It's been 20 days since I last worked and I am starting to really feel like those useless sons who stays at home all day and sponges off his parents money, money the parents got from collecting drink cans and selling used newspaper.
So I went to collect my last pay check, well second last since I have another one that's not due yet, on Friday, the pay was as expected, not high at all, slightly higher than my pay as a recruit in the army and like a hundred bucks lesser than my pay as a Corporal... and I didn't even need to do anything physically demanding in the army to get paid $600 per month, so I am actually spoilt by the army, salary wise.
The trip to collect my pay was riddled with cold sweat and headaches from the horrible motion sickness I was getting from riding the bus, which I waited for a half hour. Got my pay, returned the uniform, signed some form and bought my bubble tea, lemon flavored because I read somewhere that lemon helped in soothing motion sickness, along with some fried snacks for lunch before heading back to ride the bus home again, the journey back was even worse. It didn't take long for the bus arrive at my stop and everything was going well, the aroma of my fried snack was wafting through the air in the bus and I was taking small sips of my lemon tea to suppress a potential motion sickness attack.
At the third or fourth stop on my way home in the bus, an old man decides to board the bus and for some reason, take a shit in his pants, by shit his pants I mean release his steaming pile of human defecate, or what we would call diarrhea, right into his long pants, and I didn't realize he had taken a shit when the bus driver was chasing him out of the bus until I saw two Indian ladies sitting near him taking their sarees and covering their noses with it followed by the passengers who were sitting around the old man's vicinity moving to the back of the bus. The smell hit me later on because I was already being surrounded by the smell of yummy fried snacks... and seeing the soiled pants the old man was wearing only emphasized what I was beginning to smell. He was wearing a long black pants, so it was shiny where the stream of shit that was stuck in his pants was and the sheen was all the way down to the back of his knee area... like a shit luster design.
Can only imagine how horrible it must feel to have to unzip your long pants and be welcomed by the sight of a stream of shit just climbing down your legs, and the fact that he was kicked out of the bus probably meant that he had to walk to a toilet to clean up, which is even more disgusting because the time he took to walk to a public toilet would have probably allowed his shit stream to harden and crust up. I can imagine a bit I guess, since I had actually took a shit in my pants in Primary School before unknowingly and allowed it to stay there for the entire school day... smelled like burnt rubber for some reason... Hmmm.
The funny thing was that right after the old man was chased out of the bus after he had stink up the entire bus with what he had for dinner the night before, a few stops later, some Indian guy carrying a giant luggage boards the bus, wearing full white, white buttoned shirt with long white pants, I'm not even making this up, sits right where the old man who shit his pant was seated like 5 minutes earlier, no one told the Indian dude anything, the Indian saree ladies just looked at him and all I was thinking was how hilarious the whole situation was in my head. The Indian guys' pants didn't get stained though, since all the shit was actually stuck in the old man's pants but I bet his pants smelled liked it... if he goes home, pulls his pants down, shoves it in his face and takes a deep breath or ten.
And the lemon drink didn't work because as I was almost about to reach my stop, I had to get out a few stops early because the motion sickness got so bad that if I hadn't, I would have probably vomited in the bus, and the old man don't need someone like me stealing his limelight. Waited for my motion sickness to go away before finally flagging a bus to complete my journey.
So right now, I am just awaiting responses from the various companies that I have applied for, most hoping to get the position in IKEA as an Interior Designer, which actually is a bit underachieving now that I think about it. Looking at the other companies Facebook profile and seeing their workers doing AutoCAD drafting made me feel really really depressed because it looked so uninspiring to be staring at floorplans and building elevations all day.
Indecisive. What I do in online games, now I am doing in real life. Play a character for a while, get bored of it and play another one, worked in an Interior Design firm, got bored of it and work in a restaurant and now going back to the Interior Design field. The perfect job for me would be one as a cake designer, seated all day and decorating a cake or rolling out fondant dolls.
Monday 20 January 2014
Monday 13 January 2014
End of my F&B Career.
Decided to show some initiative today and actually ask the Central Pastry Kitchen ,my supposed new workplace, whether or not they were planning my schedule this week...
"We don't need any staff for now so we don't need you to come down. We're sorry for not updating you."
I'm paraphrasing but it's essentially that. When I first told them I was ready to work, they told me that they would get back to me as soon as possible, apparently their definition of "asap" is a week, maybe 2 week if I hadn't messaged the person in charge.
I wouldn't go as far as to say that they wasted my week, making me wait for them to actually give me what I had hope would be a decent work schedule, because even if they had told me beforehand that I wasn't needed, I would probably be doing the exact same thing... staying at home to game and feel bad about the direction my life is heading towards instead of going back to the old restaurant to work.
