Wet tiring week and busy August

It has been a wet week, raining heavily and dark. It's also a busy and tiring week for me too, all thanks to some customers who are trying to be difficult and ridiculous. Not to mention with piles of tasks to follow-up, get some progress and hit the time frame as allocated.

The month of August is going to be even busier for me. 3 Saturdays will be taken up by work and training, with 1 Sunday for training as well. I wonder when I will get a good rest in August.

Busy busy busy... not good I feel. Let's hope I'm able to wrest and squeeze some quiet, peaceful day for myself to relax, unwind and have privae time for myself.

Right now, I'm at Global Sounds cafe to unwind, listen to the soothing jazz/blues and soak in the relaxing atmosphere. I'm looking forward to evening time when there's music performance.

Reflections: Unpleasant encounters at coffee chain outlets

Extracted from ST Forums 16 July:

Unpleasant encounters at coffee chain outlets

ON JULY 7, I went to Raffles Hospital Coffee Bean for breakfast.

In front of me at the counter was a woman complaining to the staff that she had been waiting for more than five minutes to make an order.

After her order was taken, the staff disappeared and I waited for some time till my wife suggested we go to Ah Kun Kaya Toast for breakfast.

There, we were immediately served.

The same afternoon, while waiting for my friends at Bugis Junction, I ordered a cup of tea at Starbucks and noticed that there was a stain in my cup.

To my surprise, initially they refused to change my cup. Finally, after demonstrating to the waiter that the stain can be easily removed, he got a replacement for me.

I had also encountered lipstick on the cups at Starbucks. Now I always check the cup before drinking.

Reading through the ST Forums every morning, I realized that there is a surge of articles on complaints and unhappiness over the service qualities and attitudes of many companies and service staff, ranging from major hypermart Carrefour, SIA, budget airlines to coffee chains such as Starbucks and Cofffee Bean. Such an article above is an example.

This makes me ponder what values and attitudes of Singaporean customers have as well as that of the service staff. Being in the service line and maintaining a friendly and happy attitude is a challenge. After a hard days work and maintaining a friendly and happy attitude is also a challenge. However, I don't believe being difficult and venting frustrations at the service staff will do any good. It goes in vicious cycles and creating an environment of hostilities.

I really wonder, is it such a big issue to wait for 5 minutes in a queue when there are so many customers. Is there a need to make a big fuss over a minor stain that can be easily removed and is not posing any health or cleanliness issues?

It puts me to think: Why can't we make life easier for each other and strive to create a more friendly and happy environment/society?

Another Sunday gone by......

Another Sunday gone by...... Just like that in a flash. Sighz, I wonder how many precious weekends have flew past in a wink.

Another Monday with meetings again. Perhaps it's high time to re-focus and re-align the balances in life.

What factors could it be? Working hours? Perceptions and priorities in life? People around me? Or is it the activities?

I'll leave these question to ponder over the next weekend when I'm in a more relaxed mood. Sigh, another hectic Monday.....

Another Saturday...... chilling out at GlobalSounds

It's another Saturday..... knocked off work at 3pm and feeling super hungry. I've been feeling a bit tired and burnt out after swallowing all the frustrations and seemingly fussy requests of customers. Thank god I'm able to knock off on time and go down to GlobalSounds to chill out.

I reached GlobalSounds at around 4pm and I quicky went online to chat with J. J popped up in MSN the moment I logged. Can't believe J was looking forward to see me online so much.

As usual, I ordered my favourite Iced Honey Rosebud drink and the recently discovered tasty mocha cake.

Think I'll chill out here till late. Can't bear to leave and enjoy some private time... Sunday's another 1/2 work 1/2 play day again... I really wonder when I can have a FULL rest day, away from the buzz and to somewhere very quiet, has lots of greenery & nature.

I look forward to that. Until then.. I guess it's work and short breaks to no end.

Quiet Saturday

Finally managed to have a Saturday to myself and go out with friends. However, I still received calls from my colleague to help out with her work. Gosh.. when can I ever get a COMPLETE break?

Anyway, I staked out at a cafe, relaxing and enjoing the music, quietness and time alone to chat with a friend on MSN. Of course, not to forget to enjoy the delicious Iced Honey Osmanthus and Iced Honey Rose with fries.

Later I'll be meeting Daryl and a few others at Bugis for dinner. Hope I get the same quiet time tomorrow. Still thinking whether I should pop in at the cafe again tommorrow.

2 weeks and 3 more......

