My family recently welcomed a new puppy into the house and for the first week, his presence has been great, my Sister specially took time off to care for him for an entire week, so the rest of us only needed to entertain the puppy every once in a while when we felt like it and of course help out a little when it gets a little too much for one person to handle.
Before the puppy came, everyone was really excited, so was I, to have a puppy as a roommate sounded like an adorable idea, the puppy took about 3 weeks after the deposit was paid to be welcomed into our house, so the build up to his addition was massive.
On the day of his arrival, he was absolutely adorable, everything he did was cute, he smelled great because the shop gave him a shower prior, he didn't bark, he was relatively tamed and he would sit every time someone told him to.
As the days go by, the puppy got more and more comfortable with us and that was when things started to feel really really tiring. He would get a lot more rough, jumping at us every time he sees us and when he gets too excited, he will start biting really hard, the worst thing is he pees and shits everywhere, so my Sister being the main caretaker would have to isolate him into his potty area every 30 minutes to make sure he knows where to pee and shit, it is a long and arduous process which could take months, so right now, he is still pissing and shitting everywhere.
Sharing a room with him recently become a bit of a hindrance to me because my Sister wants him in bed by 10pm, I normally am still up at 10pm and only go to bed maybe at around Midnight. When puppy gets brought into my room at 10pm and is placed in his little confined nap area, he will start to whine, he will start to scratch the barricades to get out until I turn off the lights and go to sleep, so my sleeping schedule is now 10.30pm at the latest because the puppy wouldn't sleep until he sees me lying in bed with the lights off.
At the start, he would only whine, now he has moved on to barking and it is horrible because of how loud that little dog is, it is impossible for me to stay up while he is whining and barking away.
My sister's leave is officially over, so now she is out of the house 80% of the time and only back in the evening, this means whoever is at home in the Morning to Afternoon will be responsible for the dog.
I was home the whole day today, so my sister tasked me with caring for the puppy, which included playing with it, feeding it and making sure he gets his potty break every 30 minutes. I really didn't have the patience to follow that schedule and the puppy wasn't his usual perky self today, he was sleeping pretty much the entire afternoon, barely ate his food and since I didn't want to lock him up the entire day in his little cage, I just let him roam around the house while I did my own thing, I didn't give him his potty break at his designated spot like I should because he wasn't peeing as much as he normally would when my sister was around, so I tried to observe his patterns as much as possible when I was not busy doing my own things.
When my sister came back, the first thing she noticed was the dog shit at the front door and naturally, she wasn't pleased, I didn't even notice the dog had taken a dump there, didn't know how long the dump had been there and I felt a little guilty about it, and then as my sister walked into the house, she realized there were pee stains on the floor as well, turns out the puppy had been urinating when I wasn't looking and my sister got even more annoyed and at this point, I just started to miss the times when the puppy wasn't around.
What I have taken away from this past 2 weeks of experience with the puppy is that I will never ever get a dog of my own now that I know how high maintenance they truly are. I am too lazy to keep up with the puppy training, I do not have the discipline to maintain a consistent schedule with the puppy, I would much prefer a stray cat as a companion, one that would come and go as and when they like, no training needed.
I still enjoy the puppy's presence in the house and I am just thankful that it wasn't me who got the dog because I almost planned to get a schnauzer a long time ago when I was a lot more immature and this is also a reason why I do not want to date anyone because I honestly do not have the attention span required to keep any sort of relationship going.
Wednesday 29 January 2020
Thursday 23 January 2020
Not in the CNY Mood.
My company is officially closed for CNY and don't feel all that relaxed about it because...
1. My current $90,000 is reaching it's end soon and I am anticipating a lot of "defects" to pop up, and by that I mean my clients sending me a dozen text messages within a span of a few hour, depending on how stringent they are, reporting their findings to me.
2. My reservist starts right after the CNY Break is over, which is horrible because of the above reason, I will essentially be stuck in camp during the defect check, which means any issues that gets brought up, I can't deal with in person immediately because I will be stuck in camp.
When a client brings up an issue they have with the ongoing renovation, I will always want to be there in person to actually assess the problem because a lot of times, these defects aren't really defects but minor imperfections. It would be like getting a dozen cupcakes from a bakery and then pointing out that the liners used for the cupcakes are peeling off at the edges a little or that one of the cupcake has a slightly different looking swirl that the others... these are considered imperfections, defect would be finding a surprise Lizard in the center of the cupcake or a less dramatic example would be the cupcakes getting all smashed up when it gets delivered to your place.
It's generally quite a pain when I get messages about imperfections and not actual defects because it can get really difficult to explain to a client why I am not going to send someone down to rectify that small little smudge at the corner of the wall that they can literally take a paint brush and paint over on their own in a matter of minutes. A lot of times they will assume I am not doing what I am not doing because I am trying to shirk responsibility, but the truth is, I do not want to waste my sub-contractor's time because it will affect my working relationship with them if I keep asking them to do such minor touch up whenever a client complains about the smallest issue, they won't want to work with me if working with me would bring them such a great deal of inconvenience.
So anyways, the $90,000 project apartment has officially gone through it's final round of cleaning , I can now walk into the apartment with my shoes off, which feels nice, also dropped by the place earlier to stick stickers on the "defect" areas that needs touching up, my client will be returning back from his work trip tomorrow and he will be visiting the place with his wife, so FML, and all these to happen on my CNY break.
