Existing Problems & Potential Problems

I don't think I will be able to ever catch a break with Sly Fox's project, after multiple visits with my contractor to assess the issue and after multiple rounds of rectifications, the problem still persists.

Out of all the projects that have been completed which I have yet to collect my commission, Sly Fox's project carries the largest amount, and my plan from the start was to close all the smaller projects with Sly Fox's project so my overall check will be a substantial amount, but because of this ongoing issue with his site, I doubt I will be able to see my commission until next year.

I am now trying to just ignore the commission I will be getting from that project and just treat the potential messages from him as a weekly annoyances which I will then revert to the contractor who is responsible for the shit show that's causing me all this headache, and when the problem is finally fix then I will view that commission as like money that I have deposited into a bank and forgotten about, the bank being my company's account department. Sly Fox isn't being unreasonable for now, in fact he has been really cordial throughout this shitty situation, and I am not really in dire need for money, so I really don't care if I can't get my money soon.

I know his wife is extremely unhappy about this issue, she is just not vocal about it in the chat, she is actually really calm about it in the group chat but Sly Fox is probably bearing the grunt of her displeasure. I'm just worried about the eventual emotional explosion from Sly Fox when he can finally no longer stand her complaints about the issue and starts directing all the pent up frustration towards me, if the issue keeps persisting like a fucking cockroach that won't fucking die.

-----

I also met that "rude customer" I blogged about previously not too long ago and it turns out he is actually a pretty nice guy. Being an older gentlemen, I guess he has that impatiences that a lot of individuals his age exhibit, but the main thing is he wasn't really all that unpleasant in person as he was on the phone.



I met him twice since then, first time was with him and his wife, and the second time was with him, his wife, his son and his daughter in law.


The whole dynamic of how this renovation is happening is just really odd, because most of the time when someone wants to renovate their space and is looking for a designer, they will meet the designer personally and try and create a rapport with the designer to see if it is a good match, but this time, every decision that is being made, every exchange I have had to do with regards to the quotation and the space planning proposal , it has been done through proxy via the Dad, that "rude customer".



The second meeting I had with them was really really uncomfortable because even though the son is the one who is forking out the renovation money, he was just really disinterested during the meeting, the Dad is the one who doing all the talking and decision making, every once in a while, his daughter in law will chime in and share what she wants to do and the Mum would also ask me some questions now and then, but the son is just completely disengaged from the conversations.



When I am explaining certain renovation procedures to them and advising them on the space planning, I will make sure to make eye contact with all of them so as to not make anyone feel like they are not involved in the conversation, and every time I make eye contact with the son, he will just smile out of courtesy but never have any sort of feedback, and when I am done talking and am looking at his general direction to observe him for any sort of reaction, he will just look down on the floor or just look away from where his parents and wife is, to try and distant himself from the conversation as much as possible.



He is suppose to be my main point of contact because he is the homeowner and the one forking out the renovation fee, if any issue should arise during the renovation, he should be the one I am talking to, but he just doesn't seem interested at all and his Dad is doing all the talking and bargaining.



I know his Dad wants to engage me because at the end of the meeting, he just said to his Son...

"Okay, so just let Tim know when you want to start the renovation."

... like everything has been confirmed and it's just a matter of when the renovation despite the lack of a contract confirmation, after which he also tried to bargain for a lower price and the entire time, his son is just at one corner, completely uninterested in the conversation, and when his Dad ask him if the final amount is okay, he just goes...

"Yar, Yar, Okay, Okay."

... in this rather annoyed tone directed towards his Dad, which I can sort of relate to because I also kinda do this to my parents as well sometimes, so I know that slight hostility he is exhibiting isn't directed towards me


I was so tempted to ask them to go home and really think about it first before letting me know because the Son just doesn't seem interested and I personally really do not like working with a customer who isn't all in, much less one who just looks completely uninterested, but I kept my mouth shut and I continued to talk a bit more with the Dad.


Finally the meeting ends and I say my goodbyes to them, made our separate ways, but then somehow, I ended up running into the Son and his wife at a junction. I really wanted to pretend I did not see them and just stand far away from them, but then I thought to myself...

"I'm very likely going to be running their project, so I should really try and make the effort to make them feel comfortable around me."

.... and with that thought in mind, I walk up to them and greeted them. I ask the son if he was really comfortable with my renovation fees and he told me he was, he was a little more friendly without his parents around but still a little distant, and then I decided to ask them about their style preferences but soon ran out of the topics to talk about really quickly and then the 3 of us just stood there really awkwardly in silence as we waited for the traffic lights to turn red so we can cross the street.



It felt really really long, and during that awkward silence, I was just lamenting about the fact that I had to let my extroverted side take charge and start a conversation with them when I could have just pretended I did not notice them.



Up to now, the Father is still the one who is liaising with me and making all the decision, the whole dynamic is just really off. I wish I didn't have to meet the Son at all, would have been great is the Father had just told me that his son won't be involved in the renovation at all so at least I won't have to feel obligated to actually engage with the Son before and during the renovation.

----

A few days ago, a customer I met once probably about a month ago suddenly reached out to me asking me if he could start a group chat with me and his wife to discuss about some minor changes they wanted to do to their renovation requirements.

I remember this couple pretty well because they wanted to do a Moroccan themed home. It is not really a common theme that customers who walk into my company request, so I was really interested to actually explore the idea of doing a Moroccan inspired space.

Unfortunately, during the actual consultation, I realize that the budget this customer and his wife had really wasn't realistic, and I imagine that as soon as I send them the quotation, they will probably turn tail and run away.

To my surprise, the final figure itself was actually not as high as I expected, but I honestly didn't put a lot of hope in them as being potential customers for some reason, so as soon as the husband texted me back to thank me for my time, I soon forgot about them and eventually decided to delete his number and messages from my phone after 2 weeks of silence.

I did do a 3D Sketch Up based on their requirements, but it wasn't really so much for them as it was for myself, I really went to town with the designs and space planning and was quite impressed with what I came up with, being able to actually come up with a design proposal without any budget restriction was quite liberating and I was actually planning to render the 3D when I had the time, so I could to add it to my online portfolio, but I got lazy and it was soon forgotten as well.

But anyway, the husband texted me and ask me if it would be okay to start a group chat, so I agreed and he proceeded to start a group chat, and the first thing he wrote was simply...

"Hi Tim, I have started this group chat so my wife and I can discuss the changes we have in mind with you. "

.... so I gave acknowledge his request with a thumbs up emoji and was expecting his wife to start typing out the changes they have in mind. There was no typing.

I was under the impression that they were probably a little turn off at my nonchalant response to their initial request, because instead of requesting for them to share the changes they have with me, I just replied with a thumbs up emoji, so I send them a text requesting for the changes they want made.

