Saturday, December 25, 2010
It's 2330 now, around the time when I normally reach home from work at Isetan Shaw House. I do toy-promoting on the basement level. Through the job I met many lovely new people. They are Katherine, Celia, Jot, Auntie Eng, Xin Ling, Cherie, Jaypee, Monica, William and others(who aren't lovely and I don't fancy talking to again).
I miss my job! It feels like a stomach ache, like how much Harry misses Hogwarts? Now I've stopped working after being transfered to Suntec City but I still miss the old one at Shaw House so much! It pains to think about all I've experienced and discovered there. Isetan possesses a warmth I find hard to put in words. Everyone should try working there once. Anyway, YT thinks I miss the job because of the people there, which is true to only 50%. More so, I miss the job because of the carefree lifestyle I've chanced upon there. Arriving at work at 2pm, slipping on the apron, promoting the toys, talking to and laughing with the fun co-workers there. I want this life. Honestly I wouldn't mind living like this for a salary of $1000 a year. It's selfish to say I miss the job because of how I felt relaxed there. I miss it too because of who I've met. I'm sure it wouldn't have been so fun if not for them. I don't care about the $5 per hour pay, I just want to work like that with them forever.
I remember so much from the three weeks there. On the first day Katherine told us we need to buy comfortable shoes for sales promoters spend long hours standing, so I bought a pair of rounded tip flats from Far East Plaza the very next day but failed to meet the comfort factor again. On the same trip, I also bought lunch(OMS from Shihlin) for YT, Celia and myself. I remember eating one whole pack of peppermint éclairs everyday for the first few days of work. Incidentally they weren't even éclairs(as claimed on the packaging), just sweets with peppermint chocolate filling. I'd hide the pack behind the tv and eat when no one's looking. After a few days I got bolder and popped sweets into my mouth without a care of being detected(eating during working is not allowed). Jot told me my hair looked hen3 kong3 bu4 on the first day I decided to let it down, so Katherine did my hair for me into a Japanese-style bun with a hair chopstick. I felt pleased then and admired it from all angles in the reflective pillar. I shared the omu rice available in the Isetan supermarket with YT for dinner on the first day. Katherine, Jeanice and I often had sushi after 9pm because it's HALF-PRICE! I remember Kat likes raw salmon, scallop and crabmeat mayonnaise. On the first day I felt lost as YT and I went up the scary long escalator. After we found our working area, I tried desperately to cram in the vast amount of toy information Stefani was reeling off. I remember the anticipation every morning I felt as my bus approached the bus-stop outside Royal Thai Embassy. I would get down hurriedly(just to clock in a few extra minutes on my punch card) and half-run to the entry of the office building. More often than not, I would see Cheng Kai having a smoke break at the benches near the road. My bag would swing wildly on my arm and I recall hitting a child once on the head(thank god he didn't cry). I would walk the long narrow stretch of tiled floor and deposit my bag at the security office daily. It was more than a routine to me. Our business was really good and we would restock every few days. There was once when we received snow globes that didn't sing as promised on the box, so I went to level 4 to borrow screwdrivers in an attempt to open one and find out what's wrong. Some guy tried to help me and he ended up breaking it haha. I found Jaypee to be really nice and was forever seeking excuses to go up to level 4, just to catch a glimpse of him and hopefully have a chat. Haha so sorry to Jeanice and YT. Before Jeanice started work I would go home alone every night and walked home with a stranger once, who I later found out was William, Isetan's shoe supervisor. Btw Isetan stocks really good shoe paddings! They'll save any painful sole day. I remember my frustration during the first morning when I couldn't get the TV games to work, then my frustration at the customers when they actually started working(Press A to start ball! You have to swing the remote to hit the ball before it hits the ground! You're too slow, it's somewhat like real tennis! No of course it's not Wii!). I was delighted when I could operate the toy piano. Katherine told me to leave the Jingle Bells song on for a festive mood. I loved the mochi sold by Jot near the cashier and shared a box with YT before. J and I would sit on the escalators after work because we would be worn out. Auntie Eng was really cute and always asked if I have eaten whenever we met. I fell asleep one night when I was doing night shift alone on the platforms and Jot totally frightened me when he shouted BOO. Oh and I was bewildered when Joey told me to put the toys on the of the platform and under the wagon on the first day. I kept picturing the MRT platform and the horse-driven carriage haha! A platform is just a wooden thing you put stocks on the a wagon is this foldable display cart with an empty space below. Sales jargon... Jaypee came down and helped us once, when stocks arrived and he tripped over the Pokemon boxes. I remember laughing because he looked so adorable. I felt shocked and sad when I discovered that Celia and Kat were smokers. Last Sunday when I went back to visit I breathed in a considerable amount of second-hand smoke while talking to Kat. Jeanice and I would do afternoon shift while YT did morning shift. I walked home with J and Kat and William on the second last day and Kat gave J and I papaya. Kat, Jot, J and I once sat in McCafe and had Pepper Lunch takeaway haha! Jot, Kat and I once went to Orchard Towers for dinner and I spent $7 on freaking economic rice...Kat said it was qiao1 zha4. On the last day we spent a long time wrapping up our stocks and clearing up. YT and J did full shift that day. Jaypee came down at night to supervise and I found out he was here on a one-year contract and would be returning to his country in June. No more seeing him after that. We went home super late that night.
All these are some of my memories of my first job. I love it.
Saturday, December 25, 2010