Slow Responders

Reservist is finally over and I am back at work. Getting more customers that are slowly but surely wasting my time.



Sincere customers are few and far, but time wasters are always in abundance. The very first customer lead I received from my company after my reservist was one such time waster...

"Will be busy over the next few weeks so I won't be able to come to the showroom for any consultation appointments."

... Oh really? So why did you bother sending in a renovation enquiry when you are going to be too busy over the next few weeks to meet up with any designers.

I had another customer, whom I first met in March, recently contacting me again.



Back then, he had requested to view a completed project, but since I didn't have any at hand, I told him it will be a while before I could grant his request, he didn't really seem too bothered by it because he wouldn't be getting the keys to his flat until the end of the year, so I also didn't really bother to keep in touch with him, I assumed he was also going to forget about me and start a brand new hunt for an Interior Designer once he got his keys.




I was honestly quite pleasantly surprise by his email for an updated quote, so I updated the quote and send it his way, and he once again requested for a site visit. Well, I have a site now, so I was more than happy to oblige, I drop him a text asking him if he was available, but we had a bit of trouble finding a time that would be convenient for the both of us, so he tells me he will discuss with his wife on their availability and then get back to me shortly.



He never did.



So the very next day, fortunately for him, another customer of mine decided to reschedule an appointment with me, and that opened up my schedule for him, so I dropped him a text, telling him I would be available for the time he had initially requested and asked if he would be interested for the site visit.



No response.

He has responded positively to my request, like 36 hours later. Not very sure if I would actually want to run his project for him, just base on how responsive he is. I really do not like to be left hanging when it comes to confirming an appointment.







Also had another customer who texted me, asking if I could send her the space planning proposal via email because she had forgotten what was discussed. Obviously, I wasn't going to give my space planning proposal to a non-paying customer, so I asked her if it was alright for me to just send her the quotation instead so she can look through it and kinda roughly remember what was discussed, to which she just replied with...

"Hmmm."

... I waited for a proper reply after that because what am I suppose to derive from that vague response. We were suppose to meet this coming weekend, a date has been confirmed, but no timing has been set, and after the last exchange, I really wasn't expecting to hear from her anymore, but then here she was, asking me to send her the proposal, and once again, ending the conversation by not really ending it.



So I waited for a while and then decided, fuck it, I will just send her the quotation, hoping she will actually respond once she has gotten something from me.




No response after that.

She did request for the quotation like a few weeks ago, mere days after our first appointment, and seeing how I had actually wanted to run her renovation project at that time, I denied her request and instead urged her to come down for a second appointment so we can actually discuss the details again in person, and because the quotation had exceeded her budget, giving her a copy of the quotation would be the equivalent of scaring her away permanently, so I kept it to myself and was planning to use that as a motivation to get her to come back, and she went silent for a while until she contacted me again...and blah blah blah, I have talked about this in another post so I am just gonna skip that part.




Well, now that she has finally seen the quotation, I was right into believing that the figures were going to scare her away because she is no longer responding to my messages.



I have tried to confirm our appointment this weekend but she isn't replying, leaving me hanging to let me know she is no longer interested. Awesome! Gotta love customers like this. They can go fuck themselves. 

Joys of a Talkative partner

Reservist has officially begun and I have started doing my guard duties on Monday.



Prior to the start of my guard duties, I was already hearing horror stories of how the ICTs are being mistreated by the active soldiers, such as throwing horrible emplacements for them to cover, getting threatened with charges for the smallest mistakes and in general just being a prick to the all the reservist personnel, which has never been an issue when I was still an active solider, so a lot of shit has changed since the last time I went back.



Thankfully, my reservist commanders were nice enough to help us speak to the active commanders and that really helped us a lot in terms of the emplacements we were assigned to guard.



Originally, I wasn't really too bumped about being place in this particular guard house to do my sentry duties because the last time I came back, all the active soldiers I was paired with were all friendly and open to conversation,  the 6 hour shift was a pain to go through, but the active soldiers made it very bearable, well, that was last year, this year, I had the unfortunate privilege of doing my very first sentry duties with the most disinterested active I have ever fucking met.




