A little more functional than a mashed potato!

Adeline started work @ Sainsbury on Nov 8. The pay: GBP 6.5 an hour. The job: sales assistant aka salesgirl.

 

"Work is so tiring.

I had to attend two days of induction on Thurs and Fri prior to starting work. We were given health & safety training, how to operate equipment training, good customer service training, how to spot shoplifters training, how to deal with aggressive customers training and general familiarisation with the store.

I started work yesterday (Sunday). I worked from 10 am to 6 pm. The only thing my job consists of is replenishing stock. I had to carry very heavy loads of goods and replenish shelves constantly. Heavy bottles of olive oil, heavy bottles of sauces. It was very tiring. I left work with a bad ache in my shoulders and feet.

 

The only good thing I can take from this job is that by the end of my shift, some items are reduced drastically. So I can buy these items. They are usually bakery bread and pastries. I am also super aware of the offers going on since I am the one replenishing the shelves so I can buy these if I wanted to.

Some customers came and asked me for help but I could only say 'So Sorry, it's my first day here. If you want, I can get my colleague to help you'. We need to practice good customer service and have a set of principles to follow when dealing with the customer. Every week, a Mystery Shopper comes in and asks for help to assess our customer service level.

Still having remnants of back ache from yesterday. Working the night shift today. I am being till trained on Wednesday. Working the tills is scary because you can get prosecuted if you accidentally sell to underage customers.

 
I feel like a manual labourer :(. At least the pay is something to look forward to.
 Okay, that's all for now. I got lots of cuts on my fingers from handling sharp packaging. 

Love,

Adeline (now little more functional than a mashed potato).

Great Groupon deals in Europe that are not practical!

I was telling Adeline that I managed to book a really good Groupon holiday at the 5-star Palm Villa Hotel in Sepang. I kept her updated as she was the one who actually introduced me to Groupon Malaysia. Read about Groupon deals in Europe....

"Yeah, Groupon deals are really cheap. I can actually fly to Budapest for GBP 99 per person for two nights, flights and hotels and breakfast included! Cheap or what? But it's in January la. Who wants to go to Budapest in January? It would be a total waste of money. The other deal I was eyeing is Istanbul for GBP 122 per person for two nights, flights, hotels and breakfast. But again, in January. What's there to do in January right? Some more, what are we going to do in Istanbul besides look at mosques and rugs? Perhaps the notion of going to Istanbul sounds very exotic and whatnot.

There was another one, go to Berlin for GBP 119 per person, flights, hotels, breakfast covered for 2 nights BUT also in January. Haiyo, if stay in January might as well don't go out of Newcastle to begin with. Winter is even more miserable in Europe than it is here. There are even deals to go to New York from GBP 500+ per person with flights and hotels covered, but thanks to Sandy the Storm, this notion is *puff* gone.

Aiyo, the rain so heavy until your shoe rosak? Why don't you wear some more durable footwear? Got anything like that? 

Mummy's comments: One stormy rainy day, my expensive sandals broke when wading through fast-flowing waters. On yet another stormy raining day, the bottom part of my beautiful summer sandals came off so much so it looked like an "open mouth"...he..he...

Here in Newcastle, it's gotten much much more colder. I am frozen half the time, no kidding. It snowed for 5 hours the other day, courtesy of winds from Norway and Sweden. Since it's so cold, I can leave food out 2 nights in a row, and the food won't spoil. My living room has become a makeshift refrigerator.

Mummy's comments: Ai Yo....if I leave my salads out for one day in our place....stinko la...Must be nice to live in a makeshift refrigerator! No mosquitos for sure. Savings in aircon. Electric and power bills will be cut by 50%!

If such a thing happened in KL (which is unlikely thanks to Malaysia's excellent geographical location), you would have stocked up on tons of food and water already la. And our house would still be standing since it's a block of apartments.

Mummy's comments: Not so sure. The other day it rained and rained until the car park was flooded with water. The Honda was soiled with flood waters. Good thing it did not flood away!

Thanks to living in Britain, I am not so scared of such a situation and have more survival skills in this area. Since I know how to make meals out of very little food (I am the poor student pro at making food last on a cheap budget). Make lots of porridge, cook with lots of potatoes. All poor people food but still tasty. I would also like to grow my own veggie garden (if I had my own land) and maybe have a few chickens to give me eggs (and be the occasional roast). So would be less dependent on supermarkets and more dependent on myself. Malaysian weather so good, sure can yield some tomatoes, basil and chillies one. Maybe even lettuce.

