Malaysia's Next Top SalesGirL!

I started to go MAD about shopping when I was in Form 4.

Since then, I've been buying unimaginable number of items in malls (mostly tops)...and experienced the typical metamorphosis of a young timid cautious young teenager into a more daring, dressy, adventurous, and vibrant mature lady (in terms of dressing ya...)

and since then too, I had this one DREAM.

To work in a boutique and be a SALESGIRL!

Why?

Because I'd surely be immersed in an environment that I adore.

Are you kidding?? A shopaholic being surrounded by trendy clothes ALL the time.. That couldn't be un-cool in any way..

PLUS...

I expected the oh-s0-anticipated staff discounts!

I begged my mom to let me work in a boutique after my SPM ended in 2001... Instead, my mom chucked me in British Council to polish my VERY poor conversational English.

Yerp, I was forced to join something academical rather than de-stressing myself by being a salesgirl after the super-stressful SPM.

No regrets though. British Council was 'cool' in its own ways, coz at least I got the chance to mingle with foreigners without having to go overseas. and yes, my spoken English at least started to show a sheer chance of improvement.

The moment when I was 'allowed' to work independently was when i was in Wellington, NZ. But back then, still, I didn't get the chance to work in a boutique since applicants there were expected to have experience with EFTPOS, handling cash and some other retail experience. Plus, the boutiques would prefer locals to represent their local labels. So what happened? I explored other paths that also weren't cool... like cleaning, folding envelopes, interviewing people, counting vehicles on roads, distributing flyers and what not.

So again, I missed my chance.

And I had also stopped dreaming.

Clearly, I thought I would end up as a school teacher. The chance of being a salesgirl whilst working as a teacher is even more impossible than hoping that KPM would be more 'wise' in the posting of newborn teachers (this is the only comparison I could think of at the moment).

To cut short, I re-lived my teenage dream about 5 months ago after breaching the contract, working as a lecturer for one semester, and starting my new life as a PostGrad student in UM (no I didn't breach the contract just to be a salesgirl. This dream is not worth 100K!).

I was pretty much bored...so I sent an email for job application as a salesgirl..and POOF! I became a part-time salesgirl in Bangsar! My 8-year-old dream suddenly seemed so easy to be achieved.

and how do I find the job so far???

Fulfilling!

Yerp, I know... it's not a job that relies at all on my degree that I worked my skin and brain off to get for the past 6 years.

And yes, I am extremely under-paid. I could have been paid rm 50 per hour just to teach students some English in a college or home-tuition.

But I choose not to...

Coz I want a light job... a job that doesn't use up much of my currently deteriorating and degenerating brain cells. Because, I still consider myself a FULL-time student. i don't want a heavy job where the time isn't flexible, which I need considerable planning, which I hold responsibility upon my students, which requires me to mark papers and do other clerical tasks.

I DON'T want an academical or other serious part-time jobs!!!


My main focus is not money, although that's what is lacking in my life now. My focus is just the retail experience, to de-stress myself from my postgrad studies, and to get some extra money to lessen my burden a bit, especially to pay the room i'm currently renting (plus some money for a lil bit of shopping..ahahaha). That's all, for now...

I'd rather be standing and moving back and forth finding and hanging clothes --doing something fun, light, and ehem...stylish for 9 damn hours, just to be paid the amount that I could have been paid for, for just one hour of teaching elsewhere... but that ONE hour of teaching is even more stressful, in terms of brain usage. Well, at least to me.

To me teaching is a heavy professional job that uses up my brain cells to the max... I still remember how the mere 2-hour of teaching (and all prior planning and on-going stress pre + post- lectures) in UiTM managed to make me feel so damn tired one whole day everytime I returned back home from work. It was so tiring to the extent that that I said to my roommate "if I were married now... my husband would be the unluckiest person on earth...." (if you know what i mean...). I was THAT tired!

Thus, I'm pretty sure such an academical job will jeopardise my current studies. Yes, I am THAT skema! hahaha... as un-cool as it may sound, I CARE about my grades..!!! I dun like the feeling of looking back at my academic transcript and think "I could have done better".. I like the satisfying feeling and being able to smile and say "That's already the best that i could do"...

So far the part-time work has not disrupted my studies at all. In fact, i am pretty (not VERY) satisfied with my results. But nothing is official yet.. so I am still keeping my fingers crossed...

OK, back to the entry's title (mak ai jauhnya menyimpang...), I think some of the best Malaysia's Next Top Salesgirls are produced in the place where I'm working part-time now. Perhaps, an overstatement since it's the only boutique I have worked so far... but I don't care. Based on my strong shopping experience background and history, I think my opinion counts.

My manager and colleagues make me realise that it is possible to be a fun, helpful, friendly and all-time smiling salesgirl. The manager always reminds us all to treat customers with utmost respect. She is very professional as a leader and is also a good friend with whom I could trade stories, jokes, and gossips! Customers are always greeted with a friendly 'hi' and we will always try to smile and entertain customers' wants and needs as much as we can although we are tired and starving!

In other words, salesgirls can be the people that customers LOVE and NOT annoying! Seriously, salespersons could wait a few more extra seconds to re-fold or re-arrange whatever that the customers have just taken, so as not to make them feel offended. So it grates on my nerves even more now whenever I go shopping and the salesgirls annoy me by re-arranging every item I have touched the second after I de-touch it. and it annoys me so much that most salesgirls follow customers all the time like within 2-centimeteres distance and 2 inches radius and no doubt sooo entering the customers' comfort zone! What is the CCTV for?? You can't treat all customers like prospective robbers! There should be more wise ways of detecting customers who might or who have just stolen your items. It's so freakin annoying and I now could (proudly) say (silently) in my heart, "I am a salesgirl too, and I don't do that to my customers!!!"


