And so the last weekend of the short month of feb passed by, like a typhoon i tell u.. Wasted time on friday studying for a stupid maths test that turned out to be pretty easy. I would still pref doing amaths qns than emaths anytime, joce summed it up nicely, “A maths qns more direct”

Worked at Girl Guides Thinking Day @ indoor, think it will go down as one of the poorly-organised events there. Save money mah, dun need our ushers. So the usual practice is the hirer must provide own ushers, which they din…so everything was pretty much a controlled mess. Everytime work with HER sure got problem one. You know who you are

Attended a jc mate’s wedding….1st red letter bomb to come my way. Sat with jianping n some of the bride’s classmates. Wedding dinners always have the effect of making u eat until like u never eat @ all, simply cos the food comes ever so slowly and in minute portions. The videos were pretty good, esp the animation on how the groom courted her. For 3 wks after meeting her for the 1st time, he drove her home from work everyday, and showed lots of care and concern. 21 days and settled. Lesson learnt: Having a car is a big advantage.

Supposed to work @ ucc on sun evening. Then my buddy called me, said too many ppl liaoz, so have to drop me.. ok fair enuff. I told them if they have enuff ushers, can drop me cos i dun wanna fight with my jrs for the money. 4 plus pm called me again to work, forget it lah… haiyah.. i really hate last min changes like this… Ended up going to watch the Singtel League Cup Final between Woodlands Wellington and Sengkang Punggol. Parked at the stadium at 7pm, 45 mins b4 match started, and there was super loud coordinated cheering coming from the stadium. Damn shocked if u ask me, i mean..this is a pre-season game leh… how come so chao4 enthu.. Came back after dinner, and saw the reason why. 5 super enthu fans, cheering in an enclosed area = from a distance sounds like few hundred ppl cheering.. The match was a severe disappointment if u ask me. The artificial turf made for a highly-exaggerated bounce which resulted in players looking like clowns chasing after high-bouncing balls.. Left after half time.. sianz

And today is the day when my holiday mood officially ends, from a 4 hr week to a 24 hr week…knn..

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Finally, Notre Dame de Paris has ended after a 17 day run… The thing about long-running events is that everyone starts out enthusiastic @ the start, before getting ultra low-morale in the middle.. By the last few days, the tunes of the musical were in everyone’s head and everyone ends up knowing everyone better…Experienced that in nus commencement and now here, pretty good feeling i guess..

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I wrote the section in quotes long time ago but chose not to publish it then. However recent developments have changed this decision and hence here it is. The last 2 paragraphs are the recent developments in the Durian War. Some seller has to wake up her idea yea..

Seems that we are always surrounded by cerita buah buahan, fruit stories, especially during the elections period when we talk about chikus being ripe enuff to pick, or a particualar issue being somewhat very thorny.. Well i have my own durian story too..heh..

You know, I love durians alot, or rather I love the process of choosing them alot. All the shaking, smelling, listening in order to pick a real gem of a durian, the process is more impt than the eating of the durian itself i guess.. Heck, even paying for the durian is worth it, all just to select a good durian. The secondary benefit is obviously savouring the fruits of my labour, ie the selection process and payment.

I select my durians from 3 vendors, run by very different bosses. A is a govt-backed durian seller. Lots of funds, lots of stall helpers, they run their business on a very professional, abeit in a very detached manner. And they have the best durians, which they know, and they are very proud of. They even allow young kids to come in, sniff @ the durians, select them and even pay for them, but they are not allowed to eat the durians. The experience of being able to select the atasdurians is good enough as a payment.

B is a stall that’s backed by the top academic minds in Singapore, who have decided that selling durians is something that can be done easily and also, make themselves look like they have a softer side, not just doing academic research. B enjoys a steady stream of customers who are undergraduates just like me, and it’s durians are definitely not as good A’s. However the buyers keep on coming back, we all know one another and it’s a good place to sit down to not just choose durians, but also to interact with your fellow buyers. The boss used to be someone real friendly, who spoke his mind about lousy durian selectors and rewarded good selectors with better durians.

C is an old-time stall which is trying hard to modify its business model to match itself against A n B. Word has it that it’s backed by the govt, although now it’s directly administered by a former durian buyer @ B. She has obviously learnt enough from shopping at B to decide that she too can be a good durian seller. The durians here are the lousiest, come to think of it. But @ least her durians are of uniform quality, it doesn’t take much effort to select a decent durian. What’s more, if u end up selecting till after 11, she gives u an extra durian to make up for the late nite cab ride to get u home. They have a rewards program, buy enough and regularly from them and you become a senior buyer, getting access to the D24s

I started this love affair with selecting durians from B 2 years ago and then eventually expanded to both A n C. Despite the fact that i get better durians at A, as much as I can, i would still wanna buy more often from B even though A has more durian-selection opportunities. I mean, who wouldn’t wanna buy from someone familiar mah..

Alot of things are changing at B though, the 大老板 and 小老板 (big and small bosses) just left, and now the stall is run by 2 ladies who obviously have big plans for the stall. Wanna compete more with A, bring in more D24 and Red Prawn durians..heh.. Sadly right now, the durians are not any better but there are more restrictions to how u select durians. You can’t sniff too much, have to decide fast. You have to sniff in a certain way, as set by 小老板, who also decided that customers must select their durians by a set of rules fixed by the two of them. Quite a few durian buyers are getting frustrated, some have even stopped buying durians from B altogether. With my commitments now, I only go back to select durians once in a while when i’m free or when i see that the stall is lacking customers and i dun mind extra durians for consumption.

