Week in review (29/6 - 5/7)

Hello everyone out there! So June has come and gone and soon it will be my holidays. As the month of July dawns upon me, I realised that I got another 2 weeks or so before going back to Singapore to get ready for my 2nd year of tertiary education. Sob sob =(((

Anyway, it's kinda of unbelievable that I rediscover my interest in blogging during this holidays. 15 posts(including this one) in the space of less than one month. Compared this to 6 posts in the last three years, it's really an amazing feat for me. I can't be sure whether I will blog as frequent once my 2nd year in university resumes but I do hope I could manage some satisfactory number of posts for my own(and my close friends') leisure reading.

As the title of this post suggests, I want to do a little review of last week because it's been quite an interesting week for me, at least in terms of my working and leisure time.

28-30 June
I began last week with the thought of these two days might be my last couple of days in my current job. This is because a small mistake on my part the previous week caused Michelle(boss's wife) to inform me I will only stay on the job until the end of June. Although William(the boss) did not give any hints of anger regarding my mistake and my colleagues reassured me that Michelle's words were out of anger, I took Michelle's words for real(albeit with a little doubt) and so I wasn't really feeling that focus at work.

Monday's work began with a big shouting and argument between William and Michelle in the morning. I wasn't sure what they were arguing about but it was ugly. The shouting went on for about 10 mins and the whole office was in a tense mood. First time in my life witnessing such shouting at work.

1-2 July
Went to work on Wednesday morning and met a new colleague. Her name is Chiew Wan. I know it's pathetic to feel as such but I was disappointed to see her because I thought: Oh, she must be the new staff that is going to replace me. Sure enough, Michelle told me to teach and pass on my duties to her and William told me I will work until the end of the week. I must say I was rather impressed with Chiew Wan as she seemed ready to learn and work right away when I was teaching her. Not to self praise but she have me to guide her and pass on the duties while I came into this job with no predecessor guiding me.

To my surprise, Chiew Wan is a very talkable person and I shared some personal conversations with her regarding my work in the office. On Thursday, when she and I went to AIA headquarter(part of the job routine) at Jalan Ampang, she told me the job did not match her expectation and she was having second thoughts about continuing the job. Again, it's pathetic to feel joyful at this but I definitely prefer to continue working until I go back to Singapore and earn more money, though I plan to focus on my university ECA if indeed this is my last week at work. Lols

3 July
After the morning meeting between the agents, Chiew Wan had a discussion with William and Michelle regarding her decision to leave the job. Obviously William and Michelle would have prefer Chiew Wan to stay in the job and replace me for long term, but Chiew Wan secretly told me she made up her mind to leave(she did not say this to the employers, of course). The day at work turned out to be rather free as I spent the hours after lunch not doing any work in particular and reading random articles about various famous CEOs.

At night, went to play basketball with Jeff and Koon Thong at Ampang. Finally got to meet Koon Thong this holidays after he came back. The three of us had some fun shooting hoops for practice, especially teasing Koon Thong because he shot badly(lots of air balls) in the beginning. The first game we played, we were behind very early on as we struggled to find our chemistry after such a long time not playing with each other. We did not lose too badly in the end as I was able to score a couple of baskets in a row late in the game. Overall, the night was fun enough(for me at least) as we had a great time and Jeff praising me for being the one with the hot hands. Hahaha sorry for the self praise.

The night ended with me and Jeff eating at mamak at Pandan Indah. Ordered two pieces of roti naan butter and again I was wrong to order two pieces as I never expect the roti to be so big. I was able to finish most of the two pieces(Jeff ate one quarter of one piece for me) anyway.

4 July
In the morning, I went to a political forum at Corus Hotel, Jalan Ampang together with Ming Yang as well as his father. On a side note, his father said that I seemed fairer and I was really like lmao. Anyway, the political forum was organised by the Institute for Democracy and Economics Affairs(IDEAS). The title of the forum was 'Is Malaysia Ready For A Liberal Political Party'. The panelists included President of Liberal International, Dr Juli Minoves and two local politicians, Mr Khalid Jaafar(PKR) and Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad(PAS) while the moderator was the Chief Executive of IDEAS, Mr Wan Saiful Wan Jan.

