It’s about time to share another story of my life.. another step of my long journey. Last time I would always write it in Bahasa Indonesia. But this time, I feel like sharing the story with my English speaking friends as well. So I think I’ll need to think harder and spend more of my time to write in English.

Let start the story and look back to the time when I was retrenched. For anyone who never knew about this.. Yes.. I was retrenched by my previous employer. In the other words.. I was ‘fired’. My outlet was closed down, and other two outlets too.. six became three. Economic was bad.. and a foreigner like me was always in the best position to be laid off. No matter what the reason was, and whatever nice term to say that, it’s just the same meaning for me.. “fired”. It was April 2009, and I started my job there in April 2008. One year.. not so bad? I asked my operational manager whether I could keep my S Pass (work pass) so I would still be allowed to stay in Singapore to find a new job. Unfortunately he said no, and my pass had to be canceled soon. I didn’t blame him for doing so, because it’s in fact against the law if I still held the pass while I was no longer working.

The only thing I could do was going back to Jakarta, and considered that as a holiday trip. I was not retrenched alone.. Another more than fifteen employees were laid off together with me. Some of them had planned to travel to Indonesia for holiday in early May. They’ve bought the flight ticket before they knew about the retrenchment. To think positively, we had extra money for the vacation from the Notice Pay and Severance Pay, “thanks” to the retrenchment. So I spent around ten days in Indonesia before I came back to Singapore to start everything all over again, tried to find a new job.

One month passed, and I had not found any job yet. I couldn’t even get enough chance for interviews. There were some short interview calls that never went any further because of the fact that I wasn’t a Singaporean nor Singapore PR holder. Economic situation was indeed bad compared to last year. In my first month job hunting last year, I could get five interviews whereas this year I only got one interview, at Yoshinoya. But it’s just a start. I never expected to get a job in the first month. All I needed to do was to extend my social visit pass so I could stay here for another two months and continue finding a job.. and that was what I did.

Time flew so fast.. very fast! And apparently the so called luck wasn’t really on my side. Three months.. over hundred resumes sent.. less than one hand fingers of interviews in result. I had one interview at TCC which was quite a good interview actually.. but I had to (again..) facing the fact that they preferred locals than foreigners. Few weeks before my time was up, I got another promising interview.. this time at Thai Accent. Again.. same problem.. they didn’t have enough quota for S Pass. The good thing was.. they would open a new restaurant in October. The manager who interviewed me asked me to wait until the new restaurant opened and they would have more quota for S Pass. He said that he would contact me if they got the quota, and told me that I could still try to find another job while waiting. So I kept looking for another job, and started my move with ‘plan B’. The plan B was.. back to school.

I searched through internet to find a school that would be able to ‘upgrade’ my qualification. I don’t have a bachelor degree with me. In my other story (in bahasa) last year, I ever shared how that degree ‘paper’ was very important to find a job in Singapore. So that’s the plan.. if I couldn’t find a job then I would try to find a school. My search for the school led me to EASB. I spoke to the school consultant about my intention to take a bachelor degree in Casino Management. At first he told me that with only a diploma as highest education on my hand, I had to start from Advance Diploma before taking Bachelor program. But I insisted that I wouldn’t go any lower than a Bachelor degree because I held a 3 Years Diploma and had several years of working experience. After saw through all my ‘papers’.. all the certifications and reference letters, he said that I could even try to apply for Master program and skip the Bachelor. I was very glad to hear that. But I still had to wait for the decision from EASB academic department before I could do the admission. The consultant said that he would try to submit my documents for MBA, and if it’s not possible for me to take the MBA program then he would submit it for Bachelor degree.

My time was really up. I had no more interview call after that and I didn’t know why it took so long for the school to make a decision for my application. I gave up and bought a flight ticket to go back to Jakarta. I would like to stay and keep on trying, but my visit pass couldn’t be extended anymore. Two days before my departing date, the manager from Thai Accent called me. He said that he would try to apply EP for me instead of S Pass and asked me to submit all my documents on the following day. On the same day, the consultant from EASB called and told me their academic department said that I could go for the MBA program. So on the next day, just one day before I left Singapore, I submitted my documents to Thai Accent and did my admission at EASB.

I flew back to Jakarta with two new hopes inside my mind.. work and study. Ok friends.. I admit it now.. To some of my friends at Jakarta whom I never told that I ever back for two times in this few months.. I’m sorry about it. I just didn’t feel like seeing or talking to too many people during my ‘down time’. I came back to Singapore after ten days. Now it’s the turn to say sorry to my Singaporean friends because I didn’t tell you all that I came back here. Same reason.. I didn’t feel like seeing or talking to too many people during my ‘down time’. I even made myself “disappeared” from cyber world like MSN, Yahoo Messeger, and Facebook just to avoid all those questions like where are you, what are you doing now, how are you, and all those other similar questions. I let some people to always know about my ‘existence’ though.. those people that I knew they really care.. (you know who you are).

First thing I did in Singapore was calling the manager of Thai Accent, asking about my EP application progress. Bad news.. it was rejected. Reason? Education! My diploma wasn’t qualified for EP, it didn’t meet the EP requirement which needed a minimum of Bachelor degree. Time to check my plan B. I called EASB to ask about my admission progress. The school consultant asked me to wait longer because they didn’t receive the result from UK yet. All the final decision would come from UK because my admission was for external degree awarded by UWIC, UK. While waiting for the result, I continued to do job hunting and spreading my resumes everywhere possible.

After more than one week, I got a news that my admission was approved by UWIC. Next issue.. payment. We all know there isn’t such thing as ‘cheap’ for MBA.. and I’m not that rich. But I was quite ready for that with some payment alternatives. My choice went to Citibank Education Loan. That’s the only bank I found here that provide education loan for foreigners.. of course with some terms and conditions. One of the requirement was letter of acceptance from the school. So I called the consultant to ask for it.. and unfortunately he said it wasn’t ready yet.. and it needed some more time to make it ready. After another week, he called me with the news that UWIC suddenly had some concerns about my English because I didn’t take any English test. I indeed didn’t take it because the consultant said I was exempted for that test due to my working experiences outside Indonesia included Singapore. All I could do was just another wait for the outcome.

Third week.. and as always.. my visit pass only valid for 30 days. I had to extend my visit pass again, so I applied for the extension. Then I received one call for interview from Prata Wala at Jurong Point (they don’t have website and I can’t find any full review of it to put here as link). The interview was pretty good as well, but again.. as always.. I had to wait for the result. Then came another bad news.. my application for extending my visit pass was rejected. It shocked me to the core.. I never expected at all that it could be rejected. What now!?! Then I decided and planned to just make a short trip to Batam to renew my visit pass.

