That stupid fucking Mirror

Even though I have 2 sites, I am really only paying attention to one just because the other feels like there isn't much I need to look out for, I mean I do drop by to inspect the site every once in a while, but it's definitely not as often as the other, which I visit on a daily basis. 

Today was going to be one of those days that I don't visit the second site, but then I got a bunch of text messages from the tiler about the need to replenish a few tiles and then a few more messages asking me about how to go about rectifying a few other issues they came across, all minor issues that could be settled via a text reply, which I did, but because I am a worrywart when things like that pop up, I also decided to drop by the place in person just to see those issues with my own eyes.

There was no issue, everything was well in place, or so it seemed, so I took a few photos of the done up tiles and proceeded back to my company's Showroom, which was really near, and once I was in the office, I started scrolling through the photos like I always do, to admire what has been done, and spotted a problem with the wiring work for one of the toilets.

My client had told me that they wanted to install a lighted mirror in one of their toilet...

Something like this...

.....so I relayed that information to my electrician and he pulled the wiring for me, but when I saw the photos, I realized that the wires were not centered, in fact, it was so far away from the center that I will need a pretty wide mirror to actually cover that wiring that is sticking out from the wall. I quickly rush back to site, checked the measurements of the wire and then compared it to the mirrors my clients were shortlisting, there were 2 dimensions they could get from what they had shortlisted, either a 50cm version or a 60cm version.  

In order to cover the wiring, they will have to get a 60cm one, it will be a perfect fit and I won't have to reposition the wiring, but if they got the 50cm one, then the wires will be exposed and even I won't be able to accept that as a finish product.

So I message them and told them to get the 60cm one, hoping that they haven't made the purchase yet, and the wife response was...

"Can you explain why we need to get a 60cm one, isn't that a bit too wide?"

... so I shared with her that from a design point of view, having the mirror be as wide as possible would look much better.....

Wider Mirror

Narrow Mirror

.... it is a very valid reasoning, even if it is not the actual reason. The small one makes the space smaller, but the big one stretches out the space and makes it feel wider.

Anyways, the wife then informs me that she has already gotten the mirror last week, and they had gotten the smaller one....

 ....I know they can't do an exchange and upgrade to the bigger one because it was purchased through taobao, so fuck my life. 

I was just sitting there in my showroom when I saw her message, thinking about what to do because the tiles were already up, and to have to shift the wire would mean damaging the existing tiles, which have been laid in a herringbone pattern, it is going to be extremely expensive just to shift that few centimeters, especially with how expensive this tiler I had engaged charges for the labor cost.

I had no choice, so I ask the tiler to change the tiles for me due to the repositioning and he was very unhappy about it, he sighed multiple times over the voice message he send, and I just had a really bad feeling that this meant he was going to charge a crazy expensive amount for the retiling works, I also had a bit of back and forth with the electrician, who also told me to see if I can find an alternate solution because even he was aware that it was not going to be cheap to reposition, that maybe getting them the bigger mirror would be more cost effective, so I thought about it and decided I was going to wait until the mirror arrived and then think about how to proceed, I then told the tiler not to worry about the tile replacement, that that I will think of something else.

The tiler probably felt bad that he made me feel bad about it, so he assured me that as long as the electrician can pop by on Monday to reposition the wiring, it won't be an issue for him, after thinking about it and realizing that I will probably be constantly thinking about this issue if it isn't rectified now, I decided to just bite the bullet, arrange with the electrician to do the reposition, so I can at least have some peace of mind knowing that this won't be a potential issue I will have to deal with down the road.

I honestly don't know how much this repositioning is going to cost me, I am already not making much from this project and to have this be thrown into the works is really the last thing I need happening. Obviously, I should have been more attentive and picked out the wiring position quicker, but with renovation works, there is just way too many details to look out for and I was honestly expecting the electrician who pulled the wiring for me to also know better, that the wiring should have been centered.

Aside from this shit, I am having trouble actually looking for a carpenter to get the carpentry measured for this particular project, the one I thought I had booked a timing with is suddenly not replying to my messages and the one that I really want to engage is still stuck in Malaysia because of the MCO extension, my client has this distorted fantasy that the renovation can somehow be completed before August. but the truth is, it can't, it will likely eat into August, and that is under the assumption that I can look for a carpenter soon to have my shit measured and fabricated! 

