Summer 2012

Can't believe it's already May 2012!!! Time seems to fly by this year. Summer has arrived and I don't have much planned, except for maybe trips to Batam, Bintan and Sydney. Most of my friends have internships and jobs planned out, and so did I, but not anymore...

I started my internship at K_____ (self-censorship ha!), an international marketing and events company, on 7th May. But within 3 days, I quit. It was a horrible experience. On the first day, I realised that the people were really snobbish and unfriendly. They did not bother talking to me even though I smiled and nodded at them. There was simply no acknowledgement at all! In addition, they were really bitchy and 2-sided. As the office had an open-seating concept, it meant that anything that was said slightly louder than normal would be heard by the entire office. And whenever someone leaves the office, the rest would start bitching about that person. They didn't even bother to conceal it or keep it down when they knew I could hear EVERY SINGLE WORD. Goodness knows what they said behind my back. 

And maybe this is how it really is in the corporate world, but i refuse to believe it - this woman who gave me work to do claimed credit for the entire thing, in front of the boss and in front of me. LIKE SRSLY, WTH?! 

But the last straw was on the 3rd day of my internship, when the admin staff passed me a contract and said to me, "Because your school can't provide us a letter, we can't consider this as an internship. Therefore, please sign this contract as a contract staff." I was offered $600/month for a contract staff that works from 830am - 6pm, 5days/week. $600 was initially agreed upon between us for an internship, because I know internships don't pay much and it's all about the experience. But seriously, $600/month for a contract staff?! That is insulting. I will earn more from working at mcdonalds, and even get free meals pls. 

At this point in time, you may wonder, what's the big deal? It's just a change in title, I'll still get the experience that I was looking for when I applied for an internship. Well, here's why:

1. This other contract staff holding an SIM diploma was getting paid $1200/month

2. It's a matter of principles. They conned me into taking up a job that's usually paying $1200/month. This was not what I had agreed to. I agreed to $600 as an intern, not as a contract staff. That is why. 

So, to sum up, here are my reasons not to work at a big firm:

1. The people are most likely snobbish.

2. The bigger the firm, the more office politics there are

3. The work assigned to you at a big firm is MEGA UNCHALLENGING. You seriously don't need a degree to do them. 

However, I guess if you're willing to slog it out and go against your principles, be a 2-sided person like the rest of them, you can make it big. 

But I'm sorry, I'm not one of those. In fact, this internship has made me learnt that I will not enjoy working in an office, and this has made me even more determined, to work towards my goal of being a yoga instructor. So I guess my internship has served its purpose, I have learnt something.

For now though, here's a shoutout to all who have one off event jobs for me. While I may have decided not to work in an office and cannot afford to take up an internship now due to my holiday plans, I still need the money to finance my holiday trips!!! So if you do know any one off event jobs that's paying at least $7/hr, do let me know!!!!!