The first day going to the job was very exciting for me. I woke up bright and early that morning, took a bath for relaxation. Then I had my breakfast. By seven-thirty I was already out the door.

The company was situated in Hong Kong Island, and I was living in Kowloon, so I had to catch a bus to go to Tsim Sha Tsui Harbour, and then catch a ferry to go across the harbour to Hong Kong side in order to get to work. The trip from my house to the harbour was only a short few minutes ride, and then again the ferry would take me another few minutes.

By eight-thirty I was at the personnel office. The personnel manager was already sitting at his desk. It seemed to me that he was running a "one-man-operation" office, as I didn't see any other person(s) there with him, nor did I see an assistant there to help him. He handed me some forms to fill in for the company's record.

When I was finished with the forms, he spoke, "You'll be working in the sample room. Your job is to work with the sample room manager, Mr. Lee. You'll be responsible for helping Mr. Lee to sort out the samples everyday, and to send them off to other countries. Everyone here calls Mr. Lee "Sample Lee", he smiled, and then stood up from his chair.

"Let's just walk down there to meet Sample Lee and his team now.

"Okay," I nodded.

I followed this man down the elevator to another floor. We walked down a long hallway, and then came to a large double door room. He opened the door, and I stepped in.

Woweee!!! What a sight that greeted me!!! I almost choked with excitement.

Toys!!! Toys!!! Lots and lots of toys!!! My eyes almost bulged out from their sockets!!! All sorts of toys were everywhere!! They were strewn all over the place - on the floor, on the desks!!!

Sample Lee was a tall guy. Rather white for being a Chinese guy, and rather tall too. He appeared to be in his early 30's. He was sitting at his desk that was filled with toys!!! He stood up to welcome me, and then led me to my working area.

"Here...this is where you'll be sitting," he said, pointing to a thing.

It was just a chair, and in front of it was a tiny desk which is hardly large enough to put anything on top of it. I looked at "the thing" (that's what I called it) and thought "What? That's it? No desk or nothing for me? Just this thing and the chair? Well...okay then, I can't complain, can't I? No!... Not on my first day on the job anyway!"

Sample Lee led me around to meet all the other employees. Some of them were about 16 to 17 years of age. Well, okay... Ahem...I won't tell them my real age anyway. There were 2 other girls around 16 to 17 years of age; and then there was another lady who was much older, she appeared to be in her 30's - around the same age as Sample Lee as well. For some reasons, she twisted her mouth in displease when Sample Lee and I came near her, but Sample Lee introduced me to her anyway. Later, I learned that her name was Big Miss Chan, and one of the other young girls who bore the same last name as hers was Little Miss Chan, and then the other young girl who had big boobs was Miss Ng.

Miss Ng had boobs that looked like they were going pop out from the top of her blouse whenever she bends down to pick up the toys; or whenever she bends down to sort out the toys. I noticed the boys were all stealing glances, watching her every time she did that.

The 3 young boys that were working in the sample room were: Ah Wing, Ah Kee, and Ah Sun. I don't know their real age, but perhaps they were slightly older than we were, but were all below 20 anyway.

When we were finished with the introduction, I followed Sample Lee back to his desk for further instruction on what to do next. Then to my surprise, he opened yet another door behind him that led to another room, and I followed him in there.

Once inside, I saw rows and rows of boards, where all the toys were hung for display!!! I almost died in happiness!!! Can you imagine the joy that had gone through my mind at that moment? I grew up owning just one pink stuff rabbit as my own toy, and yet now... through some sort of a twisted fate, I'm being hired to work in this large toys manufacturing and exporting company. Can you imagine my excitement and the unspeakable joy that was going through my mind when I saw all those rows and rows of toys for display?!

There were dolls, dolls, and dolls everywhere! Cars and trucks!!... And the stuffed animals everywhere!! Packages of clothes for the dolls in big boxes ready to be hung for display!! Oh, how I wish I could own one of those dolls, and change its clothes everyday! I felt like I had just stepped into a wonderland!

I suppose God must have known that toys were what I had been lacking when I was growing up, and He wanted to reward me with this company to work in!! I was over the moon!! The temptation and the joy were too much for me on that day to complain about anything else. I didn't even mind sitting at just "the thing" to work.

Later, I've found out the reason why Big Miss Chan was twisting her mouth at me when she first saw me, for I was having the same pay as hers, and she had been working there for almost two years already. Well, it was no big deal for me!! I wasn't getting paid big money anyway for being a sample girl!

To be continued...

Copyright (c) Sandie May Joyce

March 28, 2010  

My First Job [ Part 1 ] Of This Story

My First Job [ Part 3 ] of This Story

My First Job [ Part 4 ] of This Story

My First Job [ Part 5 ] of This Story

My First Job [ Part 6 ] of This Story