Finally I heard a good news from EASB, my letter of acceptance was ready. My admission was in principle approved but I need to take an English test provided by EASB. Problem settled? Case closed? Not yet! The school administrator said they would do the application for my student pass, but there’s no assurance that it would be approved. It meant I still had to hold the application for education loan until my student pass approved.

On the day I had to leave Singapore and make a short trip to Batam, I had one interview at Makansutra. This interview was very promising. I had a one-hour interview with the director. The last words I heard at the end of the interview were actually very common words to be said by anyone at anytime but that was the first time I heard those words spoken by an interviewer at first interview.. “See you again!” After that interview, I straightway went to Harbourfront and took ferry to Batam. I stayed one night at my friend’s house and came back to Singapore on the next day.

Wednesday, September 23, I did the English test at EASB and fortunately I passed the test. Thursday, September 24, I had a second interview with the manager at Makansutra. Friday, September 25, the director called me to inform that they would like to hire me and apply for my S Pass. Monday, September 28, I submitted all my documents to Makansutra for S Pass application purpose. I was very grateful with this, but on the other hand it evoked another worry and dilemma inside my mind. I was afraid that submitting student pass and S Pass application at the same time would cause a bad result.. yet, I didn’t want to withdraw any of the applications. I could only wish for the best to come. On the same day in evening time, Prata Wala called me and asked whether I was still interested to work with them. I told them that I had found another job. Maybe it’s still fine to apply student pass and S Pass at the same time.. but I think it wouldn’t be a good idea to let two companies applying S Pass for me at the same time.

Tuesday, October 6, one big news.. my student pass was rejected. Reason? According to the school administrator, for foreigners who held a work pass before, if they apply for a student pass within one year after cancellation of the work pass.. the application will have a big chance to be rejected. He said I could appeal and normally it would be approved if I could provide some supporting documents which related with financial. It would be around SG$30,000 in saving account and monthly salary not less than SG$10,000 of local/PR sponsor (in my case, my brother). Note that I couldn’t find the official source for this, so it’s only based on experience of the school administrator. I was a bit down with this rejection. I nearly had a complete set of rejections.. EP.. extension of visit pass.. and now student pass. There was only one hope left and I really wished I would never have a total complete set of rejections including the S Pass.

Thursday, October 8, Makansutra called… my S Pass was approved.. Yes.. it was approved! I felt a big relief.. I can stay here in Singapore and I will start my work on Monday, October 11, 2009. Makansutra.. did anyone of you ever hear about this name? Let me tell you what their business concentrate on.. hawker center food! Yea.. but check their website first before you make any comments in your mind (I’m quite sure nobody will say it out loud to me even though some of you might look down on this job). And if after reading the website you still have the same feeling.. then too bad.. You might not be proud of the fact that your friend is “only” working in hawker center environment now. But frankly, I can say I’m quite proud that I can get this job and believe me.. it is not just because at least I can find a job.

Looking back to what I’d been going through, it was totally not me who decided which one to choose so I could stay and make a living here in Singapore. There was one Power somewhere out there that always directed everything in my life. And I still believe that I was always led to the best direction.. until now. For some reasons, if I had a chance to choose.. I would still choose Makansutra to be my future employer. In my consideration of many aspects, it’s the best among the other choices. I believe it’s even better than my previous job and I’m quite confident that I can have a good future there. But then again.. it is not totally up to me to decide what will happen next in my life. If the Power bring me to other direction then so be it. My next plan now is to work my plan B.. to advance my level of education.. together with my job. Most probably, I will start my part time study for MBA at EASB in January 2010.. again.. if the Power out there allow me to do so.

It’s been five months since the last day I worked at my previous job. I brake my own records on job hunting period. This was the first time I was unemployed for more than three months. I wish I will never break this record ever again. I was so down these past five months.. but I am very thankful that I was never really alone. Thank you and You.. you know who you are and Whoever You are.. for always being there for me when I was “dead” and for helping me to make this happen.

Comments ♥9♥

It’s been so long…! Yea.. apparently I have a sudden mood to write now. Hm.. not really.. It’s more to a sudden interesting story flashing in my life.. about effort.. luck.. and Capybara. Not related? Wait until you hear the whole story…

The story began when I went out for dinner with a bunch of friends at Astons - The Cathay, Orchard. After dinner, a friend of mine brought us to a place full of arcade games. But instead of the other arcade machines, she seemed interested more to the claw crane catch vending machine.. a machine that basically cheat your money by placing anything for you to catch inside, but nearly impossible. She tried to catch a Capybara soft toy from that machine several times. It was very easy to catch it with the claw, but after it was lifted up, the claw didn’t move toward the drop hole. The soft toy was always just lifted up for a few seconds, then dropped to its previous place. Seemed that only magic could move it into the drop hole.

I did try to advise my friend not to waste more money and asked her to stop trying. She said that she’s been ‘aiming’ for that Capybara for quite some time. Seeing her face.. how she really wanted it ..and finding that I had a few $1 coins inside my pocket, I also gave it a try ..and ended with the same conclusion.. Impossible! But then.. I still heard, “I want the Capybara… ” and it made me ask, “Since you really want it, why don’t you just buy it somewhere else instead of trying to catch it here?” She convinced me that it’s not for sale, couldn’t buy it anywhere.

I didn’t really believe that nowhere selling that soft toy. The arcade games place itself must buy it from somewhere, don’t they? So at night, I sit in front of my computer.. “googling” for the words ‘capybara soft toy’ ..and it directed me to eBay. Gothca! I found one looked very similar with the one inside the claw crane machine. It had minor difference though. The one at eBay was biting an apple, and I forgot whether the one inside the claw crane machine was biting anything or not. I read through the details at eBay. It said ‘Capybara will move its mouth like eating apple when you clap or pat it’. In the second picture, I saw the other Capybara was biting sort of grass or leaf. Then I concluded that the apple or grass or whatever it was.. it’s just an ‘extra’ to show that it could bite. I checked the price and found that it was still reasonable, so I just clicked the ‘Buy It Now’ button without any further thoughts.

Now.. payment matter. I am always very careful with money thing. I didn’t want to pay it through internet.. no without being sure that I would get what I wanted. So I asked the seller if I could just meet her instead.. ‘Cash On Delivery’ basis. I’d rather spending more time to take it directly from the seller than wasting my money for nothing if I was cheated. I got a positive response from the seller. We communicated through e-mail about our meeting point.. time, place, and so on. Seemed that the seller was not a ‘heavy duty’ internet user as me.. It needed around 24 hours every time I waited for her reply.

