Hwee-ified

What’s the most scariest thing during your first day of work? For me, its being late. And yeah, I was late but somehow I didn’t end up late or something like this. Let me explain.

I was feeling more excited than usual because I’m going to work in Uniqlo! The first time we went for interview, we weren’t accepted. This time instead of Part time staff, we applied for Full time and we got it! *gleams* And so I was on the train while recalling the days when I went to work at OG Somerset. It was only a stop away and as usual there was a huge crowd. I hated the squeeze in the morning, especially this time I wasn’t plugged in. Have I ever mention that when I don’t listen to music, I start to worry a lot? Thats what happened yesterday. I started counting down the stations till my train reached Orchard. My heart was seriously going to pop out while I spied on the time from the watch worn my the person beside me.

When I finally reached Orchard station, I was walking at the speed of running. Somehow, I managed to scrape through because Jas and I had no idea how we’re supposed to get in. While waiting outside B2 of Uniqlo, I caught a glimpse of an open door at B3. Then I realised we were supposed to get in via that. When we stepped nearer, faces of Uniqlo staff turned and stared at us. I had this weird smile plastered on my face because I had absolutely no idea how to react. We were in a state of confusion from the moment we stepped in because they started greeting us in Korean. After that we were questioned by this staff who asked if we were Korean.

After confirming we were not, they laughed and showed us the way in. I guess they were just joking. They probably do it to all the new staff or something just to lighten the tension. This time, we were in the manager’s room for a purpose. We’ve gotten the job and are going to start work! I have to say I didn’t like the start because everything was in a mess. We were assigned tasks that wasn’t planned properly. I can’t blame them because they were already flustered with their tasks. There were several staff around but they had so much tasks on their hand such as restocking which already took much effort. In the end we got the job of flattening cardboards. A weird job, but well we got used to it.

Our newly met colleagues were pretty friendly and I got the feeling that I would enjoy working here. Everyone seemed like a cozy family without much discrimination around. Our Japanese manager, Arao was really cute. He was stumbling over his poor english and asked for our forgiveness. Val on the other hand was pretty much organized so I really liked her. She made all the screwed ups seem possible. She herself was irritated as everything wasn’t going as planned yet she gave us a short welcome and planned beforehand on our jobs so I guess it didn’t turn out that bad in the end.

We had a short briefing before the shop officially open. It was pretty interesting. Everyone was cheerful and knew that the most important thing was to provide good service. Bright smiles were seen from all of them. Pretty soon, customers streamed into Uniqlo. I have to say I did not expect so many customers as it was a weekday. Friends would agree that I ain’t exactly an extrovert so I have trouble greeting the patronizers when they came in. I kept my mouth shut while I did my tasks of folding clothes.

After that, Arao demonstrated to us the importance of being friendly and of course smiling. Then we got a hands on practise. I guess I opened up much and was even praised with Han Chong. Oh wait. I haven’t introduced the newbies which included Han Chong and Alicia who were from NJ and of course Jas and I.

Overall I really enjoyed the job because it was more of helping customers and making sure that enjoy our service. Jobs like this really give us a sense of satisfaction as we really felt that we were helping them. Useful (: Thats how I felt I was. Pretty soon, I’m sure we’ll be welcoming customers with our heart and not greeting them just because our job wants us to.

Hope by Orchard Ion, Uniqlo and you’ll probably be greeted by my friendly colleagues or maybe even me!

Tomorrow my shift starts at 8am to 6.30pm so I guess its time for me to sleep! Have to wake up by 6.40am. Feels a little like school but a little different and fidgety because it isn’t that usual routine I’ve went through the past 12 years! ^^

Have a good night people.