I was really hoping this was going to be one of those project that I won't really remember down the road, I have a few projects that are like that, because of how smooth sailing they are, they just don't really leave an impression. Usually the ones that I remember are the really shitty ones, like Lil Bitch, Antoinette and Sly Fox, the ones that gives me massive amount of stress and a lot of sleepless nights, with so blog post dedicated to their project.

Oh well, both my current projects are the projects that I needed to really remind myself about why I do not like this job and why quitting and looking for a stable one is the correct way to go. So much stress, I have been waking up at 6.50am every morning and not being able to go back to sleep because of the issues of both these projects.

Car Rental for Tiles Collection

So I have been offered the Interior Stylist position and am very very likely going to be accepting the job offer, this means, the current 2 projects I am running now will be the very last 2 projects I will be running for my current company.

I have given the new company my starting date, which is 19th August, honestly not sure if that is even a realistic date for my projects to complete but there it is, I only gave them that date because I feel like giving a later one would probably make them retract the job offer. As it stands, being given this 2 months, I feel, is really generous of the company.

My projects are going as smoothly as they can go during this period, which is not at all, there are a few delays happening here and there due to workers going for their covid vaccinations as well as my tilers telling me very last minute about materials being insufficient.

They will tell me in the morning that they need something topped up, so I will immediately order for that item to be delivered the next day and the order will end up incurring a small order fee because it is a small order of 1 packet of cement. But then the very next day when I drop by the site, they will tell me another item needs topping up and they also need just 1 packet of that item.

....so another small order fee.

Anyways, yesterday, I was told that some tiles needed to be topped up, so I ordered those tiles immediately in the morning to make sure they could be delivered the next day. Late afternoon comes along and I drop by the site again to check on the progress and the tiler suddenly tells me..

"Actually the amount I ask you to top up for me is not enough, we need about 10 more pieces."

... I tired, but it was way too late to add that order in at that point for next day delivery, so I had no choice but to tell the tile supplier that I will do a self collection for those additional 10 pieces today.

I ask my supplier if I could get the tiles from their Showroom near my office, but she informs me that it has to be collected at their warehouse, so I went to take a look at where their warehouse was located and they had 4 different ones. One in the West and three in the East, the furthest one being at Changi, I then ask her if she could arrange for the collection to be at the West warehouse and she tells me she will check, but because I have been having really shit luck with these projects recently, of course the Warehouse I had to go to to collect the tiles is the one at Changi.

I know I am not going to take a bloody bus all the way there to collect the tiles and then take a bus back, the warehouse is located in the industrial area of Changi, there aren't a lot of public transport to take to get there, plus it's at bloody Changi, I really do not want to spend half the day travelling for 10 pieces of tiles, and with how hot the weather has been, that is crazy talk, so I rented a car.

To be honest, I was quite excited to have a legitimate reason to rent a car, haven't properly driven one in a while, so it took a while to get used to driving again, but thankfully because the car is the same model as the family car I used to drive last time before it was given to my brother, it didn't take too long to get familiarized with the vehicle.

The sheer convivence of having a vehicle is amazing. I get that Singapore is a small country and we have an amazing public transport system, but when I can do all the shit I had to do today under an hour and still stay relatively sweat free, that comfort and convivence is really hard to beat. 

If I hadn't rented a car, I would have had to take a 90 minutes train & bus ride to the Industrial area, walk a distant to reach the Tile Supplier's office to get the order sheet, walk probably another 15 minutes on foot to the actual warehouse to collect the tiles under the sweltering heat, and then walk back out again to take the bus, this time with the added weights of the tiles that I have to carry by hand because I can't fit it into my backpack, and endure another 90 minutes ride back to my project site that is in the West where I will have to keep transferring buses and trains. 

The car rental was not cheap, but it was worth it, really makes me wish I had a car of my own to drive and it just reminded me how great it was back then when the family car was actually available to be used for scenarios like today.

I will settle for a bike too, would be especially useful for my upcoming reservist in December if I am going to be thrown into the same camp again. 

