Wednesday, December 26, 2007
* days 22 to 24 . 231207-251207 [M/A/F (full)] .
since there were too many events taking place during these three days at work , i shan't elaborate on the details .
very often tempers flared , especially at the gift wrapping area where the wrapping requests never stopped after noon .
and hence this allowed me to witness first hand how impatient some Singaporeans could be .
some customers ended up helping me to do the wrapping after 5 mins or so as they saw that i was struggling badly .
on day 24 (Christmas Day) , i even had to do a complete full shift (0930 - 2300) .
which explains why i could only update today .
Christmas Day was a mess at Watsons .
there were three unpleasant experiences which left me a lasting impression .
first , a customer from downstairs who was made to wait for nearly half an hour because of confusion over the price of a pack of AA batteries and obviously , left with a face no different from that of Justice Bao .
second , a young guy speaking aggressively to the cashier stuff because the product he reserved previously from Heartland Mall was not available here , and hell of a rage he flew into . though my supervisor did come out to mediate immediately afterwards , he still seemed very displeased with her explanation .
third , a remote control toy helicopter operated by one of the toy promoters (not Watsons staff) at the concourse area injured a young boy by accident and his parents lodged a complaint against Watsons as a result .
in addition , most of the wrapping experts were either busy or were no longer working here .
hence there was added pressure at the wrapping area since i was on my own , even though another promoter girl was around to lend some assistance .
not to mention that at least another three trolley loads full of new stock came in amidst all the buzz , after the four loads that came in the night before and were not even processed yet .
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* day 25 . 261207 [M] .
business quietened down alot in stark contrast to the previous day .
but even though the wrapping station was already closed , there were still two customers asking for gift wrap and we still had to entertain them eventually .
displaying of the over 20 big blue boxes and three dozen cardboard boxes of goods finally picked up today .
by the time my shift ended , half of the blue boxes and almost all the cardboard boxes were processed .
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okays .
i'm really tired out now after working so hard over the past week .
gonna have an early rest tonight .
bunking is on my schedule as always on off days , tomorrow . (:
those memories. 21:10
Saturday, December 22, 2007
* day 21 . 221207 [M] .
yet another busy day as expected .
it was common to see two to three customers surrounding the wrapping station for most periods of time .
amidst all the buzz , i could even manage to solo the cashier area (upon my supervisor's request , that is) and that made me super uber nervous .
was scared of short-changing customers and stuff , even though i did a brief stint as a cashier at the concourse area earlier this month and had some experience at least .
worked overtime today once more , although this time round i requested to do so .
there wasn't any new stock at all till around 6 , where a jumbo trolley carrying at least 75 (read : seventy-five) boxes of Ferrero Rocher chocolates was parked outside the store - it was too huge to enter the store - and the staff had to manually transfer the boxes from outside into the store room .
but by the time i left , more than half of this stock had already been processed . (:
those memories. 22:50
Friday, December 21, 2007
* day 19 . 201207 [A] .
from the moment i started work , there was to be no turning back .
just half an hour into my shift , i encountered a young lady (she was with her family , i think) who told me about a batch of products that have gone past their expiry date , 151207 .
the look within her eyes was very intimidating then , and so was her tone .
scary .
at least she could have told me in a more polite manner , but perhaps she was in a really foul mood that day and decided to vent all her unhappiness on me instead .
the flow of customers never stopped throughout my shift , and there was even a queue of about four to five people forming from the wrapping station !
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* day 20 . 211207 [M] .
had to help out with moving excess products down to the concourse area throughout the entire morning .
in addition , i also went over to the Watsons outlet at Lorong Ah Soo to collect two bags full of Ferrero Rochers .
on the taxi ride back to Hougang Mall , the cabbie , still a freshman as today was only the second day into his job , talked non-stop about why the recent cab fare hikes are not justified .
i remembered him saying things like "we should be looking after the poor's interests ... government officials (he mentioned names but I shan't reveal .. who knows if they would sue me for defamation in the future ?) already earn so much annually and with this hike they'd only stand to earn even more ... don't they know about the widening income gap one bit ?"
from the manner he voiced out his displeasure , i could tell he's a staunch opposition supporter .
it's really a waste that he didn't choose the path of a debator and became a cabbie instead .
worked overtime today till 8pm due to some problems with till checks .
those memories. 22:50
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
* day 17 . 181207 [M] .
was occupied for virtually the entire shift helping the manager move products everywhere , though at least this was better than having nothing to do at all .
observed that today's customers were slightly better in their attitude compared to previous days . (note tbe use of "slightly" .)
and of course , there was the usual gossip circulating around (see previous post) and my colleagues continued teasing me about it .
but I chose not to hear those crap anyways .
almost three-quarters of my stint at Watsons have passed , but chances are I'm gonna continue with the job till at least the end of next month .
