Goodbye, Global Brands

Well, the internship is done and school has started. Before I launched into my London series, perhaps a farewell to the company is in line. I had fun. I learnt, what I believe, one hell of a lot. So thank you, Global Brands, it has been a good ride.

The entrance of the company. I still remember arriving here on my first day and sat at the recep area for 45 minutes because my sup was on MC and didn't inform anyone that I was coming. But I loved the recep area. So big, with comfy sofa seats and a plasma tv. Wicked.

Fast forward to my last day. 10 August 2007. Half the office was on leave as it was the National Day weekend. Whatever. The SMU interns bought eclairs for the whole office as a farewell gift. SMU has trained us well. :)

The 2 other interns. Harold and Wei Hao. The classic case of Jerkyll and Hyde. Harold was a jerk, but we still got along. Wei Hao was so nice that he made Harold's meanness all the more glaring. But good lads, I suppose.

They were so unwilling to pose. *pout*

The company's belle. She's sweet, soft spoken and very well-liked. Look how she glows!

Hello Ghim Hui! Thought I should pay homage to you. Finance Executive. Very, very nice guy (wahaha).

My sup who was very helpful. She taught me a lot. Pity she's since left the office. Some problem with my big boss. Don't know the exact details.

My colleague on the other side of me. Goh Chee Yan. Super nice business analyst who was always up for a good time.

Some of the girls went pubbing in the evening. Mostly secretaries, but the invitation was extended to Chee Yan and myself. Here you see Belinda (secretary to VP of Licensing), Loretta (secretary to CFO) and Chee Yan.

Belinda and me

Chee Yan, Shahnaaz, Belinda, me and Loretta at Balaclava

Shahnaaz and me. Don't ask.

Ok, done with my homage.

P.S.: if this entry sounds totally pointless and more like a photo blog entry, well that's cos I'm in class, listening to some Chinese prog taking about Information asymmetry. Sigh. School is a drab reality.

London, London!

Helllooooooo dearies! A shout out from London to anyone who bothers to read my blog!! I'm in London and so far, it has proven to be absolutely WICKED. I love, love, love London. The streets are so pretty, everyone's accent is amazing, even the person making the announcement on the train isn't as grating as Singapore's MRT announcement system.

Only 1 grouse. Once again, I've been cheated by my very own mother. She told us it is summer. She said it is going to be hot. So being the dutiful daughters we are, Cheryl and I packed things suited for the Sahara desert, i.e. very small pieces of clothing. We touched down, the winds were up, and it cut straight through the pathetic cloth that we assumed would suffice.

Frozen, absolutely frozen. Meanwhile, my polar bear-built mother and Geraldine have been prancing about in practically NOTHING and saying it's HOT. This is utter madness.

But anywayz, beautiful city. The museums are breathtaking and I could spend hours wandering about. Pity all my mum wants to do is shop, shop and shop somemore. Sigh.

Everything is horribly expensive too. Damn the exchange rate. £1 is SGD$3.11!!!!!!!!!!!!

Will update when I can! XOXO

Later, People

My last hurrah before school starts.

I'm off to the land of tea, crumpets, Manchester United and Prince Williams, dearies.

FYI, that means London. Yup, the parents are in the mood for celebrating their bond again, hence we 3 freeloaders are milking them. Working adults be damned.

Plenty of entertaining posts when I return. Oh my god, so much to bitch about. But that would all have to wait. Cab coming in an hour.

Toodles! See you in a week!

Fucked

Ok, I take back my last post. I'm super, super pissed at my HR Manager right now. She's fucking exploiting me and acting all nonchalant about it.

My office receptionist take emergency MC today and usually when that happens, the recep counter is left unmanned. But today, because 2 of the founders of the company are coming down, they need to put up appearances.

So guess what? My sup (because my manager doesn't have the balls to face me) told me that I was to be receptionist for the day (and possibly tomorrow too). Me, the intern, fucked into being the fucking receptionist.