New Job Offer

I actually went for a second round of interview today at a furniture shop for an Interior Stylist position and was pretty much offered the position, but there are a few things that I am really concerned with and I feel like it is seriously affecting my decision to accept the offer or not.

Prior to this second round interview, I did not tell anyone in my company that I had gone for the first interview because I feel like every time I share that out loud, it jinxes, so I kept this interview to myself and maybe told one of my colleagues about it, and despite telling the furniture company that I will have a relatively long notice period, they were actually willing to wait, which was great.  

They said they didn't mind waiting, but a part of me also felt like my chances were definitely lowered because if they found another candidate with the same level of experience and had a similar set of skills as me with a shorter notice period, they will pick him or her over me for sure, so I wasn't really expecting to be called up for a second round until I was reached out by the HR to actually meet the Hiring Manager in person. The first meeting was via Zoom, not a fan of that, didn't think I did very well, thus the surprise when I was contacted about moving to the next round.

I had spoken to the Team Manager via the Zoom interview before, and  I didn't have a very good impression of him, I felt like he was very cold, he looked quite fierce and the fact that I will have to report to him when I do get hired was a bit of a bummer, but then meeting him today in person, he was actually not at all like who I thought he was during his Zoom meeting, he was friendly and personable, smiled a lot as well, which instantly made me feel a lot more relaxed.

We had a good chat, he asked me about my notice period again and I shared with him that the notice period might extend because of the MCO in Malaysia that has resulted in delays for my projects. After a while, the Company Manager sits in, he was a bit more reserved, didn't really give a lot of eye contact, but I thought we had a good chat nonetheless. After that quick chat with the two managers, I was tested on how I would style a space, so they gave showed me a space in the store and asked me how I would go about designing a living room in that space.

The basic stuff is finding a sofa, coffee table and console, so I did that, pointed out the furniture that I thought would work well together and then they asked me about what kinds of lighting I would choose, if I would use mirrors to decorate a space, and just a bunch of styling question that I think I was able to answer with my Interior Designer experience, the Team Manager nodded his head in approval so I guess I passed.

We go back to the table we were at and continued our conversation, and the Company Manager asked me why I wanted to work in the retail industry because he feels like I was downgrading, and honestly speaking, this is a downgrade but the truth is, at the end of the day, being an Interior Designer is barely making me any money, the job is stressful, the commission I get for the amount of work that I have to put into managing a project is not good, in fact, last year, when my company prepared a pay slip that reflected our annual income, I had only earned a measly $4000 for that entire year. 

So yes, in terms of job responsibilities and title, to go from an Interior Designer to an Interior Stylist, it is a huge downgrade, but if my income is peanuts, then there is no point sticking to that job just for that title.

Anyways, the Company Manager leaves shortly after and directed me back to my Team Manager, who then asked me if I had any questions related to the job and this was when things kinda went a bit downhill because of the tea he was spilling about the company.

First thing I asked was how long he has been working in the company, being the Team Manager and all, I thought maybe 2 to 3 years is a good estimate, but then he tells me he had only recently joined not too long ago, so I ask him how long and he said about 1 month and prior to that, he was working in a high end fashion retail store. 

Hmmm. It's really difficult not to question his experience as an Interior Stylist because I was really hoping he had a lot of interior styling background and knowledge that he could pass on to me, but turns out, I have so much more experience than him in the industry and his experience actually lies in retail sales. 

As someone who is joining the company to focus more on the Interior Stylist side of things than the Retail Sales side of things, I was very concern that the Team Manager doesn't have the proper experience to actually properly guide me, but I figured since he is a manager, the company probably saw something in him, that's why they hired him in the first place, so he then starts sharing with me even more things and this is when the red flags just started popping out.

A bit of background. The store that I visited today is not the actual store that I will be working at, but the sister company. I was told via the email that because the Team Manager was going to be at this outlet today instead of the other one, the interview will be held here.

So, I brought up some of the negative reviews I had read about the company on Google Reviews, because there were quite a few who were complaining about the service being really bad, just to get a gauge on what he thinks about the reviews and this was the catalyst for the tea spillage.

