Long overdue update.

I know, I know, I've sorta abandoned blogging for a while. Work, fatigue and general lack of topics meant that this blog has been deprived of some TLC. But never mind, I'm here to show people that I am NOT dead or consumed by cashiering, and since there's really nothing else to blog about, might as well post something about work.

First things first, the working hours. And I'll be honest this time round - it sucks (no, Pei Hau, I haven't been forced to work overtime). Unlike Philbert, who has an office job and can therefore leave his workplace at six-ish, I'm stuck in a shopping mall. And unless you've never been, seen, or heard of a shopping mall, you'd know that it is customary for a shopping mall to be open by ten in the morning and to remain open until it is ten at night. But that's not all. You see, only the store closes at ten at night. The counter closes when it has dealt with all the customers. If you're stuck at a particularly busy section, like the Gents, you'll be lucky to see off the last customer by 10:15.

Of course, by that time you'd expect me to just hand in the money to my boss and leave, right? Wrong. For some reason, we are forced to count our money before handing it in. And as you've probably known, I'm not very good at maths. Fortunately, there will be other people on hand to assist you if necessary, so you'd usually be done counting no later than 10:35. Then the chief cashiers would count the money (again) and compare the total against the readings from your point-of-sale (POS) machine. You can choose to leave right after you've finished counting, or you can stay back and learn whether you've balanced or made an error. If you're willing to let yourself be hurled abuse about the errors you made while cashiering you'll only be able to return home at 10.45.

And by the way, on selected days (the period before Chinese New Year, for example), the store will extend business hours until 11:00 p.m. Go figure.

Then you get to the cashiering itself. Which, depending on where you go, varies from being overly boring to excessively tiring. The latter, especially, makes you more susceptible to errors (I've had to void nine sales once because I was so tired). But most of the people I work with are very kind and are willing to help me out of any difficult spot I manage to steer into. Never thought I'd say this but it actually makes cashiering almost enjoyable.

The pay, on the other hand, isn't. Philbert says he's being paid peanuts because his nine-to-five job pays him just RM800, but I say bollocks - my ten-to-ten (sometimes eleven) job pays me a measly RM600. As though that was bad enough, I have to pay some of it to the EPF. Thankfully, my pay also includes commission for the amount of sales. Unfortunately, though, I get just a piffling 60 sen for every RM1,000. Then again, I've seen people raking in over RM60k worth of sales a day (though I'm struggling to get past 25 grand). Also, if I buy something from Parkson (any Parkson will do, even Pavillion), 20% of the sale will be refunded back to me at the end of the month. It's a nice incentive for employees, although admittedly there is a limit of RM60 per month.

Like I said earlier, my colleagues are mostly very nice people (with the exception of that dastardly Kak Nora, who picks on the new cashiers - she put me in the almost deserted ground floor for three consecutive days!). Many thanks especially to Madam Yong, for teaching me the many intricacies of cashiering.

To sum it up, cashiering at Parkson OUG is a mixed bag. On one hand it can be very tiring and I'm not exactly well paid. On the other, the people there are some of the nicest people you'll ever meet. Plus, nothing comes close to the experience of meeting and dealing with several different people. And you know what? I actually like it.

Oh, and in case you didn't realise, I haven't got the time to put up CNY decorations on this blog. So (yes, I'm late) I'd like to make it up by wishing everyone a Happy Chinese New Year.