Yay! I finally get my FIRST EVER PAYCHECK!
It's not much, by all means. But it was from my own hard work, so I'm happy!
I'm entering my fourth week as an employee of a certain Japanese bookstore and already the funny events are piling up. So far I've had one person reccomending me a book, which was totally fun because she dragged me across the store and pulled out the book from the shelf and told me to read it. As I was scrutinizing the book, deeply amused, she disappeared into the deep end of the business section looking for a Japanese audiobook. I quickly put back the book and led her to the language section and pointed out the Japanese audiobooks. She said she was interested in learning the language and sighed at the high price tag of the audiobook. I told her a phrase book was cheaper, but she wanted to hear pronounciations.
So I suggested a teacher instead.
We started talking about language schools and I told her about the one in KL Plaza. Apparently she's heard about it, but she was leaning more towards the audiobook (if you ask me, she just wanted to buy something which was totally understandable XD). Afterwards I left her to occupy herself with the audiobooks and those four books already in her hands. She had approached the counter in the first place asking for a calculator to calculate how much her purchase would be, and of course, sighed at the high totals too. xD xD I told her they were totally worth the purchase (she did ask me about it!) or she could buy half today and half tomorrow hehehehe. Needlesstosay, I was quite unhelpful in that respect. xD Even going as far as saying she'll be having sleepless night if she doesnt buy them.
Just the other night another woman was looking at two books by the same author. One was from the 90s while the other is recent. She acted like I was doing her a favor (which was nice!) by unsealing the books for her (which was really part of my job) and was justifying each books to me in detail. She gave me a lecture on soy. Yes, soy! As in soya bean. I told her it's fine if she decides not to get either one of them. It wasn't as if I was pitching the books to her in the first place. She was so repentant when she had to return the books to the counter it was so funny!
Just today, this caucasian old man was looking through the Tin Tin comic books and was asking if I could unwrap one of them. I told him of course, but it has to be viewed at the counter. Apparently he's a regular of the Tin Tin series and understood the protocol well. He browsed through and immediately put it down. He wanted it in color. The book was still black and white. After that he started explaining why he wanted to see inside, because he heard about the publishers planning to reprint the book in color. Then he started telling me how he's a regular of the Tin Tin comics in the store and about several banned series in the country. He even talked about this Indian woman who married a caucasian who apparently wrote something of note and he invited her to have a talk at UM. He's a lecturer there. Man. I wish I had a lecturer like that!
Also, another interesting pattern: 3 caucasian women so far have asked me where to find so-and-so books whose shelves are right behind them. I had to grin while they howled at their own silliness. Ah yes, this is exactly why I love my job. xD
Ta'ra!
Strays: Trolleys filled with books that were previously on the shelf, but were unwrapped due to customers' requests.
Don't pretend you don't know what they are >_>. They are those pile of books you ask to peek inside only to end up purchasing just one or none at all. Those books fill up at least one trolley per day. It's normal to end up with at least one and a half trolleys of them in a day. Those books can't go back on the shelf naked. They need to be shrink-wrapped again before displaying. And who's the poor bastard who has to slave away wrapping them??? ME of course!
Next time you want to ask for books to be unwrapped, think about poor lil ol me...
Hijacking: to take over an unmanned wrapping machine whose current user is away usually temporarily.
I'm not always not guilty of this, but most of the time I find myself on the receiving end. I'll be away to the toilet or the surau (which would take longer) and when I come back someone else would be have already pushed my trolley aside and park theirs in its place, slaving away on my machine. It's not like they have the decency ti go away after that. Placing my apron with my nametag on the trolley was not enough. Once I even purposely left a pile of books on the machine to keep away invaders - and they still came! Unsurprisingly it's those folks over at CBD (Chinese Books Dept) who often hijack me. Pfftt.
CBD: Hijackers.
EBD: Hard workers.
xD
EBD Unit 3: People whose lives are expected to shorten by 50%
We got a new part-timer last week which means I'm no longer the newest person around, which is awesome xD. Dramatically I see our workload decrease. Full-timers now concentrate on manning the counter while displaying are mostly left to part-timers. Yes, we are being classified like that. Full-timers handle all the administrative stuff while part-timers become their hands and legs.
Being someone else's hands and legs is tiring work...but I would rather this physical pain than mental ones heh.
When I started work I was prepared to work with people of varying ages. I was surprised though that most of the floor staffs turned out pretty young. Must be that age limit thing as a condition of employment.
