Things i thought interesting from work

Apparently the job of selling movie tickets at the counter or selling snacks at the cashier point is put up a game face & entertain the customers who pay to seek for entertainment as movie audiences

1 moment you have to greet the customers nicely..the next moment thinking how much time left before work finishes & can go back home..

*sometimes just repeating the same thing to ask customer can be tiring I wish I have a job that doesn’t require me to talk..

especially now that I’m losing my voice, I can’t really communicate with my fellow co-workers or even speak to customers..a ‘quiet’ one could make me peaceful enough..

Standing behind the counters, you can clearly c the flow of people that come rushing in especially during bz hours

(as in the eyes of employers & managers, it signifies gaining high profit, breaking blockbuster office tickets sales, reaching demand targets, or simply in other words, it means business, achieving lots of business and more business, and this hit just comes non-stop all the time)

..for us, employees, it means work, work & more work..

My first day of work was with my bro (2-in-1) handling a single ticket counter & dealing with customers, yet we still have NO IDEA or even have time to find out

what movies are actually on show,

which ones premiering,

which are about to be up,

the name in the listings which correspond to which movie..etc,

we were left there straight away, a bit confused of what’s going on at an instant especially if various kinds of voucher coupons or booked tickets come thru, needing to make sure we don’t key in the wrong things or make any silly careless mistakes..haha..so, we learnt, this job requires considerable degree of alertness..lack of sleep could mean greater risk of vulnerable faults..

I’m having sufficient sleep-time, considering my day-time is still left unoccupied..but sadly, I now wake up at night & have my free time in the morning to sleep to charge up in order to go to work from the evening till night..i wish I could reverse it even though I’m taking night shifts..feels unhealthy & kinda weird to stay up when nobody’s awake this time..everyone’s supposed to be sleeping peacefully at midnight hours..

my life’s turning upside-down again..whenever it comes to holidays..it’s always the same pattern as well..not feeling too comfortable about it the longer it is, because you get used to it very quickly..almost immediately after 1 or 2 nites..but fast enough, you know, day time is set aside for work & night is meant for rest at the end of the day..well, I can’t do anything now unless I change my work time to day but for now guess I’m still gonna have to behave as nocturnal..at least what I can do now is try harder to adjust the sleeping time better..

Anyway, this is my second part-time job I’ve done. My one & only previous experience was involved with donuts. Thus, every day I would be talking about donuts to customers, thinking about donuts, scooping donuts into the packaging boxes, smell the aroma of donuts, sometimes eat donuts, except at least the good thing is don’t fell like as a donut.

Now, the F & B part of this film & movie industry makes use of a lot of corn. The cinema sells freshly cooked corn-in-cup, popcorns in caramel flavour, & even the chips (like Twisties), is also made from corn. This time round, there’s lots of corn, corn & corn..lol..but no harm, I like to eat popcorn, especially those covered with caramel, & now I can pop in free popcorns, & get to pick those richly covered ones, once in a while at work..hehe..

The first welcoming sight upon entering the code-sealed door is the ‘popcorn machine’ (I shall call it the popping alley, since along that alley is where the machine starts popping popcorns out)..haha

I’ve never tried working on that machine to make popcorns, but basic thing is that you just have to put the ingredients in & the machine will start making it..maybe just check on the temperature & stuff like that, so have yet to find out how it really functions & maybe steal some freshly made caramel popcorn to eat..lol .. *ahaha..not good for the throat though.. no doubt I’ve observed that customers usually start eating them non-stop even before they go in to watch the show.. think I’m only saying this since I’m having sore throat currently.. should really abstain from eating them ..even though I guess it somehow makes people addicted of it up until the point where it’s finished or they finally just had enough of it..is it the corn or the pop or the caramel, I wonder..

Popcorns, popcorns..corns that pop, true enough for how its name is derived from there..what I’m curious is how & who discovered this devilish-ly delicious popcorns which serve as a perfect snack for movies..did 1 day that person just happened to heat up the corn & accidentally let it pop? Hmm, apparently this popcorn came about through the ‘explosion’ of the kernel & gets puffed up when heated..cute description..well, to know the answer is ez enough, nowadays, u just have to wiki it up & u’ll find the whole story about it..whatever it is, it’s still an all-time favourite snack among movie-lovers..

I realized..when a person is sick, the more he or she will crave for something & the greater the craving will be for food that he or she can’t eat the moment the person’s sick..well, that’s me actually..but I’ll be fine soon enough..but who knows maybe after the sore throat recovers, there will no longer be such strong cravings or desire or temptation over foods that should be avoided when sick..haha, perhaps that’s just part & parcel of learning how to practice self-control in overcoming illness & re-gaining health for the sake of better well-being in daily life..*sore throat..go away plz..shoo shoo >_<

night life

Hmm, let’s c..few days after I got back from S’pore, I went for “window shopping”, yeah~~..no, more like looking at the front window for that little piece of paper or notice that states ‘now hiring’/’vacancies available now’. Simple reason, I started my job hunting mission then.

