main reason for Audrey's success.

Today, I drew from her inspiration, and decided to find myself a job.

I've been unemployed now since the beginning of September and, having fully maxxed out my overdraft, have just registered for unemployment benefit at the local dole office. This, may I just add, was the most degrading, and humiliating moment of my life, clearly surpassing any of my drunken antics which include, throwing up in a 5 star hotel, kissing half my work mates at the Christmas party and accidently flashing my DD chest to my friends. Three months is my longest period of unemployment and I must admit, whilst I do miss the sense of freedom and satisfaction one gets from earning one's own money, I have quite enjoyed the life free from responsibility, rent and bills that comes with being a 21 year old layabout still living at home.

Still is taking hand outs what Audrey would have done?

I highly doubt it.

So at the start of my new life, armed only with thirty CV's and an attitude to make Miss Hepburn herself beam with pride, I go on the hunt for a job.

This is not as simple as it sounds. I remember leaving school and walking around my local shopping centre handing out CV's and landing myself a job, without even needing an interview. Back then, before Gordon Brown ruined the economy, companies were crying out for minnimum wage slaves to serve food, wipe tables, advise customers that no they didn't look fat and yes a store card was a good idea. Now of course, in the midst of a recession, even the girl stacking shelves in Tesco, has an MA in physics from Cambridge ( totally true, I swear). All the temporary Christmas staff were hired in August, because this is when Christmas begins now, so it was a case of thrusting and shoving my CV's at various shop assistants hoping that they get back to the person responsible for hiring and firing. I don't hold out much hope for Toys 'R' Us mind, the sales rep didn't even know what a CV was!!

Still... this Audrey Attitude must have worked, because somehow I have landed a job interview in an Italian cafe on friday. Admittedly, a cafe is not somewhere, I'd choose to work, a bookstore, theatre or independant cinema would have been more my cup of tea, but as far as jobs go, there are certainly worse ones on the market.

Of course, when God removes a problem with one hand, he tends to give with the other, and in this instance, the dilemma I am faced with is a fashion one - what do I wear to the interview. A suit would perhaps be too dressy, after all it is only a waitressing job, but at the same time, I get the impression that jeans would also be too casual.

So, on Audrey's advice, which is that simplicity is key and that it is not the quantity of clothes in a wardrobe that matters, but the quality, I decided to have a refreshing though somewhat belated spring clean out of my wardrobe. I waved goodbye to those cheap Primark T-shirts, threw out those tops that are gorgeous but simply too small for me to fit into again and binned the Bohemian gyspy skirt that was the height of fashion on my seventeenth birthday in 2005 at a time when I was young enough not to know better.

Oxfam will be happy when they receive the clothes tomorrow, the cat ( who does have a name) is happy now, because they make a cosy sleeping place, and I am happy because I have somewhere to hang my new jumper ( see link).

The wardrobe itself looks sad and depleted, of course this will most definately change once I receive my first pay packet.

Speak soon

Annie

xxx

The link by the way is as follows:

http://www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?beginIndex=0&viewAllFlag=true&catalogId=19551&storeId=12556&categoryId=190626&parentcategoryrn=93594&productId=1391375&langId=-1