Recently around B, there are some new durian stalls set up. And they make it easier for you to select your durians. Being new, they don’t really have rules in place yet, so all up to the experienced buyers to set the standards. Good durians, better than those at B, are available. However B decided to be anal and starts to select its customers, making a rule that if you wanna buy from B, you cannot buy from anywhere else near B without declaring. Declaring doesn’t mean approval, it probably means getting a NO from B.

I think it has gotten to a stage where I dun even go back to B so often to buy my durians. Heck, with my work commitments, I have restricted myself to mainly C. B is now only for old time’s sake when their business is bad and i volunteer to go buy durians from them. The only plus point about there is that friends are there.

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must read this…was laughing @ it just now..

Link

Did you know that Inflation actually existed in the midst of Singapore’s stable economy. Camouflaged behind the doors of the indoor stadium, thinking it will not be found. Looking so innocently like a normal shop was actually the humble abode of a BLACK MARKET.

I was horrified to find HOTDOGS going for like 350% above the normal rate.

The dogs were actually going for $5 which is equivalent to a Mc Donald’s Student Meal.

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Didn’t do so many slots like last yr, opted out for 3 of them and didn’t get another. Hence was left with 17 slots. Somehow i found this year being more stressful than last yr, even though i did all 21 in 2005. A reason could be that alot of the procedures were never set properly and there were so many changes.

Last year, everyone was tired but @ least morale was at a decent level. Some ppl were around and they certainly made things more fun. Larry was the chief raider of reception food, and there was never a need to worry about getting ourselves some decent food. This year, all i can say is that the tiredness is still there, but my morale has decided to become a mole and tunnel underground. I think commencement more or less confirmed that we are the lowest lifeform at the venue, when even cleaners take food before us. Not say that the food is very good or what, but @ least give us that bit of welfare.

Welfare came in the form of catered meals provided by the new cafe called Nicole’s. Horrendous. Absolutely horrendous. Everyday 2 lousy mixed-veg rice 菜饭 caused me to usually eat whatever reception food that is available or ride out to fong seng or YIH to buy decent makan.

Another thing that i learnt is NAVY - Never Always Volunteer Yourself. Me and a few other ppl felt that there is no longer any incentive to take initiative there, and in fact, there could be some disincentives. Talking to a patron 5m from my assigned position resulted in an order to return to position, that was given to me when i was still talking to the patron. Now anything vaguely not sure, check with TL. In a way, it takes the load off me, I dun have to answer for things, if that’s the aim of it.

There are of course things that we can be truely proud of. Other than battling the tiredness and the low morale, commencement always served as a chance for different teams’ ushers to get to know one another better. I certainly got to know a few ppl better, and their working styles as well, though there wouldn’t be many chances to work with the ppl again.

Of cos being stationed at the vip door sometimes means that I can be the 1st to congratulate my friends right after they get off stage…heh…

Overall, it was still an amazing experience, where us ushers are exposed to a stressed and tiring environment for 8 days. And most of us emerge stronger and more united after the experience..

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FUCKING IRRITATED!!

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Imageshack just screwed me, my images are like dead..shit…

Anyway, it’s the end of busy busy week, 6 days ushering @ indoor stad, and 1 at ucc… starting to do more senior usher duties @ indoor, which is a very good thing mostly.. Increased responsibility and pay. The only bad side so far is hearing too much from 1 person, and realising that although he might be a very capable and experienced usher @ indoor stad, he is definitely not an ez person to work with…

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A few weeks back, i heard this from one of my venues’ manager: A msg that has come all the way down from the top, saying that ushers have to greet patrons with either “Sir” or “Mdm“, regardless of their age and bearing. This seems a very simple rule to follow, except when u examine it closely, u realise that to a certain extent it runs against what we have learnt from our parents in this Asian society.

I’m sure that most of us from young, we have been told by our parents to greet elders, either properly, say 姨丈 or 表叔; or as Uncle/Auntie. Definitely Uncle/Auntie in this case is a mark of respect, and to me, friendlier than Sir/Mdm. That is to say, if i am sure that the senior patron approaching me is more comfortable with mandarin or dialect, i would find it more natural to greet him as “Uncle” and proceed to converse with him in either Mandarin or Hokkien. To me, that is going beyond providing professional service. By doing this, i’m attempting to provide professional AND personalised service by attempting to engage the patron in the manner that is most comfortable for him.

The rule gets even harder to swallow when u talk about greeting kids. How many of us are actually comfortable with greeting a 5 yr old boy as SIR? Up the stakes abit, how many of us would actually get comfortable eventually with greeting a 5yr old boy as SIR? With many parents telling their kids to call me korkor or uncle, if i still call them Sir, it would be damn weird. Moving abit more towards the extremities, it could be said that u’re not listening to your patron when he calls u korkor and u call him Sir.

My take on dealing with kids, a simple Hi or Good Evening would be sufficient in most cases. If you have to deal with a child later, say for example helping him get his butt onto the booster seat, get his or her name and address her by that. The parents and the child would appreciate the fact that 1. you helped the child and 2. you made an attempt to personalise your service to the child. Of cos check with the parents that they dun mind you carrying the child up, and yea make sure you dun tekan the kid.

Saying all these, I realise that it’s important to know that being in an Asian society where traditional values still have some hold, it is impractical and to an extent, snobbish when we insist on greeting every patron in the same way. Although the whole purpose of this rule is to ensure a uniform and professional manner of greeting patrons, I’m worried that this may also end up alienating some patrons. The most impt thing of customer service is not how we greet them, but it should be how we provide our eventual service. I can remember my 1st event at SIS, ushering for the PCK Musical. I noticed this old lady on her own, sitting in the last row of the terrace block. I decided to talk to her, and found out that she only speaks Teochew, and her family didn’t have time to come with her to the show. So i just knelt next to her seat n listened to her talk to me about her family, and i tried to explain wat’s happening on stage in hokkien n broken teochew. End of show, she came to say bye..

