For the first little while it was fun working in this company.

The working office occupied the entire 8th floor of the building, dividing into 3 areas. On one end were the sample room and the showroom where we worked; and on the other end was the working area for the clerks, the contracts makers, and also some other clerks as well - all seemed to be holding some important positions.

In the middle of the hallway sat the receptionist facing the elevators. Alongside the hallway were several rooms, occupied by the CEOs of the company. There were 3 sisters as working bees, and we had to call them as if we were their servants. We were instructed to call the eldest sister "Tai Siu Che", meaning Miss Sister number one; the second sister we called her "Yee Siu Che", meaning Miss Sister Number two; then the youngest sister we had to call her "Saam Siu Che", meaning Miss Sister Number three. I was reluctant to call them that in the beginning. It was because I, myself, had also come from a very large and well-to-do family, and my own servants called me "Saam Siu Che" at home, and now I had to call someone else that title. I was a little uncomfortable with that, but I had to go along with the flow in order to work there.

I soon found out that it was a family-run business. The eldest sister was married to the German guy who owned the business. His married grown son was there to help out too as a partner, so the company was named "Jerrard & Sons Co. Ltd." (Not its real name).

The father was already old. He didn't seem to be doing much of anything but just sat there in the same room with Tai Siu Che, while she, on the other hand, was working like a dog.

Next to their room was where Saam Siu Che and the son, Jerrard Jr. were sitting. Saam Siu Che was the company's buyer. Whenever she got new samples, she would call up Sample Lee, and Sample Lee would do the calculations on each of the items, adding in the cost of the freights to make up the price. After the prices were established, he would keep one lot for the showroom and assign the other lot to one of us so we could put the price tags on each item, and type out the sample invoices as well. When all steps are completed, we would then pass the lot to the three boys - Ah Wing, Ah Kee, and Ah Sun - to pack and mail them off to our overseas buyers. It was not a hard job to do, so I was rather happy working there.

Mr. Jerrad Jr. sat in the same room with Saam Siu Che. His duties were to oversee all the contracts, liaison with the bankers; and he also entertained the overseas clients when they came to visit us. He would show them what was new in the showroom and to take orders from them. Mr. Jerrard Jr. was 29 years old when I met him. He used to come into the sample room to chat with Sample Lee about the samples. On several occasions I caught him looking toward my direction, staring at my legs. I just smiled at him, and said "Hi!", or sometimes, "Good morning!" I didn't know what else to say. It wasn't my position to speak with him anyway.

One time I got tired after sitting around for too long, so I stretched my legs; and suddenly...over the corner of my eyes I noticed Mr. Jerrard Jr. at the doorway entrance in the showroom behind Sample Lee. He smiled at me, then looked at my legs again, and bit the corner of his lower lip; and I thought, "What a jerk! How long has he been standing there already watching?" I felt like my privacy had been invaded and I was embarrassed!!

But aside from Mr. Jerrard Jr. always staring at my legs, everything else was fun in this office. The boys and the girls in the sample room always had so much fun after work. We would fill the water-pistols with water, and by 5:00 p.m. we would start shooting at the boys in the sample room. It was like girls against boys. We ran back and forth down the hallway from one end of the office to the other end, chasing and shooting at each other. The big boss Mr. Jerrard, Sr. just stood there in the hallway outside of his room, watching us with wide-eyed wonder, but did not say anything to stop us from playing; and all those other employees who were standing around in the hallway, waiting to get into the elevators, did not say anything to us either; so this had been our daily ritual before we left to go home every evening. Once I fell flat on my behind in the hallway and fainted right there in the hallway. I did not know how long I had been lying there but when I came back to consciousness, I could still see a bunch of employees waiting by the elevators so I must have been out for about less than 5 minutes. Strangely, no one had even come to find out if I was alright.

Of the 3 of us young girls in the sample room, large breasted Miss Ng was more mature than Little Miss Chan and me. She would often walk down the hallway to the other side of the office to chat with a Mr. Chow. Mr. Chow held a very high position in the company. We've all noticed that whenever Miss Ng spoke with Mr. Chow, she would always lean toward him, almost close enough to be touching his body with hers. She would get so close to Mr. Chow that you would think that he could peep through the top of her blouse. We just thought that she had done this on purpose to seduce this poor middle age man.

Every once in a while Miss Ng would whisper into Mr. Chow's ears, telling him of the things that Sample Lee was doing in the sample room. Rumors had it that Sample Lee was doing a business of his own, taking samples and sending them to his own clients rather than the company's clients. A few months after I worked there, Sample Lee was fired from his job.

Now comes the big question: Who would be the one to fill Sample Lee's position? Who would be in charge of the sample room now? Everyone had thought that Big Miss Chan would automatically step up to fill that position… But no!

After a week had gone by we had a big surprise in our office. All those little trips to the other side of the office, and to Mr. Chow's home, had paid off for Miss Ng! It was announced that 17-year-old Miss Ng was going to take on Sample Lee's position!! When Big Miss Chan found out the news she hit the roof. She screamed and yelled around inside our working area, pointing to Miss Ng, calling her all kinds of names from bitches to whores, said she would never take orders from whores.

Miss Ng just sat there quietly at Sample Lee's desk, pretending that she didn't hear what Big Miss Chan was yelling about. She was so clever a girl! She would do all those calculations on the samples in the same way that Sample Lee had done, then she would pass on the work to me and Little Miss Chan. All of a sudden I felt like I was the favorite employee, for when Miss Ng couldn't pick up the pace of her work, Saam Siu Che had stepped in and requested that Miss Ng teach me how to do the job too, so I had learned to do Miss Ng's job as well. Big Miss Chan was now not somebody whom I should fear. I must admit that I quite enjoyed watching Big Miss Chan every time when she threw her temper tantrums. She looked so funny when she screamed and yelled, talking to herself. She would throw things around, pointing her finger at Miss Ng, said she would never take any orders from her, and neither would she help her do any work. She said Miss Ng had to do her job the best way she knows how. Sometimes she would talk to an empty spot, scolding it when Miss Ng was not sitting there at her desk. She told everyone in the sample room how Miss Ng had seduced Mr. Chow by going to his house in the evening to convince Mr. Chow that she would be good enough to take on Sample Lee's position, so Mr. Chow had put in a few good words for her to Tai Siu Che. Mr. Chow held a very high position in the company, so Tai Siu Che did not hesitate to agree with his recommendation to allow Miss Ng fill Sample Lee's position.

I must admit that Miss Ng had done her job very well. I don't know how, or when, she had learned to do that job, but she was doing it just as good as Sample Lee had done, and she was only 17 years old! But of course she was slower than Sample Lee, it was because she did not get the help from Big Miss Chan.

As for me, I was still the little kid who played with water-pistols by the end of the day. I was just happy and satisfied to work at my own job. I didn't want to take anyone's side anyway, so I kept quiet most of the time when Big Miss Chan threw her temper tantrums. I neither agree nor disagree with whatever she had to say. I just wanted to be myself.

To be continued...

Copyright (c) Sandie May Joyce
April 11, 2010.
                   
My First Job [ Part 1 ] Of This Story

My First Job [ Part 2 ] 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