So, how well did the ‘summer holidays’ part-time work plan fare?
Where to find me exactly? Ok, it’s easy, take the escalator up (from opposite of baskin robbins) in Sunway Pyramid, p.s: you’re on the ryte direction if u lift your heads high and get to c the ‘sceneric cloudy sky view with a movie clipboard & movie pass painting’. Follow this track & you get to 2 places:

1. Cinema (directly ahead of you in front),
2. Arcade games centre on your right after reaching from escalator

yes, as some of u may have already known, i'm currently working at tgv..mostly night shifts..have thought of finding another part-time job to fill in for day-time..but seems to be unsuccessful & didn't go as planned..since there's no reply from the few i asked of & i'll be going back in january, quite unlikely they'll hire someone who ain't gonna stay long enough for work..but will i still stick to night shifts for work in TGV..

somehow, i prefer GSC better..i don't know y..i just feel their cinema is of higher quality..in terms of..hmm..everything? maybe it's not so, but i don't really need to care actually..well, since it's convenient enough for me to go to Sunway Pyramid which is just a walking distance away from home..i don't mind really..ryte now, my goal is just to earn $$$ as much as i can..i'm just a student & with 3 months to spare without studying..what do u expect me to do to kill time..at least working can give me some kind of experience & not to mention extra money..hehe..

Hmm, if you’re lucky, you might spot me fast enough behind some counters selling movie tickets (“Ticket Box”). Ironically, I’m more probably the one who’s buying tickets instead of standing behind those counters fixed with computers inside the transparent screens on top.

Or else, I might be somewhere at the “candy bar” selling popcorn or drinks & snacks.

Otherwise, I could be roaming around the cinema (mentioned as the “Floor” area) doing checking of tickets upon customers entering the cinema or shining some torchlights at illegal seaters (paid for tickets allocated for different seating locations), & chasing them out of the cinema..no, jk.. just away, back to their original places, maybe also switch on & off lights near or end movie showing time..check if there's anything missing or left by customer..but 1 thing is weird..this cinema has no "lost & found counter"..*sigh

It was officially my 1st day of work (the same day as results were released via sms), & if not mistakenly remembered, it was a Thursday. I sent in the application form on Tuesday together with my brother & in late afternoon, bro got a call requesting us to go for interview the next day, explain the details, confirming information & everything..immediately, job offered, hah, and that was really fortunate as we got such prompt reply to enter for work.
p/s: i was wondering whether i was applying for the ryte job when i read on top of the form which has it written:(Customer Relations Officer [CRO] ..don’t be fooled, it sounds nice only, but actually it’s cheap labour)..& just normal thing the employees do..nothing special..

We’re not supposed or expected to sell tickets or handle cash on the 1st day but due to shortage of staff, they quickly run us through a brief training of how to operate at the counters. There we were, then began selling tickets. Of course, a try at something new was rather fun, we never did anything like that & since it did not require any professional skills, it took a short while to learn about what it’s all about, as it is not as complicated as it looks. Just imagine, standing or sitting there, clicking a few buttons with the mouse, interact with customers, & u send them in the theatres right away.

Standard procedure
(which in fact, is even found listed on the counter tables),
let’s c if I can remember them:

Greet customers, say hello (with a smile & eye contact) -->
Ask them which movie they would like to watch, this includes:

what time,
how many person,
allow them to choose seats which are available,
explain how far or near is it from the main screen
..blah blah blah..
if you have bought tickets before (I’m sure u have), you would know what I’m talking about.
Repeat order
(basically the 5W’s & 1 How)
Which movie
What kind of seats (couple or normal) or tickets (standard or students or kids)
Where are the seating locations
When is the show-time for that particular movie
well, except for Who you’re watching with & Why are u watching that movie la..
which sounds ridiculous to ask ryte
seems like I’ve added another W ques (which)..but it does make sense..so I’ll just leave it as it is
& How (you watch the movie).. clearly you wanna skip this ques..if not, you wouldn’t expect someone to watch using other than eyes & ears ryte? What else would be involved except the senses of sight & sound in a movie..if u have any reasonable suggestions, u come & tell me please..

I personally don’t wanna get into trouble or end up with a red & bruised eye or nose the next day, from a ‘sendiri-cari-pasal’ case..

Unless, of course you can double-check tickets for How many person that is..

hmm..have no idea how to end this properly but guess that's just about what's involved in the job i've experienced so far..will update more soon..