14th Week... with Steamboat
15/4 - 19/4
This is the week that Iffah spent Monday to Thursday with Winter and I. Really, so so so thankful for Iffah, especially because she is a Plaza staff so you can depend on her. (The seniors at Plaza are really strict so everyone there has high standards for service and barista skills and maintenance.) This is also the week where I did full shift for 4 days straight. Nothing is impossible for me now hahaha.
On Monday, I went to Anson around 0930 to write an email to Alex about usher rostering. Winter and Steph were doing opening while Iffah and I did closing shift from 12pm onwards. And.... Nana did from 10am-2pm like usual. :)) Hahaha she kept saying how she misses John... I miss him too manz. :( Doing closing with him was fun, comparing the peak periods to a Boss with 100k HP and we have an attack of only 500. Hahaha. Annoying John. :') And Mel who always laughs at me, especially when I squat down slowly and just sigh. Haha heheh.
On Tuesday, there was a huge delivery of 280 muffins worth $700+ plus complementary potato chips for 0830. Which in other words is during our morning peak period. So Iffah came at 8am and she and Winter handled the crowd while I rushed out at 0810 to do the delivery. The trolley itself is heavy, and the muffins are ever heavier. And the building is across the 5-lane Anson road. Omgosh. Thank God the traffic light is just in front of International Plaza. The customer told us to use the front entrance but I had to use the back door lift because there's a ramp up to the lift lobby, compared to steps up to the main entrance. Hahaha the office employees were all very sympathetic, seeing this young flustered girl with a huge trolley full of boxes. They all helped me to maneuver in and out of the tiny lift. One lady was so excited to find that I was delivering it to their office. Just made it in time. :)
Only.... Nana didn't turn up for work. Manz. I know I should give up on her.
On Wednesday, another delivery of 2 coffee pots and a pot of tea, this time to BBC Chartering in AXA Building. We were warned not to be late so I made it just in time again. But the lady who ordered from us wasn't even in the office yet, so the pantry auntie guided me to the coffee/ tea table.
And this is the day we got the new POS (Point-of-Sales, aka Cashier) system. It's so ugly!! Not colorful like the old one, but just plain white and baby blue. Yucks.
On Thursday, Winter found out that Iffah can speak pretty good basic Chinese! xD Iffah says that she learned Chinese by watching Channel 8 or Channel U every night. Seems like TV shows do help. Haha. And so, we spent the WHOLE day speaking in half-Mandarin-half-English, using English for the harder Chinese words. And Iffah speaks Chinese with that angmoh/ Malay accent so it's really cute and funny and amusing. And Winter will mimick Iffah, then we'll exchange glances and laugh. HAHAHA. It is just SOOO cute, watching the two of them. :') Hahaha Winter tends to do something amusing then laugh to herself, like randomly saying "Bicky, Becky" then she'll look at me and then laugh and then walk away. Hahaha.
And for sales, we had to key in orders into both the old AND new POS system, it was so troublesome. :( Instead of using the old Barista Queue screen like usual, we resorted to shouting orders across to the bar. Not very nice ah, but that's the fastest way of letting the barista know what the order is. So we have to keep track of the orders mentally. During morning it's okay, because once you know which customer came first you can link their order to their name. But lunch.... Lunch was quiet so it wasn't too bad. :)
On Friday, we abandoned the old POS system and switched to the new one. :( Which means waiting for the bar order slip to be printed out AFTER the transaction has finished BEFORE we can start on the order. Really causes us to lag. :( So in the morning Winter just did drinks for whoever she saw waiting around, regardless of who came first. :P
Adrina came to help with closing! I was supposed to do opening shift, but it's Adrina! So I stayed. :) Hahaha during lunch hour I did cashier plus food, Winter did bar plus whatever food I was lacking in, and Adrina settled the outside plus did bar I believe? Hahaha I have no idea. When you do cashier all your focus is on the customer in front of you and the oven behind you. No idea how fast the drinks are being pushed out or if there were any problems while taking orders. We talked a bit, haven't really been in contact with Adri so we're a little out-of-touch with each other. :( Of course, we used Chinese hahaha. I mean Mandarin. :P We did closing quite fast so there was quite a bit of spare time before we officially closed the store. Adri said she was hungry so Winter let her have a sandwich, because we were going to throw it away anyway. Gosh she took quite a bit of time to eat one sandwich, checking her phone and munching slowly while Winter and I finished up what was left to do for closing. Hahaha Winter told her off a little for slacking instead of helping the two of us, who have been working since morning. :P She even asked me whether Adri has been like that since our days in Katong. Hahaha seems like I'm not the only one who has been bringing disgrace on our trainer Faz.