The wife has already dropped by earlier this evening to take a look and she spotted some minor fixable issues that would require a bit of arm grease power from me, like removing a bunch of paint stains on railings and what not, I mean they are easy fixes but getting these kinds of messages are just mood killers no matter how small the issues are, at best I would get distracted by them for a while, at worst, I completely lose my appetite and skip dinner despite feeling extremely hungry earlier.
I am already affected by a solo defect hunt done by the wife, once the husband enters the picture and they start doing the hunt together, that is when I am going to not have any appetite for anything.
When I first got my hands on this couple's renovation project, even before I clinched their project, I had already anticipated this day to come, just the sheer scope of the work that was done to the place, it is inevitable that they would have a lot of imperfections and defects to bring up to me and request for me to fix, but the stress that comes from this is something I can never mentally prepare myself for, it is always a very stressful process and I have been pretty lucky that for my last few projects, the clients were either on site everyday to monitor and able to immediately get the contractors to rectify those issues on the spot, or they were in a rush to move in so they couldn't spend a lot of time doing the defect checks, especially because once all the furniture comes in, it becomes harder to spot the blemishes on the walls or the slight dent in the cabinet door, it's like the defects suddenly become the needle in a haystack of furniture.
This project has really delayed for almost 2 months now, previously the client's parents was expecting me to complete the project within 2 months, so around end November, which was an impossible request, so I told them it was impossible and was about to give up on the project if they insisted on that timeline, but I was luckily able to talk some sense into them and then estimated for it to end at the end of December before Christmas, but then the clients requested to do a lot more work, so that date was pushed back to mid January, then my carpenter fucked up and the clients also messed up and ordered a light that had a 3 weeks delivery timing, so that date was pushed to end January, then of course my carpenter screws me over again and delays his work, add the CNY break into the mix and I can only officially have every single item in the project delivered by early February. I will be going for my reservist in February, so everything else I will likely only be able to co-ordinate from camp and can only officially officially hand over the project to my clients at the end of February.
I am so stressed out my face is just free real estate for pimples right now, it is times like this when I just want to quit and get a different and much more stable and predictable job, always at this stage I will tell myself that I don't want to re-live this level of stress again, and then the project ends, I get happy to get paid and the cycle repeats itself.
When I have no projects to run, I crave for them, but when I have projects to run, I abhor them.
What the actual fuck.
1. My current $90,000 is reaching it's end soon and I am anticipating a lot of "defects" to pop up, and by that I mean my clients sending me a dozen text messages within a span of a few hour, depending on how stringent they are, reporting their findings to me.
2. My reservist starts right after the CNY Break is over, which is horrible because of the above reason, I will essentially be stuck in camp during the defect check, which means any issues that gets brought up, I can't deal with in person immediately because I will be stuck in camp.
When a client brings up an issue they have with the ongoing renovation, I will always want to be there in person to actually assess the problem because a lot of times, these defects aren't really defects but minor imperfections. It would be like getting a dozen cupcakes from a bakery and then pointing out that the liners used for the cupcakes are peeling off at the edges a little or that one of the cupcake has a slightly different looking swirl that the others... these are considered imperfections, defect would be finding a surprise Lizard in the center of the cupcake or a less dramatic example would be the cupcakes getting all smashed up when it gets delivered to your place.
It's generally quite a pain when I get messages about imperfections and not actual defects because it can get really difficult to explain to a client why I am not going to send someone down to rectify that small little smudge at the corner of the wall that they can literally take a paint brush and paint over on their own in a matter of minutes. A lot of times they will assume I am not doing what I am not doing because I am trying to shirk responsibility, but the truth is, I do not want to waste my sub-contractor's time because it will affect my working relationship with them if I keep asking them to do such minor touch up whenever a client complains about the smallest issue, they won't want to work with me if working with me would bring them such a great deal of inconvenience.
So anyways, the $90,000 project apartment has officially gone through it's final round of cleaning , I can now walk into the apartment with my shoes off, which feels nice, also dropped by the place earlier to stick stickers on the "defect" areas that needs touching up, my client will be returning back from his work trip tomorrow and he will be visiting the place with his wife, so FML, and all these to happen on my CNY break.
The wife has already dropped by earlier this evening to take a look and she spotted some minor fixable issues that would require a bit of arm grease power from me, like removing a bunch of paint stains on railings and what not, I mean they are easy fixes but getting these kinds of messages are just mood killers no matter how small the issues are, at best I would get distracted by them for a while, at worst, I completely lose my appetite and skip dinner despite feeling extremely hungry earlier.
I am already affected by a solo defect hunt done by the wife, once the husband enters the picture and they start doing the hunt together, that is when I am going to not have any appetite for anything.
When I first got my hands on this couple's renovation project, even before I clinched their project, I had already anticipated this day to come, just the sheer scope of the work that was done to the place, it is inevitable that they would have a lot of imperfections and defects to bring up to me and request for me to fix, but the stress that comes from this is something I can never mentally prepare myself for, it is always a very stressful process and I have been pretty lucky that for my last few projects, the clients were either on site everyday to monitor and able to immediately get the contractors to rectify those issues on the spot, or they were in a rush to move in so they couldn't spend a lot of time doing the defect checks, especially because once all the furniture comes in, it becomes harder to spot the blemishes on the walls or the slight dent in the cabinet door, it's like the defects suddenly become the needle in a haystack of furniture.
