ID Firm Update Again

So I went to the dentist to get my molar crowned today and the original $850 price tag went up to $1350 because the dentist managed to convince me that getting a Zirconium crown would be better than getting an amalgam one.

I would choose to pay more for a sturdier crown than pay less now and then suffer the consequences later, so it is an extra $500 that needs to be spend, but it is so painful for my wallet to shell out so much money.

I don't earn enough to be able to afford this and I still have $3000 to pay for my insurance at the end of the month, so fuck my life, the pinch is fucking real. I am only earning an average of $1000 per month, and it has been a year since I got my last commission. I am trying to tabulate all my projects and close them together, so I can get a huge cheque which I was planning to get by the end of the year, but then a few sites had delays with some of their built in items, so that has affected my plans to roll around in moolah and that would actually also mean I actually earned $0 for the year of 2020, aside from the army reservist pay and a few little commissions here and there from my suppliers. 

Speaking of jobs, I have applied for 2 new openings with 2 different companies, one is an ID firm and the other is a Gov agency, I am not really sure my chances of getting hired by both are that high, but I will see how it goes. The ID Firm that I applied for is actually the ID Firm that I thought I had been interviewed for previously because the names are quite similar and speaking of that ID Firm I interviewed for, well, the boss called me up again this evening.

This time I knew I was no longer interested in the position, so I expressed my disinterest and we were able to end things a properly this time round, but he was really persistent to meet me again to discuss further and I had to tell him that I really wasn't interested to do sales anymore. He was really nice about it, but then he started telling me if I didn't want to do interior sales, he had other options available which included being a Realtor or Financial Advisor because he also dabbles in those, he then list a bunch of other companies he has and asked me if any of those piqued my interest...

... I honestly appreciate his gesture, but it was so odd because none of the jobs he was offering me were related to what I was looking for. 

It's like me going to KOI to get a cup of bubble tea, get torn about which flavor to get, and then have the cashier tell me that if I can't decide which flavor to get, that they also have a sneaker shop nearby where I can buy a new pair of shoe.

I told him I will think about it, thanked him for his time and I think this is the last time we will speak to each other again. Or he might call me again a few weeks later to check on me, who knows, it's weird.

Current Concerns

The design firm that I turned down but was then persuaded to reconsider my decision again has finally reached out to me last Wednesday to try and schedule another date to drop by the office to confirm my employment. 

The boss literally had 3 days to update me on whether he can do Tuesday or not and he only reaches out on Wednesday to tell me he had been sick the day before so he couldn't meet me. If he had responded earlier and told me he can do Tuesday, but then informed me on Tuesday that he was sick and had to postpone the meeting, I would have believed that he was actually sick. It's the lack of any reply to the days leading up to the meeting that really rubbed me the wrong way.

So I didn't bother replying to set up a new meeting.

Personally I do not feel comfortable leaving things the way I did, by not responding to his request to meet again, but at this point, too much time has passed for me to make any excuses about why I didn't reply him other than the fact that it was done out of pure pettiness, so things shall be left the way they are and I shall be remembered by him and his company as the "unprofessional interviewee".

Moving on from that mess of a job interview where everyone's time got wasted, my current concern is with my ongoing project that is already completed, but I have yet to collect the final payment from.

When the clients for that project moved into their place, I told them I will give them some time to settle down first before I meet up with them again, I ended up giving them close to 3 weeks to settle down before reaching out a few days back.

Initially, the wife joked and said that she thought I was going to waive off the final payment as goodwill, but then told me that we could meet this week to settle everything.

Shortly after, the husband messages back and tells me there is an electrical switch issue that he would like me to fix for them. 3 whole weeks for them to settle in and they didn't bring this issue up, now that I am requesting to meet to collect the final payment and this gets brought up.

I told them that I can get my electrician down, but I will need to know their availability, they gave me dates that were too early for my electricians to drop by, so I told them we needed more time in advance, they don't reply.

My electrician told me earliest he could go down is Thursday and so I am a little concerned that if they don't confirm the date with me soon, it will end up delaying the trip to fix their switch.