“ah di..kam1 siah3 hor” “amah, buay2 hiao2 kin4..man2 gia1 hor..” [Trans: “thanks boy” and “no problem, granny..have a good evening”]

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Back from ucc chalet, damn fun with all the ppl ard… alot of booze on offer with terence the resident bartender.. tried my 1st flaming lamborgini.. (as abel said, 1st flaming lambo not at zouk or wat, but @ chalet), and a variety of drinks..including his own concoction called Sweet Graveyard, yes the one that knocked vincent out on 1st nite..

Never tah1 beer with galvin, sure lose one..as yiming and me found out the hard way…from all the boozing, u realised some ppl turn red like lobsters damn easily, eg abel hannah.. some dun turn red…eg. me.. Some appear sober but in essence losing it liaoz, eg charissa.. some lose forfeits but got ppl to drink for them. eg yeefang..

Bowling was good too, played 5 games in all, averaging about 100pinfalls.. nothing that impressive but considering that less than 2 yrs ago, i bowled the monumental game of 46, with the opening 6 frames all longkang, ie 12 balls..that’s good enuff…. control over power.. control over power..

The only thing that’s niggling is my throat and my nose, all thanks to sleeping in singlet in aircon room thurs nite, after alot of booze n games, esp this beer-whiskey combi..deadly… rest is on the cards for now…until tml nite..ushering, again, on new yr’s eve..

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I meant to publish this post way back in oct 12 but got abit stuck last time..hence put it off till now…

Was supposed to be doing either econs or biophysics last nite, but got into a short but interesting discussion with a fellow esplanade newbie..bout her having to slow down in terms of the number of events she’s doing @ espl, and the frequency. Doing them so fast (she’s clearing her 21 trainee hours this wk, when i still have 2-3 assignments b4 hitting 21) can result in loss of interest for the job, and into something that all cust service ppl should never be at: being immune to ur customers. Immune, as in you develop the attitude that you’ve seen all, heard all, and handled all. Nothing fazes you and you get so bored in ushering that you fail to empathise with a patron’s problem. For example, a patron comes up to u saying that his seat has obstructed view. You know that he bought the ticket knowing that it has an obstructed view so really, he has no grounds for complaint. But how u tell him that makes a whole world of difference.. u can tell him in a bored voice, “sorry i can’t help you with that, cos u bought the ticket knowingly” or giving a slight apologetic smile, “sorry sir i understand your problem, but i believe that you were informed that the seat is a restricted view one. I could get a booster seat for your child. And sir, if you wish to upgrade your seat, pls check with me again. I see what i can do to help you with that” I think that made some difference.. both ushers are trained, but the latter is more in touch with the patron.. Now how many of the ushers that i’m working with possess this touch, and makes an effort to treat every patron like he or she is the usher’s fav patron. I personally think that i fall short of that sometimes. Was working with another usher @ SIS, between the 2 of us was a sector of around 200+ patrons, and there was one who was happily snapping pictures of the concert from her camera phone. I had previously told a patron next to her that she couldn’t take photos, so this new patron has to be told to stopped, not just cos of house rules, but we can’t show that we bend this rule for 1 patron but not the next. So i signalled to my partner to ask him to go tell the patron, but he refused to move.. i was like wtf! Later at the end of the concert, i asked him y he didnt do anything..he claimed that the patron was taking from her phone and we can’t do shit.. cos we can’t force the patron to deposit her fone. I believe we have more “weapons” than that, ranging from a simple warning to tell her to stop, to getting security involved. This one may stir up a hornet nest, but irresponsible n slacker ushers do exist @ esplanade, and for that matter, UCC and SIS..have not personally worked with one, i’m lucky so far… Ok all hearsay for time being, but it’s scary to hear a senior telling u that alot of the rules are extra.. dun need to follow.. n showing a severe lack of interest in the show n work.. few blacksheeps or usher-fatigue? i dunno… It was also during a very recent event that i saw a dark side of some ushers..they are very conscientious during work, taking care of patrons n being able to solve problems quickly.. i admire them for that, but that impression was damaged when they switched off immediately after the last patron left n we were waiting for debriefed. So they were just hanging ard, sitting down, eating tidbits when a patron came in to ask for help to find a lost item.. Some did help…others sat down still, eating ..another talked to that patron while eating.. so is that a mere slip or a sign of forgetting the golden rule of treating every patron as ur fav patron? I always enjoy reading the Good Service feature every tuesday in the straits times, over the weeks you would realise that the examples of good service contributed by readers are always very simple, nothing out of the world. Often it comes out of the fact that the service provider considered the feelings of and the situation the customer is facing..in short it doesnt take much to become a good service provider.. of cos u gotta have the technical skills required, like a call centre operator must noe the company’s products very well.. but beyond that, it is really dependent on the attitude of the service provider…

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I realised that i havn’t blogged proper for 5 days, and considering that it’s the vacation, that’s kind of little.. as compared to friends who are generating like 1-2 posts each day..madness.. i can never do that yet.. never have enuff inspiration, or rather sufficient inspiration which always comes @ the wrong time ie. when i dun have a pc nearby (these days it’s not the problem of not having a net connection, there are a few places in town where u can get free connection)

Anyway i was ushering at this event last nite, u ppl can find out which..i’m not saying!! i was standing at this door on my own, main job is to take note of patrons going out from that door to go to the soliatary washroom near that door. After that i have to wait outside with them to re-admit them at an appropriate break. There weren’t many patrons near the door n i moved closer towards the patrons. When a piece ended, one of the tech crew walked behind me n exited by my door… naturally i ignored, since tech crew mah.. Immediately though:

Boss: JK pls go check on the female patron who just exited by your door JK: ??? Hmm the only person who went out from my door is a tech crew member Boss: A long-haired tech crew wearing skirt? JK: Er ok i go n check..

