Читать книгу Happy Go Lucky 2: Happy Dreams Come True - Jimmy Chua - Страница 8

CHAPTER 3

HAPPY is thinking and saying aloud to his lovely family at home, they have a condominium apartment at ANG MO KIO. Do you think I can make the perfect yummy BUBBLE MILK TEA by myself at home? THE KIDS: DENISE, DESMOND, BENJAMIN and ROSWELL, ARE ADDICTED TO THE BUBBLE MILK TEA TOO!

HAPPY tried many ways and couldn’t replicate the famous BUBBLE MILK TEA by a Taiwanese BUBBLE MLIK TEA CHAIN that is the best in SINGAPORE and TAIWAN. 7 years ago, HAPPY travelled to TAIWAN to conduct a “HAPPY GO LUCKY” meditation and fell in love with the BUBBLE MILK TEA drink, but definitely not the drink lady who is selling it! Haha.. WHO KNOWS? YOUR LOVE OF YOUR LIFE MIGHT BE ONE OF THE LADY SELLING IT AND LOVE COMES WHEN LEAST EXPECTED?

So what do we do when we want to learn something? GO TO SCHOOL! WHICH ONE???

YES, however HAPPY was trying to find a community centre or baking school that can teach him how to make the drink, as he has already gone through the YouTube videos but cannot replicate fully the yummy delicious taste that hooks youngsters and working class alike. Perhaps, it is in the raw ingredients used by the Taiwanese BUBBLE MLIK TEA CHAIN that is the MAGIC?

HAPPY says I can do anything if I want to. Thus, he went to the BUBBLE TEA SHOP in ANG MO KIO and applied for a job! They pay $6.50 per hour, and even the staff uniform, the staff has to buy from the shop (UNLESS they work for over 20 days) plus pay $1 per month just to get their money deposited into the bank. This wage is pretty low by developed countries’ standards but it keeps prices of food and drinks generally affordable.

More details about the contract HAPPY signed with the BUBBLE TEA SHOP. Firstly, he was not allowed to use his mobile phone during working hours (WELL IT IS UNDERSTANDABLE as YOU CAN IMAGINE HOW CUSTOMERS WILL FEEL IF THE STAFF ARE ON FACEBOOK or PLAYING GAMES instead of ATTENDING PROMPTLY TO THEM).

Also, he was not paid for working more hours if he arrived earlier but deducted 20 cents per minute for arriving later than his supposed rostered timing.

For our illustrative purpose (FEEL FREE TO SKIP THIS PART), HAPPY would be rostered to work from 12 noon to 6pm on a weekday and maybe 3pm to 9pm on a Sunday. If HAPPY is there at 11.40am on a weekday, the additional 20 minutes would not be paid so naturally he can hang around until his START WORK timing. HOWEVER, if HAPPY arrives at 12.15pm because of some delay in the public transport system, such as the bus broke down, he will be deducted $3 automatically from his pay and it’s recorded by the COMPUTER SYSTEM when he clocks in and out. This is a big sum considering he earns $6.50 per hour. (PERHAPS, there has to be a little give and take between the employer and employee, pay a little bit more to keep them HAPPY if they arrive slightly earlier?)

AND perhaps shockingly to some including HAPPY’s wife ROSALINE, HAPPY has to work 3 days, rostered at PEAK HOURS for a GRAND TOTAL OF $50 (which is lower than the total of the hourly rates, because they are less efficient than workers after training?) before the BUBBLE TEA SHOP decides to take him in as a trainee-staff. WELL HAPPY is happy because it is all part of learning; he understands that he has a job because the company needs him! And the customers are truly happy to enjoy the yummy, delicious drinks!

TRAINING DAY 1: HAPPY is asked to appear at the shop wearing a pair of jeans, covered shoes and a pair of plain colour t-shirt. (TRAINEE gets to wear HOME CLOTHES instead of UNIFORM, HURRAY for HAPPY as he can go shopping with his WIFE right after work without the need to change!) He is given an apron to wear. Next he is asked to SMILE at the customers by GREETING THEM to encourage them to patronize the shop! HAPPY LOVES SMILING A LOT! THIS MUST BE A DREAM JOB!

