I couldn’t believe it.

Right after the day McDonald’s rejected me, I got a call at 9 in the morning:

“Hi, I’m ****** from Fit For Free – You left your CV at us 2 weeks ago. Are you still looking?“

For a moment, my brain stopped working.

– Good morning, I’m Erik – Yes, I’m still looking.
“Great, are you available today?“
– Of course
“Could you come between 2 or 3?“
– Certainly
“Perfect, ask for me when you’re here“

That was it. The moment I’ve been waiting for ever since I came here.
A thin ray of hope that the period of starvation, struggle and pain would finally cease.
Well, technically I wasn’t starving anymore, there was one thing I could always eat. – Thanks to the girl who twisted me.

This left only one task for the day: Do. Not. Fail.
Starting with a shower all the way to beard trimming I made sure my appearance was as neat as it could be.
An hour before the clock would hit 3, I walked inside and asked the receptionist lady.
“Take a seat, the manager will be here immediately.”

The Ice-breaker must have been the motivational letter attached to the CV, it was diligently written to increase the chances of succeeding.
In less than 60 seconds the manager appeared:
“Ah, you must be Érik. I’m glad you’re here“
– Ik ook¹ — Starting off with the joker skill: Talking in their own language.

She was confused for a second, but kept talking in English.
The moment she asked me when did I come here, I revealed that it wasn’t even 3 months ago since I moved to this country – my Dutch glued her eyebrows to the ceiling.

Under 10 minutes she realized that there is no point in questioning me – I was the perfect candidate.

She offered me the job without hesitating.

“But…Since you’re a foreigner, we will need to do a lot of paperwork, starting with registration, BSN number, bankpas² and all those thin-“
I slammed everything on the table, right before she could finish.
“Wauw³. Okay, I see you came prepared. In this case, give me a minute, I need to scan these“

5 minutes later I was officially an employee.

I did not leave anything to chance today. The mentality was “Not going home until I get the job of my dreams” – in this case, vacuum cleaning and floor mopping.
Here is a picture of the place:

Bright environment, warm colleagues – and the most important benefit:
Easy to reach. With a bike It’s only 10 minutes away.
I have to start at 7 in the morning, working only 5 hours a day. The perfect baan⁴ that leaves me time for side hustling.

After 41 rejections, –2000€ in debt and countless days spent on losing sleep – I could finally start living.
It took 80 days to win, but the lesson is clear:

Do. Not. Quit.
You are just one commitment away from achieving your Dreams.

“Where there is a will, there is a way”

George Herbert

Take care, as always.
Erik

11.04.2019 – Day 80

[Dutch Dictionary]
Ik ook ¹ – Me too
Bankpas ² – Bank card
Wauw ³ – Wow
Baan ⁴ – Job