So i went out..waited n waited for 15 mins, the solitary toilet was locked..n later, the male tech crew whom i saw finally came out..so what happened to the lady?

Later i went to eat with andrea n i was telling her about other hantu stories, u ppl noe lah..the door that always opens on its own..and of course the window cleaner who died..and i realised how ez it is to make up a story like this..

U noe 4 yrs ago, this tech crew, he went up via circle seats to access the lighting catwalk in order to fix some lights. Sadly he got electrocuted… These days if u close the door and it suddenly opens later, he’s up there trying to fix the lights again.. the tech crew these days never need to go up themselves, just buy 1 roast chicken and put outside, 2 hrs later ur lights mysteriously fixed..

You get the idea lah..

I’m kind of familiar with Yew Tee, and when i was walking out towards Woodlands road, of all things to see, there was a funeral going on.. but o well, the lights of funeral actually guided me to the road proper.. and yea, totally not fun walking on pavement opp. beautyworld..road on left side, forest on right..not with the ghostly theme tonite

I went amoy street food centre for lunch on tues i think, and i finally saw this very common sight that happens mostly within the CBD

Sg kiasuim at its best, but then again, office workers never carry haversacks like me.. only wallet, hp, keys and tisu.. n apparently there are ppl selling tisu there for this purpose..

How about this for singaporean copycatting milking of angmohs jumping onto the latest bandwagon entrepreneurship?

But i learnt something new from this: Kaya is a egg and sweet coconut custard, flavoured with pandan or screwpine leaves

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Well exams are finally over, and what can i say.. i think i can FFG (read: file for graduation) next semester.. Not that the exams went badly or wat, but i think it wun be sufficient to push my cap over to 3.5, no regrets though… i have more things to worry about this holidays..

Exams ended on tues, and i have been worked tues wed nites @ esplanade..n last nite @ ucc… tonite would be ucc..sat would be esplanade.. talk about hectic hectic.. yest wasnt so bad as i managed to join some of the nus riders for kulai makan trip.. Forgot to take my camera along, just as well, if not u ppl would complain that i never jio u ppl go eat 月光宝河, 一虾二味 and drink honeydew sago from a mug that’s as tall as 2 beer mugs stacked up.. i kid u not.. I miss eating @ home, seriously..even though i have to wash the dishes… the next time i can eat @ home, could be tml lunch or sun dinner…yay! looking fwd to it..

I’m seriously not working enuff this mth… with a confirmed trip to penang from 12-18 dec with my pa n sis..part holiday part visit relatives.. this mth only 2 ucc events..1st/2nd dec… oops make it 3.. if i’m doing on new yr’s eve…more ushers mean less work…abit 僧多粥少.. we obviously cannot have the extreme model of recruiting so many ushers that they have to pia fastest fingers 1st to get events, but then i seriously think we are moving towards it.. Of cos this is good for the venue, cos it would be sure to fill up all avail slots most of the time.. n having ppl who dun get to work as often, you create a heightened desire to work…like tasting forbidden fruit..so yes.. that solves ur manpower problems..u can have as many ushers as u want for a low fixed cost..activate a fixed number to work each time as part of ur variable cost…n rest of the inactive ushers u dun need to pay or maintain them… win n win n win n win for venue

I scrapped am scrapping my bike..was riding it last sun otw to sch.. out of carpark i could detect a slight “psst psst” sound..n the engine finally gave way outside KAP… managed to get a tow truck to pick it up.. n took bus to school.. initial diagnosis wasn’t good…total compression loss..estimated costs was 900 bucks.. shit liaoz lah… later another call.. this chain called the cam chain that costs a few bucks snapped. Now to check if this chain is flawed or not, u have to drain engine oil..open up engine… check chain..replace engine cover.. change new oil..for about 200 bucks..so most ppl wun open up engine just to check this part… well the chain broke, like tio4 beh2 pio1… n some of the links went on a grand tour of my pistons..大闹天宫 basically..estimated repair costs was $4000… no joke i tell u

So now i’m taking buses, already made the long term investment of buyign bus concession.. still tryign to get used to the fact that now i take nearly 45mins to get home from sch, (of which 30 mins consist of waiting for 151) when i used to take max 20 mins.. I’m starting to remember to leave house earlier, or in more extreme cases refuse to go out cos simply too lazy w/o bike… i’ve already successfully caught a last bus outside espl..

What really made my day was the fact that i noe that i have great pals who are there to support me.. i had no choice but to approach guoyong, seng, carlin, zhenfeng and teck for loans, n thanks for agreeing so readily.. Even though eventually i only loaned from guoyong, i really appreciate u ppl’s support.. n to the rest for listening to me complain about taking bus..thanks too…kopi’s STILL on..if i get my sorry ass out of my house

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Keeping on with the army theme, i gonna rant about one of my bosses at one of my venues… u ppl can have fun guessing..but i guess it’s pretty obvious to some ppl.. ok i have a relatively new boss i think, let’s call him Jin Jia-On..cos i seriously dunno his name..not that i really care actually..

Jin Jia-On totally gives me the feeling that he’s either fresh out of NSF, or just got booted out from 6-yr saf regular contract, or he feels that this is a chance to show his command ability picked up from days in green.. i mean, i can’t think of any other reasons for him to put the chao-bin that’s so characteristic of newly-commissioned 2LTs, newly graduated specialists, super old encik, ie. the siao-on, no nonsense type..