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it's yet another long-awaited off day tomorrow .
most probably going to bunk as usual . (:
those memories. 20:00
Monday, December 17, 2007
gonna keep things brief this time cause i know you readers will get tired of reading excessive text sooner or later ...
* day 13 . 141207 [A] .
rumours that me and the Hoyu girl are going steady began going around .
and I just chose to ignore these rumours .
cause we're just friends in the first place so there's nothing to hide . (:
with regards to work , there was nothing worthy of note besides the fact that I've observed even more customers (on average , about 40 a day compared to less than 20 the previous week) coming with gift wrapping requests as Christmas continues to draw even closer .
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* day 14 . 151207 [M] .
same shift with the manager once again , and this time I finally arrived before her .
was kept busy for the first half of my shift as she constantly handed me more tasks like re-arranging location of products .
however the second half (3-6pm) passed very slowly cause I was told to stand guard at the five trolleys of products outside the store and therefore I had nothing else to do .
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* day 15 . 161207 [A] .
within a five-minute time frame , i witnessed two customers complaining about disparities in display price and the actual price they had to pay at the cashier area .
the first was a bespectacled lady and man , she was fierce .
seriously .
the manner in which she gave the feedback seemed like we were totally in the wrong .
the second was a middle-aged guy who told the counter staff about the price disparity straight but didn't go on any further , to the staff's relief .
there was one last customer who asked for wrapping of a teddy bear 10 minutes after closing hours when I was already helping to clean up the area .
of course the staff (not me . I suck at wrapping , big time) had to entertain her still and the frustration was kinda evident based on their facial expressions .
oh , and I nearly forgot .
the area manager made a surprise stop at Watsons at about 8pm .
I suppose he would drop by twice a month cause the last time he visited was exactly 15 days ago on 011207 .
he suggested some changes to the positioning of the trolleys outside the store which were implemented the next day .
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* day 16 . today . 171207 [M] .
supposed to be off day but some last minute changes to the roster meant that it had been changed to wednesday instead .
sort of transformed into the "sai kang" (translate : work that nobody would be willing to do voluntarily) man of Watsons for today .
if there was flatting out of cardboard boxes to be done , I was there .
if accumulated rubbish had to be cleared , I was there too .
well , cause there wasn't much that I could help in displaying of new stock anyways .
talking about new stock , like previous mondays , the amount coming in was massive .
two full trolley loads of goods that stacked up to at least 2m high came in just as I went for my lunch break .
other than the usual heavy load of new stock , again there wasn't anything noteworthy .
spent the last half hour of the shift sticking on Sensormatic labels to products at the cosmetics zone .
those memories. 20:53
Thursday, December 13, 2007
* day 12 . 131207 [M] .
"Cause you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day
You had a bad day"
well , i suppose the lyrics would have given you a clear enough hint .
this wasn't the best of days at Watsons .
firstly , the "Hoyu girl" was supposed to be around today but she got sick and was on MC , according to my manager .
made me kinda moody throughout my shift .
if you think I miss her presence , well yes I do to a small extent but life has to go on , right ?
secondly , i got frustrated by several troublesome customers .
first , they opened up the Philips Salon 8-in-1 set without asking for the staff's permission .
and then they got the audacity to tell me one of the components were missing .
well , I admit that might have actually helped save the store from more trouble as such an item would be considered defective and cannot be sold .
but these three customers went on insisting I open up the adjacent 10-in-1 set although I told them politely that I wasn't supposed to do that .
and after going through all the trouble , they chose not to buy the product .
this really got me pissed off inside though I didn't show my displeasure outright (obviously) .
lols .
so much for respecting consumers' soverignty .
those memories. 20:18
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
* days 7-9 . 071207-091207 [all A] .
