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| by comrade commissar | Thomas | @ Thursday, December 23, 2004, 2:23:00 PM | permalink |
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Recently, I worked for 4 days from 17th - 20th December for a food company. The reason they gave me the temp job was due to the expected surge in demand & sales of rice balls in the period leading up to the Chinese Winter Solstice Festival. (known also as Dong Zhi) My job requires me to oversee several supermarkets, make sure that their storage freezers have surplus supplies, & keep the island freezers in the customer aisles stocked up with packets of rice balls.
I learned several things over the next few days: * I've learnt that one cannot accurately guess at the preferred spoken language of a customer just by looking at their appearances. Made countless boo-boos of speaking either English/Mandarin to people who reply otherwise. I guess this experience made me aware of the unconscious biases I have towards/against people. * I've learnt that I probably cannot tolerate living long-term in a temperate or arctic climate. At times I got stuck in the storage freezer room for well over 15mins, trying to sort out the boxes clad in only t-shirt & trousers. On the 1st day of work, WTF.. within 5 mins my ears went numb. On the 3rd day, when I happily forgot to bring the gloves provided by my company, I had to get used to lugging boxes around without actually feeling my fingers anymore. In a spirit of black humour though, I hummed a spoof version of a Christmas Carol at these moments. I christened it "Workin' in the Winter-Wanderin' Hell" * Could you see the polar bear covering his nose, amidst the cold mist & rampant snow? Wait a minute. That's not a polar bear. That was me trying to warm my dry frozen nose with my gloves. * I've learnt that at -18 degrees celsius, ice is as hard as steel. And sharp too. The various scars I have on both of my arms, cutting little intersecting expressways into my skin, are a cute reminder of that. * Not all is bad about working in sub-zero conditions though. I quite enjoyed the experience of watching my breath escape as steam. Also, for once, I can really say my job was "no sweat!" * I've learnt that I'm very good at being a salesman without a conscience. Occasionally, I had to help promote the products to passing customers. Replies to inquiries made by old aunties about "What flavour & brand of riceballs do you like ah boy?" were well scripted "I like peanut filling alot! *grins* And, I prefer XYZ brand's riceballs! *really corny grin*" * I've learnt that even when caught under fire, I can frequently bullshit my way out. Some of the customers, weary of my gleeful answers, go on to ask - "So, boy ah, what brand are you promoting for ah?" to which I answer, "Umm, XYZ brand. *sheepish*" but I quickly continue on "BUT I go for quality mah! My family & me have been eating XYZ brand riceballs for years! very good! *super summer sunshine smile*" * I have never eaten a single riceball before in my entire life. |
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recent entries (in order) |
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<--latest post-- either aging or turning gay - recent music listenings--walk idiot walk--mental navigation thru' immense volumes--the swarms of flying pigs appeared from nowhere & ...--war chant for self--no chance to survive, make your time.--disclaimers, updates & miscellaneous--catharsis--Nov 2004 was (& still is) hell--Blogalyzer-- --last post--> |
