I went back to the store today.. after seeing the family doctor late in the afternoon. The few hours that i was there.. a few customers came in to say hello.. and to find out how i was doing after my surgery. It is kinda nice to know that after about 8 yrs in this town.. i am afterall liked by some ppl. Even the kid who was rude to me… a few years ago.. was showing me respect. Muahahahha!! not all wasted effort i guessed eh..??
In our type of business .. and after so long . .in business.. we still don’t really know who you can trust. .and who you can’t. But you see there are some customers.. that built their trust slowly with us.. and you know. you don’t have to worry .. if they had you do some things for them.. and they would pay you later. I wished all customers were like them.. so we don’t even have to think twice.
I can understand if a customer comes into the store in the late evening with their PJs.. to rent a movie but to come into the store.. and walking around town in their PJs in the morning.. and afternoon is abit too weird for me. I mean if they were wearing some hot lingerie I don’t think i would mind so much.. but PJs..??? just feels not right eh..??
A regular customer of ours approached PB to store some electronics at our basement for a small fees. Of course we saw no problem with it, but it ended up being a business opportunity… that benefited both PB and the customer. With so many electronics at our basement, i think we should consider using self storage in the near future.
I was very tempted to put a picture of the whale for all to see.. then you will know that i wasn’t kidding when i called her a whale. And donch get me wrong.. there is nothing wrong.. with being bigger .. than most ppl.. i’m entirely A – OK with it, not like I am petite in size and all. But I called her the Whale because as the chinese saying goes.. “Eat human donch even need to spit out the bones” .. this is exactly what this Whale is like.
8 yrs ago, when i first arrived in Canada.. I met the Whale because he was working for PB. She had begged for a job.. because she wanted to get outta welfare. Outta giving back to society.. the man hired her on. In the short period that I had known the Whale, we had loan her money for her rent, let her bring her kid to work, send her home from work when the weather was bad and the list goes on.
She either didn’t show up for work or would come in at the time she wants to, with lots of excuses. One week she would tell us she can work only mornings, the following .. only weekends.. and then the week after .. not weekends at all. We had tried so hard to accommodate her.. but it still didn’t work out. But we still didn’t fire her but laid her off (outta the goodness of our heart).
And what she did..??? SHE CALLED IMMIGRATION ON US…!!! saying that PB hired an illegal immigrant.. to take over her position. Thereafter, continued coming into our store.. and bad mouthing us in front of our employees whenever we are not in. And yet after 8 yrs.. she still treats me.. like i was the enemy..!! *slap forehead* You tell me lah.. what kinda a WHALE is she..?? if not the “eat human donch even need to spit out bones”.
Customer who comes in sick are usually told not to breathe.. because we don’t want to get sick nor can we afford to get sick. Owning your own business, you have to take special precaution . .so you won’t miss work. A few weeks ago, while i was preparing for a major operation, i had to tell some sick customers not to breathe in our store.. and i kid you not.. i literally did tell the customer that. Yes.. ! owning your own business.. does have its little perks.. whereby .. you can tell your customer.. to go .. if you find out that they are sick. .or like me.. tell them not to breathe.. muahhaha!!
I was back at the store today for abit .. after seeing the family doctor about my laparoscopic surgery and a possible infection. In that short 40 mins that i was there… we had a family of 3 kids in the store. While the parents were looking at console games.. the kids were going wild. Yes.. !! literally banging on the glass cabinets.. with their parents right there beside them. *slap forehead* ..! i am just glad . .that my daughter. .is not this way.. nor will she ever be this way .. at someone else’s store.
When you own your own business, you know that the time at your store .. isn’t really your own. Almost 9 yrs in business, you gotta know most of your customers by first name.. and to some.. they actually become your friend. But for each customer that comes into our store.. we spend at least a few minutes chatting with them.. and finding out about their lives.. and what’s going on. If you are in the service industry.. you know.. that it is an art. In fact.. for someone like PB who was quite an introvert before opening his own business.. you would be surprised.. he is what he is now. Yes. .now he takes time and get to know them.. even the kids .. that comes to our store.
