Tuesday, January 13, 2004
Allegro ma non troppo: “Happy Feeling Upon Arriving For Work”
First day of work! There was a mixed feeling of excitement and apprehension. The excitement is meeting new colleagues and hopefully new friends as well. I’ve already met Lawrence, my co-worker at out port.
I force myself to arrive at Singapore Expo at eight, half an hour before the time stated. I still remembered what Debbie, the HR personnel at Specialist’s Centre, mentioned about the punch card machine, therefore if I am late in clocking in I would miss out some of my salary. Anyway, most importantly, I must give a good impression by not being late at all costs.
Robinson’s has kindly left behind their fixtures for our company to use – anyway both belong to the same parent company. So it’s eased our work (but probably add to the overwork at the end of the sales since we have to clear off everything, including the fixtures) as we only have to bring in and arrange our stocks.
Lawrence and I are introduced to our bosses, Kalai and Bryan. Those two are a forever bickering bunch who constantly bicker with one another and throw “fuck you”s at each other. Bryan constantly goes around singing “Oh No” in falsetto voice for the first two days, whenever something screws up. Thereafter when we have the radio turned on over the hall’s speakers, he’s a great entertainer by dancing in front of the out port table to whatever that’s being broadcast. Bryan swears a lot, and that’s fun. Like when Class 95FM played the advertisement for the John Little warehouse sale, he was heard screaming: “Don’t come! Don’t come! Nothing to buy here!”
It’s cool to work in out port. You sit at a small row of tables next to a gigantic shutter which is constantly left open throughout the day, and where humongous lorries reverse into the hall like no one’s business. One driver of a minivan even requested Kalai and Bryan to let him drive all the way to the ladies’ section on the opposite side of the hall to deliver his goods. Our basic tasks are to stamp consignments, and do checks of the goods upon receiving purchase orders. Sometimes we do manual labour, such as taking the pallet jacks to go about the hall and remove the empty pallets, as well as organise the storage area behind the sales floor.
Burger King has happily gained a monopoly; it’s the only available food and beverage outlet in the Expo and we are all forced to eat there for lunch. So imagine about a hundred or so members of the staff queuing at their outlet for drinks and meals – how much would they earn? Anyway, I have to eat Burger King as well; no porridge stall or whatsoever about, and despite the fact I just fitted in braces the day before. Well, the doc said I could be thick-skinned, so I thought, “Fine, I’ll be thick-skinned.” I go ahead to buy a Whopper Junior.
The moment my bucktooth hits the bread… it’s like I touched a live wire of 240 volts and got electrocuted. It’s damn fucking PAINFUL. No joke, I tell you. Coupled with two matured ulcers on the sides of my mouth (because the metal brace has been scraping against the skin of the mouth), this organ is virtually invalid. I have to peel the burger into small pieces and feed myself gingerly.
Another bother is that the food gets trapped in the mouth. In other words, only 80% of the food goes down the throat; the rest get stuck onto the metal braces and the gap where four of my teeth have been extracted in order to create space for re-alignment of the other teeth. The moment I finish my torturous meal (I’m a gourmand, and this is the first time feasting has ever been so excruciating) I’m off to brush; I can’t stand it any longer, with the food stuck there. Besides, it’s disgusting talking to people and that they can see bits of vegetables and meat covering the whites (or rather, the yellows) of the teeth. Yucks.
The best part of the job, however, is the social aspect of it. I’ve made a few friends, and we would form a clique throughout our eight days working at the warehouse sale. There’s Julius, who’s currently studying in the States and is back on holiday; Wee Seng, a tall lanky fellow who’s just finished his O-Levels; Winnie, a rather tough lass who cares to retaliate if taken offence. There’s Keegan, the young man who has got the “beng” look but really a very nice fellow. And of course, there’s Lawrence, my colleague at out port. All of us met working under Spencer to help him set up his household linen department. I also make friends with the other temp staff who come to out port to obtain stationery or to obtain goods. Having friends makes the work easier: although we work long hours, the thought of socialising at the very end makes it all worthwhile. Besides, working side by side with friends lessens the toughness of the task. ¶ 1/13/2004 05:06:00 pm
First day of work! There was a mixed feeling of excitement and apprehension. The excitement is meeting new colleagues and hopefully new friends as well. I’ve already met Lawrence, my co-worker at out port.