was engaged in gift wrapping during night time , which happened to be the peak period where gift wrapping requests came in fast and furious .
this was also the case for the ensuing weekend where I had to do afternoon shift on both days as well .
fortunately the "Hoyu girl" (simply put , she is a part time hair dye promoter) was around to help out after her shift ended at 8 on ALL three days .
customers wise , not much of an issue as I gradually grew accustomed to the products available here .
after the deluge of new stock that came in for the earlier part of the week , the abovementioned three days saw very little stock arrivals .
which actually wasn't a good thing cause I had little to do besides the gift wrapping and every minute that passed seemed to take hours .
another familiar face passed by Watsons today - Jia Qi , one of my library juniors from xinmin sec .
time really flies and she had already completed her 'O's this year .
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* 101207 . off day . (:
well , didn't like it to be so early in the week as it meant that I had to work for the rest of the week , but oh what the heck , it's better than nothing .
so I went bunking today .
was split on whether to play maple or audition .
eventually I settled for the latter cause most people at bunk were playing audition anyway .
and I didn't regret my decision as I kept winning and winning all the way .
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* day 10 . 111207 [M] .
nothing interesting to talk about , just the same old routine .
got a scolding from the manager for reaching at almost 10 - she insisted I must be there by 9.30 , half an hour before official opening hours .
also met another new female colleague today , whose name shan't be revealed as usual .
from what I observed , she was a master at gift wrapping .
by the time I finished wrapping one simple rectangular gift , she had already completed two and moving on to her third .
definitely , there was much to learn from her indeed .
but sadly she would only be around for two weeks .
in addition , for the first time since I started working , I was able to end early .
the manager seemed to have something on later in the day and at around 5.30 , she told me I could go back .
of course , this won't be the case everyday though .
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* day 11 . today . 121207 [M] .
yes , it was morning shift again for me today .
and I haven't learnt yesterday's lesson , obviously .
sauntered in only at around 9.50 . >.<
only the assistant store manager was among my shift though .
and she just closed one eye , evidence of the different work styles adopted by the manager in contrast to her assistant .
[the 9.30 rule must be observed tomorrow no matter what though , cause shift allocation would be exactly like day 10 . sian]
more familiar faces dropped by Watsons today - my secondary school friends Zhi Chen , Tong Hern and Yuhe .
there was one customer who didn't like the way I wrapped her gift .
lols .
[if you think my wrapping sucks I could have just given you the wrapping paper for you to go back to wrap yourself , since you think I cannot make it .]
well , obviously I didn't say that to the customer , just showing you my train of thought at that particular moment .
quite a considerable amount of new stock today but by the time my shift was over , three-quarters of the stock had already been processed .
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my time spent at Watsons so far have been relatively meaningful .
it's like you get to encounter many different kinds of people out there and it's much better than doing nothing other than playing online games at home .
stay tuned for more updates after tomorrow's shift . (:
those memories. 18:37
Friday, December 07, 2007
* day 5 . 051207 [M] .
very few customers due to the fact that there was intermittent rain for virtually the whole of today .
but there was still a decent amount of new stock to process .
later in the day , i was dispatched by my manager to Watsons HQ at The Adelphi shopping mall near city hall mrt for a handful of tasks .
firstly , collecting the Statement of Inquiry (SIN) report for both the Hougang Mall and Lorong Ah Soo outlets .
secondly , passing the stationery requisition form and another form to request for store documents to the receptionist .
and finally , going to the HR (human relations) department to request for the making of one of my colleagues' name badge .
fortunately there weren't any major hiccups in the process .
but i really dreaded having to move around in the wet weather , and also packing into the evening rush hour crowd on the way back .
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* day 6 . 061207 [A] .
with the weather picking up today , it was no wonder that the crowds returned to Hougang Mall in droves .
customer turnout at Watsons today was as frenzied as it could have been on a weekend .
from 8-10pm , i was literally flooded with inquiries from customers from all directions .
and everyone had to stay back after closing hours today .
cause we had to move our goods from the concourse at level 1 back into the store and that took like 45 mins (or longer ?) .
the acute shortage of manpower meant that i had to sweep and mop the entire premises myself .
by the time everything was settled , it was already 11.20pm and i just managed to catch the last bus home .