This project has really delayed for almost 2 months now, previously the client's parents was expecting me to complete the project within 2 months, so around end November, which was an impossible request, so I told them it was impossible and was about to give up on the project if they insisted on that timeline, but I was luckily able to talk some sense into them and then estimated for it to end at the end of December before Christmas, but then the clients requested to do a lot more work, so that date was pushed back to mid January, then my carpenter fucked up and the clients also messed up and ordered a light that had a 3 weeks delivery timing, so that date was pushed to end January, then of course my carpenter screws me over again and delays his work, add the CNY break into the mix and I can only officially have every single item in the project delivered by early February. I will be going for my reservist in February, so everything else I will likely only be able to co-ordinate from camp and can only officially officially hand over the project to my clients at the end of February.
I am so stressed out my face is just free real estate for pimples right now, it is times like this when I just want to quit and get a different and much more stable and predictable job, always at this stage I will tell myself that I don't want to re-live this level of stress again, and then the project ends, I get happy to get paid and the cycle repeats itself.
When I have no projects to run, I crave for them, but when I have projects to run, I abhor them.
What the actual fuck.
Wednesday 15 January 2020
Scum Ha Ha
So about that particular Commercial Project that I had blogged about previously, the one with the extremely unreasonable clients, FINALLY my company is taking action and has engaged a lawyer to draft out a defamation cease and desist letter to send to those two fuckers.
After I had blogged about them, my company still attempted to try and talk some sense into the clients, met them up at the store to personally run through the "issues" they had that were caused by my colleagues because of "poor project management skills" and it ended with the two fuckers not only refusing to pay up the remaining contract sum that they owed the company, they actually had the audacity to demand for our side to pay them for the damages incurred to them financially because they had to delay the opening of their store that led to them making financial loses.
My colleagues had their respective managers, one of them being my own, go down and talk to the clients and after hearing their demands, the only thing my manager had to say to them was to settle all this in court because there is just no point trying to talk common sense into those 2 greedy fucks anymore, it was clear that no matter what solutions my colleagues came up with, they weren't going to accept them, what they ultimately wanted in the end was to default the remaining payment they owe us, which is disgusting enough, and then also to just get us to actually pay them more!
The only word I can think of to describe those 2 fuckers, aside from fuckers, is just scum, 2 pure disgusting greedy scums.
If karma truly exist, here's hoping for their business to fail in 2020!
After I had blogged about them, my company still attempted to try and talk some sense into the clients, met them up at the store to personally run through the "issues" they had that were caused by my colleagues because of "poor project management skills" and it ended with the two fuckers not only refusing to pay up the remaining contract sum that they owed the company, they actually had the audacity to demand for our side to pay them for the damages incurred to them financially because they had to delay the opening of their store that led to them making financial loses.
My colleagues had their respective managers, one of them being my own, go down and talk to the clients and after hearing their demands, the only thing my manager had to say to them was to settle all this in court because there is just no point trying to talk common sense into those 2 greedy fucks anymore, it was clear that no matter what solutions my colleagues came up with, they weren't going to accept them, what they ultimately wanted in the end was to default the remaining payment they owe us, which is disgusting enough, and then also to just get us to actually pay them more!
The only word I can think of to describe those 2 fuckers, aside from fuckers, is just scum, 2 pure disgusting greedy scums.
If karma truly exist, here's hoping for their business to fail in 2020!
Another Low Commission Project
Feeling pretty stressed out about my current project right now.
After the mess that my carpenter got me into with his forgetfulness to fabricate a few items that I had clearly asked him to do, now my window supplier also managed to screw things up for me.
The good thing is all the problems that I am currently facing so far are issues that can be solved, but at the expense of my already dwindling commission, my clients for that particular project are now entering the "defect spotting" mode, which is the part of the renovation that I hate the most because it usually means I will be getting a shitload of messages at one go.
Actually getting all of them at one go is better, I would rather clients do that then take the whole day to slowly stream in the messages because that just feeds into my anxiety. The ones who are updating me while they are doing the defect checks are the worst because it could be a whole day affair, that means I am feeling stressed out the whole day waiting for my phone to stop fucking "ding"-ing.
Anyways, for this current project, I have been helping the clients absorb a lot of additional costs because in the beginning, I thought since it was such a huge project, biggest one I have ever gotten, I would be making a lot of money, so covering certain items for them wouldn't be an issue for me. These are the items I have covered for them so far...
... and then of course there is the fuck ups...
Which brings the total amount I have loss to a staggering $5,920, that's $2,400 from my own personal profit taking a hit, this is not including the $3000 goodwill discount I gave them from the start, which means I am actually making about $3,500 loss in my personal commission.
I also helped them absorbed a few more items out of goodwill without telling them, like giving them the option to choose any door handle they wanted for their new doors, and they chose the most expensive one which they are now sharing with me is too dark and not the color they wanted. I offered to change the knobs for them though because it honestly wouldn't cost too much, I mean I am already bleeding $3500, what's another $50 gonna do? But thankfully they were nice enough and told me it wasn't necessary.
Currently I am estimating to earn only a measly $4500 from this project, calculate what I lost in personal profit, my actual commission should have been at least $7,900.
The amount might sound big for a single project, but if I were to take into account how long it has taken me to actually clinch this project and how long it has taken me to do this project, the amount is honestly not a justifiable amount.