Every time I tried to initiate a conversation, he would reply without attempting to carry on the conversation and every attempt of a joke I make gets responded with a dry laugh. His response are always very deadpan to the point where it just comes across as rude and after the first 5 minutes of doing my duty with him, I knew for sure the next 5 hours and 45 minutes was going to be hell.




I made no attempt at trying to converse with him after the first hour of trying because it was just pointless, it was like talking to a wall that I would like to punch every once in a while and after our duty was over, he just bid adieu to me really awkwardly and left. It was a really long and arduous 6 hours, but I made it through, I'm just really really really hoping I won't get paired with him anymore.





So far, my reservist hasn't really affected my work or at least not in a disruptive manner, during my down time, I was able to get my friend to drive me to my job site to overlook some work and then drive me back to camp right after, which was great. The project is almost coming to an end and I was really expecting to start getting my first commission by the end of the month, but my clients suddenly told me they were only able to get certain items delivered by the end of next month, so fuck my life.




Bad news is I won't be getting paid anytime soon, good news is that I will be able to use their flat as a showroom for all my potential clients for the next 2 months.




A few weeks ago, I was ranting about a customer who stopped responding to my text after I turned down her request to email her the quotation, well, she actually dropped me a text a few days ago asking me when we were going to meet for the 2nd appointment.

Luckily I did not delete her sketch up files off my laptop, but then she did that thing again where she stops responding, which is really confusing.

Her : So have we set a time yet.

Me: We have only decided on the date so far.

Her : I see...

Me : Maybe we can confirm the timing again a week before the appointment?

No response after that.

It wasn't my intention for the last question to be rhetorical, and that "..." at the end of her last message is really quite confusing, it makes her message come across as an expression of disappointment.

If she had just written "I see" without the "..." then it would have come across to me as

"Oh, I see, so we will schedule a time then!"

But because she added that "..." in her reply, it just came across to me as....

"I see... so you couldn't even be bothered to confirm a timing with us."

... and it really is coming across strongly as the latter because of how she chose to completely ignore my last question, that "?" I left at the end of the sentence is my way of asking you to confirm something with me, not to leave me hanging so I can assume you might or might not be interested.

I do have a few more potential clients on hand, but honestly, with the next project starting soon and me realizing how much money I am going to get from that project, I just don't feel like this career would be taking me very far financially. 

For this current project, which was closed at $34,000, I am estimated to take in about $2,500, if I'm lucky and don't incur any additional cost.

For my next project, which was closed at $39,000, I am only estimated to take in about $2000, if I'm lucky and don't incur any additional cost. 

Those figures are extremely low, especially for the latter project because by right, I should be raking in $3,400 for the first project and $3,900 for the second project, those figures are healthy profit figures and right now, all my current projects are running at an unhealthy profit margin, which is quite dangerous for me financially. 

Right now, I can still sustain myself financially from my own savings, but I am now spending way more than I will be earning back and the constant decline in my savings account is starting to worry me. I had told myself in the beginning, should my savings drop to a certain number, then it is probably time to look for a job that offers a stable salary, well, now it is getting really close to that number, so I guess that time is coming soon.

Interior & Army Stuff

Just went through the additional costing with my customers over the weekend and it was as painful as I had imagined. My aim at the beginning was to stay firm with my price and not falter to their constant bargaining methods, but in the end, I lost that battle and gave them a pretty hefty discount ,which led to a reduction in my overall profit margin.



It just got really exhausting because they were literally running through each item one by one, comparing my price with the prices of a contractor they found and just constantly gasping in horror at the cost difference, I mean just looking at their face was enough to know that they were not going to settle for the price I had quoted them, so we made things easier for each other and agreed on an overall discount.




It sucked that my profit margin dropped, but I was also relieved by the fact that I no longer have to sit through another round of bargaining with them.





The carpentry works are finally up and the empty flat is starting to feel like a home, the once bare kitchen is now lined with cabinets, the hallway is now made even tighter with the full height cabinets and the wardrobes in the room has been installed as well, it's really quite exciting to see my designs come to life, not that there's much design to be honest, I would have loved to explore more complex detailing, but the clients aren't too crazy about it, especially with the additional labor cost that will have to be incurred with designs that are too complicated.





