Day 12 (11 Sept 07)

Today’s our last off day!

Oh right, let me first send out a birthday shout out to TAN JUN WEI.

HAPPY 19TH BIRTHDAY!! :D :D

At around 8am, the door bell rang and they came to repair our washing machine while Joanne and I were still sleeping. YJ was the only one that entertained him.

We then finally woke up at around 10am and watched a DVD- Perfect Stranger (:

Then we did housework (AGAIN). Washed the new bed sheets, swept the floor, mopped the floor, cleaned the kitchen etc etc.

Oh I’ve also mastered the skills of folding up plastic bags already!

After that YJ went down to cut her hair and Joanne accompanied her. I went to bathe and all before joining them downstairs.

We realized that the salon just opposite our apartment costs RMB25 for cut, wash and blow!

YJ took quite some time, so Joanne and I headed across the road to eat our lunch! We ordered “jiao zi”. RMB12 for 18 pieces!

Bought more DVDs along the street. I think all my off days will be spent watching DVDs.

After that YJ and I walked down the streets and we bought some box to hold our make-up and another laundry basket.

We couldn’t find what we still needed, so we decided to cab down to Super Brand Mall (Zheng Da Guang Chang) to shop at Lotus (the Giant look-a-like thing).

Bought more necessities and then cabbed back.

The 4 of us then went down to buy our pillow and mat. While walking there, there were a lot of roadside stalls selling a lot of stuff.

I decided to buy a fake Chanel wallet (the stupid guy asked for RMB75 and I bargained until RMB30) so I don’t have to use the one I’m using now.

I then spotted an umbrella which was super pretty! Its RAINBOW colour! Bought it at RMB20.

Okay, I think many of us are very forgetful. I forgot to take my receipt while at Lotus, YJ forgot to collect our keys we went to duplicate earlier in the day and YJ also left our adaptors at the salon she went to cut her hair at.

But, we got everything back in the end (:

Came back home and settled money issues and also household rules.

Can’t use the internet again for god knows what reason so we’ll be watching Fido later before sleeping!

WORK TOMORROW. Boo hoo.

Day 13 (12 Sept 07)

YJ and I broke the record today, WE DIDN’T SPEND A SINGLE CENT :D :D

So, work started at 9am for the both of us and we walked down earlier to have breakfast. They had “jiao zi” again. Yum yum.

We thought it was going to be a damn slow and boring day because we still had like nothing to do. And Yu Hong wasn’t in the same shift as us today. We didn’t know until we got there and called him. Apparently he was asked to work at the Banquet side today from 3pm till I don’t know what time. Poor guy.

From 9am till about 11.30am YJ and I practically did NOTHING. We were stoning, helped to clear some plates when there were trolleys being sent back and FINALLY, finally we felt that we weren’t so useless after all!

This lady called Grace asked YJ and I to help her reply emails! IN ENGLISH (:

So we practically helped her send emails to different people until 11.30am. It was a fun process because we got to know what was going on and all.

After lunch, our manager also asked us to type emails for him too!

We got first hand information about guests’ complaints and how the department is going to resolve the problem and also internal miscommunication within the departments.

I was helping my manager type this email about this ice cream incident that happened yesterday night. Apparently my manager and the chef agreed that the chef’s staff would deliver the ice cream to our tower but they refused to yesterday. After typing the whole email, guess what. THE CHEF CAME OVER TO OUR ROOM.

And I was then asked to be their interpreter and the whole email was wasted.

Lets talk about the 2 complaints we’ve typed out today too because I think it’s quite retarded, especially the first one.

Some guest ordered room service and said that the food was COLD, but in actual fact it was warm enough to eat and not burning hot. And in the email we sent to the head of F&B in the hotel, we mentioned something like “next time we will ensure that we serve this guest extremely hot food”. Weird people, how can they consume food that is extremely hot :/

The second one was 2 Japanese men at the bar. Firstly they ordered some kind of whisky and when the waiter took it for them and told them the price they said it was too expensive. They then ordered another kind of whisky, asking for double whisky. The waiter mistook it for double shot whisky and sent only 1 glass to them. In the end, they realized it was 2 glasses the guys wanted so the whole process took about 45mins so the guest complained.

Right, enough about emails and all. But that was what we did the whole afternoon! It’s quite time consuming because first our manger has to tell us the whole story so we get the picture, then slowly he’ll put what he wants to say in simplified Chinese and we type out the email for him in English.

We were also involved in their meeting at around 4pm. They told the staff about all the complaints that we’ve known already and also today a lot of VIPs are checking into the hotel.

Then this French guy (I think he’s quite big shot) came in and there was like a spot check. Hair, nails, accessories, shoes, socks and the 16 non-negotiables.

He said my hair was too messy (because of all the baby hair) and my watch was too stylish, but who cares. My manger doesn’t bother. Haha.

After the whole meeting thing, there was a request to bring up this barrel of Carlsberg Beer to a guest’s room. Having nothing to do, YJ and I asked if we could follow them up and also see the room! :D

We were back by 5pm and had like half an hour left. We felt super out of place because everyone was busy doing stuff and YJ and I stood there doing nothing. Good thing our manger asked us to help him send another email again, this time round regarding the dessert counter at the café.

Apparently they just changed menus and the chef there doesn’t know how to cook apple pie. And they don’t want to use their printer at their counter.

I finished typing the email at 5.20pm and we could knock-off!

Had early dinner at the staff canteen before leaving. YJ and I planned to go to their bakery because after 5pm, it’ll be 50% off.

And guess what, we saw our manger there! But who cares, we went in and chose what we wanted. Chatted with him for a bit and he offered to treat us to the 3 huge pastries we wanted to buy! That’s why we didn’t spend a single cent :P

I really hope we’ll be able to help them write more emails. It’s so fun to get to know first hand information and how they communicate with people in other departments.

Replies

Cass: Cassie is that you? HELLO CLASS REP! :D :D Yup, now we're enjoying ourselves! How's your attachment?

KC: I have no choice okay! It's like my first time doing those chores. And yes, it feels like holiday! Our work is damn slack too (:

Jun Wei: You confirm coming or not?! NEVER REPLY MY EMAIL.