I did not record things mentioned or discussed in the forum on my smartphone like what Ming Yang did. To sum up my experience attending this political forum(my first, incidentally), it was certainly an eye-opener for me in terms of being introduced to the concept of Liberalism and learning more about the place of liberalism in Malaysia's political scenes. I was very impressed with Mr Khalid Jaafar's response to several audiences' questions because the way he answered questions is certainly much more sensible compared to the statements made by some Barisan Nasional's politicians who must competing to see who's more idiotic. As Ming Yang put it, Mr Khalid Jaafar can't be Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's press secretary for 10 years for nothing.

After the forum, Ming Yang and I went to eat 'dai bou mee' at Pudu nearby Pusat Tuition Martin. We had a short chat and also saw Jeff and his family driving pass by us along Jalan Pudu. After Ming Yang left, I went to Hoops Station to check out Air Jordan shoes as I received my salary just a couple of days ago and intend to buy after my mother gave the green light. To my disappointment, all the Air Jordan models(the older models) that I wish to buy is for display only and not for sale. I did saw a couple of nice Air Jordan 29 but I decided to try my luck and search in Singapore before I make the decision to buy.

At night, my family(including my sister-in-law) and I went to Sunway Pyramid to have a late parents' day dinner at Shogun Japanese Buffet restaurant. I began the dinner by eating aggressively the salmon fish as I love it so much and my mum won't let me eat raw if it is eaten at home. Too much for my own good, I ate until I was feeling a bit sick of the salmon fish and my mum prohibited me from eating more. Nevertheless, the other foods were good and I ate until stomach a bit uncomfortable. So much so for eating fast that we ate and left in less than two hours. Lols

After the dinner, we went to have a ride on the new Bus Rapid Transit(BRT). Since BRT is still free until the 2nd of August, we took the ride from end to end to have a view on Sunway. It's certainly amazing how Jeffrey Cheah developed Sunway into one of the most popular place in Selangor. Caught a glimpse of Sunway and Monash University and I must say the two universities look too good from the outside not to be attracted to study there.

5 July
The morning began with a chit-chat session with Yu Han, Yan Chun and Kah Yee(all Xue Ji) at VIVA Old Town. It was great chatting with them and listening to their stories about their university life. I was listening to the three of them talking about economics and finance as I am the only one studying science-related course there. After that, Kah Yee and I went to Wings Cafe to meet up with the rest of the gang. Those that came(all Xue Ji as well) include Wei Xin, Yan Ting, Siew Hui(25), Yong Yi(24), Mun Xuan, Ah Weng, Seng Yang and other 26s that I not sure the name. Had a great time chatting there too and we attracted lot of attention since our table is the loudest in the whole cafe(thanks to Wei Xin, Yan Ting and Siew Hui). Haha.

After meeting up with all the fellow Cheras Xue Ji, I went to play basketball at Pandan Indah with Jeff, Koon Thong, Adrial and Kai Hoong. Kai certainly still have his moves although he did not play basketball for a long time due to knee injury. I did not play too well as I couldn't find my rhythm at the Pandan Indah court. The shots just don't fall in. Still we had fun and then went to One Shamelin Wong Kok Restaurant to have dinner(minus Kai) after that. The chit-chat session was even more enjoyable as we had fun talking about girls, relationships, basketball and football(guys' topic).


That's all for the review of last week and I'm signing off. Night fellas! =D

Work life ramblings II

Three weeks have passed since I began working at my current company in the beginning of this month. Well, technically I have just worked for two weeks because I was in Penang for a trip on four of the five working days last week. I look through the calendar and realise I have only three more weeks or so working in this company before I go back to Kiasuland to resume my second year of tertiary education.

I begin to think more deeply about working life in those moments when I was unable to progress with the tasks at hands. Initially, my excuse to myself is that there isn't anyone to guide me properly because most of my senior colleagues(I'm the youngest) are either not in office or busy with their own work. And so I took it as such that I can delay in completing the task because I don't know how to do or I'm not sure whether I will do it correctly or not.