This project should really be catapulting my interest in the field, and it is, because the satisfaction that I get from seeing the house slowly come together is pretty amazing, but when I actually think about how long it has been since I joined the company, I can't help but be worried about the long term prospects of this job.





I joined the company at the start of the year, and since then, I have managed to close 4 different projects, but it has taken me a total of 7 months to be almost done with one single project, a project I will not even be making much money out of due to the constant discount I have been giving my clients. If I'm lucky, I will only be able to make a measly $2500 from this project, $2500 after 7 months of work, that's equivalent to a little over $300 a month.





I've come to enjoy the process of Interior Designing through my short 2 week stint at ID3 and I was able to feel like a proper Interior Designer working at my current company, but the rate at which I am actually closing deals with new clients is abysmal, individuals who have joined the company much later than me have already signed upwards to 7 different contracts while I have only managed to sign my 4th contract 2 weeks ago... a very small contract that also won't be earning me much money.




The success that is able to come from this career is a little difficult for me to achieve because I am someone who always tend to pick and choose the clients I want to work with, if the first impression I have of a customer is bad and if we don't click at all during the first appointment, the bad taste that they leave in my mouth will normally signify the end of our partnership. I am someone who likes to plan ahead, so if I can foresee the trouble the clients will cause for me in the future, then it's better to nip them in the bud. My seniors on the other hand are always telling me to just sign as many as possible, to treat the horrible customers as learning experiences, but I honestly don't really see why I should make my life difficult and choose to work with potential assholes for 4 to 6 months, if I get a couple and I click with the husband but the wife is a complete cunt, or if the wife is easy to talk to but the husband is a complete dickhead, then...

The leads provided by the company, while useful, most of the time tend to feel like a waste of time. I have just been getting wave after wave of customers who just aren't interested at all, I don't see any with potential and it's honestly really demoralizing when they just straight up turn down my request for a second appointment. I only make second appointments with customers that I like, and those customers are far and few between.





I'm not sure if its me or if the customers that are coming in right now are just not good, I mean the company hasn't really been signing as much contracts these past few months, so it can't be just me, right now, I would like to believe that the recent customer drought might be due to the upcoming Ghost Festival, since almost every Chinese family avoids  renovation works during this period because it's inauspicious or something, hopefully the customers will get better after the Ghost Festival period is over because I am really itching to start exploring and selling designs.





Another reason why I'm not personally putting too much effort this past month is because of the last mobilization that happened 2 weeks ago, as well as my upcoming reservist cycle.




I couldn't plan any appointments for the past few weeks because I was afraid the mobilization will clash with my appointments, and I won't be able to schedule any appointments for the next 2 weeks because I will be stuck in camp for my reservist.




I have never despised my reservist so much until now, just the amount of time it takes up and the inconveniences it is causing me....

 ....and my friend who was suppose to go through the reservist with me has recently attempted to defer due to work commitments, his request has been denied but he is going to appeal again, so there might be a chance that my reservist this time is going to be a solo experience. I'm selfishly hoping his appeal gets rejected because I'm a horrible friend.

An electrical job well done

I will have to collect additional payments from my clients soon and I am not looking forward to it, there is no doubt they will try to negotiate the prices down and just thinking about them bargaining the prices with me is making me feel exhausted.



My electrician also isn't being of much help as well, since the start of July, I have been requesting for him to break down the electrical cost for me so I can issue out an accurate bill for my clients, every week I will drop him a text to ask him to break down the electrical cost and every week, he reads but chooses not to respond to my text, it's extremely infuriating and there is no doubt that this will be the last time I ever use his services.



Out of all the contractors I have liaised with for my first renovation project, the one who has been giving me problem is this fucking electrician, every other contractor whom I have engaged arrives on site at the date I have set aside for them, complete their work within the stipulated time, sometimes even earlier and leaves without giving me much of an issue and even if they do, they are very quick to rectify the problems, this fucking electrician on the other hand has been nothing but problem after problem and what really infuriates me about this whole situation is that I have been warned by my colleagues about how difficult it is to actually work with him, but still I went ahead and engaged his services anyway, so fucking stupid.




To list a few reasons why working with him has been the greatest displeasure of my renovation journey....