That message was marked as read by both parties, but there is no respond.

I really don't get what's the point in inviting me into a group chat with the intention to discuss about the renovation, but then keeping silent and leaving me hanging after I ask them to update me of the changes, it's really bugging me how inactive the chat is, if the chat remains inactive after 2 weeks, I'm just going to leave the group and if they leave the group chat first, well, I will leave my response to that once they actually do, because maybe they are still in the midst of consolidating the changes, maybe, although I am leaning heavily towards them having waste my time and putting my hopes up.

I think that they are actually no longer interested in my services, but just feel bad about leaving the group mere days after they have created it, so they are just ignoring my message and waiting for me to leave the group chat first so they won't look like a huge waste of my time, because if they were consolidating the changes, they should have at least acknowledged my message. 

More Useless Leads

Ever since I started my career as an Interior Designer and started on my very first project, I have been consistently busy, when one project is done, another begins, new ones come in sporadically and I am never really out of projects to manage.

In the recent weeks, I will say that that has stopped, I am now pretty much project free, the days are passing much slower now that I am not constantly visiting sites after sites on a daily basis and the amount of customer leads I have been getting from my company is slowly dwindling.

The only project I have on hand now will only started 3 months from now and the meager amount of customer leads I have been getting are not enough to really get me busy, because there aren't a lot of them and because more than half of the leads I have been getting are just a waste of time. 

The last lead I got from my company wrote in asking how a bank loan works. It's just so bloody stupid and such a huge waste of my time, I actually called the customer up, thinking he might be asking how to proceed after he gets the loan, but nope, he was actually asking me how he should go about getting a bank loan and then asking me if I have any contacts, so I gave him the only bank loan contact my company had, and he goes...

"Wow, that bank interest is quite high. May I know what benefits will your company get if I get the bank loan through your contact?"

... it was really quite triggering when he ask me about the benefits my company would get.

Firstly, the benefits that my company or I get from introducing the bank to you is none of your fucking business, do you go up to a cake shop and ask them...

"Hmmm, you are selling me cupcakes at $3.00 a piece, may I know what is the actual cost of the ingredients and how much you are earning if I bought this single cupcake from you?"

... we are not going to break down how much we earn or the commission we get from the referral, if you think that the interest is too high and my company has ulterior motives introducing such an expensive loan to you, then look for another bank, which brings me to my next point...

CALL THE FUCKING BANKS IF YOU WANT TO ASK ABOUT RENOVATION LOANS!!!

.... the renovation loan has nothing to do with Interior Designing and Construction, why the fuck would you call an Interior Design firm and hope to be educated on it. 

That's like walking into the cake shop again and then asking them where would be a good place to buy a flour mill, get the fuck outta here. 

So I kept reiterating to the client that he should call the banks directly to check and he just went...

"Okay, I will discuss with my wife and contact you again."

.... I know he isn't going to be contacting me again, such an unnecessary customer lead. My company actually pays the renovation portal quite a generous monthly fee for customer leads and it just feels like such a rip off when all the leads I have been getting are of such crappy quality.





Leads aside, I have also been getting referals from my clients and just last night, I actually got a call from someone I didn't know, literally asking me...

"Can you drop by *caller's address* on Saturday?"

... doesn't bother to introduce himself, doesn't clarify what he was calling me for, just started the conversation asking me if I was available on Saturday, he was extremely brash over the phone and just overall unpleasant, I thought he got the wrong number until he called me by my name, so I thought he was another Interior Design firm trying to set up an Interview with me, probably got my name and contact from Jobstreet or something, and as I was about to turn him down, he FINALLY tells me....

"You did my niece's house before,I need you to drop by my sons' place this weekend to take a look at his place."

... really could have started the phone call with that.

By the time I realize who he was and what his intentions were, I really wanted to reject his request and told him I was too busy, but he is my client's Uncle and I just don't feel really comfortable to just outright reject a referral, so I begrudgingly agreed to the meeting and the conversation that we were having after the confirmation was not pleasant. 

He wasn't being an asshole or anything, but the tone he was using the entire time was just very unpleasant, very impatient and every time I repeat what he told me, it's like every response I get from him will be an annoyed "No!", and then just a repeat of what I have said.

Him : The apartment is old, so I need to change all the floor tiles and wall tiles.

Me : Okay, so you want to revamp the space by hacking off the old tiles and installing new ones.

Him : NO!, the current tiles look really ugly, so I want to change them.

---

Him : I will meet you, my son can't make it because his work is shift base.

Me : Ah, I see, so he is doing shift this Saturday.

Him : No! You know what shift is? He has shift work this weekend, so I will meet you instead of him.

Everything I say, even though it has the exact same meaning as what he has told me, gets responded back as if I have been mistaken, it was so frustrating, and when I ask him for the address, he tells me...

"I will Whatsapp you later!"

... and then he suddenly gives me the address verbally over the phone.. doesn't give me time to write down the address properly, he just strings out the entire address like I am suppose to be able to remember all the numbers.

Him : 432 Apple Street, Level 5, Unit Number 56

*as I am writing down the address and verbalizing what I am writing* 

Me : 432 App-....

Him : NO! the Unit Number is 56, 432 is the Street Number!

I wanted to scold him so badly.

If he was a lead from my company, I would have turn down his request then and there for a site visit, but alas, he is my client's family, so the least I can do is show up out of courtesy for my clients. 

Of course, the pricing on my quotation will ultimately depend on how he is like during the site visit, if he is as unpleasant in real life as he is over the phone, then I will also do my best to distance myself from his project by being the most expensive Interior Designer his son will meet. I hardly ever turn potential clients down directly, unless they can't take a hint of course because there have been such cases before and it is always really surprising how dense some people can really be.

Speaking of unpleasant customers, Sly Fox is still in my life, the issue has yet to be resolved, even after my contractor has gone up to the place multiple times to try and rectify the issue. None of this is Sly Fox's fault, it really is my contractor's fault for doing a shitty job, but because Sly Fox is ultimately the one who has to text me about the the problem, he has become my source of annoyance and I just can't help it when my mood gets ruined by his text messages. 

Was literally trying to have fun last night by playing a game, lost my mood completely when his wife texted me telling me the issue has not been resolved. I would really like to push this to my manager and have him handle this problem for me but then that would be a pretty dick move.

A Wild Sly Fox Appears

And so the Sly Fox has returned to my life once again.

He had some issues and I had to drop by his place to assess those problems, I was a bit annoyed that I have to deal with him again, but also a  little excited to see how the house looks now that it is fully furnished.



Well, my excitement was for naught.


As a designer, I am almost ashamed to say I was the one responsible for his renovation works, because of how disappointing the place looked from a design standpoint.