Mummy's comments: My survival skills consist of turning on the torchlight in my handphone when the power is down. Not sure what else I can do as we don't have a garden to grow vegetables. Probably will fly to Hyderabad to stay with my good friend and sister, Lata Lincoln.

Yeah, sandwiches are tasty. I make them for David for his working lunch. He likes my roast chicken (I roast chicken and shred it for the sandwiches) and says 'Mm, it's so tasty!' whenever I make it but actually, very easy to make one. Apparently, his colleagues think his lunches are very interesting and tasty looking (ehem, the chef is yours truly) but no credits there because British lunches are really really boring.

Mummy's comments: Yes, that's true but boring is the new diet. Malaysian food is so fattening that its good to have plain sandwiches once a while. Nowadays I go to Subway to buy my salads. Expensive but healthy but don't overdo on the salad sauces...

I am making coq au vin tonight. It's a French chicken stew dish with red wine. David's friend's mom came to Newcastle and visited us and gave us a bottle of red wine (Shiraz Cabernet 2008 from Australia). So I bought some garlic herb bread, chicken, and rocket (a type of vege) today. It's very suitable for winter. I hope it turns out well. The highlight of my day today is making this dish. That is how my life is currently peaceful and devoid of irritating challenges (but not for long). "

Mummy's comments: YUM YUM....I can imagine the coq au vin. Adeline - you can open a cafe when you are bored of practising law. I volunteer to be your chief waitress.

Its freezing in Newcastle at this time of the year

Whilst its raining in Malaysia, cold winds are blowing in Newcastle...

Adeline's updates:

"The temperatures here plummeted on Friday and it snowed heavily for 4 hours straight. Snow is magical when you are at home watching it, but not so nice when you are outside. An old man told David that it's cold winds blowing from Norway and Sweden that's bringing snow to the North East. We're one of the first regions to see snow this year.

I am going to miss being neighbours with Europe. Europe is amazingly beautiful and I haven't visited all the other countries. However, I need to save money so that when I come back I can have a substantial amount in my bank. So all that travelling will have to be put on hold. There were good deals on Groupon such as travel to Barcelona or Berlin for GBP 129 per person for two nights, flights and hotel included. It's cheaper than going to London to stay! But don't want to spend lah.

So what I've been doing since Friday is try to keep warm because the weather is freezing. If I go clean my bathroom for 15 mins, I come out absolutely frozen. I usually hide under my blanket or use my hot water bottle (yea, got blanket in the living room). Also we wear socks and slippers and jackets and I wear 2 layers of pants. This house is like a refrigerator now. I can leave food out 2 nights in a row and it won't spoil. 

I bet all the insects that I despise have met their untimely demise at the hands of the frost. HA HA, take that pests!"

Mummy's notes: Brr...brr...I am feeling the cold just reading this.

How to get a job at Sainsbury

Latest update from Adeline:

"Sainsbury's hired me so I'm going to be a General Assistant Band 2 starting from 8 Nov to Jan 5 2013.

Hurray, got a job at last. Thanks for the prayers.

The interview was easy. I had to do a questionnaire while watching a DVD. They gave situations like customers complaining about expired food, asking about food products etc and you have to rank your responses accordingly. I just answered as if I was a super good sales assistant (in reality, I wouldn't think to do those things in that order).

Then I had to do a ridiculously easy maths test (If you had 3 bags of 7 toilet paper rolls, how many toilet paper rolls do you have?) and a personality questionnaire. There were a few trick questions in the questionnaire like "I often see ways in which people can work around the law without actually breaking it". To this, I wanted to reply 'Strongly Agree' because growing up in Malaysia teaches you a few things about going around the law, but I figured that this is a trick question to assess my own personality so I put Strongly Disagree.

Then the second round was answering questions like Why Do You Want To Work at Sains? To which I replied that I like their ethical stance eg fairtrade products, organic stuff, vegetables in season etc.

The manager said my answers to these questions were good (cause I did research beforehand)"

Genneva gold

By now everyone would have read in the papers about Genneva gold.

Yesterday BNM and a few other agencies raided the premises. Well I guess I did see it coming. My friend was telling me about the raids at their Singapore offices and their failure to pay dividends and deliver the gold wafers.

I have no one to blame but myself. Why did I invest in the gold? Well truth be told I wanted to help my sister earn her commission as she became one of its consultant. When she first spoke to me about it, I was not interested. Later she showed me her cheques and raved about the RM2k a month she was getting as dividends.

I thought "why not". After all I get to keep the physical gold not a book or a piece of paper like a gold deposit account.