How wrong am I in having such excuses and thoughts. I came to the realisation that 'I don't know' or 'I'm not sure I do it correctly or not' simply just isn't a good enough excuse when it comes to the working world. This happened after my boss demanded that he wanted the results the next working day after he asked for it. Though he did not request for the results to be checked afterwards(probably because I went to Penang trip the next working day), one of my colleagues, that is understanding, was kind enough to remind me that I should find ways to get the task done even though I'm not in ideal situation to do so(I'm working on it now).

It's definitely a good thing that I came to this realization in my second job. I have another similar situation during my first job when I was asked to do telemarketing on accounting software to law firms. My only excuse now is that promoting isn't one of my job scope that was discussed during the interview.

Not only is 'I don't know' or 'I'm not sure I do it correctly or not' not a good excuse in the working world, it's the same thing in college or university. In college or university, having the 'I don't know' mindset simply isn't good enough for you to score well. You got to use your brain more proactively or ask people to find the solutions. My, oh my. Talk about applying what you learn in school/college/university into the working world. I guess I fail miserably so far. haha

It's one thing you realise what have you done wrong, it's another thing that you are finding ways to correct it. That is the problem I'm having right now in university. For your information, I struggled a lot during my first year in university and not doing as well as what I wish or expect from myself. I'm not the kind of person that like to ask in studies because most of the time I done well in studies by just being hardworking. I finally came to the realization that being hardworking is not good enough in university if you're not smart enough. The fear to ask has certainly done more damage and I hope I will be able to change my attitude and approach towards studies for the remaining three years in NTU.

(Back to WORK LIFE ramblings) I told my second brother about me unable to complete difficult tasks at work because I'm not properly guided. His response to me was like: "aiya work less than two months there, cincai la." I'm certain that cincai isn't his attitude at work because I don't think having the cincai attitude at work will get him a monthly salary of more than RM10k. Anyway, my second brother is sort of my inspiration now because I set myself a target of earning(hopefully) at least half of what he's earning now(though I will be earning S'pore dollars, again, hopefully) in the future. Spending so much money on my parents' part to pursue an oversea education not only give me pressure(self-pressure as my mother calls it) to be successful in my career, but also make me aspire to work in a big corporate company in the future.

To achieve my target and aspiration, I'm doing things now that I never done before or attempt to do during high school or college to better prepare myself. Firstly, I made the decision to run for the Special Project Officer of NTU Heritage Club in the hope that I could improve my soft skills and learn how to deal and work with people as well as learning how to solve problems. Second, I also become more conscious of building my resume and equip myself with working experience(especially since I'm not doing quite well in studies in university). Funnily, when I'm planning and writing my resume, the feeling is the same as if I'm counting my As on my SPM/A Level certificate(hahaha).

One of my employer's words during interview came back to my mind: "we want to hire people that could solve problem, not just spending time here." And after two weeks of working there, I'm not sure I fulfill that requirement to my employer's liking. I have a reasonably good working ethics in terms of being hardworking and responsible, but sadly it is working initiative and efficiency that satisfy the employer's needs and expectations. I guess the quick excuses that I could find now are that I'm still young and I'm working in a small company, but still I must learn and develop the correct working habit quickly as it's only one and a half years left to my internship and three years until I become part of the full-time working force out there.

To conclude this post, I want to thank a person. I'm not going to name him/her, though people I'm close with will know who this person is. Thank you for serving as an extra source of motivation with your oh-so-mature thinking and all your criticisms about my ego. As Michael Jordan puts it, everyone needs a wood to be added to the fire as they move along in their life. You definitely are my wood now but not in the capacity that keeps me burning, more so the wood that I'm itching to burn in the future.

That's all for this time and I'm signing off for tonight. Goodbye and goodnight. =)

Work life ramblings

It has been more than a year since my last post. Well, I am quite free now at work so I thought I'd like to do something other than facebooking or tweeting. So here I am attempting another vain attempt to revive this blog.

