Category: Work

Me and my toilet buddy decided to visit the toilet at the next building because she was saying the toilet at our buiding is dirty.

So, we had to get out of the building and walk to the next one. It feels funny though, to be using another buiding’s toilet. But it’s good to get some fresh air. It’s the first time I’ve ever walked out of the building during office hours.

I like my toilet buddy. She’s very young. Only 18. She’s able to interact with everyone because she’s friendly. I think she’s very pure at heart. She likes to offer some of us food. She knows I like the yellow kacang she buys from the pasar malam.

She doesn’t have much to do in the office because she’s a temp. She would always ask me if there’s any document that she could help to fax out. Knowing that she’s bored, I would at times print out the documents even though I can simply fax it through the system. It means lots of walking to the printer but I don’t really mind because I know she feels very happy if she has got something to do.

I made a new friend today over lunch because one of my usual lunch buddies didn’t come to work. The other I guess wouldn’t want to eat with me anymore. So, there was a table, 4 chairs, 3 filled up, 1 empty chair. I filled in the blank. She shares the same surname as me. She has a degree in Biology. Therefore, I can conclude that the majority of people here are scientists. It was nice talking to her even though it was just a short conversation. Maybe I get to lunch with her again tomorrow.

“He’s the best boss anyone could ever have!”

A colleague exclaimed during lunch. I agree.

Many are walking over to my department to seek the truth. They feel sad but at the same time happy for him.

Now that I’m reading and replying emails, I don’t get to talk a lot. Not that I talk a lot under normal circumstances but if I were to be answering calls, I’ll get to talk. Now that I don’t get to talk that much, I feel so weird.

There will be people talking and joking around but I will just listen while concentrating on those emails, trying to figure what it is that it wants to say. When I think, I cannot talk. I’m glad that I’ll only be doing this for another 6 days because I cannot imagine myself just replying to emails. They are not nice to read and they are never-ending. Every minute you see emails flowing in.

The only time I enjoy now is lunch time when all my buddies will be there. One of them got to know that I’m unattached and she looked at me for so long, wondering whether I’m okay. Then, she started to lighten up and asked if I want to be introduced to someone because she has someone in mind.

I don’t want.

I’m not going to plan the structure of this entry so I’m merely writing as things pop into my mind.

Lunch buddies aside, I’ve got a toilet buddy.

“Grace, boleh tak you teman saya pergi toilet?”

Since then, we’ve been going to the toilet together. She will go with me when I really need to pee even when she doesn’t feel like peeing. I will go with her when she really needs a pee but I don’t have any pee left inside to pee.

Reason why we’re doing this is toilet is being renovated so we have to go to another toilet which is kind of isolated, which can be very scary.

Then, you’ll get to listen to stories of a car being stolen and that the office is haunted. Not nice.

Anyway, it’s Thursday night and I’m going out to the post office now!

Answering calls doesn’t make me go hungry that fast but reading and replying emails make me go hungry very fast and I feel a little faint right now.

I want to eat.

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Another educational day for me.

I argued with someone in writing today. It just had to be done because it is already so shitty and I must make sure the shit doesn’t happen again. Tomorrow I will know the results to it. It better be solved or I really feel like killing someone because it has gone on for two days and I want to close chapter.

That aside, I was pretty occupied and happy being occupied.

Until…when my boss broke the news that he’s going to resign. 🙁

It’s just not going to be the same anymore. Maybe I shouldn’t be that negative but then my boss is such a remarkable person that you wonder what’s the probability to get someone as good or better than him.

He has taught me a lot. He shows compassion. He takes care of everyone under his wings. He understands. He is aware of who’s doing his/her job and who’s not. You don’t have to be big-mouthed to get notice if you work with him. He knows. He always knows.

He takes care of us as a person. He will always greet us “Good Morning” when he comes into the office. If he happens to bump into you in the lift, he’ll say, “Have a good lunch.”. When you go back, he will say, “Bye. See you tomorrow.”. When it’s the weekend, he will say, “Have a great weekend.” When you come back to the office after the weekend, he will ask you, “How did you spend your weekend?”

So when he broke the news to us, I was shocked and I feel so sad. I really do. I also felt like leaving.

When I was driving home, the feeling sank in again.

I would have to cherish and appreciate the remaining coming days before he leaves.

Although it’s sad that he’s going to part us, I can understand the decision that he has made and I feel happy that he’s moving to something greater.

But then, I’m still sad.

Ever felt like you’re not brave enough for your job? Ever had so many questions in your head that you’re dying to ask?

That’s what I’m going through now everyday, especially so for the past week and the coming two weeks. I’m having a great time learning and absorbing new things. There is so much to learn and I’m actually information overloaded today.

Talking on the phone to the customer is not easy. Replying them through email can be equally challenging too. When the customer rants, scolds or complains to you verbally, asking questions like, “Why?”, it is sometimes okay to just let them express and you just have to listen to them. Some people, they just have the need to express and we in turn become the listener. (Like how I’m expressing myself, and what you need to do is to read.) So, at times, they just want to say it out and you just need to say you’re sorry whether or not you are just to make them feel better.

