Things that went wrong today

i just got back from bras basah. back to face the shit at work.

it was a hard day *weep* so hard i cried twice. so hard i could almost take up a gun and shoot myself, or eat up the giant pink rose on my desk.

i'm sure i'll regret documenting such a useless entry when i regained my composure but for now, bear with me.

things that went wrong today.

the suppliers here are fucking idiots who can't do their jobs properly and should fucking deserved to be slashed unmercifully by clients to work below cost!!!!!

case #P200022 : the rubber ducky case
supplier A took up my job to print on 50 rubber duckies for my event on friday. promised to present mock-up on mon but delayed to wed. fine cos he assured his printer can complete the job in 2 hrs if mock-up's approved. i rang up this morning to double check on the progess and he told me his printer couldn't do it cos something happened in the family. (!!!) i exploded immediately for the very justification that i had specifically asked him to undertake that i get the goods by hook or crook before my event and reiterate that he cannot screw up this job, which he assured. i felt bad to shout over the phone cos he was calm and patient, he's in his late 50's mabbe, it was perhaps something out of his control since he used a 3rd party BUT he doesn't sound apologetic enough.

what happened next:
i told him not to come to my office anymore. i printed stickers to stick on my duckies.


case #P200024 : the banner case
event on friday requires a 2.5m x 1.6m banner to be mounted on the HiPPO bus. supplier E brought the banner to my office and i checked the LTA-material letterings. Everything looks perfect until i felt the length seems oddly a tad too short for the width of a bus. Told supplier E to take out his measuring tape and yes, it's 0.325m short! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THESE SUPPLIERS!!!!! I took an explicit deep breadth and looked my him. And he understood. Words don't express anything anymore sometimes. I rang up ducktours to double confirm and seek advise if my short banner could cover up the existing ad at the rear of the bus and the lady couldn't confirm until tomorrow when she could take a picture for me to see.

what happened next:
i looked at supplier E with my eyes big big and pursed lips. he said give him a call tomorrow morning after ducktours revert. he'll reprint for me if i need him to cos it was his fault. ok fair enough. i didn't demand. you offered a rememdy for your mistake, i appreciate this attitude. so took a lift from him to go bras basah to print my stickers. and along the way, manged to slashed the quotation for my post-it further.


case #P200026 : the post-it case
supplier E quoted S$ Q for my special-requirement post-it job. i slashed to S$ M and presented quotation to boss. boss reiterate that whatever price i close at, she will sign - an implicit statement that if i do not negotitate effectively, i incur higher costs for the company. but no fucking suppliers will do S$ B for that kind of post-it (i feel - based on market research) so tried negotiating with supplier E for 2 days, price remained S$ M. and boss gave silent smile which literally translated in my thought bubble "my career is over if i don't close the deal at this price". did one more attempt with supplier E while taking a lift from him as mentioned earlier and finally gotten S$ C but not S$ B. rang boss to say that's the final price i could get becos of the constraints and requirements we're looking at. think i sounded defensive and got a little high-pitched while presenting the final quotation and boss said chill, she's ok with whatever price i could get (with a tinge of deliberation). i felt like dagger just stabbed me in the heart and honestly felt i had failed to accomplish something which could have actually been quite possible - to get S$ B.

what happened next:
after 5mins, boss rang (while i'm on the cab back to office) to say don't worry about the price i've gotten. she knew it would be that price and i've done well and improved on my negotiation skills. i cried. silly i know. but it was really a hard day and i appreciated that encouragement.


and many other things that happened that shouldn't happen the way it happened. while i felt (at the beginning of this entry) that this is gonna be a passive entry, i realised (now) that i wanna give thanks (still) for all of the above. and for below:

taxi cost S$9.30 from bras basah to shaw. told uncle i need to swipe card cos i aint got enough cash. he asked how much i've got and i told him S$8+ and he said he's fine with the amt (really politely and willingly) so i apologised profusely and he said it's ok, don't worry and be happy. OMG! i think that was the 3rd round of tears for the day.


I think the school proposal is screwing me up. I WILL get it out by tonight and i WILL be geared for office tomorrow. oh we're going black society for lunch. nice food makes the world go merry-go-round!

amen