Work Lessons

I had my last day of work at the NTUC I've been working at for the past two years and frankly I'm still torn about leaving that place. On one hand, income has stopped flowing and I genuinely liked working there (mostly because of the people I've met) but on the other, I'm just really tired of everything in general that I'm kinda relived for the breathing space gained from leaving work.

Still, work has taught me a lot of things. The people I've met and talked to all left me a lasting impression and there was at least one thing I learned from each of them. In my opinion, the values of work can be imparted to you too; just bear with me a little longer.

Maybe I'll talk about my superiors first. I only ever talked with my own supervisor and manager of the department I was in, the BET (Bazaar, Electronic, Textile) department. I'll list them both and what they taught me down first.
 
My manager Terence. He was the contact I was put in touch with through my aunt and my first point of contact to NTUC. He's pretty laid back and lets us do our own thing as long as he doesn't catch us slacking off. Terence teaches you everything at once for the first time and hopes that you'll remember because he can't be there every time to save our asses. Terence taught me how gentle persuasion can get results.

My supervisor Kenny. Sure, he seemed stern and scary at first but he's generally a good guy. I mean, he makes friends with the foreign workers at the NTUC and communicates in a gruff yet affectionate way. Combine that with his stocky build and hey you kinda get a father figure. He's the most stressed out of everyone in the store because all the shit falls to him to handle. Yet he takes it all because really, without Kenny the entire department would fall apart. What I learned: Don't take no shit from anyone and pick your own battles.

Next up are the rest of my co-workers. It's a mighty long list so I'll try my best to break down the imminent wall of text.

First up is Uncle Albert. I was directed by Terence to go talk to him on my first day so Uncle Albert could show me the ropes. Despite reaching the retirement age, Uncle Albert is easily the best employee in our department; the only thing stopping him from getting promoted is his age and problems with handling computer work. If there's trouble about, Uncle Albert can be approached and he'll hop to it, ready to help out and then telling me where I went wrong and what I could learn from it. Uncle Albert taught me to speak out logically against unfair treatment, because there's no use in needless arguing.

Next is He Long. He's from China and had returned home during my first year of work. A common topic that comes up during work chatter is that He Long wants to quit as soon as the next bonus arrives so that he could go home to help support his family by setting up a shop with his wife waiting back home. Although he could be belligerent at times he knew just as much as Uncle Albert, plus the technology know-how, making him a valuable asset. He taught me that while money can be used in many practical ways, in the end, family comes first.

Zhi Zhong was the other foreign worker from China and he is the closest to my age at 24, next to Hazrul (later) who's 17 this year. He had been deported back to China because he violated Singapore's housing laws with several other of his countrymen. From what I heard from Kenny, Zhi Zhong had been forced into it. Other than that, while he was still around, he was just as good as He Long, albeit the more chatty one. He helped me a little bit with my Chinese too so yeah I learned from Zhi Zhong that a little more general knowledge won't hurt, because he's always reading out articles to us.

Uncle Simon transferred into the department a little late last year. He's slightly younger than Uncle Albert but the difference is Simon is more cheerful and willing to chat (Uncle Albert's all work most of the time). He may ramble a bit at times but Simon picked up the BET's routine quickly and hey, he had his own pearls of wisdom to share during work chat. Lesson: Adaptability is crucial in the work force.

Then there's Siti. She worked in the Textile side of BET and was recently promoted to supervisor (congratulations again :D) Her workload did increase because of the promotion and she is now just as stressed as Kenny. However, that doesn't stop Siti from being the motherly kind who looks out for the younger and older ones despite her own age (CAN'T DIVULGE THIS DUH). Her last words too me yesterday may sound harsh but I'll remember them now: Don't think about others, think about yourself first.

Amil is from Malaysia and is here to earn some bread for his wife and year-old daughter back home. Solid, loyal and hardworking, he has the most eagerness to learn and prove himself in the store. Since he is under Siti, he now provides the muscle for the Textile side, since it has always been hiring female staff. He taught me a little Malay and in exchange I helped him with as much English as I could. While he may be thirty and had only been around for three months or so, I see him as more of a friend than colleague. Lesson: Be someone that can be depended on for not everything, but most of the things because you are not Superman.

Then there is Mohammed. He may be from the grocery department but he is the only one from another department who shook my hand and introduced himself. Just like Amil, Mohammed does not hesitate to slap you on the back just to say hi. Whenever we pass by each other, we nod and ask each other, "How are you, boss?" because Mohammed taught me that you are your own master.

Finally, there's Hazrul. I met him only last month when he came to NTUC to work through an agency. Fresh out of secondary school, he's going to TP after the O Level results were released. With someone so close to my age, we could laugh and chat about things outside of work. Have you seen/played this before et cetera. However, just by talking with Hazrul did I realize, and learned on my own, that I'm being looked at as one of the 'older' people now; it's time I act like one.