So I invested a sum of money and got a beautiful gold wafer to keep.

No one should be more surprised than me when I read about the raid. I mean how many banks are going to stand it if their depositors start taking out all their savings and put it in Genneva gold investmenst?

I must say that I did receive 2 months dividends and then the infamous raid happened. I guess the authorities must have basis for doing so.

I hope the authorities resolve this soon and let them carry on their business or wind it up so that the innocent investors can get back their money. Many of them invest to fund their children's education or for their old age so it just doesn't seem fair to leave innocent investors in the lurch.

Myvi is my new baby

Well the RM56,100 car is kind of special.

It has a unique feature i.e. a DVD player with a small screen!

Yes, we have been playing DVDs on it and watching and listening to Joseph Prince preaching in Israel.

Its really cool.

It also has a GPS. So far its not too expensive to maintain - just RM60 for a full tank and it can go up to 300 km. That's all the way to Penang!

I had always wanted to get a Myvi. Somehow getting it in Sept seems so right. Amanda's birthday and our silver wedding anniversary!

I realize that if I don't make use of my car loan now I probably would not be able to make use of it ever again as in 2 year's time I will be 55 which is the date I officially retire from the Bank.

How to look for a job in Newcastle's Chinatown

Adeline's job hunting experiences in Newcastle's Chinatown is interesting to say the least...

"In relation to job hunting, I even went around the restaurants in Chinatown, asking if they were hiring.It was a bit nerve wrecking to just go in and ask, but quite interesting. The way the Chinese restaurants hire is completely different from the way English companies hire.

First, if you are Chinese, you already have a chance of being hired (whether or not they already have a lot of staff).Secondly, if you can speak/read/write Chinese, you are a shoo-in. The waitress at one restaurant thought I couldn't speak Chinese and said as much right in front of the manager, but I understood and instantly piped in Mandarin, 'wo hui jiang zhong wen' and 'wo shi ma lai xi ya ren'. Thereafter, I was immediately sat down for an interview with the manager (who was also from Malaysia). So there, bonus for me cause (a) Fluent in English, (b) Can speak Mandarin.

Thirdly, you have to be prepared to work 14 hour days, 6 days a week. Crazy right? The manager of the same restaurant said if you want to earn cash, that's what you have to do. I felt that I am not that desperate to earn money. I will be really unhappy for one thing, and I don't think I can survive standing on my feet for 14 hours everyday, 6 days a week. 

And they even offered to train me on the spot! Very different from English companies that go through stage 1: Application, stage 2: Online Assessment, and then stage 3: In-store Interview.

I told them I couldn't do 14 hour days, 6 days a week. So good bye waitressing in that Chinese restaurant.

I also entered another restaurant (both restaurants are places I eat at frequently). They gave me a 'Chinese reading test' to see if I could read off the menu in Chinese. I could only read one character out of 6. So failed the test. Also, I wanted to work part-time, to which they said derisively, 'You can only work till February 2013 and you want to work part-time?' I know la Chinese restaurant means Chinese work ethics but this is not how I envisioned spending my last days in Newcastle (slaving away in a Chinese restaurant), so I said 'Yes, part-time.' Furthermore, I can't even read the Chinese menu, so good bye waitressing in that restaurant.

However, I also learned that there will always be a place for you in a restaurant, if you are Chinese. The Chinese restaurants look out for their own kind. They don't hire white people to work for them because, that's not very authentic isn't it? Chinese hirers are also more straight to the point. No beating around the bush like English companies with the 'Why do you want to work for us?' 'Do you have experience?' mentality *cue polish the company's shoe, saying they have a brilliant rep, and then showcasing yourself as the best one for the job*. Just straight up, 'Can you speak Chinese?'/ 'Can you work ungodly hours?'. No experience never mind, we train you on the spot!

Next, I applied online to work as a Christmas temp sales assistant for Boots Pharmacy. Got invited to do online assessment. Just completed it. If I pass that, I will get called for an in-store interview. Really hope I get this job because (a) It is temporary, (b) The hours are reasonable. I just want a small source of income, not looking to make big bucks before returning. But imagine! Christmas temp also must go through so many stages. This is how the English company works (frankly I don't mind because English companies also adhere to the labour laws and don't ask you to work 14 hour days, 6 days a week. That's actually illegal).

I am not lazy. I just don't want to slave away, when I am already going to slave away as a lawyer back in Malaysia"

Well its my prayer that Adeline gets this job at Boots Pharmacy cos I am getting a bit worried about her dwindling funds!