There was one day before I got the final ‘result’ of the eBay Capybara, I saw my friend at her working place. We were chatting when suddenly she showed me something.. which is.. another Capybara soft toy! Smaller.. but typical. And.. “See! Very cute!” with a very happy face …but…. “But I still want the bigger one at Cathay…” I didn’t want to tell her what I had done before I could really get it for her. But I couldn’t resist to say, “Ok.. I will give it to you next week.” The response was, “Really??” with a tone that I couldn’t guess even until now whether it was a ‘hoping’ tone ..or a ‘disbelief’ tone.

Doesn’t matter.. I’d just try to get it for her.. but I did say that I wasn’t promising. I didn’t like to make a promise while I was still uncertain. To make sure, I asked her, “The bigger one can bite, is it?” And the answer was… “NO! The one at eBay can! Not the one at arcade!” And she stared at me with a DON’T-TRY-TO-BUY-IT-FROM-EBAY look ..at least.. that’s how I felt when I saw the look. I only responded with silence.. didn’t know what to say. I was like.. ‘uh oh.. she knows me quite well.’ I started to think whether I should continue to buy it or not because from what she said, seemed that I was hunting a wrong item. In the end, I decided to continue it anyway. My plan was going back to Cathay after I have it in my hand and compare it with the one inside the machine. If it’s not the same, then I’d just keep it for myself.

The ‘D’ day.. Meeting point was Chinatown MRT station. After some messages and phone calls, I finally met the seller. She took one Capybara soft toy from a plastic bag and handed it to me. And.. OH NO! Within only a few seconds, I could see it wasn’t what I want. The color was white.. not brown as the one inside the claw crane machine.. Ok.. it wasn’t that white.. but it’s definitely not brown! And it’s really biting an apple. I asked whether the apple could be removed but the answer was a big ‘no’. Then I decided to cancel it, said that it wasn’t the one that I wanted, told her that I wanted the brown one. She tried to explain that the picture in the eBay auction was exactly that color.. but I just didn’t want to listen, and ‘acted blur’. X^(X Yea.. I know I was bad.. but after that DON’T-TRY-TO-BUY-IT-FROM-EBAY look.. I really didn’t want to give my friend that totally different color of Capybara.. I guess it’s either something was wrong with the seller’s lighting when taking the picture.. or something was wrong with my computer color setting. She was really upset with the cancellation.. but at least I didn’t waste too much of her time to see me because the meeting point was near her working place.

I didn’t feel like stopping my effort at that level. Next plan was going back to Cathay and wished that I could just buy the Capybara from them. The great part was.. I knew the bulding name was Cathay, located around Orchard.. but I wasn’t sure where it was. Yea.. all my friends know that my ’sense of direction’ is so lousy. I knew there’s Cathay Cineleisure building nearby my ex working place but I doubt it’s the right one. I still went into that building after all ..and of course.. found out that it was totally a wrong building. Then I decided to send a message to my other friend, asked her the direction to Cathay building which Astons restaurant was located. And finally.. I could find that arcade games place of the Capybara.

Instead of the claw crane machine, I walked straight to the counter.. asked the person behind the counter whether I could just buy the soft toy inside the machine. The answer was somehow predicted.. it’s not for sale. Further more he said that even though they would sell it, the price would be over hundred dollars. No! Ten or twenty dollars …or maybe even thirty dollars, I wouldn’t mind. But spending over hundred dollars for a small soft toy would be ridiculous. Walking in vain, I stood in front of the claw crane machine. I saw the Capybara position was very near to the drop hole. I was thinking to give it another try.. I took all my coins out of my pocket and found two pieces of $1 coin. I inserted one coin into the claw crane machine and started to aim. I think I focused too much on shaking the machine in order to make the soft toy ‘flying’ to the drop hole and it made the claw didn’t even lift up the soft toy.

Ok.. another try.. one last try. I only had one piece of $1 coin left with me, and if it’s finished then it’s finish. No point to push my luck. It’s good I did say to my friend that it wasn’t a promise. I inserted my last coin, started to play. Now I guess I focused too much on positioning the claw. I did it very carefully until the claw dropped down before I pressed the drop button. The claw moved down.. caught the Capybara.. lifted it up.. At the highest point of the claw, right before it released the soft toy down, I shook the machine to the left.. and as I wished, the claw swung a bit and threw the Capybara to the left.. toward the drop hole. Yes.. it really flew and landed inside the drop hole! I stared at the drop hole.. took the Capybara out of it in disbelief.

Yes my friend.. I only spent $2 to catch that Capybara. I knew you wouldn’t believe me if I told you about it, so I’d rather be quiet when you asked. It’s even cheaper than the battery that you bought for it. But then.. please take good care of it, will you? Because it means a lot to me.. it taught me something about life. Haha, just kidding. But I did learn something from it. I was wondering what was it actually that helped me to get that Capybara.. Was it my effort to reach it.. or was it just a plain luck?

When the luck of having talent is not enough, a talent of having luck is really needed.

Ya.. without any efforts.. without any trials and errors, without giving any chances.. there is no way we can get what we want. But I believe luck takes part in our life.. more or less.

One of my friend expressed his disagreement with the quote above. Here is what he said:

Luck is intangible. Talent is intangible. It can not be identified by your five senses. It is therefore non-existence.

I won’t argue about it. In fact, I am totally agree that the effort done with our five senses will take the biggest part in any of our achievements. Still.. luck plays its part.. I believe. At least I know that I am lucky enough to have my five senses in their very good condition to help me doing any of my best efforts.

Sometimes.. for some reasons I feel that my friend.. the one who really wanted that Capybara soft toy so much.. is someone that has quite a big luck in her life. When I finally caught that Capybara, I might think I got the luck ..on her behalf. Anyway.. back to life.. I am doing my best effort at this moment to find a new job in Singapore. Honestly, there was some times that I felt like giving up.. stop trying.. and just go back to my country. But.. I have one month left with me to keep on trying.. and I will give my self a chance. Same with the coin left when I was about to catch the Capybara.. my one month time.. when it’s finished then it’s finish. No point to push my luck. And even though if in the end I can not find the job, I will go back to my country with no regret. Hmh.. actually my ‘Capybara friend’ ever said that she hoped I could find a job and stay here in Singapore. Hopefully that expectation is as big as her expectation to get this Capybara… so I can.. again.. get the luck ..on her behalf. Oh well.. I think I’m getting ‘insane’.. I better stop now. See you in the next story.. don’t know when..