He’s the 1st person who calls ushers “his men”.. Like, “it’s ok, i get my men to help u” or “i have XX men, and i need XX more” If i’m a female usher, i would be damn pissed to hear that… totally politically incorrect… ok fine i admit that i’m not that PC, but yea, this kind of faux pas, dun play play…

So basically Jin Jia-On patrols ard the venue with that chaobin, saying “i dun wanna see anyone sitting on the parapet!”

sorry LTA (NS) / 3SG (NS) / MWO Jin Jia-On!!

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1.5 yrs of ushering, and i’ve never really felt so much for or against a patron, but this one really takes the cake…was ushering @ a ballet school’s concert, wun say where..u ppl can ask me.. the concert ran for 3 shows, sat evening, sun afternoon and evening, and i was already pre-warned about troublesome parents that made some ushers cry.. so i approached today’s afternoon and evening show with a fair bit of caution…

Being a private ballet school makes it eligible to be a bloodsucker i guess…ticket prices range from 15 to 50 bucks i think, none of my business actually… the show’s divided into 2 halves, with an intermission in between.. The problem comes when the gals dancing in the 1st half of the show gets released, and their parents who bought tickets to watch them perform can collect them n take them home, but mostly they would wanaa bring the gals in to watch the 2nd half.. However, due to the organisers, we didnt let them in w/o a ticket.. which is actually in line with our own policy.. no entry, even for crew/performers unless they have a ticket or on official business (this rule can be bent sometimes, like when the house is not full, and the patron comes to talk to us nicely..we can try to arrange, but it’s definitely not the norm) So well as u expect, parents were complaining but most of them chose to bring their gals home, or buy tickets for them, or leave them in the holding room where the teachers would take care of the gals while the parents can finish watching the show..

Afternoon show passed w/o much incident.. @ intermission for the evening show, the trouble began.. This man came up to me and asked y he can’t bring his daughter in w/o a ticket, n i gave him the standard ans, that this is a ticketed event and the organisers want us to enforce this rule, we have no choice, even though that there are empty seats in the house…. so he went on talking, very calmly about his daughter having spent so much time on rehearsal and now cannot watch the concert..n he intends to write to Straits Times Forum to complain about the venue and the organisers..even got my name, then he returned to his seat…

then i tot, siao liao, get complained nvm..complain to a crap paper… decided to alleviate the problem by asking if he wanna email my boss directly or fill up a feedback form..gave him a form and my boss’ namecard…ok end of story, i tot.. but halfway thru the 2nd half, i got a msg from my colleague @ the door, saying that this little gal who was performing in 1st half wants to find her father, just nice it’s the mr ng… so i went to him n told him that his daughter’s outside and tearing.. his face was VERY VERY calm and he asked me, “so can i bring her in now?”

I replied, “Mr Ng, you know our policy and the reason behind it.. u noe i can’t let u bring her in”

He said this:

Well then u all can take care of her for me

n carried on watching the concert..i tell u i had no idea how to react to that, and decided to go out to talk to the gal and her teacher who brought her down…the moment i saw her, my heart melted…sweet looking gal, about 6-7 yrs old..looks ready to cry liaoz… no way i can tell her that her dad , not knowing that someone’s with her daughter actually, just calmly refused to come out to meet her…how would u wanna tell her that….so in front of her and the teacher, i told them that i couldn’t find her dad, that he’s not @ his seat.. when they started to walk away to go back to the holding room, not b4 telling me to try to find her dad cos the gal (vanessa) is sad that nobody came to pick her up…then i got my colleague to talk to and distract vanessa so that i can tell the teacher the truth… Eventually she brought vanessa back up to the room…and best part, i had to go back in to tell Mr Ng that vanessa’s being taken care of, and he just quietly nodded ok..

How fucked up can a father be… to react this way to his child in distress…wanna complain/feedback to straits times or my venue, go ahead..wanna complain me, go ahead..but WHY THE FUCKING HELL DO U NEED TO MAKE UR DAUGHTER GO THRU THIS KIND OF FUCKING SHIT WITH U???? Whatever god u believed in gave u a dick to reproduce and take care of ur young so that he/she would grow up to be good ppl… AND U FUCKING MAKE VANESSA SUFFER FOR NOTHING… I HOPE U DUN HAVE ANY MORE KIDS, DO US A FAVOUR AND CASTRATE URSELF PLS

Was talking to my fren who worked the sat evening show, they had a problem with this mum who insisted on bringing her daughter in, incidentally called vanessa as well (!!)..when told that she can’t go in..mum told vanessa in loud voice ,”See they dun let u in!” and vanessa started crying..cos of this 3 of the ushers got really affected by it n were tearing too…the lady said tml (sunday) her husband coming (!!! yet another clue)

This is my take on what caused all these:

1. Mum tried to bring vanessa in but failed, purposely made her cry to try to make us give in… or vanessa was told to cry when her mum “scolded” her
2. It failed, so today dad tried to get vanessa in…told me that he didn’t noe initially that the kids need tickets as well, i noe now he’s bullshitting me cos his wife was here yesterday
3. He could have smsed his wife, to tell her to call the teacher to get vanessa down to look for dad.. vanessa could be in the equation as well, innocently agreeing to her parents’ plan…i mean, who else can u trust if u can’t trust ur parents…hence parents must be rite.. “vanessa u must cry when mummy or daddy says so, if not u cannot watch the show u noe…”
4. Either that or vanessa is really a big cry baby, who upon seeing her other frens leave with their parents really wanna see her dad…
5. But that still does not condone the reaction of her dad…

