Hello there. I finally have the time to write something on steemit after being away for awhile. Basically what happen was, I got so devoted to steemit (although it has only been a week), I have been slacking on my work so badly that I almost got sounded by my boss. * wipes sweat away from forehead *
I do sales and marketing for a living. I do have an office but my boss doesn't want me to report to the office. Instead, he wants me to just randomly sit down in a cafe to do cold-calling. Just like any other sales, I'm supposed to secure at least 3 appointments in a week but I did not secure any appointment at all last week and my boss wasn't impressed with my report.
Alright, before I begin my topic, I shall share an incident that I've encountered yesterday night while I was on my way for dinner. My husband was dying to go to the loo, so he thought he could stop by at a nearby petrol/gas station. To my non-Malaysia readers, the fuel price in Malaysia changes every Thursday. As for this week's broadcast, it was said to increase by 7 cents, therefore the petrol station was packed loaded ! Poor Hub could not even find a place to park his car to use the washroom.
While we were queuing up to get into the station, I noticed something, There's this girl, probably in her mid 20s, leaning against her car with the fuel injector in her car and she was tapping her phone.
OH GOOD LORD !
Everyone was flashing and honking at her but yet, she was being completely ignorant towards her action. Hub quickly drove off. We ain't wanna die feeling hungry and with someone having a overloaded bladder.
I have always been in the sales and service line ever since I got my first job at the age of 17. I worked as a retail staff, dealing with customer of all ages and ethnicity. Then once I've got into college, I worked as a freelancer where I stood for 12 hours in fairs and exhibitions where I earned about RM100 a day doing hard selling because I have an added commission.
Try to think about it, working in all these fairs and exhibitions had taught me a lot. There was once I was a promoter for Fujifilm and I have ZERO knowledge about cameras, especially lenses. This old man, I would say around his mid 70's, approached me and asked a few questions. True enough, I answered wrongly and he actually corrected me. Not only that, he actually gave me a 10 minute course on camera.
I don't feel ashamed. Infact, I felt like I've just gotten an added advantage where I got to learn something from a professional.
Besides being a retail and freelance promoter, I did became a freelance model as well where I just stood for 2 hours and earn about RM350. Let's not cover that topic since there's nothing fascinating.
As I was saying, I had been doing hard selling for the past 4 years. I am not the best in skills, but I enjoy engaging with my clients, promoting my product and somewhat cornering them into buying.
Then...
My life began to change when I received this text while I was still working as a retail staff a few months ago. This person is one of Malaysia most well-known person, in the blogging community. He offered me a job as his Personal Assistant and admin. I took up is offer immediately because I no longer have to stand from 9.30am to 10pm and by the time I arrived home, it's already 11.30pm.
I did told him that I have no experience in administrative work and he decided to put a gamble on me.
Coming from a sales background, I struggled so badly. My job back then, was to sell and rush the HQ to bank in my salary on time. But when I took up this offer, my life changed completely.
I do not know how to use Excel or Google Sheets. I could only form a table and filled the columns with colors. It took me 4 hours just to create an invoice using Excel and trust me it was hell. Nobody could understand what I am going through, nor do I expect them to understand either. I was given less than a week to fully understand Excel and also my company's admin procedures. I was not given a chance to ask, and if I do, I would either get scolded or be ignored.
From engaging with clients, laughing and having discussions, I ended up locking myself in my very own office (at least I have an office for myself ), doing paper works and payments. Boy it was really tough. At one point I thought I am done with all these paperworks and BAM ! Here comes a few more.
Never in my life have I ever been so afraid of papers !
Often my boss would ask me if I am taking my job seriously and if I would want him to give me a 2 months notice.
I came in without any experience and I had to brush up everything in less than 2 weeks.
It is still not enough to impressed.
One day, my boss and I had a talk and came into an agreement where the admin work is not suited for me. I hand in my resignation and in a month time, I left.
What confuses me was,my General Manager approached me and said she was very impressed on how I manage to catch up with everything in less than 2 weeks.
'I see your struggle during your first 2 weeks, I apologize for being so harsh on you but I just could't put myself into your shoes because I have been doing this for so many years. Definitely, I did not catch up as fast as you did. A normal person would take months to get this right'.
I have resigned for 2 months and yet until now, I still have mix feelings.
Not sure how I should feel about it. But I personally think it's best to keep things neutral.
Another additional side note which is VERY VERY VERY
VERY
IMPORTANT
Stay out of dramas.
I was all alone and friendless because I could sense something bad will come and I was advised to do my part and ignore everyone else. Well, obviously I took the advise coming from a person who has worked in a office for so many years.
TRUE ENOUGH
I got called into the office for a confrontation due to my attitude problems.
'How can I have an attitude problem when I hardly mix with anyone ? You could see for yourself that I always walk out for lunch alone and head straight home when my shift ends instead of hanging around in the office for another 30 minutes to gossip.'
I MANAGE TO ESCAPE HOMIE !
Anyway, I'd better get back to work and get my report done.