I made friends xD.
Ta'ra!
Believe it.
I just finished my first week and it was TAXING! The retail industry is full of repeatitive work that needs to be done all day every day. No wonder part timers are in high demand. Who ever said getting a job here is hard??
I drove all the way to Shah Alam to get someone to teach me how to do a resume. Emailed it. Got a call the next day and was called up for an interview the next week. I called on Wednesday and they said they were still considering where to place me. Called me back the next day and by Friday I was trying out uniforms for size. I was already clocking in by Monday morning. I wasn't alone though. There was another newbie at the customer service counter.
So far I learned about book returns, shelf packing, wrapping and displaying. I am placed in the English Books Department; the biggest department (just look at our water bottles shelf space). EBD is divided into four more units. I'm in unit 3; again, the biggest. Size is determined by the amount of floor space and genres that fall under our unit.
Now, I enjoy being out in the store displaying books and such, but if I am in a section that I havent been briefed about, I get nervous when customers ask me about where to find this book or that book. I am even more nervous when I wandered into areas that fall under other units. I have no clue at all! On the contrary, I've been spending two days in the logistics section, wrapping trolleys-load of books. While it's not as dynamic as being outside, and you have to stand all day, inhaling burnt plastic fumes, at least you can talk to anyone else doing logistics about random topics.
Like today.
There were two other part-timers doing logistics. And apparently we're all gamers! What coincidence! This is actually a very rare occasion. Working in a bookstore, not everyone likes reading books. But since most full-timers have resigned themselves to the fate, they are usually not as playful as part-timers who are rarely specialised in a certain field of the job. So we talked. From books to movies, to histories, to games. A lot of people get bored of these subjects quickly so when you found two other people who have the same interests as you, you can't help but run with it.
I wore a mask today so the fumes didnt get to me as badly as yesterday. So, inside doing logistics or outside on the sales floor, they are both not bad.
I don't know what it is about seniors and superiors. They obviously need you to do the grunt work, but they won't admit that your job is just as important as theirs. Imagine if there were no part timers picking up the slack. Those logistics staff are not sufficient to handle all those wrapping. I'm not asking to be appreciated. Our unit chief and assistants were already too grateful that I did this and that as if I was doing them a favor (I'm paid by the hour after all). But it does get tiring and once in a while you do need a five minutes break. It doesn't mean that you're slacking off. It just means that you're being human. ....Especially at the break-neck pace they were demanding of you.
Still. I would rather this physical exhaustion than the mental and emotional exhaustion of management.
That said, I got my standard issue penknife last Tuesday. Anybody up for an unwrapping? ^_^
Ta'ra!
It has been a pretty fruitful raya harvest. the harvest started even before raya where I got comissioned to add my beads to someone's bracelet. XD I've never done it before so I charged for half a bracelet. She found it ok too hehehehe.
I thought we had a lot of cotton prepared for our raya debut, but we udnerestimated the crowd a little. Before the seven days were even over, almost half of them were either sold or reserved. And yes, the depletion was pretty obvious towards the end. >_> We need to get some more, but there wouldn't be any more new stock until the end of the year. Until then though...hehehehehe.
Quite unexpectedly, I got more bracelet orders than earrings. Of course, due to my own lack of promotion. Anyway, I got a decent amount of orders during the raya holidays. Which in turn allowed me to buy more chains. I even got a new type of chain with big rings. Perfect for charm bracelets. But perhaps again, due to my own lack of promotion, the original chain is still more popular. However, I get 4 free bells attached to the chains when I bought them, so that means I dont have to charge more for bells anymore, which used to cost me 4 ringgit a piece. Uurgh.
I think I have enough chain to last me till I can next go back to Kuching. If not then I'm gonna have to send for some.
A shoutout to all my highschool friends: PLEASE RETRIEVE YOUR CAMBRIDGE CERTIFICATE FROM SCHOOL. Thank you.
I'll have more to say later, with pics. Ta'ra!
Hello. I finished FFXII last night after 6 hours of consecutive playthrough. 4 hours in Pharos, 1 hour for cutscenes, and 1 hour for the cutscenes+final bos battles.
Here I shall discuss my verdict.
The Pharos: the final dungeon.
I hate (x5) HATE this place! Rawr! All the levels and all the puzzles! I'll let you know I'm not big on Final Fantasy puzzles. You really have to explore everything to figure out the puzzles. Me? I referred to online guides to pass this. And who cares if it 'takes the fun out' of the game! I'm already overkilling the bosses at this final dungeon.