I met this couple in early 2018, they only engaged me at the start of 2019, so a whole year of back and forth, literally met them over a span of about 10 design meetings before they finally decided to engage me, a normal client would only meet 3 times on average before they decide to engage an Interior Designer.
Once everything was confirmed and the contract was signed, it took about another 6 months to get to the stage I am right now, so if I were to exclude that whole year of back and forth, dividing $4,500 across the 6 months I have had to work with my current clients, that is only $750 per month, 6 months is until right now, I am anticipating the renovation to drag on until possibly late February to early March if nothing messes up, so I am estimating about 7 months in total.
The last 2 projects that I did which were running simultaneously took me 6 weeks to complete, and during that 6 weeks, I have managed to earn close to $3000, even though it was 2 projects, the scope of those 2 projects were so much easier to handle, I hardly had to be on site for one of them. That's $2000 per month for those 2 projects, so if I split that into 2, I was earning about $1000 a month per project.
In fact, I would go so far as to say this current one is even worst than J&J's because with J&J's project, even though they did a lot of things, it was so much less complexity involved, there were less details I had to take care of, it was very straightforward so I didn't have to do as much coordination work. The commission I am getting from it is still pure shit, that is a fact, and it is still comparatively less that what I am getting from this current one, but just simply based on the complexity of the work, the amount of money I got from J&J's project is still much more worthy of my time than this current one, and by a STRETCH!
With J&J's Project, when it started, I could at least see the end, and it pretty much only lasted about 1.5 months before everything was done and I was done with them, with this current one, I had originally anticipated it to end mid December, then more works were requested last minute, so it ended up dragging to end December to early January, right now it is already mid January and sure, it is coming to an end soon, but it still feels like it has a long way to go.
So far, the clients for my current project have been very nice, very patient and just in general very appreciative of everything I have done for them, so it kinda balances things out a little.
After the mess that my carpenter got me into with his forgetfulness to fabricate a few items that I had clearly asked him to do, now my window supplier also managed to screw things up for me.
The good thing is all the problems that I am currently facing so far are issues that can be solved, but at the expense of my already dwindling commission, my clients for that particular project are now entering the "defect spotting" mode, which is the part of the renovation that I hate the most because it usually means I will be getting a shitload of messages at one go.
Actually getting all of them at one go is better, I would rather clients do that then take the whole day to slowly stream in the messages because that just feeds into my anxiety. The ones who are updating me while they are doing the defect checks are the worst because it could be a whole day affair, that means I am feeling stressed out the whole day waiting for my phone to stop fucking "ding"-ing.
Anyways, for this current project, I have been helping the clients absorb a lot of additional costs because in the beginning, I thought since it was such a huge project, biggest one I have ever gotten, I would be making a lot of money, so covering certain items for them wouldn't be an issue for me. These are the items I have covered for them so far...
Insurance - $350
Door Frames - $500
Soft Closing Door Stopper - $120
Permit Extension Fee - $500
Fiber Cable Install - $150
Replacing Existing Windows - $100
... and then of course there is the fuck ups...
Carpenter - $3000
Windows - $1200
Which brings the total amount I have loss to a staggering $5,920, that's $2,400 from my own personal profit taking a hit, this is not including the $3000 goodwill discount I gave them from the start, which means I am actually making about $3,500 loss in my personal commission.
I also helped them absorbed a few more items out of goodwill without telling them, like giving them the option to choose any door handle they wanted for their new doors, and they chose the most expensive one which they are now sharing with me is too dark and not the color they wanted. I offered to change the knobs for them though because it honestly wouldn't cost too much, I mean I am already bleeding $3500, what's another $50 gonna do? But thankfully they were nice enough and told me it wasn't necessary.
Currently I am estimating to earn only a measly $4500 from this project, calculate what I lost in personal profit, my actual commission should have been at least $7,900.
The amount might sound big for a single project, but if I were to take into account how long it has taken me to actually clinch this project and how long it has taken me to do this project, the amount is honestly not a justifiable amount.
I met this couple in early 2018, they only engaged me at the start of 2019, so a whole year of back and forth, literally met them over a span of about 10 design meetings before they finally decided to engage me, a normal client would only meet 3 times on average before they decide to engage an Interior Designer.
Once everything was confirmed and the contract was signed, it took about another 6 months to get to the stage I am right now, so if I were to exclude that whole year of back and forth, dividing $4,500 across the 6 months I have had to work with my current clients, that is only $750 per month, 6 months is until right now, I am anticipating the renovation to drag on until possibly late February to early March if nothing messes up, so I am estimating about 7 months in total.
The last 2 projects that I did which were running simultaneously took me 6 weeks to complete, and during that 6 weeks, I have managed to earn close to $3000, even though it was 2 projects, the scope of those 2 projects were so much easier to handle, I hardly had to be on site for one of them. That's $2000 per month for those 2 projects, so if I split that into 2, I was earning about $1000 a month per project.
In fact, I would go so far as to say this current one is even worst than J&J's because with J&J's project, even though they did a lot of things, it was so much less complexity involved, there were less details I had to take care of, it was very straightforward so I didn't have to do as much coordination work. The commission I am getting from it is still pure shit, that is a fact, and it is still comparatively less that what I am getting from this current one, but just simply based on the complexity of the work, the amount of money I got from J&J's project is still much more worthy of my time than this current one, and by a STRETCH!