Just to update viewers a bit on my current condition before I go into the topic. I'm currently in my academic year-end holiday as I had just finished my first year of tertiary education in NTU. I have the option to remain in Singapore and work there to earn more money(obviously, it's RM2.79 now for 1SGD T.T), but I choose to come back Bolehland to spend more time with my family(my mum to be specific).

I was back in Bolehland on the second week of May and began my job search after resting and enjoying for a couple of days. The job search part has been a bit frustrating because I wanted to begin working as soon as possible but couldn't find the kind of job that I want. I did went to two marketing job tryout which happen to be under the same major company. Feeling kinda stupid here because I wasted two days doing the tryout which I found(and confirmed) that I had no interest whatsoever in persuading people to purchase stuffs. I was going to give up on searching for office job and just went for waiter/promoter type of job when the interview offer from my current employer came knocking on my doorstep.

The job interview process began with filling up a form of my particulars and doing a personality test. The personality test is one where you mark one characteristic each that describe you the most and least. It turned out that I am very consistent in terms of my characters, my traits in dealing with people and preferred work environment, which I found slightly surprising because I thought I am just beginning to understand more about myself. Anyway, a woman, called Michelle (which turns out to be the boss's spouse), interviewed me. To her surprise, she realised that I am only available for work in less than two months, which I did put in my application on JobStreet. The interview process was quite smooth-going as I was able to talk and explain about myself the way I see myself. I think she was kind of impressed that I have a clear and definite purpose in wanting the job as I wish to build my resume and improve working experience towards my future career(macam yes). The conversation even grew to a stage where she talked about win-win situation in which she offers to improve my shortcomings in areas contained in the personality test. She even offered me the chance to be introduced  to people working in Petronas should I wish to do chemical engineering internship in the future. In the end, I was still offered the job. (YAY!)

After days of consideration, I turned down a telemarketer job(you see I don't like to persuade people) and accepted my current job. Here's a little profile of my current job: I am currently working as a Assistant Executive(the job title in the job advertisement. technically it's just admin I think) in T3 Rate Solutions & Co. Sdn Bhd, an AIA insurance agency. The first two days of work was pretty unproductive as no one was free(or physically present) in the company to properly teach and guide me on my job tasks. So I ended up filling up some insurance forms and checking the database for the company's insurance agents.

On the third day of work, I met my boss, Mr William Tan as the insurance agents gathered in the meeting room to discuss and update each other about their works. Later on, he brought me to the AIA headquarter in Jalan Ampang to have a look as one of my job scope is to serve as an intermediary between the headquarter and the agency. He drove a Mercedes by the way. Gave me a task to handle with the claim department. Obviously din do well as this was the first time. The staff in the claim department did answer my initial question but that wasn't what my boss wanted. Asked a second time and got a lecture from one senior staff about not appropriate to solve problems directly in the claim department and should go through customer service. =.="

As days went on, I started to have a clear idea and get comfortable of my job tasks in the company. Most of the times the agents whatapps me wanting certain information and I will be the one searching for the info in the database or call the customer service to enquire. I also help Michelle to fill up insurance forms for the clients whenever she pass me the instruction and/or documents required. Besides, as I mentioned previously, I serve as an intermediary between the headquarter and agency in which I go to the headquarter to enquire directly and submit/collect documents. Other than that, I also have to fill in the recording book whenever the new policy documents arrive. In short, it's just general administrative and operational duties.

One thing I would also like to talk about is that I had attended two meetings so far. The meeting basically contains two sections. In the first section, the agents discuss and update each other about their work. In the second section, they have a sharing session in which they discuss topics contained in books written by successful insurance agent. One highlight for me is that during the second meeting, in which they shared about ideas on money and finance, Michelle asked a question: "What's the most expensive expenditure by people that can be paid using credit card?" I was able to come out with the answer first: healthcare and she praised me(She said even I also know) for that. (p.s. sorry for the self-praising here but afterall, I am still a student. lols)

To conclude this post(surprisingly I was able to finish this post during the free time at work), I have just been in the company for two weeks(started work on 1st of June). Hopefully there will be more new posts in the near future(at least during this holiday). Signing off here. BYE! =D