I really didn't do a lot for Sly Fox place, it was mostly freshening up the place with a new coat of paint and flooring works, the place looks great when I was done with it, when it was still empty, the before and after wasn't huge, but it  was definitely noticeable that it had been revitalized. I had essentially left him with a blank canvas to work with in terms of styling when the house was officially handed over, him and his wife had a really neutral color palette to work with and with the openness of the space along with the new wooden grained flooring, it was just screaming for a Scandinavian themed styling, but the end product I saw was nothing like what I had envisioned, nothing close to the 3D I had send to them that would maybe give them a hint as to the colour scheme of the furniture I was thinking of, a colour scheme that would be complimentary to their space.



I have done quite a fair bit of homes now and even though I am never really satisfied with a lot of my projects, there is at least a modern touch in all of them, when people walk into those apartments, they will KNOW that it was designed in the current era, but Sly Fox's apartment had none of that modernness, the furniture they got just dragged the apartment back to the late 90s, it was like walking into an apartment of a couple who had lived there for the past 20 years because of how cluttered the place looked. Had I been their friend and was invited to their house as a guest for the first time, I would have NEVER believed them had they told me an interior designer was responsible for their renovation.



The place isn't ugly, it just felt like there was no effort at trying to make the place look even look halfway decent and I am just really upset thinking about it because that space had so much potential to actually pull off a Modern Scandinavian theme.



Wasted Potential aside, the recent  issues are now in the midst of getting fixed, hopefully they can be rectified soon because I REALLY do not want to have to deal with this project anymore. I mean Sly Fox isn't being unreasonable, his concerns are completely valid and the fault is with my contractor, but I just really have no interest to deal with him anymore because it seems as though doesn't believe me, like I am trying to shirk responsibility and it is really quite disappointing that that is the impression he has of me.



When I was relaying what my contractor has shared with me about the cause of the problem he was having, Sly Fox keeps questioning my reasoning and telling me it doesn't make sense, that it's hard to accept my excuse, luckily his Mum was there when my contractor popped by, so I told my contractor to explain to his Mum and got her to explain it to Sly Fox.



I actually told his Mum directly that I don't think Sly Fox will believe what I say, to which she could only tell me in Mandarin....

"I don't think he distrust you, he isn't like that."

My contractor was able to convince the Mum of the reasoning, so thankfully she was able to explain to Sly Fox directly, but every time I reiterate the source of the problem, it will never be a convincing response from his end, never a...

 "Oh, I see!" 

... but always be along the line of...

"Okay lor. If you say so."

Overall, the renovation with Sly Fox has just been immensely unsatisfying, it was a good learning experience for me as a Contractor, but definitely not a project I would ever want to tackle again as an Interior Designer.



Sly Fox also gave me a failing grade for my Service when my Marketing requested for his feedback, not really sure what I did to receive that failing grade though, it wasn't really emphasized because it definitely isn't about the Workmanship Quality, that one is a separate category that he also failed me for, but he did give me a good grade for my Professionalism, which is confusing to me because I thought Good Service and Professionalism works hand in hand so the grades for both shouldn't differ that much.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Sly Fox use Confusion and it is super effective!

It's too thicc...

It has been a while since I went back to my company to do my duty, there were a few times I wanted to, but I was just too lazy to actually commit to waking up and travelling there.



My company has recently reshuffled the groups again, so now I am in a different group with my manager again, which means I will probably be a little more diligent with my showroom duties now that there is someone in the group I actually talk to.



Had to attend a company meeting yesterday and boy was it still uncomfortable for me to see so many faces I am not familiar with, the rate at which my boss is hiring new designers is insane, it's like watching a seahorse give birth.

A lot of the new designers will eventually end up quitting not even 2 months into the job when they realize it's not exactly the most lucrative or even stable career to have.



So after the meeting, there was actually a Halloween Party organised by the company, I wasn't even remotely interested to attend it, so I just left after the meeting ended while everyone was busy painting their faces, plus I also realized I had severely under-quoted one of my customer for their carpentry work so I was in no mood to party.



I will have to break the news to the husband tomorrow about the underquote and I really do not know how it will go down, I mean I definitely need him to top up the additional amount that is for sure, because if he doesn't, that project will be in the red zone and the company will literally be losing money from that project. It's careless mistakes like this that makes me want to give myself a tight smack in the face because it shouldn't be happening in the first place. I will definitely be giving him and his wife a discount for it, just need him to top up enough for me to recoup my losses.



My biggest fear right now would be my client telling me that he won't pay for it because...

"We signed the original quotation under the impression that it already includes the cost of the full cabinet, so we won't be topping up any additional cost for it. This is your mistake so you will bear the cost of it."

... and although that statement is technically right, it can also show how unempathetic the clients can be. I haven't had the displeasure of meeting such clients personally before but I have heard enough horror stories about clients from hell to know that they exist.



Update : He was willing to pay the additional charges after I explained the situation.


That being said, he brought up an issue with the carpentry during the installation and I really didn't like when he starting playing the blame game.


To give some background, he wanted to do a cabinet door that was made of glass with wooden framing to display some toys and trinkets....

.... something simple, nothing too complicated, but the main point was for the doors to be made of glass so he can display his items, I didn't think too much about it and proceeded to follow his requirements and relayed those requirements to my carpenter.



Everything was going smoothly during the installation today and when I was with him during the first half of the install, there was no issue, we had a good chat and I stayed around for a good 3 hours while the installation was happening before I left.



Not long after I left his place, I receive a text from him, asking me why the border of the frame was so thick, so I explained to him that the frame had to be a certain width so it can accommodate the hinges at the side, to which he replied...

"Why didn't you advise us on this beforehand?"

.... the thickness of the frame was never brought up as a concern from him from the beginning, so I can't advise him about it if I didn't know it was going to be a potential issue for him.



This is an issue that NO ONE will be aware of until it actually becomes an issue. I am not a robot that can predict every single potential issue that may arise and bring them to the client's attention.


That's like him asking me to get roses, and when I come back with red roses, he questions why I didn't get the white ones.


It's simple, if you don't clarify what you want, I'm going to give you the default option.




But at the same time, I also can't retaliate and tell him that he should have shared that concern with me from the start because he's just going to tell me it's my job to have anticipated this problem blah blah blah, there is really nothing else I can say that won't make me sound unprofessional, so I had to eat shit and accept that it is my mistake.

I agreed to change the doors for them because it's "my fault for not advising".



I'm really not earning a lot from his project, after the door fiasco, I calculated my commission to be less than $400, totally not worth my time and effort. I was planning to use the commission I earn from his project to get myself a Secret Lab chair, but now,  it's barely even enough to get the cheapest model.


He is actually keen to engage me again to do the renovation for his parent's house, but after this, I am honestly no longer interested in that prospect, not because I am planning to leave the company soon, but because this second round with him just made me remember how unpleasant it was working with him the first time.


