Ka Ching!

I got my 1st paycheck! To protect privacy no pics taken of my cheque :P

Its surprising how I survived 2 weeks of work. Working at Borders isn't necessary my ticket to sweet luxury, but it definitely is an experience. Learning basically everything about my work just makes me realise there are so many other things to learn. I thought my library experience might help out in this job but it turn out to be a complete useless info that hasn't helped me one bit.

Sure, there are some dramas in Borders, but where can I find a place without one? Heck, my own house sometimes felt like a scene from a soap opera, but I'm still the spectator of course :P One good thing about the dramas in Borders is that it usually won't last long. Even if it do, they will just ignore it and move on. Better than not being able to face each other right? That would be terrible, seeing how we have to work together.

Ah.... My paycheck I received today was the 1st penny I ever earned (I don't count that 'Survival' Camp pay as 'earning', more like struggling in hell). It felt great actually, shreds out the feeling of being a useless guy *momentarily*.

I've also received my contract, and wow, the people preparing these contracts must have a thesaurus by them all the time. Either that or their brain is a thesaurus itself. The formality of the letter seemed as if its a royal letter from the king. Not to mention the usual twist 'N' turns, making me flip the page back and forth so many times... Group it up, people... CONVENIENCE IS KEY!

I actually met a lot of great people working there. Not to mention the different... personalities each and everyone displayed at work. Its fun knowing more variety of people now, makes my eyes open wider.

Borders is the 1st place I've ever worked out of my house, so I don't really have any comparison with other places to see which is better or worse. Will I continue working, or regret it? Its still too early to say anything, since its only 2 weeks, but I hope its not the latter.

Things will decide by themselves once my results for STPM arrives. I never want that day to happen, but it will make a HUGE difference. Sigh,I'm not sure if I can handle all that... Just send me into coma and let everything pass.

Signed off,
Kelvin.

P.S. Someone banged my car today. That person is someone I know, but I doubt you will be reading this anyway. For a moment I thought maybe this is the time for me to get a coma, but not :P Instead, I had to go out and check my car, check yours, and delay time from going to a washroom back at home since my stomach hurts so badly =.=lll Luckily my car is fine or there goes my paycheck... Received and flew.

At Your Service

Phew, after multiple rejections, finally I'm able to land a job which I LEAST expected to be hired. Heck, I'm still shocked I was called for an interview. Now, I'm officially a trainee at Borders, Queensbay. I worked for two days already, and finally I found some time to blog about it since today is my day off.

It all started when I call Borders for a job inquiry. They told me there is no job vacancy, but if I am interested I am free to drop by to apply for the job. I was searching around Gurney and Prangin Mall, but since there is not much job available, I opted Queensbay, eventhough it was quite far from my house.

I applied many places besides Borders. I dropped an application in Popular, 2 optic shops, 1 shoe shop, 1 clothes shop and I even tried the gym equipment shop since practically, they do nothing...

The next day, I received a call from Borders for an interview. I had no idea what to do, since my friend working there told me the interview is pretty difficult. I asked for advice, and she told me that the interviewer will ask me about a book that you have last read. I panicked, since its been ages since I read a book... Finally, I remembered that I once read a book in my sisters shelf, called Memoirs Of A Geisha. Its SUPER boring, but since after SPM all I did was help my parents, car driving lessons and games, I might as well read it. As most of you might have expected, I only managed to reach like, if I can recall... half the book?

Going to the interview, I tried remembering the storyline to not mess up later. The only thing I brought were my certs and my passport-sized photos for forms.

During interview, I was a bit nervous, but luckily its not like, 3 managers against me, its just 1 on 1... Luckily the questions are all job related questions, but it is kind of embarassing for me when he asked me to show my certs... I was in such a rush I just brought all the cert I have, so I forgot to take out the certs I got when I was in primary school, and even kindergarten...

Things seemed well, since he asked me to start working as a trainee on Monday. I'm still shocked I got the job... I canceled every job application I applied earlier, and asked for guidance from my friend working there.

On Monday, I started working the morning shift.

Day 1:

I was introduced to everyone there, and was given a tour by Ms. Wendy, one of the Service Managers. She was kind enough to explain the details I need to know as a worker here. After that, she had to do her job, and I was clueless of what to do, since I have no schedule yet. I was thought by another colleague on how to do recovery, and thats what I did for the pass 8 hours... Crouching and standing up for 4 hours, and another 4 hours after an hour of break... My legs... I can barely feel them that day... But, 1st day is always the worst, isn't it?

Day 2:

I came in and checked my schedule, and its kinda delightful to see my name in the computer now. Though, I was paged to go to the office minutes after that for briefing. I didn't know there is a briefing for afternoon shift workers so... Thank god the manager isn't angry...