Well, it was a fun ride till the end and I hope all of you who are reading this get something out of this. True, I may preach now and forget about everything that happened in NTUC but to be honest, my memories won't be fading any time soon.

And now, I can finally rest.

See you all next time.

Well, I'm Back

It has been little over a year since my last blog post and a lot has changed. While scanning through my old blog posts I kind of cringed at my over-friendly tone in them and quite frankly, amateurish writing.

Of course, maybe people remember I have a blog, maybe people don't. What matters I guess is that so much has happened recently that I have to write it all down somewhere before I lose my mind, though I think I already have.

First on the agenda is why I'm back. It was a completely random suggestion made by Jess and when I thought about it, I went Oh gosh I really should've blogged more consistently. I mean, popular bloggers always update their blogs frequently so I almost got a heart attack when I came back here and found out my last entry was posted on 7th December 2013. Ah well, I guess I sort of forgot about the blog at one point.

Honest to God I swear that I really wanted to blog over the past year but like I said before, a lot has happened in this one year gap. Due to the amount of things and events that had occurred, this big entry to cover it all will be split into several parts, of which I hope to complete over the coming holidays.

The more interesting things that has happened to this mundane writer would be an OCIP (Overseas Community Involvement Project) trip to Cambodia, my revision on my outlook on school life, relationships with my friends and finally, home.

I'll only talk about school tonight. Lately I've been having a LOT of second thoughts in ever joining DTVM. Hold up, I was super excited to be in the course in the first year but second year has really whacked me hard in terms of reality checks. Think of it as something extremely heavy slowly running over you, crushing you to death and oozing out all your hopes and dreams.

The workload is super intense and of course, being a bad time manager, I've been having a lot of sleepless nights over the past year. On better nights, I can sleep latest 1 or 2am in the morning.  Otherwise I usually sleep at around 3-4 before waking up at hmmm...6-7am in the morning.

I don't set alarms, I have a frustratingly early body clock which forces me awake by 7 latest everyday. I can't take advantage of my timetable this term because of that. While other class or coursemates would be sleeping in on the days we have 12 and 1pm classes, I would be wide awake by 7 am and cursing my body clock. Coupled together with the workload, I can finally understand just how tough my seniors have described year 2.

Personally, I think I have managed to piss off most of my lecturers in the course. Being a lousy student, who keeps asking Mr. Esman questions on how to do this and that (coding, I detest it), I would be able to see why Mr. Esman is done with me. Let me get this out; to everyone who can code good and gets it, you have my utmost respect.

Ms. Stella, enough said, it's a mutual dislike for one another, at least that's what I think. I don't know why but I just can't control my dislike towards Ms. Stella whenever I try to ask her a question or explain something more clearly during consultations. In terms of experience and knowledge, I believe Ms. Stella is a great lecturer in those two areas but her open emotions towards others and work attitude just...you get the idea.

I'm not sure about Mr. Chee Teng, because he kinda looks out of it. No, I'd say he tries not to let any of his opinions of the class show in front of us. Although perhaps with me being incompetent (I've learned a lot about pronunciation thanks to Jia Ying) in all aspects of filming, I might not be very high on Mr. Chee Teng's 'Nice List'.

I definitely know I've irritated Mr. Mark today (oh dear God) because I was late for the first time this term. On the last day of term too, what luck. I guess completing an assignment due today outweighs keeping my perfect attendance. Oh, the reason why Mr. Mark would be irritated at me is not because I was late; in actuality I had forgotten to apologize for being late. *sighs I apologize once again, Mr. Mark.

Ms. Mary, hmmm. I can deduce that her reason to not like me is the same reason for Mr. Esman's I guess. I can name quite a lot of incidents actually. One, being super blur, as usual. Two, having fallen into a deep sleep during her class and no one could wake me up. Three, being a bad student and not completing class assignments and at the top of the list, generally not cooperating and having bad ideas for her assignments. Long list but eh, Ms. Mary could've been better organized in coming up with her assignments for us in my opinion. Input your thoughts if you want.

Ah, our course head, Ms. Gamar. I genuinely don't want to disappoint her because journalism is the only possible option I can explore in DTVM, considering my abysmal filming and editing skills. However, my mediocre skills in doing up articles and failure to hand up class work on time would definitely annoy Ms. Gamar, and being a big part of being a reporter is meeting deadlines so....*draws line across neck.

Well, that's all I have for today, I multi-tasked a class assignment for Ms. Gamar while typing out this entry. I sent it off already before starting on this send-off. I'll be flying off to Penang for a week with the family tomorrow so perhaps I'll blog some more after that. Don't fret about the bad stuff, I'll clear all of those before moving on to the fun entries.

Keep safe everyone, have a good holidays (who am I kidding, try your best not to die!)