I went by the store yesterday to get some fresh air.. and of course to get some coffee. But i didn’t stay long.. because i didn’t wanna stressed my body too much. I feel really bad for PB .. because he had to ferry me up and down.. even before he finished his lunch. But i was feeling quite queasy and agitated already.. so had to leave in a hurry. This year.. i didn’t even attempt to go for the Seafest parade, so you can see how frightened i am about my health. I really can’t wait to get well.
Yes.. the Canadians have it way easier to get employed .. not like in Asia. In Asia, the employers can specify.. what they want for their secretary or personal assistant. I am so used to the sentences ” pleasant looking, age below 30″ in the advertorial back home. Now that I am in Canada.. if you ever printed anything of that sort here.. you will probably be sued for discrimination. If you so much as suggest that your employee use any acne treatment cream because they have lots of acne and needed treatment badly, you can be seen as not respecting their privacy or some sorts. Sometimes.. i feel that the human rights thing can get too much, we for one .. have had many experiences like these with our ex-employees. Therefore, these days.. we just don’t say a thing anymore.
You would be surprised that even though we owned our own computer store.. we sometimes resort to getting our computer parts or even our new laptop from other places instead of our supplier. The big boys just have it alot cheaper.. and one can’t even blame the customers when they go to the big boys are get their laptops from there. But you see, some may think that they had gotten a good deal . .when in fact .. it is not true because in order to make the laptop work properly with Vista, you need an extra memory stick or two. So they bring it into our store.. to see why it is so sluggish.. and when you come to think of it, they end up paying the same amount if they had gotten it from us. Ironic eh.
Yes.. the yearly Seafest for this town is here.. and guess what their theme is for this year.. ??? A Pirate’s Life For Me..! Well.. they can all go pirating for all we care.. but all the stores in Main Street.. haven’t even decorated their store front at all.
As for us .. we ain’t participating this year.. just like last.. because the first year we were up in Main Street.. we were very enthusiastic about it.. and what did we get ..??? nothing but heartache.. when our ex-employee .. Ms Selfish claimed that we stressed her out.. by putting her in charge of the window.. because she wasn’t trained for it. So after that happened.. and not like the town gave us back anything.. nor did that decorating the window to the theme did anything for us.. we said to ourselves.. “heck that..!”
Nope.. i haven’t been into the store.. since i got out of the hospital .. the second time. This is by far the longest .. that i’ve stayed away… but to be safe.. and not sorry..i didn’t want to be traveling around.. like i did.. after the hysterectomy.. and my fibroids surgery. I do miss going to the store.. and being at home alone.. is not fun. So folks out there.. make sure you take care of your health.. !! Nothing is more important.. i tell yer..!
You sometimes gotta wonder what the employees are thinking. Sure if they get ill.. and they don’t come to work.. we don’t have to pay them. But the inconvenience that they caused us.. is worst .. than having to pay them. Many moons ago, we have employees who would take time off to tattoo her whole body.. or others who takes diet pills and not eat at all.. and can’t come to work .. because they insist that they are fat. Yes.. our luck with our past employees..!! i’m just glad .. i don’t have to deal with these anymore.
Being a business owner.. is not easy..! Ask Wuching.. who just decided to be his own boss. You have so many things to take care of .. and bills.. that comes never ending. Plus if you have staff/employee.. there are insurance and pay and other liabilities… you have to think of. So we all try to buy and pay for everything as frugally as possible. Even when i comes to buying notepads for the store.. we buy the generic type.. and since insurance isn’t cheap, we also try to get cheap life insurance for the employees and ourselves. Every little bit of savings help… but only if you own your own business you will understand what i am talking about.
Little did i know that a week after my hysterectomy, i would be in the hospital again for an emergency surgery to free my surgery incision that was causing me to throw up and have spasm.. that make me screamed in pain. I just got discharged after a week’s stay in the hospital.. and to tell you the truth.. am still very afraid. It was horrid. I missed my daughter so much.. and lost so much weight.. but you can be sure .. who doesn’t need any Leptovox for a long time now.
The current place that we are in .. is considered really old. I think it must be more than 100 yrs old. I hope the next time.. the landlord does renovate our store.. they would give us some good Delta faucets , afterall, we are paying so much for rent.. you would think they can afford to do better eh.
We are open for business on Canada’s Day .. ! Come spend money at our store..!!!
