Humble Interview on Plastic Chairs

This morning, I went for an interview at Nature’s Glory Pte Ltd, located at Tan Boon Liat building (quite near Tiong Bahru MRT). I remembered that when the boss Mr Peter Lim told me the name of the building, I was momentarily stunned coz it was the same building as the Christian bookstore - SKS Books!

Rebecca & I got lost once trying to make our way there on our own, so it’s kind-of comical to actually think about going to this place again, this time by myself. In fact, I was looking forward to actually discovering how to get there correctly & also to check out some Christian books since I’m already there.

Well, I ended up taking a cab there, coz I woke up late. But the night before, I did find out the directions to get there via the online Street Directory. So it wasn’t a blur to me anymore… & I realized why Rebecca & I got lost the last time… coz we took the correct bus, but at the wrong side of the road… so now we know… =)

It was quite a run-down place, not like a typical office building, but more of a warehouse kind of look. In fact, using the toilet made me think back to the time when I was working at Tai Seng, coz the toilet tiles were the exact same color & shade! But I tried to think otherwise & made a mental note that I had lived under such conditions back at Tai Seng, so this isn’t much of a difference.

As I took the lift up to the 11th floor, I noticed that there was this old man slouched on a red plastic chair, just asking which floor the lift passengers are going to & pressing the lift button for them. I was surprised to realize that the building management actually spent money employing someone to just sit there to press the lift buttons! After all, the lift passengers could do it themselves & it would take longer to tell this lift attendant then wait for him to look for the button to press.

Maybe it’s just to create jobs for more senior workers in their graying years. In a sense, I felt quite sad for him… coz he looked so listless, slouching on that red plastic chair for hours on end, going up & down this old, cranky lift. I was even afraid whether this lift would break down suddenly as it went up…

The moment I entered the office, I felt like I was superbly overdressed! It looked like a typical provision shop, with shelves of food on display (for sale), with shop attendants dressed in t-shirt or polo t-shirt, with jeans or casual pants! I was dressed in white shirt, black pants, blue tie & carrying a black business bag!

I had never felt this extreme awkwardness before, not when I was supposed to be going for a job interview. Thankfully, this odd feeling slowly subsided in a matter of minutes, as I gave my name to the cashier (yes, it was kind of shocking coz there wasn’t even a reception counter) & soon, this man came up to introduce himself to me. He was nice & his physique looked quite like Daniel’s father. I remember sharing this with Rebecca (it’s just an observation, not criticism) & she laughed… =)

He passed me the list of the company’s health foods & products catalogue & told me to read through for about 10 – 15 minutes & browse around the store, while he answered a call from a supplier from Australia.

I must say that it’s intriguing to read through some of the pamphlets, coz I never knew that there could be so many healing & natural medicinal properties in natural organic food produce! I was surprised to read that plums are highly regarded in Japan as one of the fruits taken to boost our body’s immune system! And the best part… Yeah, I like plums! Of coz, durian too… though I’m not sure if durian is good for anything, except its distinct smell & taste…

The conversation between Peter Lim & me was good… & in fact, encouraging in some sense, coz this is a family business started up by him, because he’s a Christian & decided to heed God’s direction to leave his highly influential & well paying job as an accountant at Price Waterhouse Coopers (a very well known & established accounting & audit company) & go into providing healthy sources of organic foods & products for the better of people in Singapore, as well as with some countries in this region.

To him, this is like his (& his family’s) mission… not to make lots of profit & grow a big organization, but to keep this distributor business small & low cost, so that quality premium health foods can be affordable to people all around. It’s a very noble cause that he committed himself to, considering that he chose to leave his previous job… & not because he was retrenched or anything unfortunate. In fact, he decided to leave just when he was asked to be promoted to a higher level manager in that previous company! It was really a huge step of faith for him.

And indeed it was so, coz for the first 6 years, he didn’t have a salary… & he shared several stories about how he felt like a few of Jesus’ disciples, trying to share this good news with people, but many shun away from him. It was a tough time… but he persevered till his company, now 15 years running & with dealers from around this region as his customers, selling to thousands of customers through their own retail shops. He’s very thankful about how God has led him so far… & he was even invited to speak on several instances at the radio station 93.8FM about health foods. In fact, even his company website was also listed as one of the more popular searches under the Google internet search engine!

This being said, the strategy to keep low costs due has an impact on employees, to a certain extent. Firstly, there is a low salary, with no increments, so that the company can provide health foods at the most affordable prices to its customers for their health benefits. Secondly, it’s a small 8-person company, which means that there’s a lot of work to be done & everyone is very busy doing everything, unlike large organizations where work is more specialized among its staff, categorized by its departments, etc. In this company, everything does whatever that needs to be done to get the customers’ orders through till the end of its delivery.

It’s quite a homely & humble environment, not as complicated as those of large corporations & no hierarchy, with just the boss & his son as the overall in charge. It was a very humble interview too, as the boss pulled out two plastic grey chairs for us to sit down, right next to the wooden tables around us. It felt different from working in a school, yet still quite away off from working at large organizations. And it was a very new experience being there…

It was quite a long conversation, as Peter Lim shared much about his philosophy about his company’s mission, how God has been directing this company through these 15 years, etc. He concluded by asking me to tell him about myself, so as to find out if I’m the right person for the job, coz it’s very demanding to work in a small entrepreneurial company.

I was at quite a lost at how to answer, coz this is the first time I’m considering a job at a ‘mission-oriented’ company. Plus, I still had my thoughts about teaching as a career, even though I have yet to be given a chance to see how it’s like to actually be a school teacher. I really don’t know if God will ever give me a chance to find out… or maybe the fact that I have a business degree unrelated to teaching could be a hint that God is closing this door. I don’t know… but I wish I would know…

Anyway, I told Peter Lim that I have interviews lined up this week, so I’ll give him a reply next Monday. He agreed & I left the office. Before I left the building, I strolled around SKS Books, praying & asking God to speak to me about where He is leading me to, as my job. I still didn’t hear anything, but I did stumble upon this thin bible study book about the issue of work & it only costs $8, so I bought it to go through at home, coz I really needed some direction & revelation about work, in relation to my life & my future. I’m hoping & praying that it would speak to me, coz I think my ears tend to be a bit blocked when I’m stressed or confused.