----


A few days ago, I also decided to drop an email to the company I had interviewed for to get an update on their interior stylist position.


Emailed them about 3 days ago and they haven't responded back yet, not sure if they ever will, would be a little rude if they don't because I was told that I was supposed to be scheduled for a second interview after the first but I didn't get any follow up from them for about half a month.


I honestly don't really care too much about that job, I just send them a follow up email after a friend urged me to. What I care about is getting ignored, especially when I am asking a legit question...

"Is the position still available? Are you guys still selecting the candidates or have you already made your selection.?"

...heavily paraphrased of course.


Guess I'll see how that goes, if they don't respond me by next week, I guess that in itself is an answer, a very rude and unprofessional answer, almost as rude as the many times I leave customers hanging by not sending them the free quotation they requested.

Complaint of the Entitled

Met Sly Fox for the very last time a few days back at my office to sign a few documents to finally officiate the end of the project and it was really nice to finally be done with it.



After sending him and his wife out, I receive a call from my HR...

"Do you remember the customer called "Entitled Fuck"."

... to which I told her I did, and then she continued with...

"He called just now to complain about you."

Can't say I didn't see this coming.


I had to explain to my HR what happened and she was pretty understanding about it because Entitled Fuck was requesting for things he wasn't entitled to. She then shared with me that EF requested for a senior designer to take over his project and the senior designer that will be taking over will be my own manager.



The guy's project is only worth $14k and he is requesting for a Senior Designer to take over, that's like walking into a restaurant, ordering only a side of fries and then requesting the Head Chef to personally prepare the fries for you.

Bitch, Know Your Place.

I recently also decided to get a new pair of earphones because my current one, which is the one that came in the box with my current phone, isn't very good, it's not loud enough and I would much prefer an in-ear one.



Went to Challenger with a budget of $40 in mind to get an Audio-Technica earphone because my last few Audio-Technicas served me quite well, but as I was looking through the Audio-Technica selections, I came across the brand Jays and I remembered a time when they were quite popular, it was like the go to brand for few of my bunk mates in the army, so I thought that should attest to something.

The Jays a-Jays Four original price was $77 or something but they had a promotion and it was only  $47, it sounded like a steal, so I decided to increase my budget a little and get them instead of the Audio-Technica.



Once I got home and tried them on, I instantly regretted my decision because they are the most uncomfortable earphones I have ever worn. The product designer who came up with the design should be fired because they are so fucking painful to wear, my tragus hurts after wearing them for 5 minutes and now I am back to using my old earphones.


What a waste of money, will just be sticking to Audio-Technica in the future.



Update from the Job Hunt

There are currently no updates from both interviews.



The reason why I am also not reaching out is because I am not 100% interested in both jobs, I don't dislike them, but I am also not really sure if I really want them that badly, so I'm not really fighting for it as much as I should. If I get it, I get it, if I don't, then I will start my hunt again ONCE I am officially done with all the projects I have on hand right now.


I think a huge reason why both companies are not reaching out to me is because of my notice period, I told them I needed one month but they were more interested in hiring someone who can start immediately. I really have to get my projects completed soon so I can actually give a shorter notice period for future interviews.



Speaking of projects I have on hand right now, the one that I recently got that I thought would run very smoothly met a few hiccups a few days ago, my carpenter messed up and now that project has to be delayed for another week.



This is the third project in a row my carpenter has managed to mess up for me. He was very willing to correct the issues for all of them because they are his fault, but this are problems that should not be happening at all.



That's like me going to a cake shop and requesting for a Chocolate Cake with Rainbow Sprinkles, but then be presented with a Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Sprinkles when I go collect it, it's the little details that he just completely misses out and as minor as the little details may be, they are super obvious cock ups that simply should not be happening, and it just amazes me that he has managed to cock up 3 times in a row after the consistently good work he has been doing for all my previous projects.




His efficiency has taken a dip and he has also started doing this thing that I REALLY hate my contractors do, which is to not reply to any of my messages. I will rush him for an answer, he will read the text, but then he doesn't respond to it, so I will have to call him up personally and there has been a few times he would tell me over the phone...

"I will update you  later in the evening."

.... but then doesn't update me at all, it's really frustrating because a few times I needed to know the answer soon so I can relay the information to my client and I just can't.



I'm glad I was able to work with him but I'm even happier than I will not be dealing with this kind of problem anymore very soon.

The 2nd Interview

Went for my second job interview today and it was pretty close to where I used to report to work when an employee at ID 2 for a whopping 3 days.



I'm not even sure if I can call my 3 days at ID2 work because I did fuck all there, when I left the company, the HR insisted on paying me 3 days worth of salary, after I told them it wasn't necessary, and I thought it was funny how she said...

"We are not the type of company that won't pay you your salary one."

.... and then I never actually got paid. I honestly didn't mind not getting paid because I felt guilty wasting their time, but when you are going to be telling me that the company isn't a certain way, but then end up being that certain way, it's hard for me not to judge.


The company I went for my interview today is located a little further from my house than ID2, so the ride was a little longer and because I have been getting on and off headaches since the start of the week, the journey there was pretty torturous, every time the bus had to stop to either pick someone up or drop them off, a part of me would curse at the passenger or passengers who indirectly made my motion sickness/ headache worst.




I thought I would be late, but I was 1 minute early, which I thought was impressive. Unlike the furniture store, the company has a very generic looking office setting that one would expect of a corporate office, white walls, white tables, white drawers, zero aesthetics to the space, it looks like a place creativity goes to die.


But anyway, once I made my presence known, I was soon ushered into a small meeting room and about 5 minutes later, my interviewer came in and started the interview with me.



As I have shared in my previous post, I came into the job interview not really interested in the position, I was just there to listen to what they had to offer and then never think about the company again because from what I have learned during my phone conversation with the HR 2 days before the interview, the job scope was very similar to that of a project coordinator and I do not want to leave my current job, only to end up in another similar one with less working flexibility and potentially more stress.


What I enjoy about Interior Designing is the Designing part of it, I hate site coordination and I feel that if I were to become someone who only does site coordination, it would be a huge downgrade for me.


But as it turns out, the job isn't actually being a site coordinator, it is more of a management kind of role, I don't actually have to plan out a renovation schedule and then liaise with all the different sub-contractors, all I have to do is make sure the paper works are in order and then leave all the site coordination to a main contractor, and that main contractor will then liase with all the different sub-contractors for me, which is great. That means if there is anything wrong with the renovation works, I can just directly contact the main contractor and he will deal with the issues for me, I think.



Downside is that I will not have creative freedom because the projects that I will handle has to be designed as per the request of the different brands the company is working with, that means site layout, carpentry design, wall colour, even the type of lights that will be used in the space, all of that has already been set in stone and I will have to follow it to a tee.



