It's been 4 months plus...

Been working almost as long as Ceny already, amazingly. She was my second mentor, transferred from Anson to Katong, and she was the one who mentally prepared me when I got transferred from Katong to Anson. It's almost as though I've been sent to Anson in her stead, given that we have similar working attitudes, and even a similar standing in Anson. Faz is my trainer and friend, but Ceny was my inspiration and silent motivation. Hahaha I can never forget when she asked me why is "Mummy (mother)" spelled like "mummy (embalmed corpses)". I was momentarily confused and befuddled while she was just a ball of giggles and amusement.

19th Week: 19/5 - 24/5

Sunday was my first time closing alone at Katong. T.T First time closing cashier at Katong too. I had gone down to Katong the day before after NUS FOS Open House to talk to Faz about my schedule for weekends, going the distance because it felt more sincere than a phone call. I had Faz tell me where to find all the paperwork needed, and Faz warned Vinny to help me with all the pre-closing, including sweeping, because I was panicking. Heh. Thanks Vinny. :) So on the bus ride after church, I jotted down everything to do for pre-closing, squeezing in as many things as possible to do before 8, and what to do after 8.

And like all plans I make, nothing went my way. Business was pretty good, I was so close to panicking like some headless chicken because the orders were endless. Around 5pm, when we were about to start pre-closing, Siew Choo called and asked us to give away ALL our excess sandwiches (which numbered 188) to the tenants in the mall. And at the same time, we were to advertise our new Minty Lychee and Longan Strawberry Chillers and our new promotion. This promotion offers our $5.80 sandwiches at half-price if you order a drink or our new Summer Chillers, and the boss set a target of 80 sandwiches for Katong PER DAY. Guess how many they sold last Friday? 5. *Half-laugh-half-cry* So yes, I stuck the small board with the promotion on it into my back pocket and carrying two boxes of sandwiches per level, I covered B1 to Level 3. I went into almost all the stores, saying the same thing over and over again. "Hi I'm from Gloria Jeans, would you like a free sandwich? Just to inform you, if you buy a drink you can get the sandwich at half-pri-- Oh no this one is really free, I'm just telling you our ongoing promotion." -.- Every. Single. Store I enter. I didn't dare enter those restaurants or Challenger the IT store, too many employees inside. Some were really nice, helping me juggle my big boxes and convincing the other tenants to take a sandwich, smiling and talking to me like a real neighbour. There was this lady at a Jade store, she would have gone on and on about how she used to be a regular customer at Vivo if I hadn't excused myself. SOOO tiring. And poor Vinny, had to pre-close and handle operations on his own and do OT. But I must say, the look on people's faces when you mention a free dinner, especially tired faces, is marvelous.

I could have left by 1030pm! But just like the first week I closed alone at Anson, I counted the money wrongly. -.- Counted and counted until I found the missing $10, by then it was 11pm. Did some final checking and clearing up, then I carried the trash down to the dump. I was within 3 METRES of the dump, then I hit a slippery floor and accidentally stepped on the bag, the trash bag stretched, tore and leaked. Got caught by a security guard and cleaner supervisor who appeared around the corner, got scolded, so I had to go upstairs and use my mop to clean it up. How suay can I get. T.T Reached home safely at 12 plus, luckily I had Vally Tan to accompany me on my long journey home. :) 

Monday, my arms were aching quite badly. :'( Especially so when I pulled shots or lifted something heavy. :'( Spent the whole day stretching and pulling on my arm muscles. Best part of sleeping at 1.30am the previous night is waking up at 5.15am to do opening shift. One customer asked if I had a good rest over the weekend and when I struggled to answer, Winter cut in and said that I worked until 11 plus last night. And I didn't even tell her! She knows me too well. :( Was supposed to leave at 3 but I stayed until almost 6 because Winter was talking to Siew Choo and Jake and Linda can't deal with the tea time crowd alone, and after that Winter taught me about COGS (cost of goods sold) and the pre-paid card. I remember wandering around the area until dinner but I can't remember where I went....

Tuesday, my arms were a better, but they still ached a little. In between the lunch and tea time crowd, Winter called Linda and I out for a mini meeting. It was about what the managers and management people had gone during the previous meeting, the new card and increasing sales (Sales = Average Check x Customer Count) by increasing AC or CC. Winter said that the bosses want the managers to update the other staff (or at least the supervisors) on the meeting minutes, and other than Linda I'm the most familiar with running the store (even more familiar than Linda, according to Winter) so I was in on it too. Finally felt that once again, I was learning something, instead of just doing day-to-day operations. It really cheered me up for the rest of the day. ^^ Winter also was talking to Linda about improving her service and interacting with customers, but I don't think Linda really took it to heart. Only listen but no action. 

Wednesday, Winter had a meeting so she left at 3, Jake and Helen left around 3.30, leaving Loon and I to battle the tea time crowd alone. It was quite crazy, juggling pre-closing and buzzing and operations all at once, and the customers just didn't stop coming!! Once you finished one order, the next customer would walk in. -.- Why can't you just come all at once, manz. While closing the cashier, I hit some difficulties so I had to call Winter and Winter called Siew Choo and she then called me and told me to send an email to Siew Choo with all the details. Finally finished at 9.30pm. Went to Hans for dinner because Loon has never been to Hans.

Thursday, Siew Choo came over to try and make French Toast. After she and Winter prepared the dip mixture, they had a meeting with suppliers so I got assigned to prep the bread (needed to somehow stuff a quarter peach inside the bread) and clear up the counter tops before Vivian came. Manz I was at quite a loss because I don't cook at home, the only cooking I do is with charcoal over a zinc plate in a school field. Winter still can say that I'm the chef  of Anson. Anyways the dip failed and Vivian had no time for it too so I kind of did it for nothing. 

Friday, I was supposed to slack at home!! ^^ But no the previous day Jake pulled out. So I had offered to cover him, since my parents and sis were going Legoland for my sis's birthday (I didn't know 24th was a public holiday) and my bro would be out so I would be home alone. Damn sian. Plus I would be working at Katong on Sunday too. Working at Katong feels so sian sometimes because its all quiet after dinner time and you just feel trapped in the store area. It's not like the big spacious Anson. So I did opening with Vinny, went for break at Food Republic with Faz. As for Linda, I really can't be bothered to push her anymore. If she doesn't want to help, fine. If she doesn't want to open up to make our customers feel like guests, fine. Because it seems like she only learns by the hard way. Maybe should really throw her to Plaza to train her, like Winter said. For Anson's sake. Kind of hope that Winter can go back to China for good, go home to her daughter. But if that's the case... Can say bye to the standard of Anson.

Movie night and outing with Jonas tomorrow!