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. :) :) :) :)

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.

Someone Finally Wants Me!

I'm employed, I'm employed, I'm employed!

Now I can stop feeling sorry for myself and think that I'm useless and worthless as a potential employee. Yes, Ms Chan is rejuvenated.

Well, I was hoping for this 6-month internship at Starwood Hotels and Resorts but they are taking forever to come back with a reply. So in the mean time, I applied to another company, Global Brands. They are a relatively young company, founded in 2003, with 14 global offices. Their main line of work is to promote and manage their brand partners' products and promotions and their partners include FIFA (woohoo!!), PGA, Warner Bros., Bum Equipment and Marvel. When I was at the interview, I overheard one of the employees discussing about the promo posters and signboards to be used for the release of the Harry Potter movie, what would work, what colours are more appropriate. So exciting!

So what am I doing? According to my supervisor, the company has absolutely no electronic Human Resource tracking system, and their employee records are mostly still in paper form. That's where I come in. I have to create a HRIS (human resource information system) to track all their employees globally. Things like personal information, compensation and benefits packages, private information etc. etc. etc.... Basically, I have to communicate with all the employees, get the information (because even then there are missing gaps), organize and devise a workable system so that future employees will be more easily managed.

Yeah, yeah, I know what you are thinking. Sounds like bloody data entry. Hey man, I'm not so proud and arrogant as to think that I'd be doing executive work as a lowly intern. Everyone has to start somewhere and since I don't have any experience in HR, nothing is above or below me. So I just hope I don't screw up. Seeing how this position is for someone meticulous and with an eye for detail....

Yes, I've managed to bluff my way through many data entry jobs. Even for my last Finance project, I came up with the model, but my team mates had to pore over the numbers cos erm, I'm not that careful. Hahahahaha!

Besides, this means I'd get to see what my supervisor is paid and if she gets a little something something, if you know what I mean. Ah, what power.

I start work on the 28th May, I end summer school on the 26th, my birthday is on the 24th. Hmmm, no break for this lady.

Bad Karma Sucks

Went for an internship interview this morning. I applied for this 6 months internship and if I get it, it would mean pushing back one semester and I'd effectively graduated on my original date, i.e. July 2008. However, looking at the signs, I doubt I'd get the job.

Signs of Bad Karma Indeed:
1. I arrive 2 minutes late for my interview when proper ettiquette dictates that I should be at least 5 minutes early.

2. The building (Suntec Tower 4) was damn freaking far from the MRT, which partially explains why I was late, hence causing me to semi-sprint to the building, and arriving kinda crumpled from the heat.

3. I was still sweating throughout the hour-long interview.

4. Worst of all, because I had previously applied to Visa International and proceeded to use pretty much the same template for this internship application (Starwood Hotels and Resorts), and having brazenly declared that I am METICULOUS, my interviewer pointed out that I had referred to Starwood as Visa in my application. -_-''' "It's interesting that you mention you are meticulous because do you know which company you addressed your cover letter to?"

5. And to cap it all off, as I was leaving, I met Regina, this year 4 student who is a) graduating NOW and hence able to take on a full-time position after the internship and b) highly capable and too smart. A quick call to my girls confirmed my worst fears: she's too good.

I'm fucking screwed.