An interesting office experience

Finally! I get to write my blog... Hmm... Today has been quite an eventful day, with several odd incidents happening to me.

The day started quite usual... me being bored staring at my PC screen & doing routine data-entry, and also as usual, wondering what mindless work this can be. I mean what kind of impact am I creating just sitting at my desk entering data? Anyone can do that, so why me? I'm sure God has given me more 'gifts' to enable me to do more effective work for Him... So the thoughts go on as usual... nothing really new... just usual thoughts...

But our God is an interesting God (sometimes). Out of the blue, this e-mail came in. It was from Lau Chai Joo. He is a nice colleague & friend of Rebecca's Dad. I got to know him through Uncle John too. After having several lunches together, I have recently grown to be able to carry out a casual & relaxed conversation with him, all on my own. So... basically the e-mail was sent by him because he need help to take down the office Christmas decorations. The temp staffs in his department are super slack & refused to help him. So he approached me for help & Uncle John decided to help too.

I thought it was merely taking down decorations on a Christmas tree & maybe some decorations hanging on the wall... but woe & behold... no no no... I was gravely wrong. There was no Christmas tree... but there were quite several of those shiny 'pong pong-like' decorations hanging from ceiling to ceiling of each office space! Wah... I had to climb up & down a shaking & cranky ladder just to take them down. Then our worst obstacle - to take down a 'super-powered' sticker that was stuck to a big board! This sticker stated, "StarHub weakest link competition", but it proved to be the strongest 'link' between our pulling arms & the board surface! So there we were tearing at the sticker... It was rubberised & VERY difficult to tear apart, despite Chai Joo using a pair of scissors to rip it apart by pieces. Uncle John was having a very tough time... but I was fully enjoying it! I have never seen him struggling so hard before & it proved quite a sight to watch him, while I was also struggling like a bull-wrestler. Just that in that case, the bull is moving... & this 'bull' isn't...

To me, it was a great experience because it made me realise how GREAT a temper & anger releasing activity it could be! It made me think about of my old school days when I got angry often & vented my anger on things. I used to punch the classroom notice board till there was a hole in it... I kicked & broke the class blackboard metre rule... I punched the tree trunk bark until my fists bled, etc. Weird stuff that I used to do. Or merely to sprint as hard as I can to vent out all my anger, till I stopped, panting & panting. Thus, the silly things that I used to do when young.

At the end, Chai Joo saw a plastic bag containing StarHub caps & 2 compact binoculars, so he gave them to Uncle John & I. So both of us took one binoculars each. Its a very good quality & powerful binoculars, so I decided to give it to my brother as his birthday gift. Afterall, I did work hard physical labour for it. Not that I earned it, but oh well... I thought that he might like it since he occasionally watches soccer matches at the stadium. And thank God... he likes it! =)

Our interesting God also allowed me meet with this StarHub 'channel sales director' - Chua Soon Tzer. She's a very friendly lady & joked with me about me going to buy lunch for her, as she needed to go for a meeting soon. You know lah, directors can be quite busy people... & probably people who earn big bucks, while people like me earn not even the scraps from the StarHub CEO's table. Anyway, she's a nice lady so I took the courage to strike a short casual conversation with her. Later I sent her an e-mail, expressing my thankfulness for having met her through the taking down the Christmas decorations. She corresponded over e-mail for a few times. I was surprised that a director would even bother to chit-chat with me over e-mail! When I shared with Uncle John, he warned me & said to be careful as getting too friendly with people could result in them keeping asking me to do things. At that instant, I realised how foolish I was... just happy to meet a friendly person & start a friendship, not heeding any boundaries, until Uncle John told me. I am now thankful to him & would be more careful in future. I thank God for him...

Over lunch, Chai Joo shared with us that we can actually persist & not pay any credit card subscription charges, since the credit card company already earns 2 - 3% of total sales from each merchandiser. Of course, by right we ought to pay, but he taught me & Uncle John to 'chiam-siong' or negotiate for a better deal. If not, we would 'threaten' to cancel the card & apply from another credit card company. Its a good tip, though one has to be very convincing & convicted before speaking to the person over the phone.

Uncle John also shared that some banks call up & try to 'con' or convince you into putting more money into their bank. In his case, the credit card company 'Visa' called to TELL him that he needs to top-up more money in his savings bank account. Uncle John thought to himself & realised that he didn't need to, because using a credit card has nothing to do with how much he puts into his savings account. Besides, he pays his credit card bills, so he doesn't see why he needs to top-up more money. How much he chooses to save is entirely up to him, isn't it? So it was another lesson to me - that I need to be careful about what others say. These experiences taught me to be more street-wise. I thank God for these two colleagues... =)

While walking to the bus stop to take the bus home, a surveyer kept asking me to answer a few survey questions. At first, she asked me whether I would have the time to answer 4 short MCQ-like questions. So seeing that it was so short, I agreed. Then I realised that she was asking more & more, leading to me having to open two lucky draw cards. The first one was nothing & I didn't win anything. The second was... the top prize! ARGH! For the first time in my life, I actually won a lucky draw! Argh! My mind was about to blow, even though I didn't show it at all. It was free hotel accomodation at any of the 9 countries to choose from, for up to 2 adults & 4 children. I can't remember how long was the accomodation given. However, airfare & transportation costs were not included. But that's not the point. The point is that I have won a lucky draw for the first time in my life! But there was a 'catch' to it... I had to go upstairs to their office to listen to a 80 mins talk about travel packages & stuff.

The girl (secondary school girl) kept telling me that there were only 5 of such top prizes each week & she was SO EXCITED because I had just anyhow won the top prize! I told her that I needed to rush off for my brother's birthday, but she pleaded with me because if I attend the talk, I would get these free hotel vouchers (valid for one year, which is very good), plus she would get $100 commission. So okay lah... I agreed...

Going upstairs, I realised that in order to qualify (I thought I had qualified already) for the prizes, I had to fake that I was 25 - 26 years of age & above. I told her that I was older than 24 already, but she said that it had to be according to my birth date. So that was the first lie that I had to say. Then I had to lie that I'm single & not attached with a girlfriend at all (I already told her that I had a girlfriend when I answered her survey!). Then I had to lie that my credit card is not a supplementary card, but my own personal credit card. THEN, I had to also lie that my BASIC salary is $2.5K & above. THEN, I had to lie that my position was an admin executive, because my honest reply of admin support assistant would not qualify such a salary. THEN, I had to also lie that I shop & spend at least $100 at Orchard Road every month. In my head, I was thinking - what the %^&&%##$^??? Why must lie about so many things?!

And guess what... after taking down my particulars, she told me that I had to lie that I had forgotten to bring my IC because I was supposed to be 26 years old & above to qualify! I was quite pissed off already. Later I realised that they needed to verify my IC, so I had to come back another day. I was glad to leave after being held up for 1/2 an hour. I had to bring another person who is 25 - 26 years of age & older. That's crazy, how many people would do that for me? Of course, I won't be going back there again. *Sigh*... what an experience...