I drop them a text earlier this morning asking them to confirm with me if Thursday is good for them because I have already told them I need to tell my electrician a few days in advance. 

Doesn't reply.

For Fuck Sake! I'm trying to help you, so help me help you! 

It is so fucking frustrating when clients take their own sweet fucking time to confirm a date with me, and then when they finally confirm it and I can no longer schedule the timing because they replied too fucking slow, suddenly it is my fault for not pushing them hard enough.

I will likely have to drop another text in at night to really rush them if they still don't respond at the end of the day. Both the husband and wife read the text early in the morning when I send the text and BOTH of them just left me on read. 

Or I can just leave them to their faulty electrical switch and wait till they get back to me. 

Pretty Shitty Day

The boss of the interior design firm I turned down actually called me again a few days back and tried to persuade me to reconsider my decision. 

The call lasted about 30 minutes and it worked, I was persuaded, so we had agreed to meet again and this time, it was to hash out any concerns and sign the contract, he told me to give him a good timing for us to meet again and I told him Monday would work for me.  A few days before we were suppose to meet, he messages me again to confirm the timing and I realize that I couldn't do Monday because I had showroom duty that day, so I requested to meet on Tuesday instead. I ask him what time he was available so I could meet him at his preferred timing instead of mine, but there was not response on his end after that. 

He didn't get back to me about the timing, it is already Tuesday night as I am typing this out, so I guess the contract offer has be rescinded. He must have gotten annoyed at my request to meet a day later so he just completely ignored the text message, which is "super" professional.

But everything worked out in the end I suppose because after I had my call with him, I instantly started to regret my decision to agree to meet again, he is quite persuasive but ultimately, I still don't feel 100% sure about leaving my current company to join his, and after seeing how he has chosen to respond, or the lack of it, to my legitimate request to meet a day later...

... that being said, I would pick getting ignored than getting an angry text or call about leading him on about my interest in the position.

-----

Anyways, now that is is closing towards the end of the year, almost all my current projects on hand are completed, but I do have this final one that is getting a little frustrating to deal with, not because the client is unpleasant, but because the client is a little bit dense.

There is this blur-ness in him that was endearing at first, but has started to get a little bit annoying to deal with recently. I have found myself having to constantly repeat things I have said multiple times before, one of which being the light installation, I told him multiple times over the course of the renovation that it will only be installed after the carpentry is up, but it's like every week for 3 weeks before the carpentry is up, he will ask me...

"So the electricians are coming next week?"

"Your guys are installing the light this week?"

“Let me know if you electrician can come in earlier?"

...  every single time I tell him it is only after carpentry installation is done, he will, without fail, ask me the stupid question again a few days later.

But other than that blur-ness, he has generally been quite pleasant, although I did run into a bit of a carpentry fuck up today.

I was at his site today, taking a few pictures of the place to show him the current state of the apartment, which is move-in ready, I even walked him through the space via a video and everything was great, he thanked me for the video and after that, I decided to head to another place, which was all the way at the other end of Singapore. Taking the train felt like it would take forever because the train actually makes a huge loop and I really wasn't feeling it, so I decided to rent an electric car.

It feels nice to be able to drive again, but I was quite nervous to be on the road with a foreign car after taking such a long break from driving, so I was feeling quite stressful when I was driving, thankfully, my blur client  was able to take my mind off the road when he dropped me a message, telling me that the carpentry looked wrong because the colour of one particular laminate was darker than he had thought.

It was like my stress from driving just went away and the stress from work took over and fucked my mood up in a different way.

I knew exactly what he was talking about because I had actually realize the laminate was wrong when I went to the site during the installation earlier last week, but I didn't bother bringing it up because it looked really similar to the original one we had chosen and I thought it looked fine the way it is, plus the original laminate was chosen by me after him and his wife sort of gave up trying to choose ones that they liked, you could say that they settled for it, so I thought if it was something they settled for, then they probably wouldn't mind if we ended up using another similar looking one.

The mentality I had was extremely unprofessional, but anyways, I shared my predicament with my colleagues and all of them thought the two laminates looked similar, that only if placed side by side can the difference be spotted, and that I could potentially get away with it. 