With J&J's Project, when it started, I could at least see the end, and it pretty much only lasted about 1.5 months before everything was done and I was done with them, with this current one, I had originally anticipated it to end mid December, then more works were requested last minute, so it ended up dragging to end December to early January, right now it is already mid January and sure, it is coming to an end soon, but it still feels like it has a long way to go.
So far, the clients for my current project have been very nice, very patient and just in general very appreciative of everything I have done for them, so it kinda balances things out a little.
Friday 10 January 2020
4th D&D is the charm....
The Company's Annual Dinner & Dance has once again come and gone and after my first year, I have sort of been looking forward to all the Dinner & Dance because of the prizes I could potentially get from the sure win lucky draw and also the fact that none of the ones I attend from now on will be as painful and awkward as the first one.
Like always, there was a theme to the dinner and I really didn't bother to dress up, went in my best "not even trying" look and a few of my colleagues were not impressed by how unbothered I was about my get up. A few others also really didn't dress up so I wasn't the only lazy one present that day.
Once again like last year, there was a long wait before we were actually allowed to enter the Hall, so there was a lot of chit chat going on, people were drinking soft drinks and alcohol as we waited, I just sat in one of the armchair and stayed in that chair for almost an entire hour because that's how early we were expected to arrive.
Sub-Contractors started streaming into the venue, most of them I have never worked with so I also didn't really bother to get up and greet most of them, once a while I would talk to some of my colleagues who were hovering around my area, but otherwise, I was either on my phone looking at Facebook or just staring into space.
When we were finally only allowed to enter the Hall, which was 15 minutes after the stipulated timing, everyone went to their seats and unfortunately this time around, I was seated with a bunch of my colleagues that I don't really speak to, I thought since I will be seated with a bunch of sub-cons that I use often, we could have something to talk about, but that was a bust as well because I didn't feel very chatty trying to compete with the speaker that was constantly pumping really loud music, every time I tried to talk to my sub-con or one of my colleague, I will always have to repeat myself multiple times, so eventually I just gave up completely. My sub-con who was seated beside me probably had something to eat earlier, so he wasn't hungry and spend half the time on his phone surfing Facebook.
Oh, and during the dinner, there was a belly dancing act, there was one during my first Dinner 3 years back that I felt was a little weird, the feeling is still the same after all these years, it's still really really odd to have belly dancers for such a proper event. I didn't really care too much about it and didn't watch much of it because my back was facing the stage and it was too troublesome to keep my back turned to watch a few ladies gyrate.
So after a few dishes and games, the lucky draw finally starts and like the last time, it was a roulette system, everyone's name is one the screen and the computer will spin the wheel and when it stops on the person's name, the person will get the prize.
When the host announced what the first few prizes were, I honestly was hoping I wouldn't get them because they were spa vouchers and flight vouchers that I would never use. I would have preferred to get the consolation prize over those items. Luckily for me, my name was never selected and I got to escape the vouchers.
The lucky draw is split into two sections, the first part is where all the mid tier prizes are being given out, I thought those were the lousy prizes and it could only get better from there, but as the dinner was coming to an end and we started the second portion did I realize that only 4 names would be picked and the rest would be consolation prizes, the 4 names will be winners of the big prizes, which were just straight up cash that were $388, $588, $1288 and $1888 being the grand prize.
The host begins the lucky draw and gets his guy to hit the roulette button, it spins and it lands on someone I don't really know.
*clap* *clap* *clap*
The winner gets up, takes a pic, grabs the angbao and leaves.
The host then gets his guy to hit the roulette button again and it lands on one of my colleague who was seated at the table in front of me.
*clap* *clap* *clap*
She gets up, people at her table were cheering for her, takes a pic, grabs the angbao and leaves.
There were now only 2 big prizes left and everyone was getting really excited, the roulette button gets hit again and this time, it lands on my colleague who was seated right next to me, that expression she had on her face when she realized she had won $1288 was one of utter disbelief, she had her hands covering her mouth as she stood up and made her way to the stage.
*clap* *clap* *clap*
She gets up, takes a pic, grabs the angbao and leaves.
When she came back to the table again, I asked her what was in the red packer and she takes out a piece of paper and shows me what was written on it, there wasn't any cash in the angbao, but instructions on how to claim the money, which makes sense because it is a pretty large amount. Anyways, as I was talking to her, the host was already starting to roll the roulette, I really didn't think too much at this point, this was the grand prize we are talking about, chances of winning is pretty slim, so I decided that instead of focusing on the roulette, I will just eat my dessert.
And then the roulette lands on a name and everyone starts clapping, I looked up at one of my colleague who was seated at another table and I see him clapping his hands and then slowly turning his body towards me, I was still shoveling the mango desert in my mouth when the host shouts out my name and when I looked at the screen, I was shocked!
The same thing happened last year as well, my name got selected when I wasn't looking at the screen and when I was also shoveling food in my mouth, except then, it was because I really didn't want that particular prize because I had no use for it, but I digress.
So I quickly slurped up whatever mango desert I had on the spoon and made my way up, the host then makes a joke about me focusing on the desert more than the lucky draw and when he was congratulating me as I was walking towards the stage, I almost wanted to like dance a bit but decided to maintain my integrity and just head straight for the stage, my boss then tells me how lucky I was, we shake hands and smiled for the camera, I was still shaking at this point, I am sure my smile on the photo is going to look super awkward and uncomfortable, people were cheering from the crowd and then I made my way back to the table with one person at the table congratulating me because almost everyone else had left my table at that point.
