~Aaron~

Yesterday was my first day working at Harrods. I didn’t really know what to expect from my new job with the ‘dispatch’ dept, although I had this impression that I’ll be in the green-man suit (looks more like lapricon) delivering goods to customer. Then when I knew what the job is gonna be, I realised that I’m overqualified for it…only packing things for delivery! Damn I thought; I should have gone to the sales associates interview. Agak pasrah gak ah. Suddenly I become really jealous with those who will be in their suits working in stores (unlike me who had to be a ‘buruh’ at the sub-basement floor- a floor below the basement floor)….argh,hurm,argh,hurm,argh - having loads of second thoughts; even as of now.

I guess the most frustrating thing is not going after things that you know you will get and opt for the second best option instead. I know that I would easily get the sales promoter job (if only I went for the interview) since I have the relevance experience and skills. My new job isn’t tiring. Perhaps the reason for my ‘regret/frustration’ is: it’s tooooo simple;I felt I could have contributed more than just packing.

But jumping into such conclusion when I have just been working for two days would probably be quite immature. I mean, summer sales is next week, probably will make it more chanlleging for me.

My collegues and supervisors are approachable. ‘Friendly’ is too soon an attribute I give them; I need more time too know them and hopefully at the end of my 6-week job I’ll get to know some of them better. What I know of them so far is, everyone is from a very different country - the Phillipines (one my supervisors), Bangladesh, Portugal, France, Nigeria, Togo.

I hope I’ll learn something from my job, despite it’s laidback nature (well, that’s what I think for now). Many interesting things can happen in 6 weeks!

Just finished my exam yesterday. And now, I’m in a super holiday mode!!!

Well not really, because this coming Monday will be my first at work at Harrods! Will be there for at least a month for the summer’s sale.

*sigh* gonna miss Pooley House. Will no longer have that kind of luxury anymore (unless I’m super rich)… saw my new room at Floyer. Quite daunting I guess. It’s small, lack everything in what Pooley has. But I hope it’s gonna be fun, coz there are loads of Malaysians gonna be there. The dentists and medics will be reunited under one roof! Yay!!

Thurston, Shin yee and Eliza will be flatmates..dunno who else will. Oh well, need to just wait till Sept arrives.

*sigh*..miss Pooley

Guess what I found?

_______________________________________________________________________

Malaysians among the world’s greatest shopaholics 

Kuala Lumpur: The
world’s biggest shopaholics are found in Asia, including Malaysia,
according to two international surveys on consumers’ attitudes towards
shopping.

In the surveys by ACNielsen which
covered 42 countries, seven of the top 10 nations that shop once a week
simply to amuse themselves hailed from Asia.

Consumers from Hong Kong,
Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia ranked among the highest in the world
for shopping twice a week for "entertainment".

Malaysians matched the global
average of 18 percent who considered shopping as therapeutic while 14
percent of Malaysians deemed shopping as a favourite thing to do.

The surveys found that in Asia,
Thailand (79 percent), Malaysia (78 percent) and the Philippines (75
percent) led the countries that deemed grocery shopping as a necessary
chore.

ACNielsen Malaysia’s managing director Steve Watt said shopping has become a national pastime in many Asian countries.   

"It is so entrenched in
lifestyles in Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia that
governments have wisely turned this national characteristic into a
major tourism attraction," he said in a statement here today.

Looking ahead, the new emerging
Asian tigers of India and Vietnam, with booming young adult populations
with unprecedented levels of disposable income, are set to become the
shopping meccas of tomorrow, Watt said.

"In these two countries, as well
as many more developed parts of Asia such as Hong Kong, Singapore,
Thailand and Malaysia, shopping malls are entertainment destinations
incoporationg cinemas, restaurants, food courts and additional sports
and entertainment facilities to suit all budgets," he said.

"There are shopping malls with modern facilities catering to all income levels and social groups of society," he added.   

Watt said in congested Asian
cities where accommodation is cramped and people often live with
extended families, the shopping mall has become a home away from home.

"People go there to escape the
worries and stress of work and home life and meet their friends and
‘hang out’. The upside of this lifestyle for retailers is that, with
the money these consumers save on living at home, there’s simply more
to spend at the shopping mall," he said.

A third of Chinese consumers, one
fifth of Indians and one seventh of Malaysians considered clothes
shopping as their favourite thing to do, according to the surveys.

On the other hand, nine percent
of the Malaysian respondents said they disliked clothes shopping,
behind North America (14 percent), Australia (12 percent) and New
Zealand (11 percent) in the global rankings. - Bernama

This is a blog entry that is close to my heart. Had it a year ago.
Kept reading it over and over again and still feel the
‘overwhelmingness’ of its message. Now that I realise people do read blogs, hopefully this will move you.

"The glass is half full; not half empty"

I’m just reminded of my grandmother who is turning 82 this year. She was at my house for a couple of days for her eye treatment.

I
was chatting with sister about her, when she told me some of the
conversations that she had with grandmother. One that struck me was the
fact that my grandmother is actually ready to… die. “Until 90, I think
it’s already enough.” I was just greatly disturbed by her statement
although I didn’t hear it first-hand.

It
was then that really struck me about life. There are just so many
things to learn about life and yet life is short. I tried to reason out
her statement: could it be that she’s very contented with the life that
she has? It’s logical to accept fate that everyone will die eventually.
But why 90? I don’t know if that’s a sign of surrender? Or
rather….satisfaction?

