A Little Introduction of Work

Dear Diary,

I really planned to write to you again after the last time I wrote but coincidentally my work caught up with me. I have never encountered something like this before so I was really surprise. I did not know that this job could make me feel as though I was in school or something. Oh Diary, I have not told you about my job, have I? It has been my fourth day and really, it has been mind challenging for me.

The thing about my job is, it is a sales job and the company is a multinational corporation owned by this short fat British man who lives in Sentosa Cove. Now, being a property agent before I know when someone lives in Sentosa Cove, he must be filthy rich. Foreigner cannot buy landed property in Singapore but only in Sentosa Cove foreigners are allowed to buy. Do you have any idea Diary? It is because the bungalows there are classified as good class bungalows and they are so bloody expensive that the government decided to give an exception to it.

There I am in a class of six new recruits newly hired as brokers for the company having Mr. Potato the English Manager coaching us about the sales techniques adopted by the company for its brokers. The company’s history, background, product and services are taught to us. Most importantly, we are being brainwash. Most of us feel that way. Mr. Potato drilled, challenged and compared us openly with each other. I supposed that is just how British or the Caucasians are. They are open and direct than Asians. I have never had a close working encounter with a Caucasian. I have never lived nor worked in their country neither have I got any Caucasian friend. They can be rather open and loud about their opinions, not at all shy to show it off.

There are two women and four men. I am the only Malay, there is one Black British man and the rest are Chinese. We all got along fine. The other woman is an ex Singapore girl. Yes, she is an ex air stewardess with the Singapore Airline. Do not even ask if she is a looker because she is and I supposed her beauty amazes everyone. She is like the doll in the group, the rose among the thorns while I am like the other rose but has withered and the other doll that has gone dusty. So there you go Diary. How do you think that makes me feel? It is not so bad if there were another woman or two but no there is only us and that really can make me feel somewhat left out.

I do not really care about the attention and praises that she has been getting but I feel challenged at how Mr. Potato always quiz us and whenever she got the answer right, you wouldn’t believe the praises she gets. However, that is just natural for me to feel that way isn’t it? I can handle the pressure and I do not mind that all the attention has gone to her because I hate attention anyway. It is just the pressure of not being able to keep up with the rest is bothering me. It can be rather stressful because the training they conduct really drill your mind and knowledge and it somewhat shows your level of intelligence. I guess everyone of us is feeling the pressure to perform well in the training to be remembered as the smart one or sharp one or clever one.

I often teach myself not to get easily affected by all the dramas in the training room because all that matters now is how I will perform when I am on the phone making the sales pitch to the prospect. It is about surviving the journey to making this job my career. The salary package is excellent, what more could I have asked for?