Comments ♥3♥

Here I am.. My first Lunar New Year in Singapore. It’s well celebrated with friends and family.

My mom and her friends cooked some Indonesian food, and I happened to forget to take the picture of the food. My “kidz” friends came to my brother’s house around a week before it and brought all the fun to this house.

Here they were.. without me.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Hmh.. this one was steamboat on the day itself. Steamboat with my family.. and this time, I took the picture of the food …but… forgot to take the picture of my family.

 
Yea.. it’s not the same with my previous new years in Indonesia.

Happy Lunar New Year !! All the best !!

Comments ♥2♥

…they came today, and moved me…
 
 
The discussion was about a huge amount..
…NOT a tiny voucher.

The questions were asking my opinion..
…NOT testing my knowledge.

The offer was because they trust me to do it..
…NOT to observe how will I do it.

The disappointment was because I waste my skill..
…NOT doubting my ability.

It’s “What will we do to open the branch?”
…NOT “What did you do during opening?”

I was wondering..
“Should I take the opportunity and leave?”
…NOT “Do I have a chance to stay?”
 
 
..if all the NOTs were the last things I could reach…
…should the confidence remain? …shall I be here?
…will they let me around…
 
 
Another blur of an unusual short post.. Will it be a habit?

♥ Give comment ♥

Hey.. hey.. Here I am again.. practicing my English. Not much to tell though. Well, maybe I’ll just share some of my ‘interesting’ experiences in my present job at food service line. Actually, there are always a lot of “interesting” patrons and incidents exist in restaurant atmosphere. But I’m not focusing my blog on this area.. ain’t like the professional waiter rant which never failed to amaze me with his wonderful story about those “fascinating” customers. However, he handed in his apron, he’s taken his last order in the middle of July 2008, and became a professional writer after that. So, if you’re interested to read his entries about how ‘awesome’ a restaurant life can be.. just read his posts before he stopped being a service person.

Anyway, I’m not here now to advertise that waiter rant. Time flew so fast and I’d been working for around 6 months in one outlet, before I was transferred to our youngest outlet on November 17. Yea.. newest, higher class, but very quiet, haha. Well.. I’ll write the “best” stories in my previous outlet that I can recall. Won’t be too many.. Won’t be too long.. Only some short scenes or even short sentences from my “lovely” customers that left a deep invisible mark in my mind and always made me smile when I was thinking about it sometimes…..

♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠

Guest : I want to use these two dessert vouchers.
Me : Sorry, you can only use one voucher in one visit.
Guest : How about if after I use one voucher, I’ll go out and come in again to use the other voucher?
Me : Er.. that’s another story. It will already be your other visit then.
Guest : So what’s the different if I use it now? You can just split the bill.
Me : But sorry, Sir.. The term and condition is written behind that voucher, no split bill is allowed.
Guest : *(Pass one voucher to his son)* Those kids are not my children. I don’t know them at all. Kids… you go to another table and order you dessert.
Boy : *(Move to another table across their parents)* Excuse me, I want to order one mudpie.. and I want to use this voucher.
Me : *(Feel that it will be totally useless to talk more)* Ya.. sure.

♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠

The restaurant was full house. We had to walk around to ensure all the customers got our attention and all their needs was served promptly. One guest near the corner waved at me.
Guest : Excuse me..
Me : Yes.. how may I help you?
Guest : Can you do me a favor and don’t walk through this area too many times?
Me : Uh? Sorry.. I’m just doing my job and make sure that everything is okay.
Guest : I know you are doing you job. But I feel that it’s annoying everytime you walk through in front of my table.
Me : Well… *(speechless)*
*(Complains usually came because customers didn’t get enough attention from the service staff and they had to wave several times before one server approached them. But.. I got this complain because I gave too much attention? Well.. Well..)*

♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠

I was “alone” on the floor. My colleagues were not on duty yet. Some tables were already occupied at that time and I saw a couple were waiting to be seated.
Me : Hi, table for two?
Guy : Yea.
Me : Ok.. this way please.. *(Escort them to one table near the entrance)*
Guy : *(Point to one table in other section)* Can we sit there at the corner?
Me : Sorry Sir, that section is temporary closed.
Guy : It’s still early and you closed it already?
Me : *(Yea.. it’s still VERY early.. We are just open. It’s not that I closed it ALREADY.. it’s I didn’t open it YET)* We don’t have enough man power to cover all the area at this moment, so.. that section is closed to maximize our service.
Girl : *(Asking to the guy)* Why don’t we sit over there? *(Point the table at the corner)*
Guy : It’s closed because they don’t have staff. What a stupid reason!
*(Hey.. I heard that.. And I knew he purposely said that loudly for me to hear)*
Girl : *(To me now)* Can you give us another table a bit inside please?
Me : *(Nah! Sorry.. I’m stupid. I don’t understand English. Well.. I just put the menu on top of the table that I gave them since the first time.. and pull out one chair)* Please have a seat. Our soup of the day is cream of mushroom.. *(Smile.. and leave..)*

♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠

Guest : Hi, table for four please.
Me : Sure, this way please.
Guest : *(Point to one table with reserved sign on top of it)* Can I sit there at that RESERVED table?
Me : Er.. that table is.. RESERVED??
Guest : Oh.. okay..

♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠

Guest : Can I have a Picasso pizza? *(Pizza with topping of own choice)*
Me : Which topping do you like to add on it?
Guest : Mushroom.. and onion.
Me : Ok, one pizza with mushroom and onion?
Guest : Yes! Is that something wrong with that!?
Me : Um.. No.. I’m just repeating the order.
Guest : Wait.. I think I’ll have the pineapple too.
Me : Sure. So you’ll have the pizza with mushroom, onion, and pineapple?
Guest : Yes! Yes! Do you really think there is something strange with my choice!?! *(Sounds very angry)*
Me : Er.. I’m so sorry. I just want to make sure that I won’t take a wrong order.
Guest : And a lemonade for me, a cup of cappuccino for my husband.
Me : Ok. I’ll send the order. *(Have no courage anymore to repeat the order one more time)*
*(I left the table to send the order.)*
Me : *(To my co-worker near the counter)* Could you please help me ask the guest at that table whether he wants his cappuccino to be served now or later after the meal? *(Don’t even have courage at all to ask anything anymore to that guest.. Feel that my english intonation is very bad.. is it?)*

♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠

Server : Can you go to table 3? The customer complains that his mudpie tastes so ORDINARY.
Me : Uh? Is it supposed to taste EXTRAORDINARY?
Server : I don’t know. Just go to the table. They want to speak with manager.
Me : *(Sigh, and walk to the table)* Hi, how may I help you?
Guest : This mudpie tastes so ORDINARY.
Me : May I know how do you expect it to taste like?
Guest : I don’t know. I just can’t taste the Irish Cream.
Me : Ooh. Well, I will check for you whether they follow the standard recipe when making this mudpie.
*(Aha! Now I know that the taste of Irish Cream is EXTRAORDINARY! What a ‘deep’ english he has..)*

♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠

Nine tables were joined together became a long table. It’s reserved for 18 pax. Two customers were standing at the entrance and one of them showed two of his finger.
Me : Hi, table for two.. this way please.
Guest : *(Look around and point to the long table)* Can we sit there?
Me : *(Amazed)* Um.. that table is quite long for two people I guess… It’s reserved for 18 person.
Guest : *(Not happy face)* . . . . .

♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠

Guest : This ‘one for one set lunch’ promotion.. Is it applicable if I only order dessert?
Me : Well.. This is one for one SET lunch promo.
Guest : Ya.. set lunch.. So, is it applicable if I want to order the dessert only?
Me : Sorry, it’s not applicable. *(And I thought I was the one with bad understanding of english compared with that fluent english speaking Singaporean?)*

♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠

Okay, enough stories. Conclusion? If you want to survive in service industry, forget awhile that you are a human.. Be a professional serving machine! I absorbed this advice also from the awesome ‘waiter rant’, I forget from which entry. But there’s one post from him which I bookmarked.. in my mind though, and recalled it over and over again whenever I felt like I was going to explode on a customer. One good story.. Thanx waiter, for writing it. Yes.. A professional serving machine.. I am.. now. Wish me luck.

Comment ♥1♥

After half a year of working in my present job, I “finally” received my first complain letter from my “lovely” customer. Well.. predictable. I knew that sooner or later this day would come. Service industry.. No matter how hard you try, complains will always come to you.. somehow. So, I’ll just always face it with smile. Here is the letter, sent to our feedback site, was read by all of the higher management and owner.

Good afternoon.

I would like to share my dining experience on Oct. 23rd at X X X branch. I was with my friend and I ordered X X X sandwich. I started to eat my french fries first and then move on to salad. After one bit of salad, I found short curly hair inside the dressing. My hair is long and straight and I tied my hair at back at that time, so it is not mine.

I called waitress immediately and asked for exchange to new one. Then, about 5 minutes later, waitress brought my dinner back. To my surprise, they just changed to new plate and put SAME SANDWICH with salad. It was no fries, so it was not NEW set they served. I supposed to have a great time to catch up one of my best friend at that night, so I did not make noise to the waitress anymore. But by writing this feedback, if this is happens again (I hope not), can you have a policy to change to NEW set??? It is just not feel good/right to eat the with hair-in-salad and PAY for it.

Hope management will look into this matter and there is no more future cases. THANK YOU and have a great day.

Hmh.. so angry, wasn’t she? Well.. Well.. Next? Usual routine procedure after receiving a complain letter is.. making an incident report to be submitted to the higher management. And here is my report. A very ’systematic’ one.

Report of incident - October 23, 2008.

Two ladies sat at table 15/16. They’re both having sandwich for dinner. After some times, one lady called me and told me that she found hair in her side salad. I apologized and offered her to change it.

Hotsiders in charge at that time were X X X, X X X, and X X X. I’m sure that three of them always wear hairnet properly while on duty. So I honestly had no idea whose hair it could be in that salad.

I handed the plate to hotside to show them the hair in the salad and ordered them to make a new one. That was my mistake, I never said specifically that I wanted them to make the complete new set of sandwich. After less than 3 minutes, the food was ready. But then I realized, it was no french fries on the plate. When I asked to the hotsiders, they explained that no french fries returned from the guest, the guest had finished eating the french fries. They misunderstood my order because I handed them the sandwich plate, so they only made a new side salad on a new plate and transferred the same sandwich.

I looked at the customer’s table and I saw that the other lady’s food was half way finish. It was my mistake again that in the end, I decided to order hotside to just add on the salad to bigger portion instead of making a new sandwich and frying the new french fries. I took that decision because I considered that the lady wouldn’t be happy to wait longer for the replacement and eating alone when her friend had finished her meal. I wished that she would at least be satisfied with the bigger portion of salad since she had finished her french fries anyway. So I just sent that plate with the old sandwich, new bigger portion of salad, and no french fries to the lady and apologized one more time.

I know that it’s not an excuse to let our customer in an unpleasant incident like this. And as a person in charge at managerial level, I should think further and take a proper action to satisfy the guest. I do apologize for this trouble and I promise to make a better decision on any problems in the future.

Yeah, apology.. and confession.. That’s what exactly the higher management wanted to read from a report of incident. After that? Of course a ‘very good’ response letter to the customer. So, I did the draft for the response, sent it to higher management to be “polished” here and there so it would be a wonderful response letter. Higher management would be the one who sent that response letter to the customer, to let the customer feel so much appreciated. And.. here it is..

Dear X X X,

Thank you for taking the time to communicate to us about our service.

Firstly, I apologise for the inconvenience caused by this incident. We take great care to ensure that important matters such as food hygiene is properly implemented, so on this occasion an acceptable standard has clearly not met our expectation.

Secondly, I apologise for the unsatisfying action taken towards this incident. We do have a policy to change any food items or beverages that do not meet our service standards. I have clarified with my staff and they did prepare a new portion of salad for your changed dish. But in trying to rush the new order for you, we only thought of giving fast replacement and service, we missed to give you the whole new set of the dish with fries at that time.

We will further ensure that we will prevent this problem from occurring again in the future. Please accept our sincerest apology for the trouble or inconvenience we have caused you. Again, we highly appreciate your feedback as it will assist us in becoming better at what we do. As with any business like ours, the greatest thing we can have is word of mouth from a satisfied customer. It is our goal to retain you as a satisfied customer and we hope to serve you again in the future.