Last thing to say to Mr and Mrs Ng, if u’re trying to prove a point to us, there are better ways of doing it other than manipulating ur child emotionally… u dun have to make ur child suffer, and trying to jack us emotionally…. i tell u, if from the start u talk to us nicely, we could have let u in… but i’m glad we didnt give in…bastards n bitches like u ought to be shot and hung up somewhere… fuck u understand

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Finally got confirmed as an Esplanade usher, somehow i’m apprehensive about working there, with all the potential repercussions of my blogpost.. o well, if some ppl’s minds are engineered this way, then i can’t help it..smashing their heads and tryin to redesign (read: hamtam) their brains is a very tempting option u noe..but it will dirty my hands, or my helmet if i use that to smash them.. Anyway, not gonna work so soon..need to settle down in sch 1st…

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I’m glad to say that i’m no longer a virgin, a traffic offence virgin that is… was going up to malacca with the scooters grp from SBF when i got stopped at road block, together with bufeng.. then we were told that we were going @ 121km/h by the policeman…then he immediately asked us wanna “settle” on the spot or not

BALLS! We werent travelling @ 121 ok..more like 130-140..oopz! But the point is, he could have just randomly selected us and randomly assigned a speed to us..since we are both young riders and perhaps deemed to be Robertos (ie carrot heads)

For those of you concerned about my safety, esp when riding @ 140..i think on north south highway..u have to ride above a certain speed, it’s actually safer..i can tell u @ 110, it’s so boring that i would have a high chance of dozing off…. i’m still Safety Rider Number 1. haha!

Malacca was great… had loads of chicken rice balls, my table of 6 ppl had 2.5 chickens.. that was later washed down with delicious chendol…some boring shopping @ a shopping mall came up next, while waiting for rain to stop…came back to somewhere near 2nd link to eat TEN COURSE seafood dinner…somebody actually suggested round 2…black pepper crab or durian….heng never go eventually….this kind of trip, every 3 mths can only go once, will become fat..

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NUS riders grp just got approved…we should be known as “NUS Students’ Motorcyclists Interest Group”, which imo..sounds way too official n boring.. meeting OSA tml to discuss about the club, i’m hoping to incorporate NUSRiders into the name man… and i’m supposed to be the president of the club, at least in this interim period.. not very sure if i’m up to it, and if i really want it…have to find freshie liaoz!

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Was at esplanade training, last session yesterday when me and him were called out by theresa thank to this post…some ppl have told me b4 that this post has been spreading like wildfire among current espl ushers waves to anyone of u reading this and they took it very seriously, serious enuff to email theresa to ask if ucc ushers are being discriminated against, and they being ex-ucc, wat are the repercussions.. so she had to clarify on my behalf and that explained the discussion between the 3 of us, of which i was made known that it’s not an attempt to force me to edit my blogpost..which i did willingly by putting the original post in quotes..

I think that discussion that we had after module 6 (fire evac) with the ucc ppl was done when we were still highly-strung after commencement, and the fact that training was conducted in a manner that dampens our morale.. hence in my own words, i took 2 + 2 to be equal to be 4.5 and hence i (or even more than a few of us) felt that we were being discriminated..

Nobody said that we are cliquish in reality, it’s just that we should try to make more friends out of ucc circle…that doesnt imply we are cliquish..imho, that’s saying 2 - 1 = 2 + (-1), but perhaps they really didn’t mean it that way, i’m thinking too much as usual…

I raised my concerns about the training, and i won’t hesitate to talk about them here…

1. There is a gap in their definition of facilitators and mine…cos it seems that facis = trainers for them…for my case, it’s a bit different..facilitators opens doors and guide ppl to cross over to the other room on their own accord thru reasoning and analysis…facilitators dun have to force ppl thru the doors..imho, modules 1,2,3 and 5, we have trainers, not facilitators in that sense..
2. I witnessed a member of the HR team waving the attendence records in front of a gal’s face n telling her in a threatening voice that if next time no foto, no need to come back training.. that is highly unncessary, and it’s a pity that i never got the chance to speak to that gal
3. A CSO when bringing a grp ard for fire evac route familiarisation flared up and banged the door with her hand, shouted at 2 trainees who were in her opinion hiding further up the stairwell, when in reality they could have been blocked by other trainees, deprieving them of the chance to look thru a door… the same CSO later reminded the class that she can be a very nice person if she wants to.
4. A trainer when bringing her grp ard for site tour, upon discovering that 3 of her trainees are missing was immediately concerned enuff, not to search for them but rather deem them as inattentive and drifted off.. The reason for drifting off was that the grp left from break w/o them, a headcount may not have been done… i wun speculate..but with all the trainers being linked up by walkies, it could have been easier to check with other trainers if there were extra ppl in their grps… my trainers, jasmine and xavier did that when we were short of ppl at the start..

For all these reasons, i deem that espl has alot to touch up in terms of training esp for the above 4 modules… the reasons that i’ve heard for these incl that the trainers are humans as well, and make mistakes too due to long hours and working in a high stress environment…that they have experience with trainees from prev batches who chao keng during training, and hence they need to be more vigiliant.. these are all very valid reasons, but more care has to be taken to ensure that the same issues do not come up again, and it’s impt to have trust between trainers and trainees…

It was only after modules 4 and 5, the cust service modules that i realised the place has a very human touch to it..from providing a specific brand of whiskey to a regular patron, to making sure a large-sized patron has access to the wider seats…these are all examples of personal touch…

Eventually after all the training, no matter they are conducted in watever manner..the job is still to ensure that every patron has a good and unforgettable experience..it’s about being a professional usher and a competent host.. i still yearn for this challenge to work in this place.. n of cos for the money as well =Pp To all the ucc ushers in espl training…thanks for standing by me, esp LM who had to endure thru the discussion despite his flu…

To all ex/current ucc ushers @ espl…u noe who u are…u found my blog or someone told u to read it..i may noe some of u… i just wanna say sorry for all the distress that i’ve caused…this was never my intention at the start…

To espl ushers who have felt that it’s necessary to fwd my blog, 1stly thanks for raising the profile of my blog..i came, oh so close to winning endorsements… haha! but on a serious note, i believe that as professional ushers, we wun have problems working together if we treat one another with sincerity.. i dunno u ppl, and u dunno me on a personal basis..hence it’s a clean slate and we can definitely build on this..

