What Thing 2 Dollars?
That's the question that had been bombarded at me for the past 2 days. And the past 2 weekends as well.
Yup, work.
Been doing some redemption thing for Quakers(yes, the oatmeal company). The deal's about some purchase with purchase thing. The booth is located outside the ntuc at bedok central.
Work starts at 1 pm and ends at around 6+ pm.
Quite a tiring job, having to stand for about 5 hours and doing everything by myself. And there's no chair to sit!
Half the time at work I will be telling those aunties that nothing is going for $2. They have to purchase something before they can redeem the product for $2. Many give me the dirty look after I tell them that. Well,greedy pragmatic lot. Conversations go something like this:
Me: Hi auntie/mdm/sir/miss.
Customer: *Stares at me with a scowl* What thing 2 dollars? (In english, mandarin, teochew or hokkien)
Me: "Oh, Quaker is having a *blah blah*, you can redeem this for 2 dollars. However, you must first spend $10 on certain Quaker products."
Customer: *Points to the back* "So I spend $10 in NTUC, I can buy those for $2."
Me: "What I mean is, *REPEATS EVERYTHING I SAID IN THE OPENING SENTENCE*"
Customer: "ORH!!! Chay must spend $10! Some more on Quaker products. Aiya my family and I dun eat Quaker. Dun wan la..."
Most walk off without a single thanks.
Well, other half of the time at work is devoted to giving out the redemptions, collecting money, advertising and daydreaming.
There's one thing about many older people that I had observed. When they see the $2 deal signage, their eyes lit up and look the most enthusiastic. The moment I look at them, preparing to explain to them about the deal, they look away with nonchalance. Then they'll walk about 5 metres, turn around and look at the booth again. After staring for about 3 mins and scrutinising every single thing about me and the booth, they will finally approach me asking about the deal. Dunno what's the reason but it seems that every elderly person will do the same thing.
One incident was most memorable so far. There were 3 uncles who were very enthusiastic about the $2 thing. Perhaps it was more of greed than liking the food. Afterall, $2 for something that costs $6.70 normally. Without listening to me explain to them fully the whole deal(there were many terms and conditions), they went to buy certain Quaker products there were not part of the promotion. When I told them that what they bought were not redeemable, they started to scold me for not telling them the conditions and almost kicked up a fuss. Luckily a friend was there at the scene and offered to buy the products that were on promotion and let the uncles redeem the products.
That's one thing about many Singaporeans. Without me telling them that certain products were not on promotion, many would simply not read the conditions and end up blaming the world when they buy the wrong things. Something like this:
Me: "Hi!"
Customer: *Chucks me the receipt* "Nah. 2 dollars for that right? Here I got 2 dollars" *Chucks me 2 dollars*
Me: *Scans the receipt* "I'm sorry mdm. The products that you bought are not part of the promotion"
Customer: "WHAT!? Eh you never tell me ealier that I cannot buy these products. Make me waste all the money to buy these things that I dun eat. Wah lao. Why you never tell me earlier? Why not make this an exception?"
Me:"No Mdm I cannot do such things. And I told you just now about the conditions..."
Customer:"No you didn't! Cannot trust Quaker anymore!!" *Walks away in anger*
Sometimes I wonder why the customers buy the products. Do they really want to eat or do they just want the redemption?
On hindsight, this job has taught me quite a number of things as well. The most important would be the patience to deal with difficult customers. Cool-headedness would prevail in many customer-oriented problems. And I will definitely read conditions of any promotions after seeing too many of my countrymen fall into traps. Of course, the ability to stand for 5 hours counts as one too...
England's into the quarter-finals of the World Cup thanks to David Beckham's goal from a free-kick in the 60th minute. It was a very boring match. Hopefully Holland VS Portugal would be better.
Yup, work.
Been doing some redemption thing for Quakers(yes, the oatmeal company). The deal's about some purchase with purchase thing. The booth is located outside the ntuc at bedok central.
Work starts at 1 pm and ends at around 6+ pm.
Quite a tiring job, having to stand for about 5 hours and doing everything by myself. And there's no chair to sit!
Half the time at work I will be telling those aunties that nothing is going for $2. They have to purchase something before they can redeem the product for $2. Many give me the dirty look after I tell them that. Well,
Me: Hi auntie/mdm/sir/miss.
Customer: *Stares at me with a scowl* What thing 2 dollars? (In english, mandarin, teochew or hokkien)
Me: "Oh, Quaker is having a *blah blah*, you can redeem this for 2 dollars. However, you must first spend $10 on certain Quaker products."
Customer: *Points to the back* "So I spend $10 in NTUC, I can buy those for $2."
Me: "What I mean is, *REPEATS EVERYTHING I SAID IN THE OPENING SENTENCE*"
Customer: "ORH!!! Chay must spend $10! Some more on Quaker products. Aiya my family and I dun eat Quaker. Dun wan la..."
Most walk off without a single thanks.
Well, other half of the time at work is devoted to giving out the redemptions, collecting money, advertising and daydreaming.
There's one thing about many older people that I had observed. When they see the $2 deal signage, their eyes lit up and look the most enthusiastic. The moment I look at them, preparing to explain to them about the deal, they look away with nonchalance. Then they'll walk about 5 metres, turn around and look at the booth again. After staring for about 3 mins and scrutinising every single thing about me and the booth, they will finally approach me asking about the deal. Dunno what's the reason but it seems that every elderly person will do the same thing.
One incident was most memorable so far. There were 3 uncles who were very enthusiastic about the $2 thing. Perhaps it was more of greed than liking the food. Afterall, $2 for something that costs $6.70 normally. Without listening to me explain to them fully the whole deal(there were many terms and conditions), they went to buy certain Quaker products there were not part of the promotion. When I told them that what they bought were not redeemable, they started to scold me for not telling them the conditions and almost kicked up a fuss. Luckily a friend was there at the scene and offered to buy the products that were on promotion and let the uncles redeem the products.
That's one thing about many Singaporeans. Without me telling them that certain products were not on promotion, many would simply not read the conditions and end up blaming the world when they buy the wrong things. Something like this:
Me: "Hi!"
Customer: *Chucks me the receipt* "Nah. 2 dollars for that right? Here I got 2 dollars" *Chucks me 2 dollars*
Me: *Scans the receipt* "I'm sorry mdm. The products that you bought are not part of the promotion"
Customer: "WHAT!? Eh you never tell me ealier that I cannot buy these products. Make me waste all the money to buy these things that I dun eat. Wah lao. Why you never tell me earlier? Why not make this an exception?"
Me:"No Mdm I cannot do such things. And I told you just now about the conditions..."
Customer:"No you didn't! Cannot trust Quaker anymore!!" *Walks away in anger*
Sometimes I wonder why the customers buy the products. Do they really want to eat or do they just want the redemption?
On hindsight, this job has taught me quite a number of things as well. The most important would be the patience to deal with difficult customers. Cool-headedness would prevail in many customer-oriented problems. And I will definitely read conditions of any promotions after seeing too many of my countrymen fall into traps. Of course, the ability to stand for 5 hours counts as one too...
England's into the quarter-finals of the World Cup thanks to David Beckham's goal from a free-kick in the 60th minute. It was a very boring match. Hopefully Holland VS Portugal would be better.
posted by Geng at 1:24 AM
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