It sounds quite simple compared to my current job, but the interviewer kept telling me that the job isn't simple, that it won't be like any of the projects I have dealt with so far because commercial and residential is very different, if I could summarize what she said during the interview, it would be...

"This job is pretty shit but the company is great, and if you are still interested in the position, just remember that the job is pretty shit, so you have to really think about it before you make a decision." 

.... when I learned about the actual job scope, my interest was definitely piqued, and when I got home after the interview, I got a call from the HR, asking me how the interview went, and I told her I was definitely interested in the position, especially after learning that it wasn't actually a site coordinator role as I had originally thought it would be. The HR then also started to share with me about the job and how difficult it is, and wanted me to really make sure I was okay with the job, the disclaimer I was getting from her and my interviewer was so hardcore now I am starting to second guess the position.




I would definitely still prefer to work at the Furniture Store as an Interior Stylist, just because it's not a cubicle job and the place feels really posh. I'm supposed to be called up for a second interview soon, not really sure when that will happen.




This afternoon, my manager also called me and asked me how I was doing because he hadn't seen me reporting to work for a very long time. I will say I am pretty close to my manager, so I couldn't lie to him and just told him straight that I was planning to leave the company very soon and am currently in the process of going through a few job interviews.



I am trying to postpone my resignation as long as possible because it's always awkward for me to actually tell the boss I want to quit, I almost feel like I am turning my back on the company when I do that, but my manager urged me to inform my boss as soon as possible, so I guess it has to be done within next week?



The problem is I haven't actually found a job yet, so I don't feel very comfortable making my resignation official, but at the same time, it's also pointless for me to stay because I won't be accepting any more new projects to run.


For the past few weeks, all the customer leads I have been getting, I haven't actually been preparing any quotations for them, only for that entitled fuck, which is such a fucking joke, to realize that the only customer I actually put an effort preparing a quotation for ends up being the one who least deserves it, which just pisses me off even more.

Entitled Fuck.

So that potential customer of mine that I had blogged about previously, the mountain and lake theme dude, well, I decided to prepare a quotation for him and responded to a bunch of his queries he had send to me.


He texted me earlier today at around 5.00 pm, asking me if the quotation was ready and I just didn't bother to reply him because I didn't like him so I just didn't feel obligated to, I had already emailed him the quotation like days before, so maybe check your email buddy?


Well, at about 10.00 pm, he texted back telling me has seen my email and thanked me for it.


After looking through the quotation, I guess he wasn't very please with what I had given him, because he just send me a text at 1.30 am  that reads :

"Your quotation is very disappointing with zero design elements. I might as well IKEA the living room and master bedroom and engage my own..."

.. it cuts halfway because I don't want to open my Whatsapp and blue tick the message. I thought maybe that was it, I thought he will consolidated all his disappointment into one text message and that would be that, well I thought wrong, because not even five minutes later, he sends another text that reads...

" Your email is more befitting a carpentry or construction shop than an ID firm."

... and then another text a minute later that reads...

"Budget aside, I was expecting a holistic solution to some of the requirements and problems highlighted in my doc but none was offered. I saw an image creative photo that I think would work..."

... cuts off again because I didn't want to open the message and blue tick the message.

And then he ends it with a final message, I hope it is the final one at least because it's almost 2 am now for fuck sake, which simply went....

"Faint"

THIS IS THE SHIT I HAVE TO DEAL WITH AT 1.30AM ! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME.

I wrote in the fucking email I send to him that if he wanted to see any design, we can meet in person to discuss and I can show him the space planning I have prepared for him as well. All he will get through the email is a non-obligatory quotation, that was it, and he has the audacity to be disappointed in me?

DUDE FUCK YOU! 

I DON'T OWE YOU A FUCKING DESIGN PROPOSAL, YOU AIN'T PAY ME SHIT SO DON'T EXPECT ANYTHING OF ME! 

This is what pisses me off about customers like this, that fucking entitlement, just because you managed to find a few pictures off Google Image, no way he found it of Pinterest because his pictures were pretty shit, and prepared a document listing out your requirements, am I supposed to be impressed and put in the same amount of "effort" that you did?

Your "effort" doesn't pay my bills, you know what pays the bills? Money! And I don't see you forking out a single cent.

This fucker bought a pea sized condo and requested to have a shit load of items stuffed into the space, I told him in the email that it was not going to be possible to have all his request fulfilled because there is no fucking space, and he tells me I didn't offer him any holistic solution, well here is a solution :

"BUY A BIGGER HOUSE! YOU STUPID FUCK."

... and it's hilarious how he tells me the quotation is disappointing with zero design elements, what the fuck do you want me to add to the quotation? Diamonds? A picture of a cat?  Or do you want me to cut it out into the shape of Mountains and Lakes and then mail it to you by post and then request for the postman to sing River Deep, Mountain High while you are signing for the document?

But just to go into detail about his message...

"I might as well IKEA the living room and mater bedroom"

... please go ahead, IKEA will be interested in your business because I am NOT.

"Your email is more befitting a carpentry or construction shop than an ID firm."

... and what you are paying me right now is more befitting of a free quotation than a full design proposal.

"Budget aside, I was expecting a holistic solution to some of the requirements and problems highlighted in my doc but none was offered. I saw -another ID firm's- photo that I think would work..."

... Fucker writes "budget aside", but in the email he send to me, he was all..

"budget cannot be increased unless there are really really good reasons"

....is buying a bigger apartment a good enough reason?

FUCK! Getting pissed off at 2.00 am is going to make it very difficult for me to fall asleep, and I am already feeling unwell with a fucking headache and body aches. Ruining my Thursday before the the Sun has even risen.

I will definitely have to eat shit tomorrow and drop him a text that goes along the line of...

"So sorry you found the quotation unsatisfactory...."

... blah blah blah, I don't really give a shit, but he sounds like the kind of fuck who would go to online forums and share about his horrible experience with other people and then equally clueless individuals will agree with him and they start stroking each other's cock and then ejaculate this giant stream of entitlement on each other's face.

UPDATE

* I just read the text and deleted the entire conversation because fuck that guy, even instastory the whole thing because I just wanted to express my frustration to a slighter larger audience *

He sounded as entitled in his text messages as he does in his email to me and it was seriously pissing me off so much I just had to vent it out on my Instagram, which I have never done before. I guess because I am planning to leave the industry soon, my tolerance level to this kind of bullshit is also starting to plummet.





Just to type out the full version of the 2 longer messages word for word.

