(post on 12th feb 2007 transferred from livejournal)
It has been a long time since i last blogged... I've decided to switch blogs because blogger is throwing me tons of problems... I've to register a google account and what-not for the sake of uploading an entry? Oh gosh... and what's more... after requiring me to register a google account, the page simply doesn't want to load proper for me. I couldn't proceed hence i've decided to switch to livejournal... following the crowd eh? Anyway, i've started working and i'm quite sure the whole world knows about it. I've started working at a comics shop! The working hours are hectic. I guess only workaholics can take that sort of work schedule. I'm not a 100% workaholic though. but i dedicate myself to my work totally, which sort of means that i don't slack at work or things like that. I first started out working at Toa Payoh. On my first day of work, i had a hard time trying to find the shop i was going to work at. It's along a row of shops facing the road less frequently ventured by people. I walked round the whole of Toa Payoh central during my great search for the shop. I think that's the reason why i know almost every corner of Toa Payoh central now. At least, i can calculate the shortest route i need to take from any bus stop to the shop. By the way, Ying Huo Chong De Meng was filmed at that shop! i haven't started working there then, but i could recognise the maple cards displayed there in the show. When i first started out, i do what newbies do. I sweep the floor, clear the bins and stuffs like that. Peiching was my mentor. She taught me how to use the systems at the counter as well as the cashier box. That's a whole lot of information to memorise. Anyway, as i was not used to those systems, i was rather slow. Peiching stood by me to guide me. She's a bit strict though. Then i started out collecting books the customers read, and putting them back on the shelves. I can take hours looking for the position of a certain series. There's a whole range of books there. I was overwhelmed by the amount of books, ranging from novels to manga. I walked around for the entire day and at the end of the day, i was completely shagged. My feet ached like hell. I haven't walked kilometres for ages. For the second day (it was a saturday), customers were flocking in. The influx of customers left me panicking sometimes because i couldn't handle them quickly. I left many waiting. Fortunately, Peiching was an extremely efficient person. The queue shortened rapidly. My feet ached much more on saturday because i walked tons more. For the rest of the days, my feet didn't ached as badly. This is probably my feet is used to walking for 11hours. My other colleagues at the shop are Ahyee n xinyi. That's 3 "yi-s" at a single shop. They are very nice people. However, as time passes, i hear more gossips. Politics in a shop i guess? Angie came after a week when Peiching was transferred to the main branch in amk. Angie worked in amk initially. I had a new mentor after a week. She's a nice person too, though she was not as efficient as Peiching. I could sense that from how she managed the accounts. Peiching takes only 5mins. And for that one week when peiching was around, i could leave the shop for home before 10, despite many errors i made while collecting money. However, when angie was in charge of settling the accounts, she took rather long. For that few days, i left shop at about 10.30pm. haiiz... Junyeong came a few weeks later. I began calling him gorgor after xinyi started calling him that. Well, he's older than me ma... He's a nice person, but a wee bit blur too. He's super talented in music! lol...There's 2 levels in a single shop. i was employed to take care of the upper level. For the first few days, there was peiching to guide me. After peiching left, i was left to guard the entire level myself sometimes. i felt rather stressed because i wasn't used to the environment there. Worse off, i wasn't good at introducing books, especially novels. What's more? i can't handle phonecalls yet because i don't even know what series are available and till which book is a certain series available. Sales was maintained at the target amount even though i haven't really gone about promoting books. wahhh.... As time passes, i got to know more customers. Most of them are regulars, especially those borrowing wuxia novels. I learnt the art of introducing novels despite not knowing any content. The longer i worked, i know which series are more popular. Hence i could introduce them to other customers. Most of them are old uncles. Whereas those renting comics range from students to aunties. I made a few friends there and i even exchanged emails with them. Hopefully, i can meet a few on msn. Well, the way i deal with customers is rather interesting. I treat them as friends, rather than strangers. I speak to them as though we are very close friends, using a polite yet casual tone. Of course, i don't go on ranting about books all the time. Sometimes we chat. I'm not sure whether that's considered slacking, but i guess i'm used to promoting books and chatting with them at the same time. Sometimes, i complain to them about my work schedule, the boss, and other things. When i'm depressed, and i go to work with a heavy heart, the site of them really makes me cheer up. Words of concern from them really makes me feel happier. At the end of the day, i leave my work with a cheerful mood. I like my customers there =)On saturday (the most recent one), i went to work only to find out that i've been transferred to the main branch where the boss work... Wah... before that, i've heard many things about the boss. I felt very stressed out as i have to live under the scrutiny of the boss. Somemore, i've to deal with sales which has never been good at the main branch. This gives the boss more reasons to reprimand me and stuffs. Not only so, there's the lady boss there. After working for two days, i really missed my days at the tpy branch even though i'm quite stressed out there too. Just that, it's much worse working with the boss around. what's more? i've to submit something called "personal sales" to indicate how many books i've managed to "sell out". Not like there's many customers around for me. And it's not like i'm more experienced than peiching when it comes to familiarity with books and stuffs like that. Presently, i'm taking this as a challenge. but how much more can i take it? i'm not very sure. i started my practical driving lessons already. Combining that with work, i think my body can't take it. when my body fails me, i don't think i can take it mentally either... haiiiz... looking forward to more rest days when cny comes...
(end of transferred entry)