Of course I'm fuming mad! You do not exploit the intern ok! First, you kick me out from my seat and make me move around like the hungry ghost looking for available seats. Then you give me every piece of crap shit admin work you can think of while you walk around the office aimlessly with a dopey smile on your face. You go for 2 hour lunches, take numerous breaks and chat to people around the office, then give a pained expression when you have to stay back after hours to finish your work. You ask me to write a contract and because the company name is not in full, you decide to redo the whole bloody thing by copying and pasting into a new template. And when you miss out 1 line (!!!!!), you give me a "Why the hell didn't you change that?" look.

Fucking moron. Argh, yes, you are nice like the crazed old homeless lady is nice, but that doesn't mean you get to treat me like dirt. And the worst was yet to come. The mother fucking EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT to the CEO (a glorified secretary, leave with it) was having a meeting and she had the guile to ask me to bring her water! Fucking bitch! I WAS SEETHING WITH ANGER AND KEPT HAVING THOUGHTS OF "ACCIDENTALLY" TRIPPING AND SPILLING THE WATER DOWN HER BOTOXED FUCKING FACE. Maybe it'd have melt. And since she is wearing white and is such a skanky ass bitch, I sure she'd have enjoyed the wet T-shirt look. Hey, I would have been doing her a favour.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. To think I only have 4 more days here and it was so pleasant before today. Argh. I hope the HR department sinks and down under the mountain of admin work when I leave.

The Life of an Intern

I can't believe my luck. But man, my internship company has been good to me.

My company is expanding at a rapid pace and they're due for renovation in late August. Currently, new people are joining us almost every week and the lack of space is evident from how people are sharing tables. It's absolutely miserable. Our company currently has space for about 30-odd employees. They plan to increase that headcount to 50 by the end of the year. Do the math. It's madness.

Anyway, I am the latest casualty of this dizzy growth and as a result, I had to sacrifice my seat to a new incumbent, seeing how I'm merely a lowly serf. My boss (the Group HR Manager) graciously offered to share her room and table with me. Panic mounted within me. Helloooooo, how am I supposed to play music, surf the net and chat on msn if I'm in the same room as you? So I quickly volunteered to move into this small room currently used as a meeting place/storage area. There's only 1 tiny table and 3 bar stools in it. Highly uncomfortable, but beats being under a watchful eye. I'd rather sit on the floor than sit in the same room as my boss. So my boss asked my big boss (who's the CFO; in small firms, the CFO is the overseer of everything, HR included) if I could use the room.

And what do you know... my CFO, who is like one of the nicest, most humble and friendly big bosses around, asked my boss to let me use his room as he is away on vacation. Yes, me, in the CFO's room. Which is big, airy, spacious and overlooks Vivocity and Mount Faber. I gulped down my amazement and trepidition. It was such a "What the Bleah!" moment. There was some apprehension seeing how I'm just a freaking intern.. it almost feels intrusive. So I protested a little as I felt slightly uncomfortable. To put it succinctly, although excited, I felt damn pai seh.

Anyhoo, after some protest and reluctance, I vacated my darling seat that has served me well for 8 weeks. Now, I liked that seat so much because it's isolated. My back is protected as there's this huge cupboard behind me and no one can sneak up on me. Moreover, I've gotten pretty chummy with my neighbours. But vacate, I must, amidst lots of cursing and swearing at this new interloper who was going to claim my seat.

But I must say, I was being over-dramatic as usual. My new (albeit temporary; boss coming back on 6 August, which means 3 days of being cooped up in the tiny storage room) seat kicks ass. I don't have the actual guts to sit on my CFO's seat, preferring to use the visitor's chair instead, but the view, the privacy... it is HEAVEN. And the funny thing is, people keep popping in now to check out the room (cos when the CFO was around they obviously wouldn't dare, but the tiny intern...TAKE ADVANTAGE). My IT Manager says "Good morning, boss!" every morning, the CFO's secretary thinks the situation is hilarious (I think she's pretty funny too; so used to knocking, when she enters the room now, she knocks and I feel all weirded out), and my supervisor giggled so hard the first day I moved in my face turned red.

Damn, it's good to be here. Hmm, maybe I should rethink my career path. My HR manager's room pales in comparison to the view I'm getting now.

So hello to the new bad ass, baby. :) :) :) :)