"Your quotation is very disappointing with zero design elements. I might as well IKEA the living room and master bedroom and engage my own painting services with better quality paint at much less than your proposed 14k. I don't see any value add at all. Whats your response? Why should I want to visit your office just to see storage cabinet and a wardrobe? How does these two items beautify my condo or make it a better living space"

"Budget aside, I was expecting a holistic solution (to some requirements and problems highlighted in my doc) but none was offered. I saw an *Another Design Firm I shall bleep out* photo that I think would work in terms of bedding, storage and workplace for the tiny master bedroom but all you offer is only another wardrobe and I'm still left with all the questions and no answers. Cost aside, you mean your firm cannot even wallpaper anything?"

Oh, you don't see any Value Added Service? How about the fact that I will actually be coordinating the project for you while you are busy at work? Is that not Value Added Service enough? You stupid fuck?


After such a passive aggressive text, you actually think I still want to convince you to come to the showroom? Go and fuck yourself, I don't even want to entertain the idea of having to reply to your text message anymore, much less meet you in person at our showroom.



This stupid fuck thinks visiting an Interior Design firm is like going to a furniture shop to look at loose furniture. You are not coming to the office to see furniture you dumb fuck, the whole point of a homeowner visiting an Interior Design firm is to meet the interior designer and look at the different materials available for their carpentry customization. Do you go to McDonalds thinking you can meet Ronald McDonald? Maybe, but that's not the point!

"All you offer is another wardrobe"

BECAUSE YOU REQUESTED FOR ANOTHER WARDROBE!


And the wallpaper thing I just thought is hilarious because it really goes to show how tacky his design taste is, to actually want to literally wallpaper his master bedroom wall with a scenic picture of Mountains and Lakes.


I can't even find a photo of a room that actually did that online because all the wallpapers are actually photoshop on the walls, although to be fair, if the correct picture is chosen, it can look really good, but the picture he shared with me are hella ugly.


Oh, and there is another Value Added Service for you, I have better design taste than you so I could have persuaded you to not be a tacky fuck!

Interviews again.

Went for my very first job Interview in almost 2 years yesterday and I will say it went alright.



Now that I am actually a legit Interior Designer with 2 years of experience, I'm just going to round up because constantly writing 1 year and 10 Months is  a bloody pain in the ass, I went into the interview feeling like I actually have something to offer, which is the skills and work experiences I have accumulated for the past 2 years at my current work place.



The Job I had applied for is for the position of Interior Stylist, same same as my current job, but not really, it's still in a similar industry. I think it is going to be a little bit easier because as an Interior Stylist, I am assuming I don't have to deal with a single project for months on end, I don't have to coordinate with a bunch of contractors to make sure things are going smoothly, and most importantly, I don't have to deal with the same group of clients for months and endure their barrage of text messages during the days that I am supposed to be off, asking me a ton of really annoying, although most of the time valid, questions. I mean the clients have the right to message me for clarification, but just because they have the right to do it doesn't mean I have to learn to accept and embrace it, it's irritating as fuck to receive a message from my clients when I am out with my friends or family asking me:

*attaches picture of a completely clean wall*

"Hi Tim, did your cleaner clean the place yet, why are the walls so dirty?"

*attaches picture of the kitchen cabinets*

"All the hinges for the doors are not working as intended, are they all suppose to be soft closing because the closing speed is all different?"

*attaches picture of an aborted fetus on the floor*

"My neighbor's wife just had a miscarriage in our flat, we will put the body in the toilet sink, please get your guys to dumb the body and clean up the blood on the floor."

I hate getting disturbed when I am not at work, but it is to be expected because I am technically working 24/7, as long as I have ongoing projects, there isn't any real rest day, I don't get a day where I can tell myself for sure that none of my clients are going to text me with an issue, I am always anticipating a text message to come at any moment of the day.




When I see the notification LED on my phone blinking, it stresses me the fuck out because it could be my client, and when I realize it's not them, I heave a sigh of relief, open the message, and sometimes, get a little irritated after realizing it's a message of no great importance.



For the past 2 years, I have been stuck in this vicious cycle of...

I got my hands on a project and it's exciting.

The project has started and now I am stress. 

I don't want to run anymore projects and it's a little worrisome.

The project has ended and now I am bored. 

Wish I had more projects to run.

Puts effort into getting more projects.

Gets hands on a new project and am excited about it again.

The project starts and I get stressed out.

Why the fuck am I putting myself through this shit again? And regrets the decision.

Project ends and I am bored again.

Wish I had more projects to run

Repeat.

... I am honestly not a financially driven individual when it comes to working as a Sales Designer, for me, it is more important that the job is done well and the clients are happy.



If they are happy, I am happy.

If they are upset, then I am also upset.

If they are being unreasonable, then I blog about them because they are simply not paying me enough to deal with their shit.




Ever since I started looking for the Sales Designer position again more than 2 years back, my main goal has always been to learn the ropes and actually be able to run my own renovation project from start to finish and become a legit interior designer and I would say having successfully completed about a dozen renovation projects, I have achieved that goal, so it also feels a little pointless for me to continue working as an Interior Designer any longer because I have achieved that goal.



No longer will I have to ever wonder to myself...

"What if I had stayed longer and tried to make the job work."

... because the last 3 attempts at ID1, ID2 & ID3 did not even last a month, but now I know that it doesn't work for me because I have only been earning an average of $1000 per month and even though I am not financially driven, in the sense that I am not aiming to earn at least $5000 every month like some of my other colleagues are, earning a measly $1000 per month is really quite pathetic.



I have also been growing more distant from my colleagues ever since I got thrown into a different group, so that change has also really affected my desire to actually report to work and also made it easier for me emotionally to leave the company. I was suppose to have a company meeting today but decided not to go because I didn't see the point and also because I had explosive diarrhea.




Nothing much to blog about the actual interview though, it lasted for about an hour, what really impressed me during the interview was when I was offered a bottle of Evian water, talk about high S.E.S. So I shared about myself, complaint about how being an Interior Designer is hard work and also talk shit about ID 3 for firing me 2 weeks into the job because why not let a salty bitch who obviously holds grudges vent a little, then I talked about what I am hoping this new job can offer me and yadah yadah yadah, interview stuff.



The furniture store is definitely catered to the higher end market because the dining table that I was seated at during my interview cost a whopping $44,000, that's more than how much most of my client's renovation would cost on average. The fact that there are individuals out there who are so rich that they can afford a table that cost this much is insane.



Once the interview was done, I was send out of the place and as I was about to go to a nearby eatery to get my lunch, I actually got a call from 2 different employment agency asking me if I was still looking for a job, it was really weird because the timing could not have been anymore coincidental. I said yes to both but unfortunately, the first one was located a little too far away from where I stay, so I had to turn that down, the second one on the other hand, I was open to it, so I agreed to an interview with them, which I will be going for tomorrow.




