Engl 109 - the Helping Hand

Praveena Puveendiran

ENGL 109, Waterloo

TA Group 13

The Helping Hand

I looked on top of the fridge and found a box of Special K Cereal.  I remembered eating from that exact box last Christmas.  ‘When you get old, sugar becomes gold’, I remembered my dad’s exact words as I reasoned why we never had a fresh box. Either way that didn’t stop me from wanting to eat a whole bowl of sugary goodness. I looked down at all the photos that were posted on the side of the fridge. A photo of my uncle posing with a bunch of children from an orphanage in a small village in Sri Lanka caught my eye. I remembered the amazing stories he used to tell my cousins and I about the volunteer excursions he went on to various third world countries. I always wondered how it was possible for him to be so different from the rest of my family.

Dinnnnnnnnnnng! Right when I was pouring the cereal in my bright pink Hello Kitty bowl, my iPhone rang. I quickly rushed hoping it was my manager with the itinerary for my first day of work.  Strangely it was an email from KPMG HR. ‘Melissa said she would send the itinerary through Whatsapp’ I thought while feeling bewildered. I swiped right on my iPhone and opened the email before I could read the subject.  

Dear Praveena Puveendiran,

I am so sorry to say that the summer internship program that you were accepted for will not be running this summer due to budget constraints placed by our new director.  We welcome you to apply for our co-op positions that will be available for Fall 2015.  Thank you for your interest.  

Best Regards,

KPMG HR Recruitment

My heart sunk and my stomach felt like it was going to turn upside down.  I could feel my face burning and my eyes filling with water as I blinked trying to stop it. ‘OMG CONGRATULATIONS. I can’t wait to tell all of my accounting friends from other schools that MY BEST FRIEND got a KPMG internship! Congrats I am so proud of you honey. Congratulations I knew you would get it. Congrats, Get it girl!!’  I felt so embarrassed remembering all of the people I love congratulating me three months ago for getting into the top business internship and then losing it.  I ran up the stairs as fast as I could to lie down and cry in my bed.  I shoved my head into my white, down-filled pillow and sobbed until I could not breathe, and then turned my head to the left side to catch a breath of air until I saw a paper bag that read Banana Republic. The bag that held my black dress pants for my first day of work.

        I spent the next two days mourning over my dream internship that I had just lost and hiding from all of my friends and family to avoid breaking the news to them that I was again, unemployed. It felt like my life was over and I was a failure.  ‘How do people

do this? Isn’t money and a job everything? Aren’t they embarrassed? Well, they should be.’, I thought. I reached on top of the fridge to grab the Rice Krispies and was interrupted by the doorbell ring. I contemplated on whether I should open the door and face the public or keep sobbing alone.

“Hello, my name is Hanna, do you have a minute to speak today?” said a little blonde girl.

“Hi there, errr, I don’t have too much time right now,” I said hesitantly.

“It won’t be long. I will only take a couple of your minutes.” Something about her blue eyes staring widely opened at me seemed promising. “My uncle and I are looking for someone to help us make sandwiches this weekend.  We need to make 100 sandwiches in one day and deliver them.”

“Do you want me to help you make your lunch for a month or cater a party?” I questioned.

“A little bit of both,” she scowled. “But it pays!” Her expression transformed to a smile that stretched ear to ear, which I found quite hard to say no to.  

“If it pays, I’m in”.

        Later that week, I hopped into my car and drove to the address Hanna gave me and my mood was uplifted just knowing that even though I did not get the job I wanted at least I was off to earn money and buy some nice things for myself.  Ding Dong, I rang the doorbell and waited until a young man in his thirties with dark brown hair and bright blue eyes welcomed me in with a warm smile.  Before I could take off my coat he handed me an apron, a hair net and a pair of latex gloves.  I quickly put on my gear and entered the kitchen where Hanna was sitting and spreading Cheese Wiz on a slice of white bread.  

“Hi Again! Do you want to help me and Caleb make Cheese sandwiches?” she said as her face lit up.

“Hello again. Should I open this new bag of bread?” We began making the cheese sandwiches until we ran out of Cheese Whiz and then she brought out peanut butter and jelly to make the next batch.  I began to wonder if I was helping cater a children’s party or if their guests just had very bad taste.  Anyway, I carried on without raising any questions because I wanted to make as many sandwiches I could so I could get paid more. ‘Wait is Caleb paying me per sandwich or per hour?’ I thought but did not want to ask in case the answer was disappointing.

We finished making 100 sandwiches and put them individually into zip lock bags and packed them into three rectangular boxes with pink lids. We loaded them into the car and began to drive to some destination, which I assumed was the party we were catering.  

“Wake up we are here now! Wakey wakey!” I struggled to open my eyes with all the sun shining down on me and hanna smiling very closely to my face. I unbuckled my seat belt and jumped out embarrassed that I fell asleep on the job.  

On the other side of the street, read a sign ‘$9.99 FULL DAY PARKING’ and past the sign I spotted the antenna of the CN tower and realized we were in downtown Toronto. Caleb and Hanna walked in front at a slow place searching the grounds as if they were unsure of where we were heading. They walked faster and I followed as they approached a homeless man sitting on the floor right outside of the parking lot wrapped in a blanket.