I think like FFX-2 the storyline comprises of only 45% of the game. I clocked in over 130 hours because I completed the hunts after each storyline events. Before I went to Pharos I completed all hunts except for Behemoth King and Wild Marlboro. The reasons being 1) BK is an endurance fight even with my overlevel stats, 2) I hate marlboros. One spray of Putrid Breath gives you a cocktail of bad status effects. In addition, it is found in the Feywood, which I also hate. So, up until Pharos I have completed all hunts except these two.
After that is the Sky Fortress Bahamut. The bosses themselves are not hard, but if you screw up and loses any of the fights along the way, the last save point is the one before you even left for Bahamut! Which means a long ass cutscenes along the way! Thankfully, thanks to all the hunts I did I had a more-than-decent equipments and levels for the boss fight (and keeping in mind I was overkilling the bosses thus far). ...and what's with the final boss anyway? Seriously. I stored away one of the overlevel character and put in a normal level character, getting ready to swap them in case things turned ugly...which they didnt.
But, all went well and I finished FFXII. Not completed, of course, since there are a multitude of optional bosses I chose to overlook, like two more espers and Yiazmat *shudders*. I read online that beating the boss in 2 hours was fast! More hunts are available after Pharos, of course, and undoubtedly they all take place inside the tower which I happily ignored seeing as I HATE that place.
The ending...well, how platonic can you be? Still, FFXII was not a sappy love story like FFX and FFVIII so not an ounce of romance can be found, which is a good thing after the emotional rollercoaster known as FFX. But it's nice to see FFXII spurned into a sequel FFXII: Revenant Wings on the DS and a Balthier cameo in FFT: War of the Lions. Good enough for me xD. Though I only have PSP for FFT and I spoiled myself the story for DS.
FFXII had been fun, and gave a lot of insight into the old Ivalice oftmentioned in FF Tactics. All the difference races and class of characters and the glorious past overtaken by the grim future is such a common feature in Final Fantasy worlds that it makes you wonder if the creators have a complex by it?
Anyway, fun game. Maybe I'll return to it to fight the two espers or something. But for now. Hehehhehe. Ta'ra!
Happy 52nd Merdeka Day to all Malaysians!
31st August! Also the last day of Malaysia Mega Sale! I'm going shopping! woo-hoo!
Anyway, where was I? Oh yes! What a week! I had my last Japanese test, I finally stepped foot in Terengganu and ate roast lamb at two hotel buffets.
Let's start on Monday. Monday night was the last Japanese class I had. Was a disaster xD but what is life without disasters? xD On Tuesday daddyo and my bro came from Kuching and I tagged along to Terengganu. I thought I could study during the trip, but man was I wrong. But, pretty beaches though. Crystal clear water and pure white sandy beaches are not a myth there. And the public beaches are surprisingly very clean. It probably had a lot to do with the 'no swimming' signs. Seriously. The waves are not dangerous, the sands are not sharp, so it must be a social thing.
Anyway, the beach at our hotel was open for swimming but I didn't go. Fasting month. Who would wanna do anything else than sleep anyway? Terengganu. Right. The moment we arrived in Kemaman, my dad rendezvous at his current project site. He kept dropping words like "project manager" on me. Showed me the site. The details of the construction and why things are...as they are. I think it's a great project...but I can't imagine myself driving up there every two weeks troubleshoot the project. And besides. I don't think I like Terengganu food very much.
Terregganu food is typical northern fishermen food. Abuse of fish is rampant. The food is either sweet or spicy. The keropok lekor is awesome though. The best thing that came out of the state: food-wise :P. Sorry, I'm Sarawakian. I think it's fairly established that East Malaysians don't have the same pallete. Even if it was the EAST coast. Nice beaches, still.
We break fasts at my dad's friend's house for both days. His house is quite nice. He bought a big piece of land with its own natural lake with natural water corrugation and bred fishes in there. His rooms are all over the place. Thus the whole property is basically one big house. I appreciate the hospitality, though I really didn't like having to eat outdoor. The bugs...they stick to the food, drowned in your drinks and sucked the blood out of you! Not an ideal condition to be when you're hungry.
...I don't like kampong life. It's not for me. Stop pushing it to my face.
Anyway! I had roast lamb for two consecutive days after we got back. I sat for a disasterous Japanese test and went straight to it. Rooooaaaaast laaaaaaambbbb. *drooldrooldrool*
Ta'ra!