After listening to what the job has to offer, I am honestly a little unsure if I am still interested in the position because it is for the role of a Project Coordinator for Commercial Spaces, which is a lot more difficult to deal compared to residential projects because there will be a shit load more paper work I have to do, and a much tighter timeline, plus I really do not want to leave my current job, just to end up in another similar, possibly more stressful one. I will probably go for the interview just because I have the time, now that most of my projects are done, but unless the company has really amazing benefits, I think I'm not really going to give it much consideration, plus the pay also isn't that great, at only a maximum of $2,500 per month, it's really on the lower end.


That job was actually initially introduced to me by a recruit agency and when they were explaining the job to me, I was under the impression that I won't be the site coordinator, I thought I will be managing how the site coordinators.


So for example, the company has 10 new stores that they want to open, so they source out 10 different interior design firms to come up with the design and coordinate the project, and then my job would be to simply communicate with these 10 different project coordinators to make sure that they are following the schedule and the design brief.


I had applied for a position like this and it's called Interior Design Manager, but I don't the think the company is actually going to consider me for the role because they did this really fucking stupid thing where the categorize the role as Entry Level, but then requires the candidate to have 4 Years of Relevant Work Experience.  It's not a fucking Entry Level Position if it requires 4 Fucking Years of Relevant Work Experience.


I digress.


So even though I am technically working 24/7 as an Interior Designer, at least I had some form of freedom when it came to reporting to my office for work. I am not expected to report to the office everyday, so I don't have to wake up at a certain time and travel to work everyday. It's a different sort of freedom I guess.



With a 9 to 5, I can be assured that I won't be disturbed with work stuff once I am off work. But there isn't any flexibility in the working schedule so I will be chained to a weekly grind.


With my current job, I am not expected to follow a standard work schedule, but that also means I have a very high chance of getting text messages in the middle of the night or sometimes extremely early in the morning from my client.



Gotta have a compromise somewhere I suppose.

Resumes send!

Lately, I have been feeling more and more distant from my company, and I will say that that is a good thing because it will make my eventual resignation from the company a lot easier.



I did not report back to my company for about 2 weeks after my 2 weeks reservist, so for an entire month, I did not step into the office at all and when I finally did, almost everyone was shocked at my sudden appearance because a lot of them thought I had already quit.


That month has also introduced a lot of new colleagues to the company, I haven't really spoken to any of them since my return to the office, so I barely know any of their names and they also don't give a shit about me. My old colleagues have seem to gotten pretty close to them, so now I am feeling a bit left out.

But then at the same time, it also feels a little pointless to actively attempt to try to get to know them when I am already sending out job resumes in hopes to leave the company by the end of the year, that is once I can get another company to hire me of course.




Recently, another colleague also left the company and her resignation has made me realize that I am not alone when it comes to experiencing the huge stress from managing multiple projects.



Let's call this colleague of mine Joe.



Joe has a pretty impressive sales record and I always assumed that those who are constantly signing new contracts just have a different way of dealing with stress.



It's like how some people hate durian and others love them, that was how I saw what stress to them was like. I absolutely abhor it, but I just assumed that they love the challenge, or was at least unfazed by the stress that came along with managing multiple projects at one go, because Joe was constantly getting new projects to run, despite having as much as 6 existing projects to deal with at one point.



Every once in a while, she would talk about how stressful it was, but it never in a distressful tone, so I never really knew if she was really stressful about it or just humble bragging about the number of projects she has. When I am feeling stressed out about a project, I blog about it, I vent to my manager and colleagues about it and then I stop getting any new projects temporarily until the current one that is giving me all the headache is settled, but with Joe, she just kept going on and on and on until one day, she finally just stopped.



I am not particularly close to her, so I didn't directly ask her what was happening, but my colleagues who were close to her shared with me what happened and it was really quite shocking when I learned that she was actually experiencing hair loss because of the amount of stress she was under. When she went back to her hometown for the first time, it was to seek treatment, so she did return about 2 months later and she started wearing wigs to cover up her bald spot on her head, she decided that she was not going to run any projects, so she handed the ones she had on hand to a few of my colleagues and she would split the profit margin with them equally. For the  few weeks after she returned, I would see her in the office occasionally, just chatting and not really doing much work, I always assumed she will return to working as per normal soon but then all of a sudden, she got kicked out of the company group chat and then was when I realize she has finally officially left the company.



I honestly always thought she was doing fine, from the outside, she looked to be doing really really well as a Sales Designer, and a small part of me would always be a little envious when she would exclaim...

"I am making about $4000 per month if I calculate all the projects I have signed so far."

.... but in reality, she was actually under an immense amount of pressure and I just have to really give her props for sticking it out for as long as she did. I don't have the same financial burdens as her, so I can afford to be picky with my customers, but if I were in her shoes and had rent to pay every month, on top of my other financial commitments,  I would have left the job a long time ago and just looked for a stable and possibly less stressful one.




Recently, my company has started to give me leads again and the first one that I got my hands on, I did not even bother to follow up because all she wrote in her email was...

"I am looking for a quotation, I have about 20 sets of drawings for the carpentry, can I email it to you?"

.... clearly only looking for a quotation, so I just fuck all and didn't bother with her. What her email really meant was....

"I am ONLY looking for a quotation, I already have a designer I want to engage and the designer has already prepared the drawings for me, but I just need a second opinion from another designer to make sure the pricing is alright. I will NOT BE engaging your services after the free non-obligatory quote."

...get the fuck out of here. Fucking hate this freeloader types, huge waste of time and effort.

The second one that I got, I reached out to him trying to set up an appointment, and he told me that he was busy so it was not going to be possible, but then asked me if it was okay for him to drop me an email with all the requirements instead, so I agreed to it and he sends a copy of the floorplan over, some pictures of the place as well as a list of requirements he had and the tone he was using in the bloody requirement list was really fucking entitled.

Here's the deal, if you are going to an Interior Designer for a free consultation session, don't use the phrase....

 " I expect you to..." 

 ... because who the fuck are you to expect anything from me? You are not paying me anything to be allowed any sort of expectations from me.

His requirements were along the lines of...

"Our space is small, so we expect you to come up with a smart way to plan the layout."

"My wife and I don't like the following designs, so we expect you to stick to the theme we have chosen."

"My wife is adamant on putting a king size bed in the master bedroom, so we will not be downgrading. In the Masterbedroom, I want to add another wardrobe and a study table that is big enough to put 2 laptops."

... and it was not only entitled, it was also fucking ignorant. 

The apartment they have gotten is an Executive Condominium, it is really really small, and based on my past experiences, the master bedroom is going to be a really tight space, even with no additional carpentry, squeezing a king size bed in would already be pushing it, but now, he wants an additional wardrobe as well as a study table, I don't know what the fuck he has been smoking but you can't be that fucking ignorant to not realize that THE ROOM IS TOO FUCKING SMALL TO SQUEEZE ALL THAT SHIT IN! What the fuck does he want his room to end up like? A warehouse storage unit with everything squeeze tightly into place like a fucking tetris puzzle?