The day before I actually told the restaurant I wasn't planning to go back to help out anymore because my new job wasn't working out and I was working elsewhere full time, a white lie which I have every intention to follow through... by follow through I mean actually finding a full time job, not continue to lie and make up more lies to cover that one up... takes too much effort to spin up a good story without any plot holes in between.
So that's one load off my chest, the next thing is just having to go back to collect my final pay check. I also have absolutely zero intention of going back to the Central Pastry Kitchen to work anymore, because even though they didn't technically waste my time, I mean I'm doing that on my own accord at this point, it's pretty unprofessional of them to not even have the decency and initiative to drop me a simple text message telling me I'm not needed the entire week.
"If you have anything else to do, you go ahead and do them, I can't advise you at this point in time."
If they had told me earlier, I would probably just wait for them to schedule me, but the fact that they didn't even bother to, well I'm just gonna take it that I am no longer needed, heed their advice and I'm going to go ahead and start finding a full time job. Screw them and their influx of Chinese New Year orders.
"We don't need any staff for now so we don't need you to come down. We're sorry for not updating you."
I'm paraphrasing but it's essentially that. When I first told them I was ready to work, they told me that they would get back to me as soon as possible, apparently their definition of "asap" is a week, maybe 2 week if I hadn't messaged the person in charge.
I wouldn't go as far as to say that they wasted my week, making me wait for them to actually give me what I had hope would be a decent work schedule, because even if they had told me beforehand that I wasn't needed, I would probably be doing the exact same thing... staying at home to game and feel bad about the direction my life is heading towards instead of going back to the old restaurant to work.
The day before I actually told the restaurant I wasn't planning to go back to help out anymore because my new job wasn't working out and I was working elsewhere full time, a white lie which I have every intention to follow through... by follow through I mean actually finding a full time job, not continue to lie and make up more lies to cover that one up... takes too much effort to spin up a good story without any plot holes in between.
So that's one load off my chest, the next thing is just having to go back to collect my final pay check. I also have absolutely zero intention of going back to the Central Pastry Kitchen to work anymore, because even though they didn't technically waste my time, I mean I'm doing that on my own accord at this point, it's pretty unprofessional of them to not even have the decency and initiative to drop me a simple text message telling me I'm not needed the entire week.
"If you have anything else to do, you go ahead and do them, I can't advise you at this point in time."
If they had told me earlier, I would probably just wait for them to schedule me, but the fact that they didn't even bother to, well I'm just gonna take it that I am no longer needed, heed their advice and I'm going to go ahead and start finding a full time job. Screw them and their influx of Chinese New Year orders.
Friday 10 January 2014
Rotting at home.
Staying at home right now with absolutely nothing to do except game.
I have reached that point in my life where doing that the whole day actually makes me feel really useless, it's like when a fat person knows he has to go on a diet but he can't help it, his hand just automatically dials the McDelivery number.... except I am not fat but I am pretty sure my liver isn't at it's optimal condition.
So I have essentially been spending my entire week at home gaming and playing MMO games like it was pre-enlistment all over again, except with Pre-Enlistment, at least I know there was something to "look forward" to, right now it just feels like I am wasting my time doing absolutely nothing productive at home when I could be outside earning money and hoping to get off work so I can go back home and do absolutely nothing productive.... and not feel like I am wasting my time.
One thing I really need to do now is to actually quit my old job because now I am just doing the carrot and stick approach with them, giving them false hope that I will go back in my free time to help out the kitchen when I have absolutely no intention of ever going back to work there again. The biggest problem right now is that they are holding to to my pay for last month, which probably amounts to less than $500, not a lot at all considering the amount of work I had to do.
When I say work, I don't mean the amount of hours I clocked, what I mean is the actual work I do. When I say I work for 6 hours, I mean I am literally working non stop for 6 hours....
First 2 hours - Preparation of cake batter, different whipped cream, creme brulee, brushing ramekins with butter.
Next 2-3 hours - Non-Stop preparation of desserts for the lunch crowd, which doesn't slow down until like 2 pm, there's always a line outside the restaurant, it's fucking amazing how some Singaporeans can actually queue up despite the crazy long line of people, I mean there are like 20 people in front of you waiting to be seated, maybe wanna try eating elsewhere so I can actually take a break . The only time I would actually queue up is when I am buying bubble tea, well actually that's equally WTF so I have no right to be judging them I guess. All I can say is, the desserts I prepare in the restaurant are never made with love. My heart and mind is filled with stress, there's no space for "love".
Last 1-2 hours (they always make me do slight less than an hour extra) - A mix of preparing orders for customers and doing more mise-en place for the dinner crowd. And if the person who's taking over me is late, which he always is, I will have to handle the initial dinner crowd or what I would call the pre-cum of dinner customers. I get the most tense when I see group of teenagers comes in at like 4 pm because you know those are the damn customers who are going to be ordering the specialty desserts because they saw pictures of it on their Social Networking Sites.
