my first job!
my first job stint +drumroll+
tadah!! working at the natas fair! (travel fair at singapore expo)
the three days crept by.. really! time flies when im in school, but trust me when you're stuck with almost nothing to do, three days is an awfully long period. but hey, i'm getting paid for it so =) anyway. oh wait- i dont know how much im actually gonna be paid, until i do get my first paycheque at the end of this week. oh please please let it be good! i deserve it ok! =D
as a temporary staff i wasnt that bad! a couple approached me to book a tour to uzbekistan, and i stupidly referred them to a permanent staff, assuming temp staff cant do booking. shit. if only i knew i could, and i would earn commission. =( and another perm staff (whom i found out later was known was the SHARK) stole my other customer who wanted to book a tour to japan. still, its fine.. im a nice girl, even if im not rewarded its okay. =D
i rmb being shocked when i first arrived at expo to report for duty- i wasnt expecting the queue to be SOOO long! but when i went in, not that many ppl were at the fair. or at least, it didnt feel that way, cos i was super free and there were few customers to tend to. my job was basically to sit at a booth and respond to enquiries. it wasn't too difficult, mainly because most singaporeans are shy and kiasu. they dont like to trouble sales staff, usually either looking away or signalling that they dont need any help and they're just browsing, and they want to take every single piece of paper they see. and since AIG and some other companies were giving out free bags, they can conveniently walk down the booths, grab everything in sight and shove it into the huge totes, satisfied. then, there are those who go up to the counter and enquire "got any free gift anot HAR?", to which i hold out a free fan that my company had prepared, generously responding "yes yes sure! take take take!" the customer will then happily take it, but pause for a moment before gazing at the pile of fans on the table, asking again "can take two?" before i can respond, the customer usually adds on, explaining "i take one more for my friend lah, my friend also want one" by then, i would have been already on my way to hand out another lousy fan to the customer (who isn't, in fact, strictly a customer but a passerby since he did not buy any travel package from us) note that the fan isn't passed on to the so-called friend, but stuffed into the free bag as well, with the rest of the tour itineraries they picked up along the booth.
sighted too, are those who appear every half an hour or so. noted since morning when the fair has started, they pay $3 to get in, and go around collecting free postcards and other freebies. this category of people are worse than those stated above, because they collect many ROUNDS of freebies. they think that after half an hour, since so many people walk by, people like me wouldn't notice they were here before. but of course, me being so free, they stood out like yaoming did at the olympics. every half an hour, i see them opposite me, stopping by the malta booth, with a curious expression on their faces as if they were seeing the beautiful postcards and brochures for the first time. then they would carefully take one of each, and a few more of the nicer ones, and shove them into the free bags. (yes the huge totes again) and yes! every half an hour their memory is erased, and they marvel upon the same postcards with the same curiosity and fascination before reaching out for them.
then, there are the ones who seem (to me) to make a statement at the travel fair. I AM WELL TRAVELLED! they are usually (but not restricted to) chinese aunties in their 40s and up. an indian man came up to the counter i was at (i was at the booth for middle east and north korea) he glanced quickly at the middle east section, then slammed his right hand over 3 or 4 itineraries (mostly jordan, syria lebanon etc) and exclaimed "been here! been here! been here!" proudly, as though he was a conqueror of those lands. +rolls eyes+ i sweetly replied "what about uzbekistan?", to which he responded "uhh.. i have been thinking of going there, but.." i interrupted with "what about north korea? north korea is interesting.." he mumbled something i could not make out, then left. absolutely retarded if u ask me.
sadly, i only met shandy (who was working as well) and sufiyan (who was nearby for a bike thing and dropped by with his friend to look see look see) at work. but i made new friends!
oh yes ppl. jeju island is NOT in north korea. i repeat: jeju island is NOT in north korea.
=D love
tadah!! working at the natas fair! (travel fair at singapore expo)
the three days crept by.. really! time flies when im in school, but trust me when you're stuck with almost nothing to do, three days is an awfully long period. but hey, i'm getting paid for it so =) anyway. oh wait- i dont know how much im actually gonna be paid, until i do get my first paycheque at the end of this week. oh please please let it be good! i deserve it ok! =D
as a temporary staff i wasnt that bad! a couple approached me to book a tour to uzbekistan, and i stupidly referred them to a permanent staff, assuming temp staff cant do booking. shit. if only i knew i could, and i would earn commission. =( and another perm staff (whom i found out later was known was the SHARK) stole my other customer who wanted to book a tour to japan. still, its fine.. im a nice girl, even if im not rewarded its okay. =D
i rmb being shocked when i first arrived at expo to report for duty- i wasnt expecting the queue to be SOOO long! but when i went in, not that many ppl were at the fair. or at least, it didnt feel that way, cos i was super free and there were few customers to tend to. my job was basically to sit at a booth and respond to enquiries. it wasn't too difficult, mainly because most singaporeans are shy and kiasu. they dont like to trouble sales staff, usually either looking away or signalling that they dont need any help and they're just browsing, and they want to take every single piece of paper they see. and since AIG and some other companies were giving out free bags, they can conveniently walk down the booths, grab everything in sight and shove it into the huge totes, satisfied. then, there are those who go up to the counter and enquire "got any free gift anot HAR?", to which i hold out a free fan that my company had prepared, generously responding "yes yes sure! take take take!" the customer will then happily take it, but pause for a moment before gazing at the pile of fans on the table, asking again "can take two?" before i can respond, the customer usually adds on, explaining "i take one more for my friend lah, my friend also want one" by then, i would have been already on my way to hand out another lousy fan to the customer (who isn't, in fact, strictly a customer but a passerby since he did not buy any travel package from us) note that the fan isn't passed on to the so-called friend, but stuffed into the free bag as well, with the rest of the tour itineraries they picked up along the booth.
sighted too, are those who appear every half an hour or so. noted since morning when the fair has started, they pay $3 to get in, and go around collecting free postcards and other freebies. this category of people are worse than those stated above, because they collect many ROUNDS of freebies. they think that after half an hour, since so many people walk by, people like me wouldn't notice they were here before. but of course, me being so free, they stood out like yaoming did at the olympics. every half an hour, i see them opposite me, stopping by the malta booth, with a curious expression on their faces as if they were seeing the beautiful postcards and brochures for the first time. then they would carefully take one of each, and a few more of the nicer ones, and shove them into the free bags. (yes the huge totes again) and yes! every half an hour their memory is erased, and they marvel upon the same postcards with the same curiosity and fascination before reaching out for them.
then, there are the ones who seem (to me) to make a statement at the travel fair. I AM WELL TRAVELLED! they are usually (but not restricted to) chinese aunties in their 40s and up. an indian man came up to the counter i was at (i was at the booth for middle east and north korea) he glanced quickly at the middle east section, then slammed his right hand over 3 or 4 itineraries (mostly jordan, syria lebanon etc) and exclaimed "been here! been here! been here!" proudly, as though he was a conqueror of those lands. +rolls eyes+ i sweetly replied "what about uzbekistan?", to which he responded "uhh.. i have been thinking of going there, but.." i interrupted with "what about north korea? north korea is interesting.." he mumbled something i could not make out, then left. absolutely retarded if u ask me.
sadly, i only met shandy (who was working as well) and sufiyan (who was nearby for a bike thing and dropped by with his friend to look see look see) at work. but i made new friends!
oh yes ppl. jeju island is NOT in north korea. i repeat: jeju island is NOT in north korea.
=D love
posted by lorna at
5:39 AM
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