Perfect. Wonderful letter.. But.. did it come from the bottom of our heart? Did I really mean whatever stated on my report or draft of response? Fat hope! Well, I do try to always think as a customer. Okay.. If I was a customer, I ordered a sandwich with french fries and salad as side dishes, and I found a hair in my salad.. what would I do? Hm.. easy question! I experienced thing similar with that before. What did I do? Simply took out the part of food which contained the hair in it, put it on a napkin and folded it so I wouldn’t see it, put it aside on the table, and.. continued to eat the rest of my food. That’s all.. as simple as it was. I didn’t even bother to try to call any of the service staff to demand for anything. Hmh… maybe it’s because I’m so sure that a single hair won’t kill me. Maybe I’m just so lucky that I have a great health and I’m ‘immune’ to a.. um.. hair? That lady must be very weak. ‘Contamination’ from a tiny curly hair could probably send her to death even though it was only in the other part of her food that had already been removed and replaced. Yeah.. probably.. I’m so sorry, princess. I’m so glad that you’re so lucky and still alive after eating it and had a chance to write us a feedback. What the X X X !?!?

Comments ♥6♥

Disappointed.. So disappointed. No reason.. No point. Why? Because. That’s all… because.. . (full stop).. Don’t know what to say. People say love hurts. I’ll say.. friendship hurts.. sometimes.. somehow. I’m avoiding “society”.. Wait.. ok.. wrong sentence.. Correction? I’m fine with society.. but.. I’m not looking for friendship! I’m afraid of new friendship.. afraid of myself become so demanding as I used to be. Someone told me once, “It’s inevitable that we became friends.” Disagree.. should I? When there’s a will, there’s a way, right?? I start become demanding now, that’s why I’m disappointed. Why did I start it?? Why did I let it?? My old friend said I was changed. I said.. yeah.. the old me was dead. That friend guessed.. it’s because of my new life.. the fresh friendship. I moaned inwardly.. it’s not them.. It’s you! You killed the old me. But then.. not you either.. it’s me.. My demanding heart caused that misunderstanding.. killed the old me. Don’t start it ever again? Can I? It’s started a bit.. But I shouldn’t let it. Will I be able to stop that? At least.. stop this demanding heart! Go.. hang out.. enjoy the fun.. but shut my heart off and never open it up again.. Should I? Well.. do me a favor.. If you don’t expect my heart to demand more from you.. Don’t be too nice to me!

No… It’s not me here.. It’s the other side of me who’s blogging now. I never wrote this short.. this unclear.. this random.. this bitter..

Just ignore this post.. Don’t worry.. I’m very fine.

Comments ♥4♥

For the first time in my life, I rejected a higher responsibility. For the first time in my life, I lost my confidence.

X: I’ll give you the chance to run this outlet.
Me: Why me? She’s much more senior than me.
X: She can not commit to company’s demand. She can’t work weekends.
Me: Still.. I know she’s good. Give it to her. I’m not ready yet.

Yeah.. I’m not ready.. totally am not. Coward? Maybe. For some reasons, I became a coward. Hundred miles away from my kingdom across the sea, I’m only a tiny slave here.

Final announcement, three of us was sitting together.
X: Y won’t be here anymore. Starting today, Z will be the first person in charge for this outlet. Prila, you will be the second person in charge. Anyway it won’t be for long. I want you to learn as much as you can from her. Remember, it’s not for long.

The flag was given to her. I smiled. Sorry, Sir. I knew I let you down. But one thing.. I’m very sure now, it was a wise decision. I saw how she dealt with this responsibility. She’s great, I could already feel it, no doubt.

Only a little flashback that made me a bit miserable. Again.. my kingdom across the sea.
My X-Boss: Prila, we’re opening the 2nd outlet. Can you take care of that?
Extinct Me: I’ll try my best.
…….
My X-Boss: Surabaya will need someone during the pre-opening to provide good trainings and make sure everything is up to standard. I’ll send you there to make that happen.
Extinct Me: My pleasure, boss.
…….
My X-Boss: My manager screwed up. The opening was already delayed two times. You.. Take over!
Extinct Me: Give me all the contact numbers. I’ll do my best to catch up.
(After some times action and reaction…)
My X-Team: Miss.. so glad you’re here. Boss was very angry. But with you here, we really hope we can open next week.
Extinct Me: I bet we can. But please, let’s work hard together. Don’t worry, we will open next week.

That ‘Me’.. is extinct here somehow. To all my x-bosses, x-superiors, x-staffs, x-colleagues, all my teams, and my close friends there in Jakarta.. who always have confidence in me.. I know I am disappointing you all. Forgive me.. pray for me.. I’m trying hard to mend the pieces of my broken strength. I’ll be awake someday, I promise.

Comments ♥9♥

Dear ‘amateur’ readers.. I’m in my mood on writing. Let’s try something a bit much more difficult and make a new category here in my page: ‘Amateur English’. Let’s hope that in the future this entry won’t be “alone” inside it. Well.. feel like blogging in English today.. don’t know why. It might be because I’ve read many blogs in English nowadays. Also some “complains” from new friends saying that they couldn’t understand anything from my posts and said that it was somehow ‘unfair’.

Speaking about that ‘unfair’ thing.. it will be a great idea to talk about it right now, about the ‘Fairness’ itself. Is there such thing as fairness? I don’t think so! I’ve tried many times for at least not so far away from being fair.. and Heaven knows how difficult it could be.. especially at work.

Him: Who plan this stationing? You?
Me: No, not me.. Why?
Him: Why A is always assigned at that station?
Me: Well.. she does best in that station.
Him: But I think it’s unfair for the other staff. Like she always get the chance to always stay at the back and relax.
(Unspoken Me): (Relax?!? Do you really think that job is so relaxing? And the ‘chance’ to always stay at the back.. Hmh.. from what I observed, she always try to finish the duty faster, then try to help people ‘out there’ instead of taking that chance.)
Me: On the very busy hours, we better choose the fittest person for a station.
Him: But B can also do that, and C can do it too.
(Unspoken Me): (Don’t u afraid this B will take that chance to always stay at the back and we will lose ‘one helping hand’ out there? And I think she is needed to be in other station, she’s good on it. How about C ? Sure she can do it, I know I can assign her anywhere, no doubt. But she happens to be the fastest person in the floor that we’ll need so much to be there in the middle of that uncivilized impatient crowd customers.)
Me: Just tell your opinion to the person who plan that. I’m not the one who did it.*Smiling*
(Yeah.. I wasn’t the one who did the stationing plan for night shift. But if it were me, I know I’d make exactly the same arrangement.)

