Yesterday, as I made my way to work, I decided to head to the main office instead of the showroom to do my stuff like I've been doing for the past 3 days, it's much bigger there, it's a lot colder, plus its quieter because it's in the warehouse section of the shopping mall where no shopper resides.
As I set up my laptop and arranged all the goods I've gotten from daiso that day, a bottle of barely tea and a can of mint candy, the boss comes into the office and starts talking to one of the senior designer, speaking in dialect, I couldn't really understand what they were saying, I knew they were complaining about work so I didn't really bother, until the boss came to where I was sitting and said...
"Eh Timothy, what are you doing in the main office?"
This is probably the second time she has ever spoken to me, she wasn't confronting me, she was just curious why I was there, I knew why I was there but that reason was probably not what she would want to hear, so I just went...
"Ummm... hmmm."
... and when that Ummm...hmm got a bit too uncomfortable to string out any longer, I half jokingly told her I preferred the main office because the showroom office was too tight and it was always crowded, she whips out her phone and starts opening her security camera app.
"The showroom now got space, if you think the showroom office too small, then you just sit outside. You need to sit outside to learn from the other designers how to take requirement."
... and the senior designer chimes in as well and goes...
"Yeah, you sit outside better, we here all very senior already, not allowed to sit outside."
Sigh, and so I made my way to the showroom and was stuck there for the entirety of yesterday with nothing to do except rectify my floorplan and look for reference images on Pinterest. The boss drops by the showroom and spoke to me about half an hour after she had coaxed me out of the main office, asking me the usual stuff..
"Where are you from?"... because being a Singaporean is a super rare thing in that company, when I tell my colleagues I'm local, they will all look at my in disbelief. After working in 2 design firms just this 2 months alone, I've come to the conclusion most Sales Designers are actually Malaysians, I've been listening to them talk in their accent in Chinese that when I am thinking in Chinese, it's with their accent.
"Where did you graduate from?" ... the good thing about this company is that they hire only those with interior design diplomas, which is also kind of a bad thing because that means everyone there have a standard design students are suppose to have compared to the non-design trained variants which are rampant in this industry, and sadly, despite being interior design trained, half the time, I'm just winging it in the company.
"Why did you come into this field?" ... I really couldn't give her the answer that would impress her, which I assume would be "passion" because I just really have a passion in this field, I find it interesting but I don't spend my free time reading Interior Design Magazines or surfing Interior Design websites, just like how a regular person who enjoys eating don't end up working in the F&B Industry. When I told her I didn't know why, she just went "Hiyah~" and smiled at me.
She then told me something a lot of senior designers there have told me... whether its a cautionary tale or an advice.
"You need to be hungry to succeed, you need passion in the field, working hours are extremely irregular so passion is important, if you are seeking a stable job, this is not the one. We have people who work with us for less than 3 months and they quit because this isn't an easy job."
Welp, fuck me, and then they will backtrack and say things like...
"But it's only the beginning stages that is difficult, once you get past that initial stage, everything will fall into place naturally."
Not word for word but that's what they are trying to convey.
The longer I work there, I more I doubt I can succeed.
There are 2 attributes that I feel would make a Sales Designer successful...
1. Passion
They enjoy what they are doing and when they explain it to their clients, they will become giddy with excitement. Even if they can't do sales talk, just feeling that passion radiating from them would be more than enough to close a deal.
2. Ability to Sell a.k.a Sales Talk
If they don't have the passion, the fact that they are able to bullshit their way through with smoke and mirror would also be enough to close a deal, that's why there are so many horrible Interior Design firms out in Singapore that are still in business despite their horrible taste in Interior Design.
If a Sales Designer has either one of those attributes, then they will be able to succeed, if they have both, then it's a recipe for success, my trainer has both qualities, that is why she is so successful.
I don't have that passion in interior design, when I try and sell my design to my trainer during the mock presentation, even I myself don't believe in my own design, it looks nice but I'm always not sure if it would fit in the overall design scheme of the house, and now that I have to rectify the mistakes I have made in the space planning, I'm actually stuck, I spend hours yesterday staring at my laptop, wondering what the hell am I suppose to do, it's so frustrating.
I can't do Sales because I'm a more reserved individual. I'm not someone who likes forcing something on people and I feel that with Sales, there's a lot of that going on....
"You just want a TV Console, well fuck you, I'm gonna make 10 full height cabinets for your home because you need it, trust me, and maybe lets do a full mirror feature wall for all your walls, fuck it if it becomes an oven in the afternoon because it's going to be gorgeous and trust me, you need it, also, maybe lets abort your unborn child so we can convert his nursery into a Spa, like fuck yeah, who wants a burden when you can relax your muscles, trust me, you need it."
....and if the client has the audacity to say No, well then, that TV Console is going to be designed in such a way that it would cost the same as all the feature wall, cabinet, spa and abortion combined.
They say bad times don't last, but in this case, it isn't a simple case of learning the ropes, there isn't a specific formula when it comes to design, it's either you have the knack for it or you don't and I'm slowly coming to the realization that I probably don't. I'm not planning to quit anytime soon yet though because just the thought of quitting 2 jobs less than a month from each other and both in such a period of time is not just going to look bad, even I will feel like shit.
I need a fucking miracle for this job to work.
Speaking of miracles, I actually managed to pass my IPPT today. I've always failed in the past with the old 5 station system, so I will always assume every IPPT I take will equate to failure, but surprisingly, I was able to pass with incentive, so now I'm $200 richer and I don't have to take RT sessions next year.
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