Sometimes I think the area around my office is a wonder, a gem waiting to be unfolded. 6 months of working in the same place makes people want to explore their surroundings, esp when it comes to the places where we can eat. During a couple of those walks, I chanced upon things I never knew existed in the area.
For one, I always knew that the office was near Chinatown, I just didn't know it was right NEXT to Chinatown. It took me one day while I was walking around to find new lunch venues when I found myself in Chinatown barely 5 minutes from the office building, on foot. So that day, we took the long route back to the office, just to have a look, when I saw this beautiful park. Sure, it's not strange to see parks, but it is quite queer to see such a tiny, yet beautiful park, in the heart of Chinatown, right next to what is arguable Singapore's more famous Buddhist temple.
And there was the other day we walked to Carl's Jr. and saw this building. It is one of the most charming buildings in the area. Mainly because it doesn't have the modern, futuristic look of buildings that sprout out of the concrete ground nowadays, nor does it look like a concrete cuboid, nor a run-off old plaza. It looked like a building right out of the colonial days. I've walked under this building a couple of times prior to that incident and had always marvelled at the decor of the inside, but for the first time, I saw the building for what it really is and it was beautiful.
The area around the office can be amazing, but the office is downright dreadful. Yes, work. One more annoying week to go before the IRS can fine taxpayers who refuse to file their taxes. Lol. So have you filed your taxes? You've got 6 more days.
I've worked everyday for the past 7 days, and today was the first day I didn't step into the office. Yesterday, I decided enough was enough. No, I didn't quit, I just made a quiet exit the moment I was done with my stash so that no one would notice I was gone. I was working for so long, without a single break, I was fed-up, frustrated and I was developing a headache. It was then I decided that I wouldn't go back in today, and that I wouldn't have lunch but just aim to finish my work. The sheer thought of going back to the office after I've left it was just so demoralising I couldn't go through with it.
On Friday, I worked through my lunch break, which turned out to be a thankless effort. I spent 5 minutes zipping to a convenience store in the building, grabbing a small packet of noodles which tasted like crap which I took 10minutes to consume. My 1 hour break disintegrated into a 15min break. I worked non-stop while most of the office left for lunch. I think sometimes people there take it for granted that I try to finish their work as soon as possible. They seem to forget that I'm only a temporary employee of the company and that I am under no obligation to rush through their work. They seem to forget that I could have very well gone for an hour's worth of lunch and return to the office, not feeling any guilt what-so-ever. I'm just there to do the work they don't want to go, can't be bothered to do or have no time to do. Which simply means that I could have simply left the office on Friday afternoon, come back at 1.30pm, and then send the letters out late without feeling bad, after all, what do you expect when you're flooding the admin assistants with too much work. 6 admin assistants and at every point in time, there's always a couple who would handle more work, and wouldn't get any. I know, I've been free while the others were busy, but now I'm the busy one and they're free. The imbalance only comes when the less occupied assistants try to help the busy ones. They tend to help only a select few, leaving the others to fend for themselves. Or else, they get picky. I wanna do this.. I don't wanna do that..etc etc. Friday afternoon was a case of 2 other assistants helping one busy assistant, while I was left to fend for myself, having to rush 3-4 letters out before the big boss left the office. All this barely 30mins before lunch. I can't really blame them for not helping me 'cause the other girl was simply overloaded, not to mention I don't help the others regularly, thanks to my rather heavy workload (mine's quite staggered, thankfully, unlike the others where theirs simply come all together).
I'm a 3rd year student in what is probably the largest autonomous university in Singapore majoring in a Science-related subject (well it sorta IS SCIENCE). I'm known to be introverted, sarcastic (at times), funny when I rant (which isn't a good thing lol) and somewhat of a loner. I miss LA and would move there in a heartbeat :(