And I hate the unwilling face and audible decibel of sigh that some salesgirls make when we ask for certain items, perhaps in different sizes, colours, design, etc etc. That's what your job is! So it's unjustifiable to even complain, unless the customers seem to be having fun asking you to bring out the whole stock of the shop before them. If the requests are feasible, just do it! with a sincere smile! Customers will love u more and most likely will come again.

I am the kind of person who believes strongly in good customer service. In fact it's a bit unhealthy. Even if I dun have that much money, and I am not really MAD about a particular item, I would most probably buy it out of the good service provided. So the smiles, willingness, and friendliness of salespersons WORK for me. and I strive to provide all these too...I have faith in MY 'species'...


So everytime any customers ask me to take some stuff, for example, I will try my best to do it with an open heart... and the smiles on their face when they get to see the items they want, are priceless!... i know how a shopper feels... and it's even more flattering when the customers still remember you and your hospitality the next time they visit the store.. so x rugi apa2 pun if u layan customers elok2..



I have some tips for shoppers out there when you go shopping, for the benefit and convenience of both shoppers and workers...:

• Always wash the clothes that you have just bought before wearing them, even though they are claimed to be new from the stock. Sometimes other customers had actually worn them already and then decided not to buy for many reasons. So we salesgirls would just put the worn clothes back into the stock. I had seen people who seemed to have serious and disgusting-looking skin diseases and tried so many clothes in the store. So seriously, wash your newly bought clothes first.
  

• If you like a top, for example, and it comes in so many colours, try not to be tempted to ask the salesgirl to find all of them without even trying one of them yet. Try one first, and check out the cutting. Only if you really like the cutting and how it looks on you that you ask the salesgirl to take the same top of different colours for you to try on... there's no point asking the salesgirl to find all the colours of the same top, when you might end up not even liking the cutting of the that top at all. and we salesgirl will need to re-hang the hardly touched but difficult-to-be-searched items.
  

• What looks good on the mannequin doesn't necessarily look good on you. So when the shop has a no refund/exchange policy, PLEASE try the items first, even though u think you have the absolute same perfect size as the mannequin. One reason would be the mannequin does not have the same skin tone as you. It would either be dead pale white or come in freakinly other unhumane tones. I am a very colour-coordinated person and I believe we look better in certain colours.. And if it's obvious that you won't be able to stuff yourself into the minuscule size dresses, get real! don't force it! you'll ruin the dresses/tops, and you'll end up having more body issues...
  

• When u take an item from the rack.. and then decide to put it back, please put it back exactly where you took it. If you forgot, don't try to be a superhero or psychic by putting it where and how you THINK it should be put. When unsure, give the items back to the salesgirls directly or in the box or rack especially dedicated for 'tried' clothes. It's our job to put it back where it belongs. You are not helping by putting it wherever you like. Besides, other customers might not have the chance to have a look at it and buy it and salesgirls will have terrible problems re-locating it if it is requested by other customers. PLUS, we will swear when we need to do the straightening of all the racks and find wrongly placed clothes everywhere. hahaha. Like my working place, clothes are hanged according to colours. So the placement of clothes is essential. In short, wrongly placed clothes make everyone else's lives harder, except the 'wrongdoers'.
  

• Try not to give TOO many 'tasks' to one salesgirl at one time. Salesgirls are just human beings and do not have a computerised brain to be able to retain a bulk of information at one go. Ask different salesgirls for different things. or if u like a particular salesgirl to attend to you, ask her 1-2 things first...when those have been achieved...add more requests ya, bit by bit, in small chunks.. i once faced an experience where this customer asked me to find 5 clothes and 3 shoes all in different colours, similar designs, particular sizes etc at once! I ended up successfully finding all of the things she wished for, but forgot who she was.
  

One thing I want to add. Surprisingly, fashion and latest trends are not the only thing I have learnt from this retail experience. i learn about business, different views, different walks of life, and value of friendship. I learnt so many things from unexpected group of people. I come to realise that we learn heaps of things from different people we meet, may it be about friendship, social issues, politics, family, love, or even religious issues. So always value all the people around you although they may seem less significant to your life rather than those you have known for ages. The quality of friendship is not measured by time, but rather by the experience.

Above all, I love working as a part-time salesgirl. It was not only about staff discounts and being able to see the new arrivals before anyone else and being able to reserve what you like for longer periods... It is the whole package of FUN-ness!

(but i reaaaaaallllly have to tahan iman while working coz naturally i'd feel like buying EVERYthing!!!)

I mentioned somewhere before in my blog entry that my different myriad of friends allow me to view life from countless angles. This retail experience is surely one of them!

And I realise how this job improves my memory a bit, since I need to remember a lot of things as many and accurate as possible, so as not to be scolded by either the manager or customers. This positive pressure pushes me beyond my mental limit. and I am now more multi-tasked than ever before!

Although, frankly, I don't know how long i will be working 'there', but this is definitely an unforgettable experience for me that i will cherish till my golden age, and the friends I have made there will be my friends for life! Thanx peeps!


* will be having annual dinner with a small group of colleagues from 'my' boutique in Damansara this Sunday! weeeeee!

**there are still some dreams of mine that are not achieved yet. Wish me luck plsssss....