When the dinner ended, a lot of people came up to congratulate me and it is kinda weird because I don't really know what to say aside from "Thanks", it just feels a little awkward to have people come up and congratulate me for being lucky. A few of my colleagues jokingly tease me about winning the top prize and started rubbing me for luck and what I was really thinking to myself then was...
... but hey, at least now I am $1,888 richer, which is more money that I will be getting from J&J's project.
Like always, there was a theme to the dinner and I really didn't bother to dress up, went in my best "not even trying" look and a few of my colleagues were not impressed by how unbothered I was about my get up. A few others also really didn't dress up so I wasn't the only lazy one present that day.
Once again like last year, there was a long wait before we were actually allowed to enter the Hall, so there was a lot of chit chat going on, people were drinking soft drinks and alcohol as we waited, I just sat in one of the armchair and stayed in that chair for almost an entire hour because that's how early we were expected to arrive.
Sub-Contractors started streaming into the venue, most of them I have never worked with so I also didn't really bother to get up and greet most of them, once a while I would talk to some of my colleagues who were hovering around my area, but otherwise, I was either on my phone looking at Facebook or just staring into space.
When we were finally only allowed to enter the Hall, which was 15 minutes after the stipulated timing, everyone went to their seats and unfortunately this time around, I was seated with a bunch of my colleagues that I don't really speak to, I thought since I will be seated with a bunch of sub-cons that I use often, we could have something to talk about, but that was a bust as well because I didn't feel very chatty trying to compete with the speaker that was constantly pumping really loud music, every time I tried to talk to my sub-con or one of my colleague, I will always have to repeat myself multiple times, so eventually I just gave up completely. My sub-con who was seated beside me probably had something to eat earlier, so he wasn't hungry and spend half the time on his phone surfing Facebook.
Oh, and during the dinner, there was a belly dancing act, there was one during my first Dinner 3 years back that I felt was a little weird, the feeling is still the same after all these years, it's still really really odd to have belly dancers for such a proper event. I didn't really care too much about it and didn't watch much of it because my back was facing the stage and it was too troublesome to keep my back turned to watch a few ladies gyrate.
So after a few dishes and games, the lucky draw finally starts and like the last time, it was a roulette system, everyone's name is one the screen and the computer will spin the wheel and when it stops on the person's name, the person will get the prize.
When the host announced what the first few prizes were, I honestly was hoping I wouldn't get them because they were spa vouchers and flight vouchers that I would never use. I would have preferred to get the consolation prize over those items. Luckily for me, my name was never selected and I got to escape the vouchers.
The lucky draw is split into two sections, the first part is where all the mid tier prizes are being given out, I thought those were the lousy prizes and it could only get better from there, but as the dinner was coming to an end and we started the second portion did I realize that only 4 names would be picked and the rest would be consolation prizes, the 4 names will be winners of the big prizes, which were just straight up cash that were $388, $588, $1288 and $1888 being the grand prize.
The host begins the lucky draw and gets his guy to hit the roulette button, it spins and it lands on someone I don't really know.
*clap* *clap* *clap*
The winner gets up, takes a pic, grabs the angbao and leaves.
The host then gets his guy to hit the roulette button again and it lands on one of my colleague who was seated at the table in front of me.
*clap* *clap* *clap*
She gets up, people at her table were cheering for her, takes a pic, grabs the angbao and leaves.
There were now only 2 big prizes left and everyone was getting really excited, the roulette button gets hit again and this time, it lands on my colleague who was seated right next to me, that expression she had on her face when she realized she had won $1288 was one of utter disbelief, she had her hands covering her mouth as she stood up and made her way to the stage.
*clap* *clap* *clap*
She gets up, takes a pic, grabs the angbao and leaves.
When she came back to the table again, I asked her what was in the red packer and she takes out a piece of paper and shows me what was written on it, there wasn't any cash in the angbao, but instructions on how to claim the money, which makes sense because it is a pretty large amount. Anyways, as I was talking to her, the host was already starting to roll the roulette, I really didn't think too much at this point, this was the grand prize we are talking about, chances of winning is pretty slim, so I decided that instead of focusing on the roulette, I will just eat my dessert.
And then the roulette lands on a name and everyone starts clapping, I looked up at one of my colleague who was seated at another table and I see him clapping his hands and then slowly turning his body towards me, I was still shoveling the mango desert in my mouth when the host shouts out my name and when I looked at the screen, I was shocked!
The same thing happened last year as well, my name got selected when I wasn't looking at the screen and when I was also shoveling food in my mouth, except then, it was because I really didn't want that particular prize because I had no use for it, but I digress.
So I quickly slurped up whatever mango desert I had on the spoon and made my way up, the host then makes a joke about me focusing on the desert more than the lucky draw and when he was congratulating me as I was walking towards the stage, I almost wanted to like dance a bit but decided to maintain my integrity and just head straight for the stage, my boss then tells me how lucky I was, we shake hands and smiled for the camera, I was still shaking at this point, I am sure my smile on the photo is going to look super awkward and uncomfortable, people were cheering from the crowd and then I made my way back to the table with one person at the table congratulating me because almost everyone else had left my table at that point.
When the dinner ended, a lot of people came up to congratulate me and it is kinda weird because I don't really know what to say aside from "Thanks", it just feels a little awkward to have people come up and congratulate me for being lucky. A few of my colleagues jokingly tease me about winning the top prize and started rubbing me for luck and what I was really thinking to myself then was...