Oh, and then after that it's my lunch at like 4 pm or 5 pm depending on how late the person taking over me is, the latest I had my lunch was at 6 pm, and I only had my bread for breakfast like 7 hours earlier.
Whereas in a desk bound job, when I say I work for let's say 8 hours...
First Hour - Doing actual work.
Next 2 Hours - Open new tab in Internet Browser and log into Facebook and Twitter. Go for a toilet break every half an hour.
Next 1 Hour - Go for lunch.
Next 2-3 Hours - Mixture of work and browsing the internet but mainly browsing Youtube and looking for music videos to listen to and watch when no one is around. And then go home.
And even with that I still get paid more in a desk bound job.
That's why Passion is so important in the F&B industry because it's passion that will blind you from the fact that your are actually being overworked, underpaid and thinking that that's actually a financially stable job, well it kinda is because all your supposed "free time" is spend in the kitchen and your actual free time is spend sleeping at home to get your body rested for the next day, and the next day and the next day.... those smart ones who actually realize the vicious cycle, which goes on for quite a while because that vicious cycle will end eventually when you get to the top, will actually go and do teaching in a culinary school like all my Chef Instructors... get a decent pay and have work-life balance.
I have reached that point in my life where doing that the whole day actually makes me feel really useless, it's like when a fat person knows he has to go on a diet but he can't help it, his hand just automatically dials the McDelivery number.... except I am not fat but I am pretty sure my liver isn't at it's optimal condition.
So I have essentially been spending my entire week at home gaming and playing MMO games like it was pre-enlistment all over again, except with Pre-Enlistment, at least I know there was something to "look forward" to, right now it just feels like I am wasting my time doing absolutely nothing productive at home when I could be outside earning money and hoping to get off work so I can go back home and do absolutely nothing productive.... and not feel like I am wasting my time.
One thing I really need to do now is to actually quit my old job because now I am just doing the carrot and stick approach with them, giving them false hope that I will go back in my free time to help out the kitchen when I have absolutely no intention of ever going back to work there again. The biggest problem right now is that they are holding to to my pay for last month, which probably amounts to less than $500, not a lot at all considering the amount of work I had to do.
When I say work, I don't mean the amount of hours I clocked, what I mean is the actual work I do. When I say I work for 6 hours, I mean I am literally working non stop for 6 hours....
First 2 hours - Preparation of cake batter, different whipped cream, creme brulee, brushing ramekins with butter.
Next 2-3 hours - Non-Stop preparation of desserts for the lunch crowd, which doesn't slow down until like 2 pm, there's always a line outside the restaurant, it's fucking amazing how some Singaporeans can actually queue up despite the crazy long line of people, I mean there are like 20 people in front of you waiting to be seated, maybe wanna try eating elsewhere so I can actually take a break . The only time I would actually queue up is when I am buying bubble tea, well actually that's equally WTF so I have no right to be judging them I guess. All I can say is, the desserts I prepare in the restaurant are never made with love. My heart and mind is filled with stress, there's no space for "love".
Last 1-2 hours (they always make me do slight less than an hour extra) - A mix of preparing orders for customers and doing more mise-en place for the dinner crowd. And if the person who's taking over me is late, which he always is, I will have to handle the initial dinner crowd or what I would call the pre-cum of dinner customers. I get the most tense when I see group of teenagers comes in at like 4 pm because you know those are the damn customers who are going to be ordering the specialty desserts because they saw pictures of it on their Social Networking Sites.
Oh, and then after that it's my lunch at like 4 pm or 5 pm depending on how late the person taking over me is, the latest I had my lunch was at 6 pm, and I only had my bread for breakfast like 7 hours earlier.
Whereas in a desk bound job, when I say I work for let's say 8 hours...
First Hour - Doing actual work.
Next 2 Hours - Open new tab in Internet Browser and log into Facebook and Twitter. Go for a toilet break every half an hour.
Next 1 Hour - Go for lunch.
Next 2-3 Hours - Mixture of work and browsing the internet but mainly browsing Youtube and looking for music videos to listen to and watch when no one is around. And then go home.
And even with that I still get paid more in a desk bound job.
That's why Passion is so important in the F&B industry because it's passion that will blind you from the fact that your are actually being overworked, underpaid and thinking that that's actually a financially stable job, well it kinda is because all your supposed "free time" is spend in the kitchen and your actual free time is spend sleeping at home to get your body rested for the next day, and the next day and the next day.... those smart ones who actually realize the vicious cycle, which goes on for quite a while because that vicious cycle will end eventually when you get to the top, will actually go and do teaching in a culinary school like all my Chef Instructors... get a decent pay and have work-life balance.
