Away from the shelter

My 7 months of work as a temp staff at Cuppage was indeed a 'shelter'. Uncle John was like a guardian angel sent by God to watch over me. Several times I flopped & was clearly ill-disciplined, rash, impatient & demanding... but I don't remember him ever being wavered in his position to be there to turn the situation around for me.

Today is my first day as a perm staff of StarHub Ltd. Much to my surprise & thankfulness, I was actually able to wake up at 6:50am, right when my handphone alarm sounded... especially when I had slept at 1:25am the night before. I lazed till 6:58am before getting up, said a few words of prayer & went to wash up. It was the first time I had actually woken up this early, since... I don't know how long ago. I didn't even wake up this early during my SIM days, so I can't really figure out when was the last time that I actually woke up this early. *Laugh*... I took bus 55 straight to my office located at a building referred to as 'Da Vinci Holdings'. I was early. The receptionist was still looking sleepy, not that I wasn't... yet the anxiety kept me relatively awake.

While waiting for the reception area, I met this guy who soon walked in after me. He introduced himself as 'Benson'... a new temp staff who was also going to begin his first day at Tai Seng. I thought back to myself - Yup, there was a point of time when I was still a temp staff. Several months in fact. So I understood this kind of stigmatization where temp staffs are sometimes perceived as dispensable at work. Benson saw this other man who walked past & called loudly to him. Soon both perm staff & new temp staff were talking like old friends. They must have known each other for some time. Yet this fella Benson didn't seem the least bothered that his voice thundered at the reception area. Indeed, his voice sounded like he was absolutely comfortable & seasoned in this new workplace. Obviously he wasn’t... just like me... but it didn’t look as if he cared...

After about 20 minutes, senior HR executive Elaine Loh came out to greet me, before ushering me into a meeting room where I passed her my official employment documents, as well as my photocopied education certificates & testimonials. She explained to me about the choice of either getting a free $400 handphone voucher or a $200 cable TV voucher that can be deducted from the subscriber's monthly bills, for up till one year. I told her that I'll take both forms & decide on which to take up in future. Then she told me to wait outside the meeting room, while she explained the whole process again to another new perm staff by the name of Chai Poh Lin. Soon after, I realised that Poh Lin was a new perm staff that's going to join my department!

Elaine brought us to the 6th floor whereby she introduced me to Mary Lim, confidential secretary of Wholesale department. I still remembered clearly that Mary looked quite surprised when I gave her a firm hand-shake. I'm not sure if she considered that as an assertive move, but I suppose non-verbal expression does play a crucial part in making up the first impression of an individual. At that instance, I began to wonder if I had made a wrong move. Hmm...

Next, Mary passed us each a plastic bag stuck with several pieces of huge scotch-tape. It was our personal stationery pack. It contained a hole-puncher, a regular-sized staple, staple bullets, red pen, black pen, blue pen, ruler, mechanical pencil & foolscap pad. Each of us was also given our personal secure PC password login.I chatted with Mary a bit while Poh Lin was shown to her desk. Mary introduced me to the Vice President (Andrew Grenville) in his office & for the first time, I realised that I was actually talking to an ‘ang moh’ co-worker (just that this person happened to be the big boss in this department). I was quite dumbstruck as I couldn't really adjust to his speaking ascent. It was obvious that I didn't know what to say, as I just stood there & looked at him. Sensing this awkward moment, he welcomed me, shook my hand & I walked out.

I was given a personal laptop to bring to my desk, which happened to be one right next to Celia Liu, my upperstudy who had recently been converted into an (External) Account Manager, while at the meantime juggling with the Internal AM responsibilities. I didn't know how to set up my laptop so Mary asked for one of the managers to help me. Quite a friendly guy, though I can't remember his name. Soon, my laptop was up & running... =)

At about past 9am, Celia came in & we introduced ourselves. She began clearing some of her work, while I sorted out the configurations & preferences on my laptop. Then she began teaching me the broad overview of my job scope. It was a complete blur to me, as I really didn't have any prior knowledge nor work experience in all these technical gadgets & services. I figured - most of the staff here have engineering background, that's why.Celia is a nice girl, just one year older than me. Attractive too... In fact, I kind-of like her soft-spoken & slightly hoarse voice whenever she talks. I don't know... somehow the soft-spoken & slightly hoarse feminine voice just sound rather quietly sexy to me. As a whole, I found that she looks very much like Abigail Lim from Clayworks CG back at Christ Methodist Church. Almost identical figure, hair length & style, as well as her manner of speaking. The only obvious physical difference is her facial features… & of course the observable fact that she really smiles a lot. Other than that, Celia really looks rather like Abigail.

After some time of work, I realised that it was lunch-time. It seemed that people in this department go for lunch rather early. Back at Cuppage, I go for lunch at about 12:30pm. Here, people go for lunch as late as 12pm. Some start leaving the office as early as 11:45am, especially on Fridays. I'm not sure if this is supposed to be something to be glad about, but I guess it’s also good since I have a very small breakfast nowadays, as I think that there is no food to buy near my office, so early in the morning.

Gladys, the Business Support Manager, brought Poh Lin, Serena, Nicole, Celia & myself to Crystal Jade restaurant at Parkway Parade for a welcome lunch. I was utterly shocked when I heard that 6 of us are sharing two cabs there & back. Initially, I didn't know that it was a welcome lunch & thought to myself - "Oh no! This group of people really eats expensive food!" I felt a bit awkward too, as I was the only guy in the group.

When we entered the restaurant, I felt odd at the fact that I’m actually going to have a tim-sum lunch with 5 other women whom I do not know at all. The small order sheet was passed around & a few of us ticked a few choice tim-sum dishes. Then we began talking. Topics like what area of work I was doing at Cuppage, etc. You know, those typical ice-breaker type of questions. Then we ate. I didn’t appear really pass food around as I didn’t know whether it was appropriate to take food for another woman whom I do not yet know. So I just ate by myself & talked a little bit.

After lunch, we took a cab back to the office. Gladys & Celia were sitting with me. Gladys suddenly mentioned that she heard me say that I am a Christian over lunch. I confirmed the answer to her question & we began talking a little bit about church & stuff. I learnt that she is quite irregular about going to church, yet she used to attend church last time. I was glad to discover that at least there is one Christian in my new workplace.

The afternoon went on as I tried my best to pick up the loads of information on products & processes. Celia was patient in coaching me, though she was busy juggling her own work as external AM. I felt like I was back to my first 2 weeks on a new job at Cuppage when I was in the fax-in team. Just that this time it was tougher. I soon realized that mobile is so much less complicated than data & network products.

I heaved a sigh of relieve when I packed up & left the office. I had survived my first day at Tai Seng. I was glad that it was about 40 minutes of a single bus ride home. Apparently, I had left my laptop on my desk after I left for home. The next morning, Celia told me that she was shocked that I left it lying on my desk. She warned me that the cleaner or someone else could have stolen it. She reminded me that I was given a key to my locked cupboard & she advised me to store my laptop inside for safe-keeping before I leave everyday. I had learnt a new thing. Thank God that she was kind enough to tell me… =)