Unfortunately, my client could see from the pictures I send that it was a different shade, and this is why I hate sending photos to my clients, because then they can scrutinize every single detail and catch errors that could have potentially been overlooked .

I didn't reply to the message until after I had successfully reached the carpark to park the electric car, because road safety and all, and I immediately called my carpenter to ask if he can re-laminate before I reached out to my client, it is doable, but this error is going to cost my project $200, so fuck my life, made such careless mistake indicating the wrong laminate code to my carpenter.

I offered to redo the lamination for my client and he was a little worried that it will affect the workmanship, so the agreement to re-laminate took a bit of coaxing and persuading, it's like trying to coddle a toddler and telling him everything is going to be fine after he accidentally broke his favorite toy or something. He eventually agreed to it and my carpenter pulled through and managed to find a guy who can replace it for me by this week.

If I had been upfront and brought this issue up from the start, I might have been able to convince them to stick with the wrong laminate seeing how the color is very similar, but unfortunately, because it was my client who brought the issue up, if I tried to convince him to stick with the wrong laminate, it would look like I was trying to shirk responsibility after getting called out for it,.

I am literally paying for my mistake. $200 to be exact and I guess my client's trust in my capabilities by that little bit, the latter always very shitty to experience. 

---

After that whole fisaco was dealt with, I had to take a bus and then walk to the new site, which is a landed property and landed properties are always a pain to get to because there aren't any direct buses, if you can afford a landed property, you can afford a car, so why would the government bother planting bus stops nearby. 

I really did not want to entertain this site visit because of how far it was and because I know I am never going to touch landed properties, too many things can go wrong and I do not want to deal with the stress of having to work on a single project for a year.

But this was a referral so I really had no choice.

For this site visit, I actually had to postpone the visit by a day, it was a bit last minute but thankfully, the client agreed , so much more gracious than the Interior Design firm's boss.

The client is a nice lady and at the start, it was quite simple, all she wanted to do was renovate her toilet and kitchen cabinet, but then as the consultation carried on, it just became more and more extensive, she started requesting to hack off her existing window at her bedroom to create a balcony and to move the plant outside her house to another location, in my head, I was trying very hard to think of ways to tell her this was not within my scope, especially the replanting of a tree part, albeit it was a small one, but still, that is not within my scope AT ALL. 

But I didn't because I felt like there wasn't a need to clarify anything with a client I wasn't really keen on working with, I will just quote whatever I can and then state that whatever is not quoted isn't within my scope via text message. I also don't think she understands how intrusive everything will be, especially because her whole family will still be staying in the apartment during the renovation.

I was in the apartment for like an hour and I wasn't offered any drinks, would be nice to have some water seeing how I had to walk quite a distant, I saw her taking a cup and cleaning it when we first stepped into the kitchen to discuss what she wanted to do and I had thought that she was going to offer me a cup of water, but she poured herself a cup, drank it, clean the cup and then put it away without offering.

You don't have to, but I just think that it should be common courtesy to at least offer your guest a cup of water, especially when you are grabbing one for yourself. 

So yeah, it was a waste of time. 

The whole of today just felt like shit, the only upside is being able to drive again and my carpenter pulling through and being able to help me settle my issue by this week, but everything else that happened today work wise...

... a pretty shitty day.

Turning down an offer...

A few days back, I went for a job interview and it was for a position I did not apply for. The company actually called me up a few days prior and told me they wanted to invite me down to their showroom for a chat, I usually don't bother entertaining such meetings because most of the time, the companies that reach out are the small ones that aren't impressive enough, in terms of portfolio and industry presence, for me to even consider leaving my current company for.

This company is one I have heard of before and honestly speaking, I can't say I was very impress with their portfolio, but one thing that piqued my interest during the initial call was how the person told me that their company caters to the market with a higher renovation budget and are more "design centric", the latter I don't really think so from what I have seen from their portfolio, but the former is something that appealed to me, so I agreed and dropped by on Thursday afternoon to listen to what they had to offer.