1. His doesn't instruct his workers on what to do. Instructions I pass to him doesn't get passed down to his workers.


2. He hasn't been replying to my text messages.


3. He gets his workers to come down and do the electrical works when it is convenient for him, works that should have been done in 2 days took him 3 days to complete because he decided that he wasn't going to send his workers down to my site on the second day.


4. He sends his workers down to do renovation works at my site without informing me about it in advance.


5. His main worker is just a complete buffoon. Carries on work without waiting for my instructions and even when instructions are given, still manages to fuck things up, and then has the audacity to complaint about how much of a greenhorn I am to his colleague, thinking I am not aware of it, saying things like...

"This designer, simple thing like this also don't know."


only for his colleague to reprimand him, saying...


"He now don't know, need time to learn right?"



 .. which zipped him up, I like his colleague because his colleague knows what to do, waits for my instructions before doing anything and is able to offer valid suggestions.


If you want to talk shit about me, do it when I am not around, not when I am literally standing 5 meters away from you, just because my back is turned doesn't mean I can't hear you.





Back to the boss, so I just dropped him a text today at around 3.30 pm, informing him that I will be issuing the electrical bill to my client tomorrow and I will need his help to tabulate the cost for me, he reads the text 6 minutes after I send it out but doesn't respond to it, so at around 5.00 pm, I decided to actually call him up because I really needed the cost break down for tomorrow,  if he wasn't able to do a full break down, at least tell me the cost of some items that are not stated in the price list so my bill can be as accurate as possible, but not only does he not pick up the call, he outright rejects it and needless to say, I'm infuriated.





Prior to the last text I had send him, I had actually also send him another text telling him his worker did not wait for my instructions and carried out drilling works, and recently also learned that he has pulled an additional lighting point that I did not ask for, so are you actually going to turn down my calls because I drop you a text telling you how incompetent your worker has been? Your worker did a shit job and I was just pointing it out to you, you failed to pass down the instructions I have given to you to him, so that is on you, I was simply stating the facts, so don't get all upset about it and not reply to my text and calls, take some fucking responsibility.



This means I won't be able to charge my clients for the electrical works tomorrow and will have to bill them again at a later date, that is going to be fucking fun to have to sit through another round of bargaining again.




I have been chasing him for the electrical cost break down for 3 weeks now, first time he said he was outside and couldn't prepare for me, fine, the following week I asked again and he responds, asking me how many lights I was going to install, so I told him how many lights I was going to install, thinking I will get a full cost breakdown soon ,but after that, no response.




Ask me how many lights I am going to install and don't send me the cost break down, then you ask for fuck?



I actually wrote to him yesterday, complaining to him about the amazing work his worker did for me at the site last Saturday, once again, he reads the message but doesn't respond to it.




I was intending to get him to complete the entire electrical work for this site before I never use him again, but these past few exchanges with him over WhatsApp, or lack thereof, is making me question the if that is even possible.




Still unsure at this point if I should just wing it and charge my clients the electrical bill as per usual, or actually wait for the fucker to send me the electrical costing breakdown. This fucker is really giving me a lot of unnecessary stress.

The Demoralization is real.

Another customer of mine has just slipped away from my hands and I did not appreciate how they did not bother to update me about their designer hunting status.



Am I disappointed that I wasn't able to renovate their home for them?





Honestly speaking, I'm not. There was a very obvious lack of chemistry between the homeowners and myself and when I first saw them walking into the Showroom, I did not want to serve them at all due to the fact that they are a PR couple from China and my Mandarin conversational skills just isn't up to par with theirs, obviously, but I did anyway and it wasn't horrible, but it also wasn't good.

I took down their requirements and decided to schedule a second appointment with them despite the lack of rapport because their budget was quite generous for renovation works they have requested, and also because I was itching to sign new contracts. 

So we were scheduled to meet this Sunday morning and I had told them that I will prepare a design proposal for them to see when we meet again, to which they were agreeable to, and we agreed to confirm the timing when we are closer to the date.

Fast forward to today, I decided to give the customer a call to confirm the time and at this point, I have not only prepared a quotation for them, I have also prepared a SketchUp drawing for their viewing, so I was quite excited to present to them what I have prepared, but when I called to confirm the time with the customer, he goes...