Turns out, the company has plans to fire a majority of the existing interior stylist and sales staff in that high end furniture store, this includes the existing Team Manager there, and the Team Manager I am speaking to has been hired to be the replacement. Existing  Team Manager has no idea she is going to be let go, and the company has no plans to actually fire her, instead, they are planning to wait for her Work Pass to expire and not renew it, so she will have no choice but quit because she is not local.

What the fuck? 

And then a bunch of the other people will also get fired because apparently they also suck at their job, the manager words being...

"They have gotten arrogant."

.... because it is a luxury furniture store and they actually judge the walk-ins based on what they wear and whether they can actually afford the furniture before deciding if they are worth going up to and speaking to them. So let's say a customer walks in wearing a bunch of luxury item or is dressed to the nines, then he or she will be served because he or she can clearly afford the items, but if a customer comes in wearing slippers and short shorts with a Giordano T-Shirt, the sales team won't even bother entertaining the customer.

The fucked up thing is that that is also what I will probably do because once you experience the customers telling you that their budget is way below what you are selling, multiple times on a daily basis, it just becomes tiresome to deal with the same type of customers over and over again knowing what the end result will be, so why bother actually taking time talking to such customers when you can spend your time elsewhere doing something else.

But I can also understand why the company feels that this is unacceptable and plans to fire a majority of the existing workers there because they are ultimately being paid a monthly salary and if your service is tarnishing the company's reputation, then you are definitely not worth the company's money. 

What I am worried about is how negatively this will actually impact the rest of the current group who will not get fired in the end, because a bunch of their colleagues will get axed and be replaced by a new group, there will definitely be some level of disdain towards the new group, especially to the new Team Manager, who will be attempting to change the culture of the company.

The team manager warned me that the work environment will be hostile because of the takeover and I am just extremely uncomfortable knowing that these new positions that the new group will be taking over was only made available because others were fired and not because they left the company on their own accord to explore other career options.

This also brings me to my next concern, if the company is so willing to fire a bunch of the current workers, then what's to say they won't do that to me a few years down the line, when I have my own apartment and have loans that I will have to pay on a monthly basis, it's so dangerous.

Anyways, the interview ends with the manager asking me when I can start work and what my expected salary is, so I told him ideally, mid August would be the best, that would give me time to really complete all my projects and I can come into this new job with a clean slate with no baggage from my current job. He then ask me if I can start in July for a month of training, and I didn't really give him an answer but I know for sure right now that I can't start in July because it is going to be impossible to actually juggle between that work and my current work simultaneously. 

Another thing to note is that the salary in the past used to be Basic + Commission, but the company decided to take away the Commission and make it a fixed salary job instead. 

After the interview, I went back to my Office to enjoy some air-conditioning and shared with my Manager that I had gone for a job interview just now and was pretty much offered the job. He knows I have been looking for a new job for a while now so I can confide this kinds of things to him and his response was to essentially be very careful of the company because it seems like what the company is trying to do is get rid of all the workers that are still being paid the Basic + Commission scheme and they are now being vilified by the higher ups so the new hires won't question the decision to the termination of a bunch of old employees.

This then brings me to my next concern, if the company can fire a bunch of workers at one go, what is to say they won't do that to me and my new group in the future. If the company chose to split the existing employees up and put them into the other companies under them to try and correct their "bad working attitude", I would at least feel safer knowing that the company actually cares about their employees livelihood, but there is that, so I am honestly a little torn about how to go about with this position, I feel like there is a lot of  office politics happening even before I am officially part of the company, I can only imagine how horrible it will really be once I am actually part of it.

Complaint! Complaint! Complaint!

 One of my current projects has a pain in the ass neighbor that really needs to be dealt with.

Earlier this morning, I got a call from one of my project's condo management office and on the line was an older gentleman who sounded really annoyed...

"This is my last warning, you have receive another complaint that your workers did not clean up the common corridor before they left the place last night, if this happens again, I won't be issuing you with anymore warning, if I get another complaint, I will be charging you $80 for clean up."

