Friends seems to be leaving one by one to work overseas, be it taking a big pay cut for traineeships, or already having a secured job in another country. Me, I’m still stuck slogging on this little island country.
Working in another country has been something I always wanted, but which is something I seems to lack the opportunity to do so. Can the truth be perhaps I lack the courage to step out? I don’t know. What I do know, I’ll meet with greater resistance from my mother than the Nazis met from the entire Europe. Family chains seriously rooting me to Singapore, or am I just drumming up excuses to cover the weakening flame of my desire? I can no longer distinguish them clearly.
It is kind of depressing, and even more so when I start comparing my low pay and long hours to my peers. With the Government sector making a relatively good upwards pay adjustment, promoting work-life balance and making it official service sector is doing very well but still one of the poorly paid, and still no hint of any sunshine in the far horizon from my company, I must say I’m getting tired.
Perhaps as I grow older, my priorities have changed. Low pay, especially when almost any fresh graduates can get much better than me, is becoming a bane. Even though friends like David are not pointing a flamethrower at my pockets so regularly, I now have my own little lighter which still burns my pockets pretty well, albeit a much weaker flame.
Is it more my company or is it more the nature of my job? If it’s my company, I can jolly well jump ship. If it’s the nature of my job, what other jobs are around where I can manage people, plan budgets, handle projects, involve in operations and stay out of the office chair?
With six more months before my bond ends, I still haven’t got the faintest idea what to do. Sighs. Decisions, decisions.
Working in another country has been something I always wanted, but which is something I seems to lack the opportunity to do so. Can the truth be perhaps I lack the courage to step out? I don’t know. What I do know, I’ll meet with greater resistance from my mother than the Nazis met from the entire Europe. Family chains seriously rooting me to Singapore, or am I just drumming up excuses to cover the weakening flame of my desire? I can no longer distinguish them clearly.
It is kind of depressing, and even more so when I start comparing my low pay and long hours to my peers. With the Government sector making a relatively good upwards pay adjustment, promoting work-life balance and making it official service sector is doing very well but still one of the poorly paid, and still no hint of any sunshine in the far horizon from my company, I must say I’m getting tired.
Perhaps as I grow older, my priorities have changed. Low pay, especially when almost any fresh graduates can get much better than me, is becoming a bane. Even though friends like David are not pointing a flamethrower at my pockets so regularly, I now have my own little lighter which still burns my pockets pretty well, albeit a much weaker flame.
Is it more my company or is it more the nature of my job? If it’s my company, I can jolly well jump ship. If it’s the nature of my job, what other jobs are around where I can manage people, plan budgets, handle projects, involve in operations and stay out of the office chair?
With six more months before my bond ends, I still haven’t got the faintest idea what to do. Sighs. Decisions, decisions.
posted by Cylee at
8:47 am I
0 comments
Friday, July 06, 2007
My Nihon-go
As part of evening shift operations, I had to call in every room that has Do Not Disturb sign on during the day to check if they require any servicing of the room for the day.
Typically, guests won’t be in and all I need to do is to leave a voice message. More often than not, I also hoped that guests won’t pick up the calls so I don’t have to deal with funny accents. Certain guests somehow also seem to feel obliged to have funny or complicated requests when we call them to inquire about their need for service. Or maybe that was just my luck.
Last Wednesday, I was on evening shift and proceeded as per procedure to call in the DND rooms. A guest in one of the rooms picked up the call. A Japanese guest. Damn, I thought.
I got to qualify first though, that I have absolutely nothing against Japanese guests. It’s just that when they come in a group, most likely their English level is poor. This leads to communication issue, as I had then.
When the guest picked up the phone, I enquire if she required any servicing of her room, in English of course. She hesitated and I knew then she doesn’t understand English. However, I’m in a dilemma. As a service provider, I couldn’t possibly just hang up the phone. Then again, despite all the monetary and time investments I had put into learning Japanese years ago, my grasp of the language sucks even better than the Black Hole.
‘Sumimasen. Gomennasai. Eto, mo ichido kudasai.’
She repeats those words 3 times. 3 times I understood what those words mean, but I just couldn’t find the simplest Japanese words to convey my question to her. I could only repeat my question slooowwllyyy… then she hung up and ended both our agony.
Whew.
Typically, guests won’t be in and all I need to do is to leave a voice message. More often than not, I also hoped that guests won’t pick up the calls so I don’t have to deal with funny accents. Certain guests somehow also seem to feel obliged to have funny or complicated requests when we call them to inquire about their need for service. Or maybe that was just my luck.
Last Wednesday, I was on evening shift and proceeded as per procedure to call in the DND rooms. A guest in one of the rooms picked up the call. A Japanese guest. Damn, I thought.
I got to qualify first though, that I have absolutely nothing against Japanese guests. It’s just that when they come in a group, most likely their English level is poor. This leads to communication issue, as I had then.
When the guest picked up the phone, I enquire if she required any servicing of her room, in English of course. She hesitated and I knew then she doesn’t understand English. However, I’m in a dilemma. As a service provider, I couldn’t possibly just hang up the phone. Then again, despite all the monetary and time investments I had put into learning Japanese years ago, my grasp of the language sucks even better than the Black Hole.
‘Sumimasen. Gomennasai. Eto, mo ichido kudasai.’
She repeats those words 3 times. 3 times I understood what those words mean, but I just couldn’t find the simplest Japanese words to convey my question to her. I could only repeat my question slooowwllyyy… then she hung up and ended both our agony.
Whew.
posted by Cylee at
7:40 pm I
0 comments