Haiz... been so busy for the past 2 weeks. Sunday's my only rest day, yet find it so hard to relax and get enough rest. Wonder if I should arrange for a better working schedule, but it could be very difficult with the current situation. Sighz... think I'll have to bear with this situation for a while longer till more people come on board and lessen everybody's workload.

More work is coming up for the next 3 weeks (All on Saturdays... OH MY GOD!!!!) - 1 Fair, 1 Family Day and the most hated adjustment of GST. YES, adjustment/update of prices of ALL 160+ items!!!

Sighz.... think I may MIA for another 3-4 weeks again till the 7% GST adjustment project is closed and running without hiccups. Till then.... I'll be crossing my fingers that I won't be working my head and bottoms off.

A long weekend and a SUPERB chillout!

It's been almost 2 and a half months since I had any Saturdays off from work. Thank goodness this Saturday there isn't heavy events going on. I went back to office for a short while to tie up loose ends and managed to 'knock off' at 11.20am to catch a shuttle bus from Great World City to Chinatown. I had a makan outing with friends from a forum at Chinatown's Hong Lim Market and Cooked Food Centre. We met up at Chinatown MRT before proceeding to Hong Lim Market & Cooked Food Centre. Guess what we had? Cha Kway Teow! Yummy! Here's what we had... don't salivate, go try it! I had the Chat Kway Teow without chilli and hum because I don't like the raw fishy rubbery after-taste.

After we had the wonderful Cha Kway Teow for lunch, we went over to a cafe. It's newly opened by a friend's ex-camp mate, who set it up with 2 other partners. It's called Global Sounds. It's a cafe with World Music theme. Not a bad theme for a cafe, since there isn't any in Singapore with such a theme. Moreover, I've been trying to search for a suitable place to chill and hang out after my tiring working days for my weekends.

It's at the corner of Smith Street and it's pretty easy to find.

Entrance

We climbed up a flight of stairs to the 2nd floor and we had a pleasant suprise. The interior was quite well furnished and gave a homely warm cosy feeling.

Global Sounds Cafe's Entrance & Interior

We eased ourselves into a comfortable sofa corner and settled down for long chats, with several rounds of drinks and deserts. The Chef Tiramisu, Cafe Latte, Cafe Vienne, Ice Blended Mocha were ordered by my friends. All enjoyed the F&B. I had my 1st round of drinks with Ice Honey Osmanthus. It gave a fruity and slightly floral taste with a fragrant tinge of sweet honey. I liked it and ordered a 2nd round of Ice Honey Rosebud. This drink gave a more floral and fragrant taste, cuz of the young rosebuds.

Food & Beverages

We stayed and chatted for hours, settling and immersing ourselves into long conversations, thoroughly enjoying each others company. Some left early due to other appointments, and some of us stayed till 7pm. The rest of us then had a short dinner together before going home, to have the remaining evening to ourselves.

Long absence.... MIA and now back!

It's been a really long time since I last posted. Much things have been happening again. Moved on to another stage in life and started working full-time in a company to learn about running a business. Oh yes, my company's located in Great World City, pretty near to Orchard. It's really convenient for me to pop over to major bookstores like Borders, Kinokuniya and Times (at Plaza Singapura) with a direct bus.

Of course the boss won't just happily and gladly let me take high positions and giving instructions to staff. At my current experience and skills level, I'm starting at the bottom and back to basics. YES, all that quotes and advises from old kungfu masters and Yoda from Star Wars on "Back to basics, basics & more basics then mastering them over the years before advancing" ARE THE REAL STUFF! NO KIDDING HERE!

I'm real glad and lucky that the boss is a real nice guy and is willing to mentor me. What's more, he's willing to be flexible with the staff's working hours and letting him know when I need time off to relax or to balance work-life issues.

At this current stage, the company is undergoing transition. Lots of movement and changes are under way, so I've to work longer hours and cover some duties. There's also changes of staff during these 2 months (you know the job market now, people come & go....). Hope this stage will pass fairly soon with more staff (long-term stay I hope) coming on board and get the business on track. It's a real challenge and a superb learning opportunity to go through this stage with the company. It's been going for 2 months now.... and I believe it'll get better for the next 1 year and looking forward to see the fruits by end of next year.

As for my own time for relaxation, it's alternate Saturdays and Sundays with my current schedule. Guess I'll be chilling at cafes and hanging out at major bookstores to get my fill of people-watching and filling my neurons with new knowledge.

See you guys around soon!