I was in charge of Information Counter for 6 HOURS! ALONE! My jaw practically dropped till the ground that day. Why? Because nobody ever thought me anything about the jobs in the information counter. I only know how to check for books available... I've only learned how to wrap, thanks to Kak Zura and Chia Ying for teaching me the announcements. I don't mind dealing with customers, but phone calls still scare me. I'm afraid I might offend anyone without knowing. I even embarassed myself when the register called me, and I introduced as "Good Evening, QB Borders, how may I help you?" Urghhhhhh...

Information counter isn't that bad, but its a lot of job after store closes. Not to mention I sounded SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO robotic and angry when I do announcements...

Tomorrow I'm working in the afternoon. I just hope I'm not gonna be in charge of register alone. I have absolutely no idea on how to do cashier jobs... Pray for me that I won't do any more mistakes, 'kay?

Signed off,

Teng Au......

P.S. I'm officially Kelvin Khoo now. My colleagues call me Kelvin now, so friends, do get use to it, hehe...

Signed off,

Kelvin.

I'm So Naive

Sometimes I thought I know it all, but when i actually step outside and experience, what I know is just a drop of water compared to the Great Pacific Ocean.

Sigh, things are harder than what I've always imagined, thus its harder for me to accept things at times. Why do I have to start 2011 like this?

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words may never hurt me."
Yeah right... Sometimes I felt like breaking down even with a mere 'no'.

Sigh, back to the topic. I'm actually suprised how little I know about jobs, considering I've heard and seen others doing it. I know I've never worked before, but I didn't know it would be this hard.

But, I should expect the worst though, my job range is so small, since I'm avoiding sales and teaching.

I still remember trying to get a job in hotels, and calling them for job inquiries. I thought I can handle it myself till my dad came and say "Did you ask for the take home pay? The work shift? The working days? The benefits? The allowance? Training?" Oh... shoot...

It was a little disappointing to hear rejections at 1st, but I got over it. But... as more comes... it does leave a scar in me...

Well, I know I gotta move on, so I stopped searching for jobs in hotels. They only want permanent workers. I switch my preference to bookstores instead. My 1st walk-in interview was with MPH in Gurney. I was a little nervous but at that moment I didn't know an interview will be held immediately so...

I've always thought jobs like this only requires you to perform some training, and then they decide whether to hire you or not. I didn't know so many things they would wanna know about you. I still remember spacing out after they ask me for reference number. All I could think was, "What the hell is that?"

Sigh, I'm so desperate that I'm now willing to drive about 20 minutes to a destination just to find work. But, desperate is still better than giving up.

Life is not always about books (not that I spend a lot of time with it though...), its about balancing knowledge and street smart. One can be super genius but still lose to a normal person without life skills.

I did not start 2011 well, but I learned something, which is to learn more, haha... I'll try to be more observant towards my surroundings as to learn more about whats happening and how to live life a better way.


All the rejections I've received, I'll take that as the 1st lesson in 2011 about life.


Signed off,
Teng Aun.

P.S. I'm still looking for a job though, any recommendations?

Flashback of 2010

Well, within minutes 2010 will budge allowing 2011 to appear.

Its been a LOOOOOOOONG 365 days and I think I'm tougher than who I used to be back in SPM days. 2010 might or might not be a good year, but it did change me. Not to mention all the things that happened, brings me closer to the ugly reality of life.

Lets have a bit of a flashback, starting with the bad memories.

1) Most of you might have known, I've lost a friend due to a very powerful object, money. I know I've stressed this thing many times, but some grudges take longer than you would expect to let it go. I still can't though. Knowing a friend's true face with money ain't exactly sweet memories for me. But this did toughen me up, knowing I can't trust people so easily.

2) Anya passed away.

A good girl at heart, and a cheerful, loud, innocent girl in the outside. Its sad to see her go so quickly. May you rest in peace.

3) Dragon boat incident. One of my campmate's brother was a victim. I don't really know about the sport, but as I can see, its pretty dangerous. Eventhough some disasters rarely happen, one should not forget safety precautions. Its a sad thing to have deaths in this case, but this just shows that life is uncertain, and please be careful of everything we do. May they rest in peace.

Enough of these bad memories, I need to think of some positive ones to make my mood better...

1) I'm recognised as a Red Crescent member.

Its a must to attend this event in order to be recognised. Once this event is done, you're officially a first aider. I expected a very formal ceremony, but it turned out to be a pretty fun... outing.

2) Attended Flag Day.
Its the day most people feared. Practically some people who knew about this day would hide in homes to prevent being asked for donation. Its a pretty good experience though, I get to see a lot of different personalities. Some were very kind, some were snobbish, some were ignorants, some purposely avoid at the sight of us, and 1 particular person whom I met... I think he is crazy... A real eye-opener, that day.