"There goes all the good luck I will have for 2020."
... but hey, at least now I am $1,888 richer, which is more money that I will be getting from J&J's project.
Saturday 4 January 2020
New Potential Client & New Year's Resolution
One of my current client recently introduced one of his friend, who was looking for an Interior Designer to me and initially I was really happy with the referral because so far, everyone who was introduced by referral from that particular "client tree" were amazing to work with, they were really easy-going and friendly and I always complete their project feeling like I have made new friends.
When I first met this new client, he actually reminded me of my very first client because they had similar facial features and so I felt immediately comfortable talking to him.
During the consultation, he was relatively easy to talk to, his wife was also present and they shared all their requirements with me and honestly everything went pretty well, and then they told me that their apartment was located in Punggol and that was when I felt like this project suddenly wasn't worth my time anymore.
But I decided to not turn it down so quickly and attempt to give it a shot, I can handle having a project at an inconvenient location once in a while, it is fine. I did up a space planning proposal, prepared a quotation and emailed him the quotation a few days later, he responds almost immediately and thanks me for the quote but not before asking me to send him some mock ups because if it was just the quotation, he couldn't really base it off anything, I then told him I would be able to let him see a rough 3D in person, but I wasn't going to be able to actually send him any softcopy to refer to because I am not going to just let a non-paying customer get copies of my 3D drawings so they can just take my work and have a contractor do it for a cheaper fee. He was still pretty insistent on having something to see, so I begrudgingly agreed to sent him a copy of the space planning proposal.
About 2 hours later, he creates a group chat with his wife and adds me into it, which I thought was great because it is not a very common occurrence for a client to immediately open a group chat to discuss, normally this only happens when a client is interested to engage me for my services, but right after the initial...
... he just started criticizing my initial space planning proposal, telling me how bad the layout was, how he didn't like the way the bed was place, how the kitchen felt strange because it looked really empty and of course the complaint about the price being on the higher side.
I was immediately turned off because I felt like he was very tactless with the way he was phrasing his words, the main feedback I got from that wall of text he send over was that I did a poor job with the space planning and then after criticizing that, he finishes off by requesting a new proposal by Monday.
The only reason why the layout was badly done was because I was following the request he had shared with me during our consultation.
The bed in the main bedroom was faced a certain way because he didn't have any empty walls left, the other walls were either had doors, windows or wardrobe, the last item he had requested a lot of in that very small room, so I didn't really have much room to play around with.
Another bed in another room was also compromised because it literally didn't have enough space for the bed to fit anywhere else, he wanted to fit a queen size bed in a room that barely had space for it and he tells me it was positioned badly.
The kitchen is empty because he had requested to do minimal cabinetry, he literally told me he didn't want both walls to have cabinets because he was afraid it was going to be too cramp, and then now he tells me my proposal looks strange to only have one wall of cabinets.
The problem I have when clients talk to me via text messages is my inability to recognize the tone they are using, with this particular client, when he shared all his comments with me, it just felt like he was being a prick about it and then the finaldemand request to have the new proposal be done on Monday was just the cherry on top of the rotten cake.
My impression of him just plummeted after the text messages and I have no interest working with someone who is nice in person but a complete prick via messages, had a couple who was also like this for one of my past projects, really nice people in person, able to have great conversations with them, but absolutely hated working for them because of how nit-picky and difficult they both were. Well, this current one will only get his keys in June, so he isn't in a rush, I, on the other hand, am contemplating to leave and look for a new job in the middle of the year, maybe after going for one more company trip in June. If I for some reason end up taking on his project, then it will only be a repeat of what happened during my last attempt to leave, companies being unwilling to hire me because my notice period is too long, so now it's really a matter of making him turn me down.
I spoke to my insurance agent a few days ago and he was also surprised to see me still working in the same place because I have told him multiple times over the past 2 years that I am planning to leave the company soon to find a much more stable job. I am not financially struggling, but I am also not saving anything with my current state of income, everything that I earn, every big cheque that I get every 3 to 4 months is only able to cover what I spend over the last few months and it is very worrying considering the fact that I do plan to get an apartment when I hit 35, that is my long term goal.
When I gave up looking for a new job and stayed in this career path, I told myself that it was possible to make this work, to not be so picky with my clients and just try and get as many projects as possible, but then I meet clients like the one I just talked about and the one I blogged about previously and it just doesn't feel like a very viable option because I know working for those clients, especially Mr & Mrs Tee, will induce an unprecedented level of stress that I will not be able to handle.
I enjoy the creative aspect of my job a lot, that's why I have been working for as long as I have in this line even though it isn't working out for me financially, but I don't think I can waste anymore time lingering around now that I will be hitting 30 in a few months. I am slowly passing my peak period of companies willing to hire me because I am "still young and have potential to grow".
A few days ago, I also met some of my ex-colleagues from bakery for a get together and one of the first things my friend ask me was...
... and I didn't realize I had dark circles until she brought it up to me and that was when I realize that work has really been getting too stressful for me. Even though I am not required to be in the office 70% of the time, I am still constantly in work mode, even as I am writing this post, I am anticipating a text from my clients or sub-contractor, there really isn't any down time for me except during the holidays when clients would also have the decency to leave me alone and let me breathe a little or when I do not have any projects to run, which then makes me feel like I am not doing anything productive and am wasting my time because no projects equates to no income.