The opinion was obviously outspoken to the planner. Result? Within only less than half an hour, I saw the stationing is changed. A and C were switched over. I smiled in my heart.. wise decision. Equal helping hand, almost the same skill, nothing to lose. It’s only because each of them is slightly better than the other one in their own ’specialized’ station that caused the MOD made the first arrangement. I’m sure he thought the same way with me. We have same star sign, not so difficult for me to understand him. The stationing seemed fair enough now ..and we don’t always assign A in that section (or always assign C in another section, and D in other stressful section, doesn’t anybody realize that?) But are we being unfair to always assign the best (though it’s only slightly better) person in each station in order to make the fastest move to satisfy (again) that impatient crowd customer? And is it fair to us if we are scolded by the customer or higher management level just because we couldn’t make the best planning in order to be ‘fair’ enough? Is it so unfair if we need the most suitable person to fill in that “relaxing” but “risky” station so we can work a bit faster and easier at night after the exhausting “war”?

A week before, with a guilty feeling of being unfair.. I said to D, “I think I have to assign u as host again.” Horrible position to always struggle facing that cruel irritable queue.. She’s the best though, I had no choice. I was expecting rejection or at least a sigh from her. But no! “For you.. sure, no problem. I will.” ..with smile! What an easing answer, made my day. Yeah, think far behind when I was “young”.. I was often positioned at the worst place or situation just because I was so ‘able’ to be there. Did I complain? Nope if the one who asked me to was the one I respect, superior that I like. I’d do it with pleasure from the bottom of my heart. If not? No.. not complaining.. just grumbled inside. Like and dislike? Common occurrence? Tell me who’s being unfair now. Is it the superior who always assign someone most suitable in the most relaxing or in the most horrible situation? Or is it the subordinate who can be happy or unhappy for the same reason depending on who tell them what to do?

Same day with that ’stationing’ incident, I stayed there after work to do scheduling. It’s not a new thing for me, I did it very very often on my previous job, even more often on the more previous than that previous job. But still, always took me a long time to do that even until now. Difficult? I don’t think so. Piece of cake. Trying hard to be fair, that’s my major problem. Tried not to give too many or too less hours to each of them. Tried to dam the atmosphere that gonna be deluged with jealousy if I gave too many “relaxing” section to one staff. Well done. Result? “I really like it when u do the scheduling. I got so many hours.” No.. It’s not because I wanted it to do so. I really had no choice. Nobody else wanted the hours that I gave to u. But then.. will anyone scrutinize? If even u as the ‘lucky’ person here is thinking that way, I won’t be surprised if others will mumble around about this. And the fact that u are one of my favorite companions will somehow strengthen the hunch. Another result? “Come on! You can not always give me overtime on Sunday! That’s the most unpleasant day to work.” Wow.. I could cancel ur name since the beginning and replaced it with my ‘favorite companion’. But I didn’t. I thought u’d need the extra hours to earn more, and that was the only day I can give to you without “sacrificing” others. Screwed up! I shouldn’t try any effort to be fair on the first place.

That day, I stayed at work until very late. I saw the MOD was pissed off, usual incident.. guest complain. Complaining about one’s attitude.. again.. common. Attitude is somehow a subjective appraisal. The following complicated procedural service recovery is something that annoyed him so bad. I wasn’t so sure what caused the tears dripped from the “victim” ’s eyes. Might be a hard time for her to be the one being blamed. Unfair? It isn’t fair either to the MOD if a complain letter goes to the higher level through feedback site as happened in only a couple weeks ago. Hard time from the higher level.. and again.. complicated procedural service recovery. But then today, I read one’s post, posted on 27 July 2008 4:34AM, sharing about this same day.. same place. How several customers expressed so much gratitude for the good service. Will they write a compliment letter through feedback site? I doubt it. People used to concern more on the bad incident rather than the good one. And if they by any chance write it, I don’t think the higher level will care even a single bit. Yeah, unfair..

Saturday night, still the same day.. I looked up the roster, wondering who’ll be in my team the following day. Sunday lunch will always be very busy and I’ll need a strong team, a solid cooperation. A bit sighs in my heart.. Honestly I was quite worried with the team. Like and dislike? No.. Just an ordinary human feeling. Well, at least there’s one person I can really count on.. except for her ‘habit’ of coming a bit late. I purposely said in front of her, insinuated a bit.. “Hm.. I have to be well prepared. Seems that someone will be late tomorrow.” Hoping that she’ll understand that I really need her to be on time to help me in the “war”. And.. she gave me a good response, “No, I won’t be late. I’ll call u saying that I’m gonna be late, but I’ll be on time.” Big grin on my face and hers. I was relieved.

Sunday morning.. 11.20, an incoming call. Someone picked it up and told me the caller would be late, just awake. Just awake?!? Oh no! I should open the business within 10 minutes time, and I think more than an hour is needed for someone who just awake to reach this place. No, the caller was not her who promised me to be on time, her schedule was 12.30. It’s another person. Customers started coming in.. pouring in. I had to be very tactful, forget a while about the SOP. Seating the guest, give menu, straightway give them all the ice water and set spoons on the table. No need to wait until they order, no need to know what will they order.. just give it, set it, don’t waste my time. Great idea, saved me from a lot of troubles. Yet couldn’t help so much. The customers kept pouring in, all demanding my attention. Finally the first person arrived, 12.20. 60% tables were already occupied at that time. 12.40.. almost full house! I was wondering, where is she?? 10 minutes passed from her schedule. Disappointed.. so disappointed.. I really counted on her. I almost finished my energy ‘running’ around and customers are still very demanding.. always be. 12.45 she came with guilt on her face, apologized. I just smiled and rushed her into the crowd.

Another phone call.. Another two persons should start at 1 o’clock said that they would be half an hour late.. What a day! Lack of two persons even for only half an hour in busy Sunday lunch is a total mess. My worries the night before were somehow coming true. Well in the end.. I had the complete team. I could finally breathe normally after 2pm. Everybody seemed exhausted, I could really understand what they felt. But could they understand mine? Never mind. I should not feel something unfair. My salary is higher then theirs.. that’s unfair.

16.05.. the next MOD came.. LATE.. 5 minutes only.
Him: Why everybody seems unhappy?
Her: Because all the guest sucks today!
(Unspoken Me): (Sure. Our service sucks today. What do you expect..)
I couldn’t blame the customers. They will not understand that we short of staff or anything. And I don’t think the higher management will understand either. Lack of staff because of indiscipline.. it means that I can’t control my staff. I’m failed as a leader. Yet I don’t wanna scold them. They’re different from my co-worker in Indonesia. These people don’t really need a job, they work for fun. Scolding or threatening could somehow make them worse.

The only thing I can do here is try to win their respect, try to be their friend, hoping that they will help me with pleasure, without pressure. But I think I’m failed. I remember 2 days before, almost the same thing happened. I had to struggle alone in the crowd, waiting for the late companion. But that time was also my mistake, I changed his schedule and missed to inform him about it. So that time I didn’t think so much. But this time, really make me think.. they might be unhappy working with me. Maybe they don’t like me.. and purposely put me in this kind of situation? Well.. hopefully not. Quite like a strike on my shift.. but it might be completely coincidence. All their reasons made sense for me. But yeah.. who knows?