Winter and I decided to go for an impromptu dinner with her husband! Okay not very impromptu, I think Winter was already thinking about it since Thurs. Adri was meeting her friends so she couldn't come. Oh when her husband came, Winter jokingly said like usual, "Sorry sir, we're closed!" Adrina then turned to me and asked with a quizzical look, "Why he don't leave, doesn't he understand that we're closed?? 0.o" HAHAHAHA the look on her face!!! Winter and I had such a good laugh. xD Anyways, instead of Aston's, we decided to go eat steamboat at Chinatown!
So after bullying her husband into throwing the rubbish for us, we packed up and clocked out! And then we took MRT to Outram Park and walked to Chinatown from there. Too tired to walk all the way there like they usually do. As we walked, Winter kept pointing out shops and stalls to me. And we passed by Oriental Plaza, the super old shopping centre in SS textbooks! I've never seen it in real life before. :O Then we came to this steamboat eatery place just down the road from a Korean BBQ restaurant. When my two friends were considering the eatery, I was standing behind them, and they were holding hands with a distracted expression on their faces.... So cute!! ^^ Hehehe. In that moment I wondered if we looked like a family hahaha. So anyways, I never knew that steamboat eateries are like buffets! Like you just take what you want from the row of display chillers and bring it back to your table to cook. So cool! :) No wonder Winter laughed at me when I said that I've only eaten steamboat at home. I didn't dare to walk around the store, so I just sat in my seat quietly while they piled up their plates. Winter's husband is a chef, so as he put things into the pot, I would ask him about the unfamiliar food items, like anemone!! So cool. Oh by the way Winter loves spicy food so we had Yuanyang steamboat with Spicy soup (Ma2La4) for them and chicken soup for me. Hahaha. We didn't talk much during the meal, mainly about GJC or Winter's friends, and how the two of them got together. Winter's husband is really approachable and smiley so it wasn't awkward at all. :) Just... shy. And towards the end he kept scooping food from my side of the pot onto my plate. Hahaha. And after the meal we had watermelon! Also under the buffet. Winter didn't feel like she's eaten enough meat so she continued eating crab while we ate our watermelons and finished our drinks. And lastly, Winter used the $50 she found in the outlet to treat me! Hahaha a bit cheat ah. After that they walked me to Chinatown MRT station and we parted. :')
Winter and I decided to go for an impromptu dinner with her husband! Okay not very impromptu, I think Winter was already thinking about it since Thurs. Adri was meeting her friends so she couldn't come. Oh when her husband came, Winter jokingly said like usual, "Sorry sir, we're closed!" Adrina then turned to me and asked with a quizzical look, "Why he don't leave, doesn't he understand that we're closed?? 0.o" HAHAHAHA the look on her face!!! Winter and I had such a good laugh. xD Anyways, instead of Aston's, we decided to go eat steamboat at Chinatown!
So after bullying her husband into throwing the rubbish for us, we packed up and clocked out! And then we took MRT to Outram Park and walked to Chinatown from there. Too tired to walk all the way there like they usually do. As we walked, Winter kept pointing out shops and stalls to me. And we passed by Oriental Plaza, the super old shopping centre in SS textbooks! I've never seen it in real life before. :O Then we came to this steamboat eatery place just down the road from a Korean BBQ restaurant. When my two friends were considering the eatery, I was standing behind them, and they were holding hands with a distracted expression on their faces.... So cute!! ^^ Hehehe. In that moment I wondered if we looked like a family hahaha. So anyways, I never knew that steamboat eateries are like buffets! Like you just take what you want from the row of display chillers and bring it back to your table to cook. So cool! :) No wonder Winter laughed at me when I said that I've only eaten steamboat at home. I didn't dare to walk around the store, so I just sat in my seat quietly while they piled up their plates. Winter's husband is a chef, so as he put things into the pot, I would ask him about the unfamiliar food items, like anemone!! So cool. Oh by the way Winter loves spicy food so we had Yuanyang steamboat with Spicy soup (Ma2La4) for them and chicken soup for me. Hahaha. We didn't talk much during the meal, mainly about GJC or Winter's friends, and how the two of them got together. Winter's husband is really approachable and smiley so it wasn't awkward at all. :) Just... shy. And towards the end he kept scooping food from my side of the pot onto my plate. Hahaha. And after the meal we had watermelon! Also under the buffet. Winter didn't feel like she's eaten enough meat so she continued eating crab while we ate our watermelons and finished our drinks. And lastly, Winter used the $50 she found in the outlet to treat me! Hahaha a bit cheat ah. After that they walked me to Chinatown MRT station and we parted. :')