3) Attended PFS Cross Country Run.
I still don't get why its called Cross Country. Its just 15KM, barely even Cross State... It is kinda hard for me to accomplish the top 50 positions, since I am physically-deteriorated... Gotta train my stamina a lot now...

4) Attended PFS Sports Day.
B-O-R-I-N-G! If I wasn't in charge first aid, I wouldn't even attend.

5) Attended the Khoo Family Reunion.
It was a dinner for the entire Khoo family. I've met people I never seen before, and not knowing I'm actually related to them. I even saw foreigners, since I see a white guy wearing kilt. Must be Swedish...

6) Attended the PFS Librarian Trip to Peng Hwa.

I gotta say, its probably the best trip I've ever taken in 7 years of studying in PFS. We get to see how advanced Peng Hwa is, and how... ancient PFS is... We even went to Sri Peranakan after than to see the Nyonya culture.

7) Took part in the PFS 6th Form Orientation Games.
In 2009, we got served. 2010, its the lower form's turn to get served. Paints, check. Sparkles, check. Water balloons, check. Flour, check. Now lets go torture these little kids!!! Maybe I should have said these back then....

8) Had my 1st blood donation.
My 1st time donating blood. I'm not really afraid of needles, but I'm not a big fan of the pain either. Good thing I was mature enough not to scream in pain. It wasn't that bad when they suck your blood out using the tube, it was the time they poke into your vein that had a very painful pinch-like pain. After that, it became boring... Too bad the girl I donate blood to passed away. Seeing how she fought her way through leukemia, I admire her strength. Never saw anyone as optimistic as her, and she had this disease on top of it. May she rest in peace.

9) Straightened my hair.
No, I did not do this by myself. I kinda wish I knew how. My aunt helped me with it when she came back from Singapore. Like it, love it, livin' it. Too bad its gone now, since my hair grew, and its curly... Waiting for Jun next year... Time to keep my hair long, so don't be startled to see my lion-like hair when you meet me. Its kinda like a cauliflower now when I don't comb it.

10) Bought contacts.

Glasses began to bug me. Every time I run, they shake, ruining my vision. Every time I sweat, it drips and flows into my eyes. Every time I rub my eyes, the glasses got blurred. Every time I eat hot food, the steam blurred my vision... So I decided to get contacts. Took me 30 minutes to put it on the 1st time, now I only need less than 5 minutes.

11) Helped and attended the King And I PFS play.

The play was pretty good, very unexpected of the actors/actresses to act so well, considering what I saw during training time. The one thing I regret is helping them. The suitcase I borrowed, was slightly damaged, and its a very ancient suitcase that cannot be found in stores anymore. I wasted my time finding stuffs for the play, and ending up having my cert with my name misspelled... I sent it back for correction and never got it back since. This is the appreciation I get for wasting my time.

12) Attended prom night for PFS.
I still remember freaking out not having a mask to wear. I still remember the hairdo I had, thanks to Melvin for helping me. It turned out great. I still remember making my way to my uncles house in Batu Feringghi to borrow a suit. I still remember the sucky food they served. I still remember the awesome people who attended. It was a wonderful night.

13) Had a birthday bash in school.
It was 2 days earlier but since I'm busy on the real day, my friends decided to throw a suprise party in class. And as you can see, I got cake-smacked... My 1st time ever getting smacked in the face with a cake... It was probably the best and worst birthday ever... I had lots of friends celebrating it with me and it was fun, but on the real day I had 2 consecutive tuitions... And Mr. Sim put me in shame by pointing out my mistakes out loud to about 100 students JUST because its my birthday =.=

14) Last but not least, attended my 1st paintball match.
Already explained it in the previous post, go take a look.

15) I've sat for STPM, and completed it. Probably the best memory I had in 2010, but it might be the worst when I take my results near March. I may regret taking Form 6, But one thing for sure, I never regret meeting everyone I know on the way. I may have some clashes with some though, but that just made me stronger.

Ahhhh, its been a while since I've ever written a post this long, my hands must've been rusty... Lots of things has happened in 2010, and it made me a better person, I hope... Life is unpredictable, whatever happens in 2011 I might or might not wanted it to, but I have no control of it. All I can do now, is pray that 2011 is a better year compared to 2010, and same to 2012, 2013 and henceforth. Theres nothing wrong with wishing for a better year, isn't it?

2010 is past now. Happy New Year people, welcome 2011 with big hands, and I wish everyone the best in whatever they do, and accomplished more than what we already did in 2010.

Signed off,

Teng Aun.