 ... his tone was very demanding, and usually when I get a call from a Condo Management, I will try my best to accede to their request, if you need me to get my guys to clean up the place, I will drop them a text or give them a call to remind them, GRANTED you tell me nicely and not command me to do it.

I was not happy with the tone he was using towards me, but I tried to reason with him and explained that my workers had forgotten to bring a mop yesterday, and as I was about to tell him that I will arrange for a mob to be brought down to the place for them to use once they are done for the day, he interrupts me and goes...

"I don't want to hear any excuses!"

... and that was when I snapped. If you can't talk to me nicely and do not want to be reasonable, then there is no point for me to be cordial to you as well, so I raised my voice and went...

"I AM TRYING TO EXPLAIN TO YOU THE REASON! I AM NOT TRYING TO COME UP WITH ANY EXCUSE! LET ME CONTINUE SPEAKING!  

... and as I was shouting at him through the phone, I was shaking because I was so angry, my tone after that was not very friendly, so I told him that my guys didn't bring a mop yesterday, but I will arrange for it be be brought to site so they can use it later. The management then told me to just make sure the place is clean before the workers leave, and I couldn't even be bothered to say goodbye and just went "YEAH LAH! YEAH LAH!" before hanging up. 

I headed over to site within 40 minutes, got an $11 mop from Cold Storage because that was the only place near my site that sells a mop, and when I entered the apartment, I immediately ask the workers there if they were able to clean the common corridor before they left yesterday, and the in-charge told me...

"We did, I use my shirt to clean the floor yesterday because we didn't have a mop."

... I don't know which fucker was the one who complaint, but hearing how my worker actually used his own shirt to clean the common corridor floor, and then realize that some fucker still had the audacity to say the floor wasn't cleaned before my workers left, it really pissed me off.  So I went to the management office to look for the guy who called me, not to confront him, but to express to him how unfair this whole thing was and how unreasonable whoever had complaint was being.

We are talking about the common corridor, it is an open area where people are walking through with their shoes on, and this is even more so for that particular unit because it is facing the main entrance of the condo, everyone who enters the condo from the main door will walk pass that common corridor to get into the condo, it is not meant to be a space for you to walk barefoot. I can understand the neighbors complaining if the floor was in the same state as the unit I am renovating, full of dust and debris everywhere...

Like this

....totally understandable if the neighbors complained that the floor was like the picture above, because it looks very messy with small bits of plaster and debris everywhere. 

But it is not, 

.

.

.

.

.

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.

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"OMG THIS IS CRAZY DIRTY, IT'S SO MESSY! HOW AM I GOING TO WALK ACROSS THIS COMMON WALKWAY WITHOUT DIRTYING MY 99 CENTS SLIPPERS I BOUGHT FROM 7-11" GET OVER IT! FUCKING PUSSY ASS BITCH!

...this is the state the floor is in, my workers used a wet mop to clean the floor, but because their shoes is a little dusty, it leaves some white marks on the floor after the floor dies up, but that's it, I mean this is as clean as a common corridor can get, especially for a site that has renovations happening, but for some insane reason, one of the neighbor deems that as unacceptable and actually complaint to the management office about it multiple times.

You would think that because the tiles itself have a patchy design to it, the dirt would be less obvious, and less noticeable, but No~!, let's complaint about that few streaks of dirt across the floor like my workers had just taken a bucket of shit and then smeared it across the entire corridor!  

Exaggerate much? Like how the fuck does that warrant multiple complaints? 

I ran into the management officer who called me and ask him what time did the neighbor complaint, who the neighbor was, how dirty was the place when the neighbor actually complaint and this management officer just keeps repeating the same thing...

"You have to clean the place before you leave."

... like the fucking idiot that he is on the phone, it's like talking to a wall.  

He then ask me to talk to the security guard who had to deal with the situation earlier and the security guard was so much more receptive to what I was asking and saying, he informs me that the neighbor who actually complained is the one who is directly beside my apartment and that he is a Condo Council Member.  

So essentially a self-important individual who probably voted himself in because nobody else wants to do the job, which is essentially a voluntary position with no salary attached to it. 

