The Small Perks of Life

My life as an intern peaks and flattens out with startling speed. Some days I'm so busy I don't have time to breathe, think or even go out of the toilet. On other days, I jab disinterestingly at the keyboard and do menial tasks with my brain shut off.

So really, it's about enjoying the small perks in life. My sup and big boss have both treated me to lunch and although I often protest to the greatest of my ability, I eventually cave in. Hey, I'm earning peanuts okkaay! And I'm privy to all the salaries so seriously, I'm sure I barely make a blip in their account.

But today, ah, today, things looked a bit better. Seeing how I'm in HR and we're also in charge of employee welfare, my supervisor wanted to shake things up a bit and try to introduce some life into the company. So she came upon this Grant given by Health Promotion Board, which basically funds companies in their efforts to promote healthy living in the workplace. I dunno why, but although my sup likes the idea of the grant, she didn't want to do the work involved. So she passed the project to me. Hence, I started sourcing around for activities the company could do and shit like that.

I thought gym memberships might be a good idea cos not only did it fit with the healthy lifestyle theme, gym memberships are a good perk for employees in terms of status and whatnot. More HR tactics to retain people. Anywayz, I chanced upon this gym near my workplace, Sky Fitness and unbeknownst to me, I started to make enquiries. This club turned out to be super exclusive and priced at a premium.

Seeing how my big boss didn't really like the whole idea of this health at workplace programme because the company must match the amount provided by the grant, I was basically working with a budget of zero. Never mind. I tried to be honest with the sales guy from the gym and tell him the club was way out of budget, but he kept badgering and pleading and invited me down to tour the gym and eat lunch.

Helplessly, I gave in and brought along my sup and another colleague. The club turned out to be really nice and the view is phenomenal. It faces Sentosa and is on the highest floor, ensuring unobstructed views of the area. Fully personalized and the sales guy, Aero, turned out to be really, really nice. He didn't try to sell a package straight away, but instead emphasized on a partnership with us and wanted to meet our needs.

Lunch turned out to be pretty good too. But as the saying goes, there's no such thing as a free lunch. I just hope he doesn't keep pestering me. Oh well. After that, we hopped over to Planet Fitness and really, there's no comparison. No doubt, it's much cheaper. But it's also highly sterile and impersonal and all about business and the money. Customer service is efficient and neat at best. Darn, we've been spoiled.

So yup, enjoying the small perks that get thrown my way. Otherwise, being an intern is rather miserable.

Did I mention that the company created an email signature that doesn't appear to me until the message gets sent out? And what title did they give me? HR INTERN. I'm surprised anyone wants to talk to me.