Working Life...

It's true why most people (including our parents) say that schooling times are the best... When we were studying, we always think that working is so relaxing and enjoyable coz you get to do smth you like and get paid for it. Finally i'm out in the working world and everything seems different from what i imagined years ago.

My 1st job after graduating was as a kitchen helper in a huge Singapore company canteen, working for my aunt. It was not easy, totally different from what i study in uni (science=kitchen... hmmm... nah...). When i say "Huge", i means really HUGE! Walking into the kitchen i was "Wow-ed". 6 Commercial stoves (those big ones), 3 commercial gas rice cooker and lots of tables for the preparation of food, all smack in one kitchen the size of a basketball court.

At the front stand where the food are sold (about 20m long), we have economy rice, noodle, Japanese food, fruits and beverages section. Everyday there's also an additional special food on the menu ranging from Penang char koay teow to hainan chicken rice.

Ok... enough about the kitchen. I was told to follow one of the kitchen helper who surprisingly was young adult like me from China, his name was "Ah Long" (not the loan shark :P). My 1st task assigned to me was to cut all the fresh vegetables from the fridge for lunch. The first thing that hit my mind was, "easy la... i've always prep my own meal when i was studying in uni". *smack myself on the head* what a naive dude i was... Ah Long poured 50 over cucumbers on the table top and say "lets cut these", my jaw dropped and my legs weakened. I picked up a knife and start cutting as instructed and by the time i finished one cucumber, Ah Long was already at his 5th. The way he chop up those cucumber was... man~ 10 slice per second. I felt so "noob" at that time. On top of that, i cut my fingers 4 times in less than an hour. Those knives were... uh... sharp as hell (i think ah long sharpen it everyday). In 4 hours we prepared enough vegetables to feed 500 people... *pad myself at the back*

Wooo... Lunch time! Dang.. not my lunch time. Its the company's employees lunch time! For the first time i'm in the shoes of the person standing on the other side of the counter. Taking orders, serving and taking payment was no easy job. I was told to be the cashier coz i serve too slow. At that time, noone knew that I haven't done math (basic math) for a very long time. My eyes, brain and fingers had to work at the same time to cope with the enormous number for people paying for their food. This particular cash machine is responsible for the economy rice, special orders and noodles... so... try to imagine how chaotic it was.

Throughout my short time working in this kitchen, i've learned a lot. I did everything from serving to washing except cooking (thou, i did cooked rice). It was tiring everyday working from 7am till 9pm but it was fun... Never tot i would enjoy it but i did. Working is really not as easy as it seems... the money we get are hard earned money.

Now my new job is all Science stuff. Entirely different type of science from what i major in but it's also very interesting. I just hope that this company get moving faster so i can do some work instead of just reading everyday.

R.