I met the boss and he is a nice guy, he is only 2 years older than me, and the realization that he already owns his own company at such a young age really made me question what the hell I was actually doing with my life. We had a good chat, he got one of his senior designer to sit in during the interview and because I am coming in as an experienced Interior Designer, I was feeling quite confident about what I can offer, it didn't feel like I was trying to sell myself to get them to hire me, it felt more like they were telling me what they could offer me if I join their company.

During the interview with the senior designer present, I was asked if I knew how to prepare quotations, if I knew carpentry prices and it just felt so weird that the senior designer would think I wouldn't know the basics and ask me all those irrelevant questions, because I do have almost 4 years worth of experience, it's like asking a 4 year old kid if they know how to crawl.

After that, the senior designer talked about my online portfolio and because on my website, I have a tab that was dedicated to renovation budgeting, something I decided to write on a whim one day after getting tired to being given so many customer leads with unrealistic budget, he told me he was very worried when he saw the prices because apparently they were too low, and I can only give a dry laugh. I mean if he thinks those are low now, one day if he actually joins my company in the future for some reason, he is going to be in for a huge shock at the customer leads we get.

Not long after my portfolio was scanned through by them both, they decided that they would like to test me on my presentation skills, we started to do a bit of roleplaying where the boss and his senior designer acted as my clients and I had to do a presentation to them on the spot, they gave me some pictures and told me to just present it to them, honestly speaking, my design talk has always been quite bad so I would always rely on my 3D drawings for my proposals, I stuttered a lot and it was pretty clear the presentation did not went well, so I was ushered out of his office for them to have a quick discussion after that mess. 

I will admit, I was quite intrigued by the company and a part of me was picturing myself being part of the company, I was walking around the front area of their office, just imagining myself meeting future customers here, looking at the material library and just soaking in the much nicer and modern looking office environment. About 5 minutes later, the senior designer comes out and invites me back to talk to the boss 1 on 1.

We had a longer chat this time round, not so much about the position but about the industry in general, sharing our experiences, and  I could sense that the boss likes me as a person, so I knew that if I wanted, I could have gotten the job, but of course, I didn't really know what I want, so the boss tells me to take the next few days to think about it and he will prepare an offer and reach out to me again once it is ready.

He called me up on Saturday and started to share with me his offer and it was an enticing one because he was offering me a pretty generous basic, but it was a basic that had to be earned by hitting a monthly sales target that will steadily increase for the next 3 months. We spoke for about half an hour on the phone and after that call, he kept trying to tell me I was not young anymore, that I should take this opportunity to grow, it didn't feel like he was forcing me, it felt more like he was sharing his advice. After the call,  he messages me to thank me for giving him, which I realize is really rare, for a founder of a company to actually call a potential employee to thank them for their time. I told him I will give him a decision by Sunday, which is today and honestly speaking, it is not enough time to think it over.

It just so happens that I have showroom duty today as well, so I shared the job offer with my colleagues to hear what they had to say and the general consensus is that it is ultimately my decision because there are good and bad to joining the company.

It was quite hard to make a decision, but the fact that I am being so indecisive about this position just made me veer more towards turning down to offer, simply because I am not sure and I do not want to say yes while being unsure, the last thing I want happen is to join the company, regret my decision and then quit a few weeks later, or worst, a few days later, and then be left jobless and unable to return back to my current company.

As great as the company is in terms of what it has to offer me from a monetary aspect, I am ultimately still not very impress with their portfolio, I just feel like if a company is marketing themselves as a "boutique" firm, their portfolio should reflect that boutique status, but sadly, the projects they have are only slightly better, if not, almost on par with the projects my company churns out.

One thing that I felt was odd was when the senior designer shared about how the designers in their company must prepare a mood board to present to the customers, that that it is their company's standard and after he said that and showed me an example, it just made me wonder what is the point of doing all that, because you put in all that effort to find such great photos for the mood board, but the final renovated projects looks like something my company churns out, and as far as I am aware, a lot of my colleagues from my own branch don't really bother doing mood boards, we usually just wing it, and if winging it can produce the same results, then something is really wrong

Ultimately, I decided that the new company was not really worth leaving my current company for, and also because the timing isn't great at the moment.

