I'm going to be guilty of a little bit of nepotism in today's post; it will mainly consist of mention of my Uncle's book store which is where I now work. A little publicity never hurt and if the shop does well so will I. Besides having a wide range of religious books to choose from we also have clothing, posters, perfumes and many more items too numerous to mention.
Right now I'm working 7 days a week (I know..) from 11AM to 11PM; its different when you work in a shop compared to when you work in an office, it requires a little more effort. And to be fair I don't think in an office you'd have time to write your thoughts in your little notebook for your blog. Plus working 12 hours is better than doing nothing for 24 hours (pay could be better :P); it's nice to have some sense of direction and purpose.
So far I've been working at the book store for just over a month and I think I'm getting better at my job, or at least I'm making less mistakes. On my first day I managed to lose some money which thankfully didn't get deducted from my salary (did I mention it could have been more?). There are a few downsides to sitting in a shop all day; I spend most of my time waiting for a customer to come inside the shop. I sometimes see people looking at what's on display from outside and before I can invite them inside they walk away and I end up sitting behind the desk waiting for someone else to come by. Once when I came back from the Mosque I saw a woman looking into the store (I close the shop for prayers) and as she started walking away my Uncle who was with me told me to run after her and invite her into the shop. First of all I don't run, it's not a very pretty sight. Secondly, this was at night and I don't think it would have been good to run after a woman. I can imagine getting pepper sprayed and a quick call for the police. But it is great when someone comes in and you get to interact with them; it is even better when they decide to buy something (after all it helps to pay my salary).
Another issue I have is with customers who insist on getting discounts; for most of our books the prices have been set an on all our other items we take in a small margin and can't afford to give any discounts. Once after I explained this to a person they made a face and no longer want to continue with their purchase and leave whatever they took on the counter. Sometimes when you refuse to give a discount they tell me that they'll come back another time to the shop (so far they haven't come back yet). Why do people insist on discounts when they come to small businesses? I've never seen anyone ask for discounts at MPH; when you go to McDonald's or Tesco or Petronas do you ask for discount. Please try and tell me what their response is.
Sigh...besides learning to figure out who is a serious customer and who isn't you do learn to be patient and humble (at least you try to). But not all the people who've come to the shop have been rude or snooty; there have been some people that I've enjoyed talking to. I've even had some slightly eccentric (or "mental" depending on your outlook) people walk into the store and they were pretty nice. Probably the worst part is on Friday night when I get back home and think to myself "at least the weekend is finally here" and remember that I still work on the weekends. But it's getting better (I think).
There are of course some perks to working where I do; first of all I'm getting valuable experience; secondly I'm socializing more and this will hopefully help me be less shy; Pizza Hut is also just around the corner and right next door is a mamak restaurant called "Hj. Tapah" which has the best Naan and Tandoori I've ever tasted. Having some money in the pocket isn't so bad. I've made a wish list of things I want to get which includes a "Brothers and Sisters Box set"; "Nightvision Goggles"; "automatic pool cleaner" and a car.
Hopefully after reading this blog post a few more people will come by the shop or at least my Uncle will give me a raise. (I've calculated that if I spend RM0 of my salary it would take me several years to buy a decent car...or I could just get a Proton Saga.....)
So I've included a little map of where we are. If there is any particular book that you're looking for whether it is in English or Bahasa Melayu please email latahzantrading@hotmail.com and provide details such as the books title, its author and if possible the publisher.
My "office"
La Tahzan Trading
2779, Jalan Permata 6, Taman Permata, 53300 Wilayah Persekutuan, Kuala Lumpur
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