So Much To Say

Yes, I complained about my first week at work to friends, but at the end of the day, I truly think that I enjoy working. I love my customers, and hypothetically speaking, my customers love me too!

Just yesterday, a couple of elderly ladies was commenting on how Cathay cinemas have the best service standard, comparable to that of, so to quote, 'the gracious New Zealanders'. So they did not directly say that I provide quality service, but I'll just take it that they indirectly praised me. A little positivity wouldn't hurt, you know.

It's been a really hectic week for me. Work AND play. We get 24 hours a day, so why not maximise the hours to fit in work and play? Sleeping hours in this case really isn't an issue. I love sleeping, really. But now with work commitment, I think I can afford to forgo some of my sleeping hours, don't you think?

Last Thursday, I attended my first ever girl party. My philosophy is that you should NEVER have to pay to partay, but for that night, I forked out the cover charge despite being under a really tight budget. So I made sure I enjoyed myself, which I did, of course. Plus, I was basically energy-sapped from work, so it was a fabulous outlet to unwind.

Then for the weekends, I just worked into the late night. Thank goodness the company provided late night transportation home, but no thanks since I missed the transport for BOTH my midnight shifts.

I voluntarily made my own way home on Friday night, that was fine. But on Saturday, despite rushing my closing procedures so I wouldn't miss the transport, I still missed it anyways. Apparently, the manager had left me out in the transport list. I had no apology, no empathy, not even sympathy from the manager(s). All right, fine by me, I'm not petty, so I'm just gonna let it go.

You see, the thing about the management, they impose strict standards, but fail to be helpful and compassionate. My previous cinema employment saw more lax standards, but expressed much more compassion towards the staff. You gain some and you lose some; as always.

I've had over 2 years of experience working at a cinema, so I more or less get the hang of things. Occasionally, in total desperation, I will ask for help, only to receive half-hearted, impatient, sometimes ambiguous replies. Riiiight, leave to me my own, is it? Fine by me, really, I run one-man-shows to a tee, okay.

Yesterday was one such desperate moment. A couple came up to me, asking for an obscure promotion package. I was COMPLETELY clueless about the transaction mechanics, so I asked the managers for help since the only other colleague was busy. The queue was crazy long, I was stuck. Sure enough, I got quick and impatient verbal instructions from the managers.

The thing about me is, I work well with practical and actual examples, not theoretical ones. So by verbally telling me what I should do is equivalent to giving me a theoretical example. Henceforth, I was still clueless.

In a final act of desperation, I anxiously requested for one of the THREE managers to SHOW me what to key into the system. Then reluctantly, one of them came to the counters, pointed to me what I should key, then retreated back into the office promptly. Riiiight, that's much help, all right.

Eventually, I managed to figure out the rest of the transaction BY MYSELF. The manager only showed me half of what I needed to know. Don't you find that irritating? There's a queue full of fast-becoming disgruntled customers, and there I was, trying my best to be quick, but totally clueless at the same time, yet unable to get proper assistance!

Tsk...

Another thing that peeves me is when people want to correct me, but don't tell it to me face, choosing to send someone else to relay the message. The administrator wanted to warn me about keying in the wrong class of complimentary tickets, but sent an icky colleague to relay her message. All right, that's fine, I'm magnanimous and gracious like the New Zealanders, aren't I? So I can totally let that go too.

It just irks me to the core that the administrator, managers and colleagues especially, frequently drop the Oh-Then-You-Need-To-Pay bomb. FOR EVERY LITTLE THING! Like forgetting to print or retain receipts, forgetting to retain flyers, forgetting to get customers signatures, forgetting to record credit card details, etc.

Dang, the OTYNTP bomb sooooooooo does not work on me. I know for a fact that monetary wise, if anything's missing, I pay. If nothing's missing, then I'm safe. For all the aforementioned forgets, does any of them involve missing out on charging the customer?

No.

An ex-manager from my ex-cinema came by yesterday. It was a nice surprise, though it felt really weird. He made me feel much better by saying that I've kinda 'been there, done that', so the strict standards shouldn't really be an issue for me.

A few days back, a secondary schoolmate came up to my counter as well. And the funny thing was, she had met me while I was working back in Eng Wah too! Jumping from one cinema company to another seems to raise brows for some unknown reason.

Talking about brow-raising issues...my high waist line. Wearing pants on my waist is a new thing to me, newer thing to my friends. So I really couldn't help but look kinda weird at first. But you know what? I'm really getting used to the high-waistedness of the dress pants!

I just cannot stand when people ask me why I wear my pants so high. You should wear it lower, they say. The general stigma about wearing pants high on the waist: you look like a noob/geek/nerd/fugly/un-cool/un-fab.

Too bad I COMPLETELY disprove the stigma.