"We have actually already chosen an Interior Designer to work with."

... Hmmmm? Okay.

So even though we have already agreed to meet on Sunday for a follow up appointment and despite you and your wife CLEARLY knowing that I have been working on a design proposal for you guys over the past few days, it never crossed both your minds to have the basic courtesy let me know before hand that you guys have already confirmed an Interior Designer.

I mean great, good for you that you were able to find an Interior Designer you are comfortable working with, it's your house, it's your choice, but man, what a fucking waste of my time and effort.




Another 3D file to put away into my "Waste of Time" folder, it is really very upsetting when I open that file and see all the Sketch Up files I wanted to, but was never able to show my customers because they didn't want to return for a second appointment.

It's starting to get really demoralizing receiving this torrent of insincere customers, just yesterday, I received a new customer lead from the company and decided that instead of doing my usual texting, I will call the person up, I could tell from the get go that she was clearly not interested, and I was right because instead of scheduling a time for her to drop by the Showroom due to the location being too inconvenient for her, she requested for me to do a house visit.

"Can you come down to my house instead?"

Please. 

Don't. 

Waste. 

My. 

Time

We haven't even met once in person and you are already requesting for me to drop by your home for the first consultation session.



Hello! You are going to be paying for my travelling expenses is it? Want me to travel from the West to the North East region of Singapore. How fucking entitled can customers get? Fucking ridiculous, of course I couldn't say that to her over the phone, so I just told her that I will get back to her about it.

I'm obviously not going to grant her the request to meet her at her home, so instead I will probably ask her to drop by the other showroom, which is like 3 station away from her where she lives, and if she doesn't agree to that, then I will also not go out of my way to meet a customer at their convince for the first appointment, because I have converse with over 40 different customers and have only come across a very very small handful who are actually genuinely sincere, and those sincere ones are the ones who actually bothered to come visit the showroom, which means the chances of the trip down to her house has a very very high chance of being a complete waste of my time, energy and money. So .....

Update : Just send her a text this morning sharing with her the "bad news" that I won't be personally visiting her, she has read the text but hasn't responded to it, I doubt she will actually respond to it because she is clearly not interested.


If you are not interested to do any renovation works at the moment, don't send in your fucking renovation request through a renovation portal. I just feel bad for the companies who actually pay for the leads, mine included, I mean imagine paying almost $20 for a customer lead and then get presented with this kind of garbage customer.

Again with the time wasters...

I've always had this assumption that customers who make an effort to schedule an appointment to come down to the showroom to meet the designers are customers who are worth spending time and effort on.  But the last few customers of such that I have been getting are starting to prove otherwise.




 The very first 2 customer that I managed to close a deal with were customers who made the effort to schedule an appointment to meet me, and so when I was once again presented with 2 such customers, I really wanted to make an effort to impress them and get them to hand their project over to me to run.



Both customers were a pair of young couple, roughly my age,  who still had quite a while before they actually get the keys to their flat, they were in no rush, so after our first appointment, instead of telling them...

"I will email you the quote."

.... because that is what I say to customers I have no interest in dealing with, I decided to schedule a second appointment with them, seeing how it has been a while since I actually closed a new project, I was really itching for them.




Both customers scheduled the second appointment at least a month later, normally customers would schedule a follow up appointment a week later, but since they won't be getting their keys until the end of the year, they weren't in a rush, and for that a while, they went silent.




During that period of silence from them, I decided to do up a quotation, a space planning proposal, as well as a Sketch Up of my design proposal for them, all in the hopes of impressing them with my sincerity a month later.




About a week ago, one of them drops me a text message reading...

"Hi Tim, could you email us the quotation instead so we don't have to meet again?"

 .... just straight to the point. There really isn't anything I can do if a customer loses interest, so I  just emailed a copy of my quotation to them, feeling really dejected. luckily I did not spend a lot of time doing their sketch up, so most of my efforts were only wasted on their space planning proposal.



I wasn't too sad about it because I still had the second customer to rely on, I even prepared a Sketch Up for the second customer to see, but today, the second customer drops me a text reading...

"Hi Tim, you will be dropping us the quotation first right?"