Then
I imagine myself in her shoe – at 82. How life would be like? Will I be
as curious, as questioning, and as intuitive as I was in the days of my
youth – or just can’t wait for the days of my life to end? How would
life be if you started living alone, when your life partner and close
friends die earlier, and your children won’t be able to spend a lot of
time with you because of their own personal life demand?

I’ve
heard this statement before, and this time, it somehow becomes very
real to me now, echoing really loud at me, over, and over, and over
again : “Life is short. Live life to its fullest.” I tend to complain and grudge at the small, menial stuff in life. However, the statement now really shuts my big fat mouth.

I appreciate life a little bit more…

I
really admire my grandmother for her strong physique despite her age.
She can still walk, and has very good memories. I thank God that He has
blessed my grandmother with the breath of life. I hope that this will
continue for a very, very long time.

Live life to its fullest.

Very inspiring

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that
goes on inside people.

He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt,
resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility,
kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and
faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed." 

1.You don’t have to call them every day, just to
let them know you’re not fighting

2.You don’t have an anniversary-you just sort
of
"became" best friends.

3.When someone calls your girlfriend/boyfriend
your "partner" it makes you think of marriage. When they call your best friend your partner,
it’s
more like cops.

4.You never have to touch your best friend
when
it’s hot outside, but you can still huddle close
when it’s freezing.

5.Your parents usually like your best friend.

6.Your best friend doesn’t care if you get fat,
you’re ugly, or if you get a bad haircut.

7.You don’t have to get jealous of "girls only"
night or "guys only" night — You’re part of it!

8.You can laugh at your best friend with no
consequences.

9.You can burp/fart in front of your best friend
on any occasion.

10.You can plan on still having a relationship
with your best friend in 20 years.

11.Never in your life will you need "space" from
your best friend.

12.Your best friend won’t be mad if you want
some
time alone, and will only ask you "what’s
wrong?"
once.

13.Your best friend is someone you get in
trouble
with; your boyfriend/girlfriend is someone you
get
in trouble with if you get in trouble.

14.You don’t have to get dressed up to go
anywhere
with your best friend.

15.You’re allowed to have multiple best friends.

16.No one ever spreads rumors or talks about
you
and your best friend’s relationship.

17.Borrowing any amount of money from your
best
friend is okay, no questions asked.

18.Your best friend will never refer to you as
"the ball and chain," "the old lady/man," or
"the
whip."

19.No one is ever trying to fix you up on blind
dates for a new best friend.

20.It doesn’t matter what your "other" friends
think about your best friend.

21. Your best friend is the first person you call
when you get a new boy friend / girl friend, and
when you break up with them.

    I’ve got a job interview with Harrods -  one as sales associate, and another at stock division. So, I managed to set my interview dates for both on the same day, although the most suitable day had me skipping the first day of my SSM ( the med office should provide the contact for each of the SSM. I surprisingly got my supervisor’s contact from google, so managed to inform her). Stock division interview was in the morning. Felt very confident, especially when I learnt that Harrods likes medical students a lot, and I happened to be the only medical student applying for this job. Hmm..probably coz this job is less ‘prestigous’ compared to the all-well-clad sales associate one. So I managed to get through the first round of my interview for the former…and little i knew that the 2nd interview would be in the afternoon, which clashed with my sales associate interview. Since I was already in the 2nd round, I abandoned that interview and continued with my stock division interview.

    Cut things short, got the job..signed a contract already with harrods yesterday!So, from 26th June (which is like 4 days after finals ends) till 6th August, I will be working with harrods in the dispatch department. Yipee!!! My first proper job ever!

    Well, I did have some thoughts about my abandoned interview (lesson: do not have your interviews on the same day unless you’re really sure that you can come!)… I reckon that sales associate will be paid much better than dispatch as they are dealing with customers, which will require more people skill. I’m paid GBP 6.30 (about RM 42!!) per hour for the job I got. Working 5 days a week, 9am-7.30pm for the next one month. Not too bad lah, coz when i think of it, there are several good reasons why I should do dispatch:

• Improved my practical skills…or rather my manual skills, which I’m not really good at.
• Harrods will definitely be packed with people during summer. And I can’t really work in a tight, packed environment. So I’m convinced I have slightly better air to breathe when working at dispatch.
• Good exercise? I mean, you dispatch things to all the departments, carrying a lot of things. Burn all my fat, and probabbly gain some muscles. Hehe
• Of course it would be cooler to wear suit when you’re the sales associate (compared to me who will be just wearing Harrods T-shirt and a pair of black jeans). But that also means higher maintanence. Need buy another pair of suit for work (wah, saaaaad man wearing the SAME suit every day for one month). Then, need to waste money on dry cleaning. And man, it’s gonna be HOT during summer, and you want to wear THAT ?????

    As for now, I need to settle some documents to bring on my first day of work later. I need to settle National insurance number. And also get letter of verification from the Uni. Lecehlah…

    Hopefully everything goes fine. Now, my that my two top summer concerns - work and accommodation - are already somewhat settled, I can concentrate on my finals (another 2more weeks!). Yay!

    I hope to work a bit longer with Harrods after that , probabbly for another month. If not, I want to do some volunteer work. Then in Sept, I can do loads of travelling around UK; and Europe is also a must! But I think I won’t want to work part-time there during term time ( although it will be very cool to do so) coz it’s very far away, and to work there just for 2-3hours a week is not worth the time and money wasted. I rather work with the uni where the pay is much better. The job as a part-time tutor only requires me to go to somewhere near where I stay, and pay is GBP 10 per hour! That’s soooooooooooooooooo wow!

Ok ok…study study!