Resignation and Lamentations

 I have officially tendered my resignation and in about 3 weeks time, it's....

 

Goodbye Flexible Working Hours with Unstable Pay!

&

Hello to Fixed Working Hours with Stable Pay!

....it has been 4 years since I have had to go through a 5 day work week, so it will definitely take some time getting used to it again. The last time I had a 5 day work week was when I was working for my Dad, I am not going to include my work experience at ID2 and ID3 because the former only lasted 3 days and the latter only lasted 2 weeks, of which I was made to go through 7 straight days of work before I could actually take a break, plus the misinformation that was given to me about the working hours before I signed the contract, so I was quite happy I also didn't stay long at ID3 now that I think about it.

To be honest, I was expecting my boss to call me and check in with me after I tendered my resignation, just to ask about my future plans moving forward, seeing how I have been with the company for more than half as long as it existed, but he didn't so there's that.

I suspect that he might actually be a little relieved I am leaving because during the annual company dinner, there will always be this award called the "Long Term Service" award, in which you are awarded a trophy and I think a fair bit of cash for just being part of the company for a long time, and I would always be so worried about potentially getting it because my contribution to the company is pretty much non-existent, I have just been there for a long time and barely earning anything, that's it. 

Company was founded in 2014

I started working in 2017 when it was 4 years old

I have been working with the company for 4 Years 8 Months

Some colleagues of mine who joined the company much later than me and have contributed so much more are now at a managerial level, they didn't get the award as well and I feel like it's because the company doesn't want to give me the award, so they keep changing the requirements for the "Long Term Service" title, and what ends up happening is that the ones who ended up joining the company after me, who deserves the award, also can't get it because it would be really iffy for them to get the award but not me, but on the other hand, if we all do end up getting the award, I would just feel really out of place because I will be the only Junior Designer getting it while the rest of my colleagues are either Senior Designers or Managers, even one of the Branch Manager joined the company much later than me, although he also has a lot more experience then me.

I am pretty sure those colleagues of mine will definitely be getting that award during the next annual company dinner since I am leaving, the company won't have to feel bad about not awarding it to my undeserving ass anymore. 

Anyways.

I will be starting work at the new company in 2 weeks time and my projects are nowhere near completion. I am extremely tempted to pass them off to someone else just because of how much stress it is giving me during this period. Carpentry went up for one site today and there were so many issues I had to deal with, things were fabricated wrongly, items I  needed on site were not available because the clients didn't arrange the delivery or just didn't get those items, it was just a big mess in general, and to make things worst, my clients are getting married over the weekend, which just makes me feel really bad because I am just piling on additional renovation stress unto them so close to their wedding date.

The fabrication mistake was brought up to my client, my carpenter had essentially fabricated a carpentry that is of the wrong height, and it is not really a big issue per-se, except for the fact that my clients had already gotten the matching furniture that would fit the original height. I was really hoping the client would be insanely understanding and tell me...

"Oh, if that is the case then I will just do an exchange."

... or something that is too good to be true, but she couldn't do that because she bought her stuff from Taobao and it has already been delivered, and she was really mulling it over over the phone when I told her the bad news. I then offered to buy her furniture from her so she can get a new set that will fit the new height and she informs me that it really isn't about the furniture but the fact that she wanted that particular carpentry at that original height.

The one time I didn't need my clients to get their loose furniture in advance, they get it in advance. Normally my clients tend to get their loose items quite last minute because they tend to shortlist a few first before finalizing the purchase closer towards the end of the renovation, just to give themselves some option in case they see something else they like, or I gave them the wrong measurements. I am really just unlucky.

I mean I can technically get the carpentry replaced, but it is going to cost me a bomb to have it replaced because that carpentry is connected to another piece of larger carpentry, and it will also delay the renovation date, which I personally do not have the luxury of because I am jumping ship in another 2 weeks time! She told me she will drop by the apartment to take a look and then update me on her decision tonight and because of that, I have been on edge just wondering what her decision will be.

To accept and live with the mistake or to demand me to get that carpentry replaced.

 

Update : She hasn't updated me yet and it's already 10.30pm, I was wondering how she was going to see the carpentry considering the fact that there isn't actually any lights installed in the apartment yet, so technically she can't actually see anything properly unless she brought a torch light up. I am just going to assume she didn't actually go up tonight.

This is my first time using this particular carpenter because my go-to carpenter is stuck in Malaysia due to Covid, so a lot of my expectations I had of my go-to carpenter were obviously not going to be met by this new carpenter. Things that my go-to carpenter will usually do by default for me was not done by the new carpenter, and I have never really paid much attention to those specific details before just because it's always done the way I want it to.

The new carpenter did send me a drawing to confirm the measurements, but when you are staring at a detail drawing like this....

For Example...

... you are not going to scrutinize and pay attention to the basic things like the height of the cabinet or the width of each door.

I just expect those to be done according the to their ergonomic sizes, I will usually only pay attention to items I have specifically requested, like additional drawers my clients have requested, or any special detailing works they want to include into the cabinetry for fengshui reasons or whatever. 

Sigh, and I did send the drawings to my clients, so they have also looked through it, but like me, or even worst than me, they won't bother looking at the measurements, they will just have an general look at the drawings and trust that I have vetted through it and approved that everything is in order. 

So who's fault is it? Well, it's mine and when shit like this happens, the carpenter has the detail drawings to protect them while the customer has the obliviousness to this sort of detail drawings to protect them even if they did look through and approve it, because all they have to say is...

"But you are the designer, you should have advised us and spotted the mistake!"

... and I can't say anything back.

The more I have to deal with shit like this, the happier I feel knowing that I will no longer have to deal with this kind of problems at my new job, that being said, I am not that naïve to assume that it will be a smooth sailing journey at the new company because it was pretty clear during my second interview that there is some issue happening within the company. 

We shall see how it goes, I should have a pretty good idea of how much I feel about my new job by the end of the month. 

Sigh, I was really hoping to get an office job, it would just be so much more calming for me to be looking forward to going through the mundane life of a 10am to 6pm, 5 day work week,  working adult. The kind of job that you just grow really bored of, but then the pay is very decent, so you stay and just go with the flow and then end up hating your life because of how boring and aimless it is, sometimes even finding yourself missing your old job because at least it has it's unexpected moment, but hey, at least you are earning a stable pay and don't have to worry about much.