More PopMart stuff and update about work...

So I got this from a non-PopMart Blind Box from the same Livestreamer that I got my Labubu from because it was relatively cheap and it arrived today with my second Labubu yesterday evening.

It's from series called the Tuan Tuan Long Pandora and it was going for $12.90 a box, so I got it, and got this yellow coloured head, which was the color I least wanted. My chances of getting this colour was pretty high, it was the last box in the full set and it was either this or the secret, and the secret is like a 1 in 72 chance of getting, so at that point I was kinda asking for it.

Here is my Baba from Labubu V2 series, she cost me $48 because I can't get any from the official PopMart TikTok Shop. This Labubu Plush Keychains are impossible to get at retail price because of how quickly it gets wiped out from the official online and physical stores. 

Baba is cute, but I am surprised at how much I actually like the Tuan Tuan Long over the Labubu. 

It is really adorable in person, the fur is really soft, and because it is round, it is so nice to just cup it in my hands, it's such a perfect size.

I liked it so much I decided to spray 5 spritz of my Baccarat Rough 540 Extrait on it so it can smell expensive, to compensate for how cheap it was actually going for.  That however was a mistake because it started leaving a greasy feel on my palms every time after holding it, and I really don't like the Baccarat Rouge 540 very much to be honest.

With the arrival of these 2 items, I now have another 5 more items left that have yet to arrive. All 5 are plushies because I am a fucking idiot.

This.

(It arrived today, I got Little Superman, I left it in the foil unopened because I just wanna preserve it in there otherwise it will definitely be thrown somewhere and just start collecting dust on it's furry coat)

This.

My second V1 Labubu in the colour Sesame (left) that I paid $42 for. 

And the latest plushies that I got from the Livestream because they were highly sought after surprise drops...

This was from yesterday afternoon....

Crybaby Cheer Up Pendant. $18.90

Resellers are selling this at an average of $50 on TikTok, I got it at retail price, so did I really spend $18.90 or did I really actually save $30.10? 

This was from this afternoon's livestream...

Crybaby Sunset Concert Series. $18.90

Resellers are selling this at an average of $33 on TikTok, I got it at retail price, so I saved $14.10.

I think the rainbow one is kinda cute, very LGBT, but the Sunset Concert one was a series I had originally thought looked kinda ugly when I first saw it, I thought it looked ridiculous and was worst than my first impression of Labubu, so to actually be getting it right now because it's sold out everywhere is really genius marketing from PopMart side.

I NEED TO STOP! I have been receiving packages for PopMart item almost everyday for the past 3 days.

Update:

Just got my hands on another super rare item....

....2 freaking MerBubu from the TikTok Livestream. 

Retail Price $37.90

It dropped twice, I got it during both drops. Although to be fair, 100 pieces were released per drop, so it wasn't as difficult, but I was competing with 1100 viewers for it, so my fingers till performed a rather impressive feat. 

I have managed to find 2 buyers for both Merbubu, so I will be selling them to make some small profit and recoup what I have been spending at PopMart. Sold one to a friend for $50 and another to someone else at $70, it's a pretty good deal for them because the resell market is listing the Merbubu for...

 wait for it

 $250 - $320 per piece.

Insane. I am like a fucking saint to be letting the Merbubu go for less than $100 each.

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Anyways, my journey of getting into financial ruin aside, update on the situation at work so far...

My boss is very hesitant to retain Yan, even after I offered to take a pay cut to try and help the company sustain her position. 

I felt responsible for Yan since I was the one who pulled her into the company, so I felt bad that Yan's getting terminated and decided to offer a portion of my salary to help the company retain her.

My boss on the other hand feels bad that I have to sacrifice my own pay for the company to try and retain Yan, so he disagreed with the arrangement because he feels like I would be losing out in that situation. 

Yan feels bad that I have to sacrifice a huge chunk of my salary to retain her, but she was willing to be a bit more thick skin in this situation because of her future adulting plans and accepted my offer, but after she can sensed that our boss isn't very keen on the arrangement, she has decided that instead of putting everybody on the spot, she will just start looking for a new job. 

It's really not an ideal situation for anybody, and everyone just feels bad for everyone else.

I even shared with Yan how I had the idea of sacrificing my position for the company to retain her because I feel like she has the potential to offer more to the company in the long run, if she ever find the confidence of becoming a designer again, but she told me if the reason she could stay is due to me leaving, then she will not take up the offer because she will just feel really guilty about it. 

The truth is I am not as noble as she thinks I am being. Sacrificing my position in the company to retain her would give me an excuse to actually go look for a job at a bigger company that I could potentially retire in without having to feel bad about throwing my current company in the lurch whilst it is down, and I can also feel safer to leave the company knowing that Yan will be able to help the business, so that arrangement is just a guilt-free way for me to essentially jump ship, knowing that I won't have to work super hard to tend to the sinking ship, a sinking ship that I know will eventually recover if everyone in the company work their asses off.

But of course, it was just an idea, for me to actually go ahead with it would be another thing. That idea will only work if I can find a similar job elsewhere, I went to Jobstreet and MyCareerFuture to look, it's really not easy to look for a job with a similar scope as mine. 

I thought I found the perfect Interior Design firm that I really liked that was hiring, they marketed the position as Interior Designer, but then when I showed that to Yan, she highlighted that it is not just a Designer position, that they expect the Designer to also be able to do Project Management. 

I thought what they meant when they wrote "able to assist" is to assist the Project Manager to manage the site when required, sort of like my arrangement right now with Yan, where she was the main person in charge, but if there were things that she was unclear of, I could just step in once in a while to assist.

But then "take pride in running projects from design to completion" shows that that isn't the case, that they are expecting the designer to also be the Project Manager. 

I am honestly a bit surprise that this particular company is taking this approach, it is a bit disappointing and no wonder why they are still pinning this on their Instagram page since 31 weeks ago. It's not a very enticing position for Designers because most of us probably just want to focus on design, and pure Project Managers simply aren't going to apply for it because, well, the position is for an Interior Designer.

Those who can do both roles are usually Sales Designer, and if they have 3 - 5 years worth of experience doing Sales Design, unless they are an idiot like me, they are probably doing very well with the commission scheme and will probably not want to be tied down by a monthly salary.

To have to do both roles is very challenging, and if the company is only going to be paying me an estimate $4000 a month, and expecting me hit the monthly sales target to justify my salary, I would rather work this hard in a Sales position and potentially earn more than their monthly salary.