System in chaos

Ok now I'm gonna talk about my new job. Reason why I haven't written about it was because I was short of time but also because I wanted to give myself some time to absorb what was going on.

I've actually been at it for over a week now at this catering company called *Cekik Catering as a supervisor.

Supervisor my pimply ass.

It's a nice enough title for me to tell the world that I'm not some newbie in the FNB industry but the fact of the matter is I'm just a glorified odd job labourer.

That's perfectly fine with me. I've resigned to the fact that I'm stuck for life in this industry in any capacity and I've decided that to obtain some experience in the catering line kinda fits in the last piece of the jigsaw puzzle.

I know the lowest common denominator when it comes to kitchen operations, service operations, outlet management, dealing with statutory boards, Halal matters, etc and now this. It's like the ingredient that links all that I know together and make me complete.

Catering is not like what most people think. It's just like Just In Time Logistics. It's chaos in there. It's a warzone!

The kitchen prepares the food and drinks while the drivers prepares the logistics like tables, cutlery and stuff, all tailor-made to the customers' orders, just about two hours before they're supposed to be sent over.

I'm not a kitchen staff, nor am I a driver. In fact, they don't even need a supervisor coz they already have a team comprising of the manager and the boss' family members to orchestrate the entire operations.

So I make myself useful by filling up all the gaps. That is such a perfect role for a jack of all trades like I am.

Should the customer ask for service staff, I go there and turn on my waiter mode, should they ask for a satay man, I'm there to fan the satays on the pit, if I'm required to just support the drivers, I follow them on their trucks, when I have nothing to do, I just pick up whatever someone's left behind halfway or help anyone who looks like he needs help.

It's back-breaking stuff. My first three days were a torture. Every muscle in my body was utilized, even my eyelashes. My back hurt so bad I questioned myself if I would survive the next year in this job but I'm glad to announce that I've gotten used to it now.

It's chaotic, yet systematic. Everyone knows their role (except me hur hur). I just plug myself in anywhere. My colleagues are mature people. I'm not really into talking about motor-racing, sex romps, which gang they belong to, how many girlfriends and wives they have, blah blah blah.

I wanna talk about real life experiences. About how people raise their kids, keep things running at home on a meagre salary, what business they've been involved in the past... those sort of thing. I've made some cool friends here.

In my short time here, I've been to the Supreme Court, Ministry of Home Affairs, one of the military airbases and soon even the Istana. How many times can I say I've been to these places before? None. But now I have and more. I've seen nothing yet.

My company is hot at the Istana. People who have functions at the Istana, even government organizations order from us all the time. The people at work say it's a pain in the butt setting up events there but I'm sure they're all secretly brimming with pride.

That's all for now. Overshot my bedtime by twenty minutes.

*Name has been changed to encourage the panda population to fornicate