I really can't deal with this level of entitlement and ignorant. I was so irritated when I was reading through the requirements and they also have the dumbest fucking theme in mind, the husband writes in the requirements...

"I want a beach resort feel but my wife doesn't want that theme in the master bedroom, so she is looking at Mountain and Lake theme."

.... WHAT THE FUCK IS MOUNTAIN AND LAKE THEME? LIKE WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK? CAN YOU DO SOME FUCKING RESEARCH AND ACTUALLY GIVE ME A THEME THAT MAKES SENSE!?!?

That's like walking into a cake shop and asking the baker for a Uranus flavoured cake.

Fucking mountain and lake theme, what the fuck, and he actually managed to find a few pictures online as reference for me, but they were literally pictures like these...

...WOW, such helpful reference images, of a bunch of walls just covered in a wallpaper of Mountains and Lakes and some furniture on the foreground to let me know that it is actually an interior space.

Go look for a fucking wallpaper specialist if that is your idea of Mountain and Lake theme, it's so fucking stupid , I really do not like this kind of wallpapers because they just look really tacky and fake.

I don't even want to bother preparing the proposal for him, I tried but I am not feeling very motivated by that entitled tone of his.



Everytime a customer who buys an Executive Condo tells me they want to squeeze a shit load of furniture into their hamster sized house, I am very tempted to just tell them straight to their face...

"Then you should have gotten a bigger house!"

.... because a HDB flat would have been cheaper and a lot bigger!

Good news is I finally got a call up for an interview, so I won't be obligated to deal with him much sooner and bad news is I actually did get an email from another company I wanted to join asking me for my portfolio, but for some fucking reason, my my fucking gmail decided not to send me a notification alert to my phone, so I only saw it 5 days later. It alerts me when Pinterest has new pins that might interest me, or when my Foodpanda order has been received, but important shit like a potential job interview... ehhh, fuck it.

Ruined Gathering

My phone is buzzing with messages now and I always just feel this huge sense of relieve when the messages aren't coming from any of my clients.



It's late now, around 10 pm and I really do not want to be disturbed by any of them right now simply because it is extremely annoying to have to deal with work related problems when every other working adults are about to go to bed or are already in lalaland.



A few days ago, I actually met up with a few of my secondary school friends and while we were discussing about getting desserts from a nearby pastry shop after our dinner, my phone started buzzing with messages from my clients and right when I saw the barrage of images and messages, all that excitement and anticipation I had for the desserts just completely went away, it was so horrible because I was actually really really looking forward to trying the pastries but I just had zero appetite.



My friends bought a hazelnut tart as well as an Ice Cream to share and when they offered it to me, because my mind was so occupied with my clients, I simply found no joy in the food, it was good but my clients were ruining my appetite for food. That being said, the issues that were brought up by my clients were valid and they are partially oversights on my part, so I did deserve the disturbance, but it still sucks.




I was able to drop by my site at Sembawang today to take a look at the progress of the renovation and everything seemed to be going well, lights were being installed and everything seemed to be on track, the installer had no issues, so I decided to make my way straight back to the office after that site visit, seeing how I haven't actually been doing my duty for the past month and I was having this rare moment where I didn't actually have to drop by any other sites, it's probably a good time to start.



So I took a train that was headed for Toa Payoh and mid-journey, Eve decides to reply to a message I had send to the group chat earlier this morning. The reason why I send her that chat was because she didn't respond to the one I had send yesterday. The new text was essentially to reiterate the issues I had yesterday, to get her to actually reply because it was holding up the renovation works, and she finally did try to address the issue at hand. It didn't really make much sense to be honest, so I told her that I didn't understand what she was trying to tell me and thought she was just trying to cook up some bullshit excuse to cover up for the fuck up.


My client was also in the group chat but she was just reading and not responding or asking any questions, which was really irritating because I had told her from the start that if she were to engage her own contractor, I will play no part in coordinating the works of that contractor for her, but look at me now, coordinating the works for her because she managed to find an inept individual and I have to be the one who cleans up the mess.



So I had a bit of back and forth with Eve and I really wanted to just call my client and complaint to her about how unnecessary all this back and forth was and how we could have avoided all this had she just decided to use my contractor, what I said to my client when she first told me she wanted to get her own electrician was this....

"If you are going to be getting your own electrician, I won't coordinate their works for you, you will have to do that yourself, the most I will do is allocate a date for them to drop by and that is it, I will have nothing to do with them,"

... and she understood the terms and got her own electricians, I really wanted to throw this back at her, but I held back and continued my conversation with Eve, the conversation went nowhere and finally Eve just asked me...

"Will you be dropping by the site today? Adam will be there."

... a part of me really didn't want to go because I was already on my way to the office and I am not being paid to coordinate with her, so why the hell am I even having this conversation with Eve, but after remembering the screw up that Adam did, I really had no other choice, so I told her I will meet Adam on site, got off at Toa Payoh, bought a drink, and then hop on to the train and went back the direction I had come from to Choa Chu Kang. It was so stupid.

I reach my site about 40 minutes later and Adam was there, so after settling down, I went straight into the fuck up that happened. He did eventually sort of rectified the issue, but the whole cutting a hole in the wall bit was completely unnecessary, he cut a hold because he wanted to add extra support in the wall for the fixture, I told him that it wasn't really necessary because if my carpenter can mount a huge cabinet on the wall, the small electrical fixture my client wanted to install will definitely be light enough for the wall to support. I decided to stay at the site for a while longer to see what else was going to be done, did some scheduling work with my other contractors on the phone while I was there and then finally left after about an hour.



Adam did manage to damage a portion of on of the carpentry while I was there, so that is another issue I will have to deal with. I told my carpenter about it and the first thing he told me was...

"I will have to charge you for it."

 ... I understand that he has to charge me for it, but lately, my carpenter has also been quite disappointing. In the past, he was very helpful and would do a lot of additional things for me without charging me, but lately, the overall quality of his service has taken a bit of a dip. He is still good, but just not as helpful as he was last time.




Not too long ago, literally about 40 minutes ago, it's 12.30 am now as I am writing this portion of the post, my client send me a message that writes....

" I will talk to you tomorrow."

...what purpose does that serve? Telling me you will talk to me tomorrow.


It's midnight, I am about to sleep and you drop me a text that has no context whatsoever. Now I am going to be spending the night worrying about what conversation I will have to deal with tomorrow with my client.



If you want to talk to me tomorrow, then talk to me tomorrow, I mean what is the whole point of the text, am I suppose to treat it like a royal decree, that I shall be spoken to tomorrow?