... and that text message just made me feel so fucking demoralized, all the time and effort I have put into their proposal, and they won't even confirm the follow up appointment, I wasn't going to just say...

"Yeah sure, I will email you the quotation."

... and then never hear from them again, so I recommended that they actually drop by so I can run through the quote with them in detail and show them my 3D drawings, at least let me show you the 3D drawings I have prepared so my effort won't be wasted.

No response. They even made it a point to turn off the blue ticks on their Whatsapp, so I don't even know if they have actually read my text.

Which is why I just deleted the chat. 

Normally, I would send the quotation out if they ask for it, but I am feeling a little spiteful about all the wasted effort spend on them and just customers like them in general, and they also texted me when I wasn't exactly in a very good mood, with all that had happen on Saturday, the last thing I wanted happening the day after is for a customer I have put in so much time and effort on to suddenly tell me that they wanted to see the quote first, a.k.a "I'm going to compare the price and then go for the cheapest one which won't be you", so they won't be getting my quotation anytime soon, maybe if they actually bothered to reply to my text, I will consider emailing them, but as of right now, I am not even going to bother reminding them about their appointment next month, you don't want to reply to my text, fine, then I'm also not going to treat you as a sincere customer, simple as that.



Never am I ever going to invest so much time and effort into design proposals for homeowners who aren't getting their keys anytime soon, just honestly getting really tired of all this type of customers.

I actually have a third customer who did something similar to me, but with him, it really wasn't because he was insincere, it was more of a scheduling conflict. He was down to meet me a second time, but every time something will get in the way of the appointment, like it's some sort of freaking sign that we were not meant to work together....

First time was due to a last minute cancellation on the client's part, which was fine because he rescheduled a second appointment a few hours later.

That reschedule did not go through because I had to attend a roadshow event, which as it turned out, wasn't even worth my time, was there literally from morning to night and I only got 1 customer who didn't even want to be there, they were pulled in because their cousin was involved in the administrative side of the event.

The third time I tried to reach out to schedule another appointment, I had to be a little careful with my dates because of the possible mobilization that was due to take place in the first half of July, which has forced me to reschedule so many fucking appointments with my existing clients, it was fucking horrible the amount of inconvenience that was caused by it, and then I had to run someone's feet over with my car on the day of the mobilization. But by this time, the client has obviously lost interest at the idea of having a follow up appointment with me, naturally, so I decided to just drop him a text to let him know I will email him the quotation and also inform him that I have prepared a 3D for him for his viewing should he be interested, he passes me his email and thanks me for the quotation.... that's the last text I got from him.

So about a week later,  I decided to check up with him and see if he was still interested, because I was interested to actually run his project for him, so I drop him a text message asking him if he would be interested to come by our company event to discuss his renovation project in detail, doesn't reply to my text, double ticks go blue means you have read the message and typing out a simple...

"Hi Tim, we are still looking around."

or

"We are no longer interested, thanks for your time."

... would suffice, I will get the message and not disturb you anymore after that, it's really upsetting how so many clients don't have the basic courtesy of informing us that they are not interested when we ask them, they just choose not to reply to the message.

How much does a WhatsApp message cost?  

Probably less than a cent in data charges.

How much was I paid by you for the consultation, the quotation and design proposal? 

Cheaper than a WhatsApp message because I am literally being paid NOTHING for offering those services to you. 

Horrible Day

Had to go to my site this morning after a very last minute call from my Electrician's worker who requested for me to be there.



A few days prior, I had found out that certain electrical points at my site wasn't at the correct location, so I dropped a text informing the electrician that there might be some issues with them, but that he didn't have to send someone down because I could rectify that issue in the future with the carpentry works.




So fast forward to today, I receive a photo from said electrician and in the photo, he had marked out where the new electrical points will be located, thinking he had probably just gone down to do some marking for future reference, I didn't concern myself too much about the picture and just responded with...

"Yup, those are the correct spot for the electrical switches."

... I get a call 15 minutes after sending the text from the Electrician's worker asking me if I was going to go to site today. A little confused as to why he was even there today when I did not arrange any work for them to do, I told him I wasn't planning on going down today, to which he responded....

"But I need you here today to tell me where to pull the wires to?"