Wednesday 1 January 2014
Happy New Year.
It's a new year. Yay~!
The idea of New Year only makes an impact on students, for me it is anyway because that just means I have to wake up early at 6 am and go back to school the next day.
Like how animals view time, the new year isn't really doing anything special for me... probably because I don't actually have much of a social life so there's nothing to look back to and reminiscence. And new year resolutions are essentially things you can do the year before but decide not to and leave it for 2014 like the procrastinators you are.
I have never bothered to make a resolution before because I know I am not going to follow through with the list of things I have written down.
1. Make a million dollar by the end of the year.
2. Be a better person and open up a charitable organisation.
3. Donate a million dollar to my own charitable organisation.
4. Make my charitable organisation global and collect donations from everyone around the world.
5. Embezzle the money from the organisation.
6. Built a rocket to fly to space and built an empire on Mars.
Sounds legit.
Was busy working on New Year's Eve because I had forgotten it was a public holiday that day, and not surprisingly, there were a lot of customers during lunch time, my work timing was extended due to insufficient manpower and I ended up working an extra half an hour, probably unpaid. The day before I had to work an extra 2 hours, fully paid of course but at the expense of my lunch break being pushed all the way back from 4 pm to 6 pm... which is technically makes it dinner. I did not get a good night sleep that night, woke up in the middle of the night looking for food.
The work pace in a restaurant is not something that I can mentally prepare myself for, and I am starting to think working in that particular pastry station is just a bad idea. The hot kitchen cooks who had to cover the pastry station didn't enjoy doing it, the manager who was send into the kitchen to learn to ropes also wasn't interested in getting back into the pastry station to work after my replacement yesterday asked her to help out, no one wants to work in that pastry kitchen because no one wants to be stuck doing a 2 man job for 12 hours alone. And it also doesn't help that the 3 newly hired pastry cooks were send to the other outlet... leaving my side with only me as the full fledged pastry cook.
That's a valid reason to quit, overworked and underpaid... and I'm not even working there on a daily basis for 12 hours a day, I'm only doing an average of 6 hours for 2 day a week, and for that 6 hours, I am always working my ass off, it's no wonder the full time hot kitchen cook who has to take over my side when I am either not working or am knocking off for work can be such a dick at times.
Good thing is now my priority isn't for the restaurant but for the other pastry shop central kitchen. Hopefully that one goes well... and if it doesn't, that's what my Singapore Polytechnic Diploma there for... to fall back on.
The idea of New Year only makes an impact on students, for me it is anyway because that just means I have to wake up early at 6 am and go back to school the next day.
Like how animals view time, the new year isn't really doing anything special for me... probably because I don't actually have much of a social life so there's nothing to look back to and reminiscence. And new year resolutions are essentially things you can do the year before but decide not to and leave it for 2014 like the procrastinators you are.
I have never bothered to make a resolution before because I know I am not going to follow through with the list of things I have written down.
1. Make a million dollar by the end of the year.
2. Be a better person and open up a charitable organisation.
3. Donate a million dollar to my own charitable organisation.
4. Make my charitable organisation global and collect donations from everyone around the world.
5. Embezzle the money from the organisation.
6. Built a rocket to fly to space and built an empire on Mars.
Sounds legit.
Was busy working on New Year's Eve because I had forgotten it was a public holiday that day, and not surprisingly, there were a lot of customers during lunch time, my work timing was extended due to insufficient manpower and I ended up working an extra half an hour, probably unpaid. The day before I had to work an extra 2 hours, fully paid of course but at the expense of my lunch break being pushed all the way back from 4 pm to 6 pm... which is technically makes it dinner. I did not get a good night sleep that night, woke up in the middle of the night looking for food.
The work pace in a restaurant is not something that I can mentally prepare myself for, and I am starting to think working in that particular pastry station is just a bad idea. The hot kitchen cooks who had to cover the pastry station didn't enjoy doing it, the manager who was send into the kitchen to learn to ropes also wasn't interested in getting back into the pastry station to work after my replacement yesterday asked her to help out, no one wants to work in that pastry kitchen because no one wants to be stuck doing a 2 man job for 12 hours alone. And it also doesn't help that the 3 newly hired pastry cooks were send to the other outlet... leaving my side with only me as the full fledged pastry cook.
That's a valid reason to quit, overworked and underpaid... and I'm not even working there on a daily basis for 12 hours a day, I'm only doing an average of 6 hours for 2 day a week, and for that 6 hours, I am always working my ass off, it's no wonder the full time hot kitchen cook who has to take over my side when I am either not working or am knocking off for work can be such a dick at times.
Good thing is now my priority isn't for the restaurant but for the other pastry shop central kitchen. Hopefully that one goes well... and if it doesn't, that's what my Singapore Polytechnic Diploma there for... to fall back on.
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