Sometimes ago, I was working as usual with the co-workers. Out of sudden, one person said, “Prila, I’m waiting the time u’ll become an operational manager. I think you have so much potential.” I just replied.. so fast replied.. “Amen. Thank you.” I have so much potential? I was there before.. I’ve been there on that position. This is honestly a step backward for me, my career was downgraded. But I don’t regret it at all. I remember I scolded my staff a lot when I was at that position. Too much pressure and brain working baled out a bit of my patience and calmness. A little mistake could make me somehow explode. Honestly, sometimes I can understand why our operational manager is so irritating. But I believe I wasn’t as irritating as him. When I resigned from that previous job, some people seemed losing their spirit to continue working there. Even one of the supervisor said, “You quit, I quit.” What’s that? A ‘you jump I jump’ Titanic expression? He said that he didn’t like the other superior but still staying because I was there. I just told him to make a wise decision. He did.. looked for another job, found it, one month notification to the company.. and this early July he started his new job. Hopefully he didn’t regret it, because from experience I know.. working everywhere is the same.

Here is a little part of my very long e-mail sent to my operational manager here after I argued badly with him around 2 months ago.

My answer for your sentence “if you are not happy, then the door is open for you to leave” is still the same. Sentences like “I can fire you anytime,” “a lot of people is queuing for this job,” or anything else that in my mind sounds like “I don’t need you.. but you need this job” is the sentence I always avoid to say to any of my staff because I hate that kinds of sentence very much. Well.. I just try to do my best here. And in my opinion, if I’ve done my best but I still have to leave the company.. there are only 2 possibilities: ‘I am not good enough for the company’ or ‘The company is not good enough for me.’ For me, working anywhere is the same.. there always be a clash or different way of thinking with the superior or boss. Who hate who, like and dislike are very very common problem exist in every company. So, I am very fine with that…

Yes, I am really fine. And I do hope that I won’t be like him and forget how it feels to be an inferior. I crawled from the bottom, climbed up bit by bit.. Believe me I really know how it feels. Some people born on the top of a ladder, but I’m not one of them. Well, life is unfair though. But I found one nice story. A little girl told her uncle that she felt something unfair. The uncle replied, “Girl, you are so cute, that’s unfair. Your daddy is so rich, that’s unfair. Your mom loves you so much, that’s unfair. Do you really want everything to be fair?”

Never pray for fairness. You might regret it when it comes to you.

Wow! Well done! I can finish my first English post. A long one though.. very long. Let’s see the effect of writing in English. Generally, on my previous posts I received some comments of those. I’ll wait if I can still get some comments in this language. Anyway.. I’m very glad that life is unfair and He gives me the talent of writing.. and lot of other things.

Wait.. I almost posted this entry yesterday, but I was thinking of doing one last editing today after work. But there’s another thing happened today that I want to share here.
A phone call…
Him: Were u the one who gave the paycheck to that staff?
Me: Ya, I did give it to him.
Him: Why!? U have to wait until month end to give the paycheck if someone still under probation!
Me: *startled* I am sorry, I didn’t know about that.
Him: You didn’t know!?! There was a memo about it! That person acted a bit crazy yesterday. If he never show up working again, you should responsible for that paycheck!
Me: He’s not coming today. I think he won’t come to work anymore.
Him: See?!? Means that his salary should be deducted. Now how?!?
Me: Well.. I am sorry. That’s my mistake. Just deduct it from my salary then.
BAM! Phone is slammed from the other side.

What the …? Yeah.. my mistake, case closed. No need to say that he didn’t give me a chance to read all those old memos. No use to drag other outlet managers in this case by saying that I also always received my paycheck before month end since the beginning, when I was still under probation. Not necessary to bring in the fact that I gave the paycheck to the person as ordered by the manager in charge. Let me be the only fool person here.

Another phone call. No, not for me. For the other higher management. But then after that..
Her: Prila.. He will not deduct ur salary. He will not touch the payment. But then, because that staff should actually work until month end for that full payment… and he still has 3 days to go.. Then 3 days of ur day off or annual leave should be deducted.
Me: Hm.. Ok…
Her: Or.. he said that u can try to call our big boss ask him to call the bank and hold the payment.
Me: I? Call the big boss? I think it won’t be wise if I call him directly by myself. As if I pass through so many higher level than me.
Her: It’s ok.. he said that you may try to call the big boss, he gave you the permission.
(Unspoken Me:) (Gave me permission? If he really intended to help me, he would help me to call the big boss instead of giving me the permission. If he’s so afraid of losing his face by calling him and being ignored or even scolded by bothering a big boss with such a thing.. I didn’t think I should do that silly idea.)
Me: It’s ok. I’d rather give up my day off.

Sigh. Even the manager in charge who told me to give away the paycheck didn’t seem like he’s willing to let me share that days off deduction with him when I told him the story by phone. Unfair? No.. My own decision. I was the one who decided to work here in Singapore. It might be unfair for somebody else that I was so lucky to find this job. The fact that Singaporean superior won’t bother trying to cover or help their subordinate like I always try to do.. is the risk I should face.

Yet another phone call.. same caller..
Him: Who was in charge Sunday morning?
Me: I was in charge.
Him: Why didn’t u tell me about supplier sent the cake sample for me?
Me: That was ur day off. I was waiting for Monday.
Him: Yesterday was Monday, I was there. Why didn’t I receive the sample?!?
Me: I was off yesterday. But I’ve passed the message to cold side staff so he could give it to you.
Him: Nobody tell me anything! I don’t care if u’ve passed the message! I never received the message! Did you put it at comm-log?
Me: No, I didn’t.
Him: Nah! So how?!? That’s ur fault!
Me: I am so sorry, my mistake.
BAM! Phone is slammed (again..) from the other side.

What a day. Ruined all the mood I had to work. Felt like throwing away that red shirt and went home. But fortunately I saw that face. A cheerful face, energetic, full of spirit. A helping hand, eased the pain. My staff.. NO, my friend instead. Lucky you were there. Make me remember that I like the place, I like the working atmosphere, and I have some people like her here… that’s enough. The hell with that inconsiderable superior. I remind myself one more time, working anywhere is the same. Irritating superior or boss like him will always exist. Can be even worse. So why bother? Fairness.. is never exist.

Comments ♥3♥