HAPPY is deployed to serve as a drink server and pressing a button to call customer to come for their drinks with their receipt. For example (SKIP IT IF YOU LIKE), drink order 144 will be the drinks ordered by the customer 144 and it will all appear sequentially. HAPPY’s job is to paste a sticker showing 144 and the name of the drink on the cup, wipe the lid that has been sealed with a cup plastic lid sealing machine, put into the plastic bag and hand it over to customer after pressing number 144 on the touchpad. Number 144 will flash at the shop front. There is a waiting area with chairs in front. Some customers may order 2 drinks, others may order 6 cups, and the largest order HAPPY served consisted of 12 drinks.

That is what he has been doing, non-stop of wiping the lid of the BUBBLE TEA drinks, and calling out for customers to collect them. THE CUSTOMERS ARE ESPECIALLY DELIGHTED and FULL OF SMILES when collecting THEIR YUMMY DRINKS! And HAPPY knows how it feels like to them as he loves the DRINKS too!

HAPPY made a mistake too! Customer 366 came and collected the drink for Customer 359! HAPPY was scolded by his store manager, a nice lady from TAIWAN, that he should be more careful. Some customers will insist their drinks are part of the next order and so the way to prevent mistakes is to collect their receipt with queue number from them to verify. So the Store Manager had to apologize to Customer 359 and make the drink again. However, this will cause a delay for the other drinks as they are prepared in sequential order.

The rest of the day went smoothly for HAPPY! Even smiling and standing at one stretch for over 5 hours is tiring indeed. HAPPY went home and slept soundly, much to the surprise of his wife ROSALINE. HAPPY’s kids were sent to a HAPPY LEARNING CAMP conducted by his TRAINERS in AUSTRALIA for 1 week since it is their school holiday period.

TRAINING DAY 2: HAPPY was rotated to another task, this time to be the cashier and taking order. So the Store Manager was really patient. HAPPY had to memorize all the different drinks and luckily he has a touch screen order taking machine (Point-of-sale / POS machine). So as the manager is TAIWANESE, it was in CHINESE characters which HAPPY wasn’t familiar. However, the system can do a language change to ENGLISH too.

HAPPY was conversing with customers in ENGLISH, something he enjoys, having spent 7 years living in AUSTRALIA before coming back to SINGAPORE. So speaking in CHINESE was just as easy for HAPPY because that was what HAPPY’s parents conversed with him in. HAPPY is MULTI-LINGUAL and he can speak some JAPANESE, FRENCH and MALAY (commonly spoken during his ARMY DAYS with his ARMY FRIENDS) too!

Being the cashier is not an easy job, HAPPY has to ensure that he collects and returns the CORRECT change! Luckily, all is well for the day, and he is learning about taking orders, the drinks, and with a short time on the job, he could take orders comfortably.

HAPPY has to ask what drinks the customers want. And to take each drink order separately because of the different choices the customers can customize. The size, medium or large comes first. Next, it is the sugar level (100%, 75%, 50%, 25%, 0%). MILK or NO MILK. WHAT TOPPINGS do they want? (PEARLs or BUBBLES, different type of Jelly, ice cream). And that is for a drink. If a customer wants 5 drinks, they have to go through this step 5 times unless all 5 cups are the same which is seldom the case. Often, the customer is on the phone asking others about what they would like.

Counting cash makes HAPPY excited! MONEY feels good in your hands ya! Except the money is not his to keep! The 2^nd day of training is a GOOD ONE FOR HAPPY! HAPPY is absolutely correct in collecting the amount of cash needed! HAPPY has heard stories from colleagues there that a past cashier in another branch was fired and accused of stealing money when the sales don’t tally for 3 weeks. The store manager reassured them by smiling and saying that the company has a buffer to account for minor differences in total cash takings from the SALES.

She said: “JUST DO YOUR BEST AND FOCUS ON MAKING THE CUSTOMERS HAPPY, THE SUMS WILL EVEN OUT WITH TIME, WE MAKE MISTAKES BUT NO POINT LOOKING AT THE PAST, FOCUS ON PRESENT AND IMPROVE FOR A BETTER FUTURE!”