To reply to that kind of email is not easy and I still doubt whether or not to reply. It’s a writing skill to be learned so what I do now is see how the others reply to them. Sometimes I get so impressed myself of how such messages can be composed by the others.

Now I also get to read emails which doesn’t make sense to me. Emails that seem to be talking Greek. I will learn. I will learn.

One customer wrote a letter to me. Hand-written and faxed. Attn:Grace. I didn’t have the time to read what she wrote. Knowing that her case is already settled since she insisted to speak to me only after speaking to three other colleagues of mine. I’ll read tomorrow. It’s the first time someone faxed me a hand-written letter. Romantic juga even though the content has got nothing to do with love.

I didn’t want to leave the office today after work. I wanted to stay back a little while more but had no choice but to leave since my colleague is driving me home. I was sitting in the car with my heart not beating correctly because there were things that I wanted to make sure is proper and in order before I leave.

I do wonder how my colleague handles it all by herself. I always admire her and I’m impressed every day for 7 days already. She’s going to impress me more tomorrow and for the days to come. It feels like you’re learning from the best and it’s a very good feeling. More so when the person is so ever willing to teach you, guiding you patiently.

It is really nice to work with people of such kind. They make me go speechless.

The morning started very well for me.

First, I saw a message my boss sent to me which wrote, “Grace, thank you for the fantastic job done on xxx. Much appreciated.” What excited me was the word “fantastic”! You have no idea how long I stared at that word itself in the email.

Then, I started reading the incoming queue and discovered good news. Something I didn’t put much hope on because knowing that the chances are slim. However, I still tried to put in the request to see if some kind angel would be able to perform some magic to it. And it worked! I called the customer immediately. I think I was feeling even more excited than the customer when I made that call.

“Thank you SO much, Grace!” She said.

Working here is all about speed. Everything moves so fast, there is no time for delay.

Ended the day by transporting 10 smiling balloons back in my car. (Smiling balloons because there were smilies printed on all the balloons.) My colleague just loved the balloons so much that I had to help her to get as many as our hands could take. We had a company function today and hence the balloons.

Happiness is when you receive your pay slip from your boss, strip it open and stare at the figures. It will be a long time until I get to see the figure I see today. There are times when even if you felt like you’ve worked so hard, your increment is going to be just that. So, you wonder, why work so hard when people the same level and position like you, who don’t work as hard as you are going to be paid the same amount as you do? Worse is the credits goes to them because you know how to “work” but they know how to “talk”.

Whatever it is, I’m still going to work hard because it’s me myself that I’m going to answer at the end of the day.

A customer came to look for me today. As always, I feel very scared to meet people like that, knowing that they would always come to meet me because there are problems. I just didn’t know what the problem was as I on my way to meet him at the reception which made it scarier. Actually, he’s a despatch boy or an office boy coming to meet me because someone told him to.

The part that I hate most came next. I wasn’t able to help him because someone else has not done his part, who wished me “Good luck” on relating the news to the customer. I apologised to the customer and obviously he wasn’t happy and I can understand that.

He asked me to try again. So, I tried again but still he would only be able to get his problem solved by tomorrow, meaning he needs to return tomorrow. Then, he was “expressing” how he feel. Luckily for me that he wasn’t the bad-tempered type, else I dah lama tiada dah.

The thing I’ve discovered is that you get propably 60 requests/ calls in a day and you are expected to remember everything and keep it stored in your cache memory until the next time a customer calls you a week later for the same thing he/she has spoken to you a week before. Sometimes, the customer gets angry because you don’t remember them after they’ve called you 7 days ago. Ridiculous but it happens. The best part is they expect you to remember what happened, what the problem is by recognising their voice. Such high expectations!

They will start to express whatever they want to express, leaving you with no space to ask his/her name. You just have to learn to pick up from the bits and pieces of information thrown at you. If you’re lucky and you still remember, you feel like singing Celine Dion’s “It’s all coming back to me now”.

One thing new I learnt today is about claims and reimbursement. This is not a fun thing to do. But I have one case to settle. I pray that everything will be fine because today I’ve just received a letter from the customer with my name printed on it. I have to “own” it till it gets settled.

That’s basically it.

Dealing with people is never easy.

Today is not a really good day at work.

It’s like I’ve just climbed a mountain, swam across a mighty ocean and yet a few are still left unsolved. And I had to leave it as it is because my colleague is driving me home today so I couldn’t stay back even though I really wanted to.

I left the office feeling so suffocated. Heart beating not correctly.

My colleague dropped me off and I walked back home. There was this little boy walking the opposite direction with his mother I guess walking behind him. The little boy was looking at me, stretched his hands forward and tangled them together, gave me this shy smile while looking at me then looking down to the ground then looking at me, smiling again. I don’t even know him but he smiled like I’m his friend. Sedap hati aku.

I came home to tell Mummy, “Die, die, die.”

Mummy said, “I’ll go with you to work tomorrow. I’ll sit down with you and we do it together.”

See lah? My mum. But it did make me feel better.

Monday is not going to be a good day, it’s going to be a continuation of today. So, I must rock hard this weekend!

You must too!