For staff/ushers who are bent on making me suffer @ espl..i’m not sure if u ppl exist in the 1st place, i hope there is none..but if suay suay there is…takes 2 to tango….dun expect me to carry balls…i’m more likely to carry urs high high…n throw them down…dun gimme the shit that u’re senior, i must give u face…u earn ur own respect…

enuff of ranting and explaining…

Tags: Singapore Esplanade

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This post has been placed in quotes after a discussion @ esplanade with HR… some things have been clarified, there is no special treatment for ucc ushers.. so i was quick to jump to the conclusion.. however i’m not gonna delete the post as it still applies to wat i feel after modules 1, 2, 3 and 6..that espl has a lot to improve in terms of training.. it was only after modules 4 and 5, conducted after this post was 1st put up, that i realised the place has a personal side to it… also, pls read the above post…

Been to 4 esplanade training sessions, and i’m having mixed feelings about the place and ppl… i think i never mention b4 the ppl there.. they are very professional and serious about the place and their work, which is a good thing, if only it wasnt done so excessively.. We are starting to hear comments from the trainers that the UCC ushers are very cliquish and wun interact out of the ucc circle.. the weirdest thing we heard was that we feel superior to the other trainees who are mostly newbies to the ushering circle, and all of us have ushered for @ least a yr @ ucc and some of us, indoor stadium.. So that’s y we are not paying attn to the facilitators and the subjects covered, cos we noe everything… I seriously dun see how we can get to interact @ esplanade training sessions…1stly it’s a lecture sys, and in lectures u dun openly talk…u only make small talk, whisper abit to the ppl sitting next to u… and would u pref to sit with strangers or friends? I would pref the latter definitely.. 2ndly, i dun think many ppl there wanna really get to noe one another? i wun bother to go beyond getting a few phone numbers in case i wanna swap duties or something, but i wun purposely go n make frens there…call me a dao-kia, but even if i wanna swap duty, i would try the other 8 ucc ushers there 1st.. I really hate the comment about us not paying attention..ok i sit like i bloody dun care…never take out notes, hugging my bag and sliding down my seat… but my eyes are always on the speaker or screen…and i like to think that i ask smart qns, or @ least ask about things the instructors never covered but what would be useful for the other trainees..it doesnt hurt to confirm the simple stuff too…. yesh i rather be this kind of person than one who seems to be paying full attention but really isnt.. I think ppl there need to lighten up, there’s no way u can call urself a facilitator when u treat the trainees the way a sergeant would treat his recruits.. a faci facilitates discussions, opens doors and not force ppl thru the doors.. that’s basically wat i feel about the ppl there… I think i will stop asking qns in public, cos i dun wanna kana marked as someone who noes alot about ushering..i gonna ask in private..it’s not worth making enemies over this..we can all be professionals too rite…just work there for the money, dun even think about making friends cos it’s probably close to impossible…mai4 liao4 see3 gan1

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Xiaxue’s blog just kana hacked… ok even though i dun really like her writing style, occasionally she still comes up with a few gems of a post, and somemore my jr from rv (no i dunno her personally), if anyone has leads, pls visit her site and contact her… i think even if u hate someone, u’re still a big fucker if u hack ppl’s accts and delete their stuff…

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It’s finally over! After 8 days and 21 sessions later, after dealing with orcs, undead and night elves, after eating almost the same reception food over and over again.. we are finally done with commencment 2005.. Stood until my entire legs were numb, especially my left thigh where i’m very prone to nerve-pinching…shoulders ache… headache.. this is really one of the ultimate test of being a UCC usher, and i’m glad that i went thru this period smoothly most of the time. Actually now that it has ended, i’m starting to miss it.. no more packing guests, no more telling guests to rise b4 the academic procession…no more cheering for graduating seniors…no more telling guests to shut the fuck up n sit down to let the graduands leave 1st.. no more bursting of countless numbers of balloons.. no more squeezing in pantry with 20 over ppl..less chance to see chuhua going crazy..less chance to see kimberly high on panadol extra..less chance to see anu and yifang performing incredible eating feats…

I woud never forget some of the patrons whom i’ve met in the past 8 days…who can ever forget the lady in pinkish red..she was sitting in back stalls and requested to shift to row X/Z which are closed off.. me deciding to be nice to her decided to bring her to a single seat in row 4..tot that’s end of case.. no lor, she brought her husband from behind to a single seat in front of her.. just nice there got seat.. n 2 of them…very funny…hubby started by sitting @ edge of his seat holding camera high up…wife behind had to take video, sitting EVEN further out, holding videocam EVEN higher… halfway thru the ceremony, she went outside n tried to admit her daughter in who doesnt even have an invitation or the yellow pass.. her reason being that there is so many seats left.. and her daughter took cab for 25 bucks to come nus for this..we discussed wanna let them in or not..decided not to as she has been causing problems [See, u want some extra perks @ performance venues, ask nicely and u may get them..behave like asshole, u get shit] So she started to talk loudly in venue and complained complained…until we had to get her out… n she let her daughter in for her seat…

