My First Job Experience

Gazing at that sturdy brick building, memories of the past come washing over me. Like a fog, it envelops me and suddenly there I was, standing behind the counter politely greeting the customers with a sweet smile. That was my first job experience. It began on a hot, sunny day, 21 months ago when my two ex classmates; Wai Ling and Grace and I, have decided to look for a temporary job to fill our time as we had an approximately five months long holiday. We started our job – hunting by going to a shopping complex in Subang Jaya. After strolling in the shopping complex for three hours, I couldn’t find any suitable job offer besides a sales assistant job in an eyewear shop. However, I turned down the offer because I didn’t think I could perform very well in the job as I couldn’t converse very well in Mandarin and most of their customers speak mainly in mandarin. We then took a bus to Taipan USJ, a commercial center. As we walked along the row of shops, there was one particular shop, ‘Guardian Pharmacy’ came into our view. At that moment, I thought to myself, why don’t I just give it a try? So, I entered the shop and randomly asked a sales assistant if there was any job vacancy available. She told me to head to the pharmacy counter. I thanked her and walked to the end of the shop. I reached the counter and warily took a job application form. I filled up the form carefully and just as I was about to hand in the form to one of the working staff, a Chinese lady dressed immaculately in a white coat came behind the counter. Her big eyes filled with curiosity, she asked me, “Are you applying for a job here?” I was surprised by the sudden question so I just nodded. She smiled and told me to wait awhile before disappearing to the back of the shop. A couple of minutes later, another Chinese lady emerged from the back of the shop. She went behind the counter and attended to me. At that time, I thought she looked very stern. My heart was pounding as I was very nervous. After 10 minutes of questions and answers, she told me I had gotten the job. I was elated and I thanked her quickly. Her name is Sheryl and she was the store manager of Guardian Pharmacy. Sheryl is a tall and slim lady with a manner of grace. She has a sweet disposition and she always treated her staff kindly. I must say I am very grateful to have her as my boss. After explaining the job description to me, she informed me that I can start working the next day.
The next day arrived swiftly. I was new there so Sheryl introduced me to the rest of the Guardian’s staff. There was Kak Wani, Kak Mun, Kak Shida, Kak Angel, Kak Lia , Kak Oji and Iliana. You must think it’s funny that I called them with those names instead of their full names but that’s how I addressed them when I worked in that place. In fact, I still addressed them that way even up till now. There are two working shifts; morning and afternoon shift. Morning shift is from 8am to 5pm whereas the afternoon shift is from 1.30pm to 10.30pm. Everybody has to experience working both shifts, thus we rotate working the morning shift and afternoon shift weekly. My job in Guardian Pharmacy was mainly as a cashier and a sales assistant. At first, I didn’t do much cashiering job as I was still new to it. After a few practices, I was given the responsibility to be cashier. Basically, I never knew that working as a cashier could be so stressful especially during the weekends and it was much worse when there were ongoing promotions or sales. You cannot possibly imagine the queue at the cashier counter. It was so long that the line of customers could literally reached the end of the store. I could still clearly remember how it was back then. It was a Saturday night and I was the cashier on that fateful day. Customers are bustling in and out of the store and the store is crammed with people. I took one look at the queue and the facial expressions of the customers and I almost swooned with fear. What’s worse is that Guardian was having sales that entire week and we had to give out all sorts of things like vouchers, Paddington bear stickers, and free gifts conditionally. There were so many things to do and so many things to take note and remember. I broke into cold sweat. Some customers would be giving me angry looks, impatient gestures and some would even snap at me. I know that they waited for very long just to pay for a few items but it was not possible for me to manage any faster than that. I had to ensure that the customers get their vouchers maximally and at the same time give them their Paddington bear stickers and free gifts if they purchased certain items that entitled them to a free gift. I also have to ask them if they want me to help them use their newly gotten vouchers to deduct their total payment. At that time, we were short of staff. Thus, I had to pack the purchases in plastic bags all by myself. There were also times where customers reject the items I’ve scanned and I have to do a refund.
Besides working as a cashier and sales assistant, if I’m working in the afternoon shift, every night before closing the store, the other staffs and I had to take turns to sweep and mop the floor. The supervisor will do the closing of the system and if everything goes well, then we can go home. If it doesn’t, we have to wait until it’s done. There was a time I had to wait till about 12.30 am before I was allowed to go home. My mother waited for me in the car for more than an hour. I felt so bad for having her to wait for me and I was furious with the management.
I’ve learnt a lot from working in Guardian Pharmacy. Since then, I realized that we shouldn’t spend lavishly on unnecessary things as money isn’t easy to come by. I worked so hard yet I didn’t get paid much. I got scolded countless of times by customers while working in that place even if it’s the management’s fault or rule and obviously not my wrongdoing. But I had to accept and apologize to the angry customer to mollify them. Besides having to face the customers daily, I had to face the tantrums of my colleagues and occasionally, unnerving demands from my supervisor. Thus, it is not easy to earn money and we should always spend moderately.