I force myself to arrive at Singapore Expo at eight, half an hour before the time stated. I still remembered what Debbie, the HR personnel at Specialist’s Centre, mentioned about the punch card machine, therefore if I am late in clocking in I would miss out some of my salary. Anyway, most importantly, I must give a good impression by not being late at all costs.
Robinson’s has kindly left behind their fixtures for our company to use – anyway both belong to the same parent company. So it’s eased our work (but probably add to the overwork at the end of the sales since we have to clear off everything, including the fixtures) as we only have to bring in and arrange our stocks.
Lawrence and I are introduced to our bosses, Kalai and Bryan. Those two are a forever bickering bunch who constantly bicker with one another and throw “fuck you”s at each other. Bryan constantly goes around singing “Oh No” in falsetto voice for the first two days, whenever something screws up. Thereafter when we have the radio turned on over the hall’s speakers, he’s a great entertainer by dancing in front of the out port table to whatever that’s being broadcast. Bryan swears a lot, and that’s fun. Like when Class 95FM played the advertisement for the John Little warehouse sale, he was heard screaming: “Don’t come! Don’t come! Nothing to buy here!”
It’s cool to work in out port. You sit at a small row of tables next to a gigantic shutter which is constantly left open throughout the day, and where humongous lorries reverse into the hall like no one’s business. One driver of a minivan even requested Kalai and Bryan to let him drive all the way to the ladies’ section on the opposite side of the hall to deliver his goods. Our basic tasks are to stamp consignments, and do checks of the goods upon receiving purchase orders. Sometimes we do manual labour, such as taking the pallet jacks to go about the hall and remove the empty pallets, as well as organise the storage area behind the sales floor.
Burger King has happily gained a monopoly; it’s the only available food and beverage outlet in the Expo and we are all forced to eat there for lunch. So imagine about a hundred or so members of the staff queuing at their outlet for drinks and meals – how much would they earn? Anyway, I have to eat Burger King as well; no porridge stall or whatsoever about, and despite the fact I just fitted in braces the day before. Well, the doc said I could be thick-skinned, so I thought, “Fine, I’ll be thick-skinned.” I go ahead to buy a Whopper Junior.
The moment my bucktooth hits the bread… it’s like I touched a live wire of 240 volts and got electrocuted. It’s damn fucking PAINFUL. No joke, I tell you. Coupled with two matured ulcers on the sides of my mouth (because the metal brace has been scraping against the skin of the mouth), this organ is virtually invalid. I have to peel the burger into small pieces and feed myself gingerly.
Another bother is that the food gets trapped in the mouth. In other words, only 80% of the food goes down the throat; the rest get stuck onto the metal braces and the gap where four of my teeth have been extracted in order to create space for re-alignment of the other teeth. The moment I finish my torturous meal (I’m a gourmand, and this is the first time feasting has ever been so excruciating) I’m off to brush; I can’t stand it any longer, with the food stuck there. Besides, it’s disgusting talking to people and that they can see bits of vegetables and meat covering the whites (or rather, the yellows) of the teeth. Yucks.
The best part of the job, however, is the social aspect of it. I’ve made a few friends, and we would form a clique throughout our eight days working at the warehouse sale. There’s Julius, who’s currently studying in the States and is back on holiday; Wee Seng, a tall lanky fellow who’s just finished his O-Levels; Winnie, a rather tough lass who cares to retaliate if taken offence. There’s Keegan, the young man who has got the “beng” look but really a very nice fellow. And of course, there’s Lawrence, my colleague at out port. All of us met working under Spencer to help him set up his household linen department. I also make friends with the other temp staff who come to out port to obtain stationery or to obtain goods. Having friends makes the work easier: although we work long hours, the thought of socialising at the very end makes it all worthwhile. Besides, working side by side with friends lessens the toughness of the task. ¶ 1/13/2004 05:06:00 pm