Before I join a new company, I want to make sure I tie up all the loose end at my current company, make sure I have completed all my projects, collected all my commission before I move on, so I do not have to return to the old company again later as an ex-employee to collect anything, and also, with the CNY break that will be happening in February, joining now just feels a bit pointless, I would rather join after the break, just so if I do end up getting a project, which could potentially be maybe 2 months after I join the new company, I won't have to fight for the sub-contractors time with my other colleagues, who would have already established a solid working relationship with them and will have their projects prioritized.  There is a lot of string pulling that happens during the busy period.

I wrote a message thanking the boss for giving me the opportunity, turn down the offer and then wrote at the end that when the timing is right and another opportunity arises, that I hope to be able to work with him then. He didn't reply back so there's that. I was actually expecting him to reply back with something like...

"Sorry to hear that, I wish you all the best"

... or something, because of how the conversation we had during the interview and the phone call felt more like friends talking to each other rather than a boss talking to an employee, but oh well.

He can't shut up...

 Before today, I was feeling great in general, all my projects were close to completion, I was looking forward to getting 5 project worth of commissions before the end of the year and was even thinking about the idea of working on even more projects in the future.

Then the Antoinette reached out to me about an issue that was brought up by their own electrician and my mood just plummeted. The problem has been "resolved" and I say "resolved" in quotes because they will be getting their own electrician to fix the issue and I will be paying for the repair out of my own pocket, which is about $150. I am not sure if I can actually claim that amount, so I guess a part of why I am feeling a bit dejected now is because of that, and another reason why I am feeling a bit apprehensive right now is because this electrican they found is a tattletale. He was engaged by the Antoinettes parents to help them reinstall a few ceiling lights, but then afterwards, decides to inspect the house I suppose and start spotting a bunch of issues with the existing electrical work my electrician has done. 

Why? Like what is the fucking point? Do what you were paid to do and leave! There was no need to take a shit and drag my electrician's work. 

He was telling the Antoinette's things like ...

"...this is against building regulations"

"... it could cause electrocution"

... like why the fuck are you talking so much? Shut the fuck up!

Fucking detestable, I had to talk to both the Antoinette over a call to understand the situation and discuss what we can do moving forward separately, and what they did was get their electrician to fix the problem because now, their electrician has managed to poison their impression of my own electrician to the point that their parents are now urging them not to use my electrician anymore, so that fucker has now gotten a $150 job from them at my expense. 

I am just very tired of projects that have been completed and handed over, suddenly coming back again with issues, it is so mentally exhausting, and in this case, it is even worst because they have their own guy who is pretty much sabotaging me by telling them how things are being installed against building regulations.

My electrician essentially installed a power outlet next to the toilet bowl for the Antoinette's as per their request because the husband wanted to install an electric bidet seat, but because this is a toilet, we couldn't just install the outlet on it's own, we needed a waterproof cover as well, so we installed it...

... it protects the outlet from external moisture because this is a waterproof cover, it is literally meant to proof your outlet from water as per the name suggest, but for some reason, their own electrician didn't think this was enough and told them that my electrician should have installed the outdoor weatherproof cover instead, which is this...

... this is a weatherproof cover, it is commonly found in outdoor areas like balcony or outside building apartments that are exposed to to elements, I have literally never seen any project where this cover was actually used indoor, it is fucking overkill, but their electrician has managed to find reasons to scare them into believing this is the one that should have been installed and when I think about it, it just pisses me off.

Getting that installed in the toilet to protect the outlet from moisture is like a parent telling his or her kid that they should not be wearing a cotton sweater to keep themselves warm in an aircon room because the material isn't think enough, and that that they should be wearing a parka instead. And then go another step further and give them this unlikely scenario about how wearing a sweater could get them killed by a wild wolf because the wolf will think they are some furry animal sheep and try to pounce on them from the bushes. Well, that was a stupid analogy because a parka is more furry than a regular cotton jacket.

Just shut the fuck up.

Now my concern is this motherfucker is going start looking for even more "problems" and bring them up to the Antoinette so he can get more job.