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today and tomorrow will still be afternoon shift for me .
lols .
i hope i wouldn't have to clean up the store all by myself again .
those memories. 12:45
Monday, December 03, 2007
* day 3 . 021207 [afternoon] .
as expected of a typical sunday , the customer turnout at Watsons was very heavy .
especially during the early hours of nightfall (from 8pm) .
saw adeline with her sis and mother in the afternoon , as well as my parents and aunt at night .
today's customers were even more demanding compared to the previous two days .
one of them asked if the store sells water dispensers ; i replied that it's not available here after checking with the counter staff .
then she went on to ask me whether i knew the outlets which do sell the dispenser .
and obviously , i didn't know (didn't say that so bluntly , of course) .
so she pressed on by asking for the contact number of the other stores .
fortunately the counter staff passed me a catalogue at this point .
but even after i gave her the catalogue she wasn't appeased .
next , she wanted me to call the outlet at hougang green .
i did attempt to do so but unfortunately the line was constantly engaged .
and finally she gave up and left (with a black face , unsurprisingly) .
yeah .
so that was the first major event with regards to demanding customers .
but other than that event , everything went quite okay .
today was also the last day at work for Sean , one of my colleagues .
he was scheduled to work for just one week as allocated by Kelly Services in view of the possible heavy workload next year in JC2 .
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* day 4 . 031207 [morning] .
had to work overtime today .
was supposed to end at 6pm but only could go home two hours later .
all thanks to a large quantity of stocks arriving from 4.30 .
if i didn't count wrongly it's about four trolley loads full of supplies .
just the unpacking already gave the store manager and supervisor loads of headache .
and the shelving and sorting out was equally horrible .
my other colleagues all said this scenario is common for mondays since it is the beginning of a new week .
in addition , i met my primary school friends , Xiuxuan and Cynthia , in late morning .
i also made a trip to Watsons at hougang avenue 1 where i had to collect some 100 pieces of neutrogena face mask (if i remember correctly) .
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tomorrow is my off day .
yay .
the perfect reward after toiling for four straight days . (:
will again be working in morning shift on wednesday though .
those memories. 23:00
Saturday, December 01, 2007
for those people who really have nothing to do and feel like stalking me , that's the one and only hint i've got . (:
anyway , i'm attached to Watsons at Hougang Mall for the whole of this month , and i really take pride in this job cause it's my first time working .
the invaluable experience gained from serving customers simply cannot be learnt in the classroom .
i'll be updating you readers on my Watsons journey as best as possible , cause my work shifts are not fixed (alternates between morning and afternoon) .
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* day 1 . 301107 .
this was a very VERY long day indeed .
i woke up at six in the morning and reached the destination half an hour before the given time of 8.30 .
after nearly an hour of waiting and sorting out admin stuff like attire , the entire group of over 50 fresh new workers like me moved on to SMU where training on gift wrapping took place .
everybody was then given two hours to have their lunch , return home and change into the appropriate attire and transit to their respective Watsons outlets where they have been attached to beforehand .
for me i'm quite fortunate to have been attached to Hougang Mall , which is within close proximity of my house .
so i took my time to get there , have lunch , and finally report to the Watsons store there 20 minutes before time .
it happened that the staff there was rather busy at that particular moment and i had to wait for this same amount of time before the admin work was completed . (staff declaration record , etc .)
the next eight hours were exceptionally stressful .
Watsons had a wide range of products from lipstick and foundation to snacks , hair products and even large teddy bears .
being the first day here , i wasn't familiar with the location of the various products .
so i had to frequently ask the staff there and i really feel bad interrupting time and again , for instance , when they're at the cashier area . =/
fortunately , the customers that i encountered were mostly not the demanding type .
ended work at 10pm today .
therefore , i was outdoors for virtually the whole day .
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* day 2 . today (011207) .
allocated to morning shift today . 10am-6pm .
arrived early again , as i'd reached even before the elevators from level 1 to 5 were in operation .
work went on as usual until around 12.30+ when the Area Manager dropped by the store .
the follow-up action afterwards was simply chaotic and i shan't elaborate .
today's customers were generally more demanding than the previous day .
perhaps it's because today's a weekend ?
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tomorrow's gonna be afternoon shift . 2-10 .
so the next update will be done the day after . (:
those memories. 21:08