The guard didn't have any good thing to say about the Condo Council Member because he also doesn't like him, called him a chao chee bye who likes to make things harder for the security and management. He then points out to me that all the security camera around the condo is sponsored by the neighbor and that the neighbor has access to all of them, which means he can see everything happening in the Condo at the comfort of his own apartment. 

This old fart is just out to find trouble, so he is nitpicking. 

If you are going to penalize me for making a "mess", what is the standard you are looking at? I can't be getting penalize because the cleanliness did not meet the neighbor's standard, what if the motherfucker is OCD? Will I have to get a team of professional cleaners down every evening to clean the area up to meet his standard to cleanliness? That will be a few hundred dollars spend everyday just to keep the neighbor happy, which is not money I am willing to spend and definitely not someone I am trying to keep happy.

 

I might have to get my client involved in this because there is clearly an abuse in power going on and if you are going abuse that power just because you are a council member, then I am going to get my client, a resident, who has more power than me, involved.

4/6/2021

*I have actually shared this with my client and she hasn't replied back yet, so I am not sure what her stance on this whole shit show is.

I can't stress how much I regret taking on this stupid project, just so many fucking issues coming up, first was the last minute addition of things, then came the scheduling issue, now I have this fucking neighbor from hell to deal with that I really need my client to settle for me, but she is not responding to my messages. It's so frustrating.

The Management called again just now and told me the neighbor has once again complaint that the floor wasn't clean. His tone this time was much more calmer and less demanding than the tone he was using yesterday. 

My workers DID clean the floor before they left, they even send me pictures of the freshly mopped floor, I told the management that it is not bloody fair that you are giving me a "last warning" because my workers did EXACTLY what was required of them, they did clean the floor before they left. He then tells me to talk to the security who had to deal with the issue earlier.

Anyways, the security guard calls me up and then I explain to him that the floor was cleaned before my guys left, that it is not right for me to be given a last warning when my workers already did what was requested, he then tells me that it is not just the neighbor that is complaining, but the cleaners are complaining as well.

I am not trying to look down on the cleaners job at all, but....

 

WHAT FUCKING RIGHTS DO THE CLEANERS HAVE TO COMPLAINT ABOUT THE FLOOR BEING DIRTY, IT'S THEIR FUCKING JOB TO CLEAN, THAT IS LITERALLY THE TITLE OF THEIR ROLE. CLEAN-ER YOU ARE SUPPOSE TO CLEAN

I was honestly just blown away that the cleaners had the fucking audacity to complaint, and then the guard tells me that the cleaners feel like their pride has been hurt because of this. What fucking pride? I did not leave dog shit on the common corridor and demand for you to clean it up with your mouth. Your pride is hurt because you have to clean the floor? What logic is this? If you pride is hurt cleaning the floor, then go look for other jobs because going by that fucking logic, you probably don't have any pride left seeing how your job is to actually clean the floor of the condo everyday.

It's like a baker saying their pride is hurt because they have to measure the dry ingredients for breads and cakes.

It's like a barista saying their pride is hurt because they have to grind the coffee beans.

It's like a kindergarten teacher saying their pride is hurt because they have to talk to a group of children.

It makes zero sense.

The floor has a few white marks that can very easily be wiped away with a wet mop, it's not like there are small pieces of cement or debris strewn all over the floor, or like stuck on the floor that requires chipping off, all you have to do is take a wet mop the next day when you report back to work, and wipe across that area once and the marks will be gone. 

So what happens if a resident comes back from a hike and leaves mud all over the common corridor, you are going to run to the security and complaint and then request for them to ban the residents from hiking?  I mean that is the whole purpose of your role, to make sure the floor is clean WHEN the residents come back from a hike and dirty the corridor, that is the whole point of your job! 

Fucking Neighbor!

Fucking Cleaners! 

But Fuck that Neighbor More!

I wish he would get a call from the Government informing him that he might have gotten into contact with someone who has Covid, and then they have to quarantine his fucking ass in a hotel for 2 to 4 weeks, ideally if they can stick him in there for the next 3 months, that would be best.

Quarantine! Quarantine! Quarantine your sorry ass! 

It's like when my subcon isn't giving me any issues for this project, someone else has to appear and become the bane of my existence. Is this project cursed or some shit? Why the fuck is everything going wrong?