.... I thought he was referring to the lighting points because I had requested for them to help me add 2 more lighting points in the toilets, so I told him I will be there in an hour and he hangs up the phone.

I had just woken up at this point, so as soon as I was done showering, I took the car and headed straight for the site. As I was parking, I receive a call from an unknown number and the person on the line goes...

"Hi, is this Tim? I'm a resident living around your project site, just wanted to let you know that your site is currently doing a lot of drilling works and is generating a lot of noise. I don't think drilling works are permitted on the weekends right?"

.... and that was when I realize something was wrong. I apologized to the person and he was really friendly about the whole situation, I, on the other hand, was livid.

This isn't the first time this bloody worker has started drilling holes into the fucking walls without my approval, this is the second time, so the moment I walked into my site,  I started shouting at him to stop and he goes...

"You were going to take a while so I started drilling first."

.... OMFG.

I had told his boss that I was not going to ask him to send his guys down to drill the holes for me,  I told him I was going to cover the fucking holes with carpentry work, but what do you know, he sends his worker down without telling me on a weekend when drilling works isn't permitted, and he even sends me the most incompetent worker he has.

And the worker kept going...

"But you never tell me, you never say properly!"

FUCK! I told your boss! And I could have told you had you fucking waited for me to arrive instead of starting work on your own. What the fuck is the boss doing not giving clear instructions to his workers, also not the first time, in the past, when I gave the boss instructions on how I wanted my wiring to run, he fails to pass those instructions to his workers, luckily I arrived at site just in the nick of time to stop his workers from actually installing the wiring in the wrong location and running the fugly trunking across the entire hallway.




This is the last time I am gonna be using this Electrician's services.








I also had to return back to camp today for a mobilization exercise and decided since the car was around, I will drive over instead of taking the public transport, so I took the car, picked my friend up from his house and we made our way over to the army camp together.




I have driven to the army camp a few times before, so I was a little familiar with the route, my only concern was really how bad the traffic would be because we were warned prior to the mobilization that it is highly recommend not to drive because it might cause a huge jam, and there was a jam as I got closer and closer to the army camp, but it wasn't as bad as I had imagined and within 10 minutes of being stuck in the jam, I was at the front of the jam, awaiting my entry at the gantry.




Since there was still a vehicle at the gantry at my lane , I decided to wait outside until instructed to move forward, but then I see the sergeant who was manning the gantry ushering me to move forward, so I released my break, moved forward and was kinda stuck midway between the marked out area where my car was suppose to be, the sergeant comes up to my window and ask for both our ICs, so I passed both of them to him.




As he turned his back to check our ICs against his namelist, I decided to release my break a little and drive forward towards the gantry so that my car wouldn't be in such an awkward position, his back was turn from my car, so I assumed it would be safe to drive forward without hitting him, I was fucking wrong.





That slight inching forward caused him to start shouting out in pain and it took me a while to register where his source of agony was coming from, I instantly braked and all the other soldiers who were standing around started swarming towards him and that was when I realized I had driven over his feet and braked right on top of it.





I didn't want to move out of fear that I might cause more damage, but he was groaning in pain because there's a fucking car with 2 passengers currently perched right on top of his feet, so I also wanted to move it to free his leg, but as I was about to release my brakes, this other Sergeant who was standing right beside me starts shouting...

"STOP DRIVING!"

... which of course made me step on the brakes again, and then he starts shouting at me asking me if I knew how to drive a car. I am still in shock and the poor sergeant is still groaning in pain, the last thing this entire situation needs is someone shouting at me and asking me if I know how to drive a fucking car.




Luckily, a more level headed commander came over and told me to slowly reverse my car to free the sergeant's feet, and when he was finally free, I kept asking over and over if he was alright, which was a really stupid question to ask and I can understand why he didn't respond to any of them.




I ran over to check on the sergeant's feet as soon as the car was parked and from what I can see, it doesn't seem to be too serious, the feet that the car was perched on was red but it didn't look broken and the sergeant did say to his commander that it didn't hurt as bad anymore. My particulars were taken down and I was told that I will be contacted should there be a need to.



Needless to say, I spend the entire day in camp feeling really guilty.