This family of 6 came with only 5 invites and a 5 yr old kid..by rite we should not have admitted them, no invite and underaged.. but they were nice enuff to talk to us properly, and said if really no choice then it’s ok..half of them can go in..the other half can go viewing gallery…but we still decided to let them in eventually cos they were nice customers…an angmoh guy wanted to reserve 2 seats, by rite is cannot..i still let him, but told him that i would allow him to hold for 10 mins only due to large crowd and hoped that he would understand.. no he didn’t get pissed or anything, he replied cheerfully,“absolutely, i understand the rule…thanks for accomodating me” Anyway his guests didn’t arrive after 10 mins but i didnt bother him, and eventually they came after 20 mins… another satisfied patron, another happy usher…

some guests are also plain weird, this granny came with her 2 grand-daugters aged ard 7-8 i think n wanted to reserve 5 more seats…then she wanted to go out to look for the remainder of her family, so she left 1 gal @ the 1st seat, and the other gal @ the 8th seat…

This old man wanted to sit on 2nd row, he was walking very very slowly..took me 3 mins to walk him that 20 metres..sat down within 5 mins say wanna go toilet… repeated the walk…after which he was damn shagged and we let him sit our wheelchair n view the ceremony from the gallery..

To all ucc ushers who have been camera trigger-happy..pls send me all the links to the fotos that u ppl took!

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I realised that commencement is a good time to meet up with friends whom u have not met for a very very long time…here’re some of the ppl whom i’ve met in the past few days…

Zirui..my best fren when i was a kid, she stayed next door.. Huizhen, pri 5-6 classmate…she really 女大十八变 Felicia, JC classmate.. Ruyi, pri 3-6 and jc classmate.. Pei’e, jc classmate Tze Hoong, proj mate in nus yr 1 Lee Chong, sec 3-4 classmate Yuanyuan, pri 2/3 classmate Jiayi, jc cca mate Shanshan, jc cca mate Liu Chang, jc cca mate Liming, jc proj mate Jamie, jc proj mate How Wing, jc proj mate Shiyun, sec 4 classmate Yvonne Ng, rv/hwachong sch mate Mengting, rv schmate Gary, army friend Henry, my DyS1 Hejazi, army friend

More to come definitely..

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Did i type it here before, that i love my work as an usher, especially @ ucc.. everyone there is ard the same age and mostly in the same school…hence we click well across the 3 teams, especially during commencement period when every team has ppl working on any single shift..

for ppl who dunno wat commencement is..u can take a look @ the website.. 21 shifts spread over 8 days and 7100 graduands and countless number of guests.. we meet all kind of ppl, those who refused to be packed, as in we try to maximise sitting by requiring guests to fill up all the seats and leave gaps.. but often u have asshole patrons who refuse to play ball.. u have ppl who wanna leave their seats to take fotos..u have ppl who wanna leave b4 the VIPs do…suckiest thing is that u have to deal with the Orcs and the Undead

Now the Undead are pretty ok actually, they are the main in-charge of Commencement, do stuff like plan the graduation schedule..showing the grads to their seats n making sure their names appear on the screen correctly..

Orcs, are a different breed..everywhere they go..they wear their armour, read: power suits… their jobs are to deal with external affairs of nus…media experts…whatever ucall them..they have VIPs coming per shift who will sit in the front 3 rows usually.. of cos somedays u dun have much vips, like just now…so u can’t even fill up 1st row..

The orcs decide that it doesnt look nice..and hence told me to look for patrons who are well-dressed to sit front row… hence i approached 2 old ladies who looks well dressed enuff..ok they aren’t dressed for some cocktail function, but neither are they dressed for pasar trip.. the 1st thing the orcs told me upon my decision

“WHY DO YOU CHOOSE THIS KIND OF PEOPLE?”

Total loss for words on my part..

Later the final 3 VIPs came, dressed in jeans and t-shirts..basically look ready for shopping centre.. and i did the most unprofessional thing in my 1.5 yrs of ushering, i sarcastically asked the orcs, mabbe within hearing dist of the VIPs… “THESE ARE YOUR VIPS?” Nothing happened that afternoon…until evening when my colleague told me that the head orc asked him for my name n probably wanna make a complaint against me… no lah, orcs can’t talk to me personally…i too low in the fucking order.. must tell their head to fuck my head who will then fuck me, mabbe?

I have only this to say to the orcs. BEFORE YOU GET TOO COMFORTABLE AND HAUGHTY IN YOUR POWER SUITS, PLS FUCKING WAKE UP YOUR IDEA… YOU WORRY ABOUT NUS’ IMAGE WHEN I SAID WHAT I SAID IN FRONT OF YOUR SO-CALLED VIPS..HOW U CHOOSE THEM, HOW THEY DRESS IS NOT MY PROBLEM.. I AM DOING YOU AND THE AUNTIES A FUCKING FAVOUR BY MOVING THEM, THEY GET A BETTER VIEW AND YOU GET YOUR FILLERS.. YOUR VIPS MAY NOT BE HAPPY WITH WHAT I SAID TO YOU ALL, I AGREE IT’S MY FAULT AND I’M MORE THAN WILLNIG TO APOLOGISE ON A PROFESSIONAL LEVEL..BUT WHAT U SAID TO ME, IF MY AUNTIES HAVE SHARPER EARS AND KNOW ENGLISH..HOW WOULD THEY FEEL..

Anyway orcs like these occur in every facet of life, especially in aNUS… i guess we just have to bear with them…if i have a chance to turn back time and go thru this incident again…i would not change wat i did….

Tag: NUS

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