I do have to make actual career changes before it is too late and it has to happen this year, I don't do New Year's Resolution, but I will make this year an exception, my New Year's Resolution for 2020 is to finally leave my current company and look for a career that offers financial stability.
When I first met this new client, he actually reminded me of my very first client because they had similar facial features and so I felt immediately comfortable talking to him.
During the consultation, he was relatively easy to talk to, his wife was also present and they shared all their requirements with me and honestly everything went pretty well, and then they told me that their apartment was located in Punggol and that was when I felt like this project suddenly wasn't worth my time anymore.
But I decided to not turn it down so quickly and attempt to give it a shot, I can handle having a project at an inconvenient location once in a while, it is fine. I did up a space planning proposal, prepared a quotation and emailed him the quotation a few days later, he responds almost immediately and thanks me for the quote but not before asking me to send him some mock ups because if it was just the quotation, he couldn't really base it off anything, I then told him I would be able to let him see a rough 3D in person, but I wasn't going to be able to actually send him any softcopy to refer to because I am not going to just let a non-paying customer get copies of my 3D drawings so they can just take my work and have a contractor do it for a cheaper fee. He was still pretty insistent on having something to see, so I begrudgingly agreed to sent him a copy of the space planning proposal.
About 2 hours later, he creates a group chat with his wife and adds me into it, which I thought was great because it is not a very common occurrence for a client to immediately open a group chat to discuss, normally this only happens when a client is interested to engage me for my services, but right after the initial...
"Hi Tim..."
... he just started criticizing my initial space planning proposal, telling me how bad the layout was, how he didn't like the way the bed was place, how the kitchen felt strange because it looked really empty and of course the complaint about the price being on the higher side.
I was immediately turned off because I felt like he was very tactless with the way he was phrasing his words, the main feedback I got from that wall of text he send over was that I did a poor job with the space planning and then after criticizing that, he finishes off by requesting a new proposal by Monday.
The only reason why the layout was badly done was because I was following the request he had shared with me during our consultation.
The bed in the main bedroom was faced a certain way because he didn't have any empty walls left, the other walls were either had doors, windows or wardrobe, the last item he had requested a lot of in that very small room, so I didn't really have much room to play around with.
Another bed in another room was also compromised because it literally didn't have enough space for the bed to fit anywhere else, he wanted to fit a queen size bed in a room that barely had space for it and he tells me it was positioned badly.
The kitchen is empty because he had requested to do minimal cabinetry, he literally told me he didn't want both walls to have cabinets because he was afraid it was going to be too cramp, and then now he tells me my proposal looks strange to only have one wall of cabinets.
The problem I have when clients talk to me via text messages is my inability to recognize the tone they are using, with this particular client, when he shared all his comments with me, it just felt like he was being a prick about it and then the final
My impression of him just plummeted after the text messages and I have no interest working with someone who is nice in person but a complete prick via messages, had a couple who was also like this for one of my past projects, really nice people in person, able to have great conversations with them, but absolutely hated working for them because of how nit-picky and difficult they both were. Well, this current one will only get his keys in June, so he isn't in a rush, I, on the other hand, am contemplating to leave and look for a new job in the middle of the year, maybe after going for one more company trip in June. If I for some reason end up taking on his project, then it will only be a repeat of what happened during my last attempt to leave, companies being unwilling to hire me because my notice period is too long, so now it's really a matter of making him turn me down.
I spoke to my insurance agent a few days ago and he was also surprised to see me still working in the same place because I have told him multiple times over the past 2 years that I am planning to leave the company soon to find a much more stable job. I am not financially struggling, but I am also not saving anything with my current state of income, everything that I earn, every big cheque that I get every 3 to 4 months is only able to cover what I spend over the last few months and it is very worrying considering the fact that I do plan to get an apartment when I hit 35, that is my long term goal.
When I gave up looking for a new job and stayed in this career path, I told myself that it was possible to make this work, to not be so picky with my clients and just try and get as many projects as possible, but then I meet clients like the one I just talked about and the one I blogged about previously and it just doesn't feel like a very viable option because I know working for those clients, especially Mr & Mrs Tee, will induce an unprecedented level of stress that I will not be able to handle.
I enjoy the creative aspect of my job a lot, that's why I have been working for as long as I have in this line even though it isn't working out for me financially, but I don't think I can waste anymore time lingering around now that I will be hitting 30 in a few months. I am slowly passing my peak period of companies willing to hire me because I am "still young and have potential to grow".
A few days ago, I also met some of my ex-colleagues from bakery for a get together and one of the first things my friend ask me was...
"Are you getting enough sleep? Your dark circles look quite bad."
... and I didn't realize I had dark circles until she brought it up to me and that was when I realize that work has really been getting too stressful for me. Even though I am not required to be in the office 70% of the time, I am still constantly in work mode, even as I am writing this post, I am anticipating a text from my clients or sub-contractor, there really isn't any down time for me except during the holidays when clients would also have the decency to leave me alone and let me breathe a little or when I do not have any projects to run, which then makes me feel like I am not doing anything productive and am wasting my time because no projects equates to no income.
I do have to make actual career changes before it is too late and it has to happen this year, I don't do New Year's Resolution, but I will make this year an exception, my New Year's Resolution for 2020 is to finally leave my current company and look for a career that offers financial stability.
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