My Bakerz Dayz ( Reminiscence )
The dark days
Read Jon’s blog recently… he commented abt bakerz in one of his entries… I really do know wat he’s talking abt… I’ve had my good times there… but my share of dreadful times too… I wud say my time at US outlet was one of them… not only was it superbly boring there… I cud not get along wif my manager juli… we knew each other from our time at MW so I tot we’d be able to work well together being the only 2 from there… but from day one we got off on the wrong foot… she’s very one-track in her style… not open to suggestions but a “I say u do” kind of manager… me havin a certain lack of authority was always at loggerheads with her… i din get much practice wif makin drinks either and she constantly criticized my coffee making skills… how cud I do a proper one when nobody even teaches me how to make them? Juli has this certain skill of hitting the weak spots… she’ll pick out ur weaknesses and expose them to make u look incompetent… I juz couldn’t work wif her anymore… outside of work we cud talk… but it was clear both of us cud not get along at work… as soon as I heard OA was opening up… I decided to gif it a shot… my cause was helped by the fact tat the would-be manager Christine of OA and me got along quite well from our time at MW… she was the one who actually asked me to join her at OA… soon enuff I left US and joined OA in January… things were going well for awhile… apart from the usual drainage problem which gave us a “flooded kitchen” and the usual no ice water problem… I was happy there… then Christine left… Cynthia got promoted to manager and boy... the storm came in wif her… initially everything was alrite… as time went by… my hrs got cut in favour of her more “favourite staff”… I cud give a roster of 6 days and only get 2 workin days… I was like a “when need u then call u” staff now… i couldn’t believe it… I’ve worked long n hard n this is the thanks I get? Fark… I’ve been here longer than u have Cynthia… juz coz I dun bitch n gossip wif u or dun act cute wif u I’m not considered a good worker? it was clear her “side of the family” were getting the royal treatment now wif her brothers alan n alex getting more the bulk of the hrs… marcus her bro-in-law was also on the roster much more now… Derek’s hrs even got cut and we voiced our dissatisfaction abt it but Cynthia juz gave us the cold shoulder… but one thing was for sure… when Cynthia was ard… OA faced it’s worst days… think alain perrin at Portsmouth and I was Laurent Robert… I wasn’t happy wif the way she did things n I made it known to everyone… including her… but wat cud I do… she was the manager n I a lowly part-timer… but another thing was for sure… I cud not continue workin 2 days a week… I needed the money… I nearly quitted bakerz… but where wud I go? I pondered workin at those hotel cafes and other restaurants but I din wanna leave my frenz at OA… now it was either sticking it out wif them or leave thru the front door… turns out I din need to make tat decision… in the space of 3 mths it was as if the devil answered my call… money went missing… they pinned the blame on Cynthia… she was ordered to pay every cent back… she became disgruntled… upper management weren’t happy wif her… she wanted to leave… and the rest is history… well… not exactly… OA decided to hire this chef called Jarrod… I wun be talking much abt him coz he really juz pisses me off… only my pals at OA know wat happened…
*nobody understands*
The good times
I’ll nv forget my 1st day at OA… new yrs eve 2002… I was still supposedly contracted to US so it din really sit well wif Juli tat I was workin at tat outlet… but to hell wif it I tot… I enjoyed every minute of it… why work on new yrs eve? Why not? It’d be crowded in the streets plus I’d get a lil extra if I work… after Cynthia came in a more experience manager in the form of Nicole… Nicole was like sir bobby robson… a veteran at TCC… she knew the ropes of F&B juz like any other seasoned manager… in wif her came 2 other Malaysians… Florence and Anthony… 2 pple I must say who I’ve grown very close to… to be honest they are 2 of the nicest pple I’ve ever met… especially Florence… something jon lim wud wholeheartedly agree wif me… she’s really a fantastic person both as my supervisor… my wud be manager and as my fren… and it’s simply marvelous how she does it all effortlessly… I’ve had a total of 5 more managers after Cynthia at OA… Nicole, Bonnie, Florence, Juli and Marlene… Relationship wif Juli at OA was slightly better… surprisingly… Bonnie was more of like a transition manager… Was very close wif Nicole Florence and Marlene… I cud get along well wif marlene once again coz of our time at MW… she initially wud feel lonely at OA but both jons made sure tat wasn’t gonna be the case… although I think jon lim did a far better job… hahaz… there were times where I actually looked forward to working… seeing the familiar faces and getting away from scool… as long as I had one of the guys wif me I was happy… while Florence was still there I’d say it was my happiest times working… I felt important when she was ard… and she really helped boost staff morale with her encouragement and girl next door ways… lastly… I’d say the best moment of my time there was during the “bakerz boys” era… juz think echoboys but in waitering sense… I roped in Ivan to work wif us coz he needed the cash… plus I guaranteed him he’d have a great time here… apparently this was gonna be his first ever job… hahaz… and I dun think he’s found a better one ever since… Derek n the 2 jons must take credit on the way he is today… his waitering skills wud not be where it is if not for us… Jack soon followed in after ivan… another TP guy… the 5 of us were juz like westlife according to jon lim… but Derek din want to have anything to do wif us… he himself was having bachelor girl with Claire… Serena Phyllis and Grace were S.H.E… hahaz… thinking abt those days really bring a smile to my face… there are juz so many moments which I can’t squeeze into here… one thing’s for sure… the OA gang had a bond which was unbreakable…
*nobody understands*
The funny moments
When Derek told me he was bringing in his fren to work I was quite skeptical. My fears were compounded when I saw jon lim for the 1st time… he had ash blonde hair… he looked like stan from enimem’s video… pulled Derek one side…
Jon: Alamak Derek… why u bring ah beng come here work?
Derek: No lahz… he not ah beng… he needed work so help him lohz… same name as u somemore…
Jon: WHAT? This juz won’t do…
Derek: eh jon come on… he quite an ok guy… know how to play billiard somemore…
Jon: oh tats wonderful! NUMBER?
Derek: OF COURSE JON! HAHA!
Quite sad rite… Derek n me already plotting his downfall… but turned out he was there for quite short while coz I din see him at OA for like a good 9 mths like tat… as it turned out… he was still at bakerz… juz tat at PA... when he came back to OA we talked for awhile and I din recognize him at all… to me he was a new staff… the 2 jons have been close ever since… rebels against Daniel and Betty… but one thing I couldn’t understand… how come Derek and Betty became so close? Maybe itz coz the both of them know Cantonese… we’d tease him by saying betty was his godmother… and jarrod was his godfather… hahaz… although jarrod was gone… we’d keep his spirit alive at OA… COME ON LAH JON! DUN STRAIN THE FRIENDSHIP LAH JON! COME I BUY YOU LOH MAI KAI… I cud go on forever with Derek n jon abt this… the 3 of us wud meet for billiard sessions often… be it after work or before… we’d always have a good time… we even had a “world invitational championships” which involved the biggest names in snooker… the 3 of us! Hahaz… Derek was AC Milan, I was Chelsea and he was definitely Liverpool… jon lim was the dark horse… but when it was all done… he came out the champion… and we were all down 50 bucks! But as it turned out… taufik batisah beat sylvester to Singapore idol and I hadn’t really lost a thing… hahaz… see kok’s conversations wif me were also highlights… imagine a chicken n duck conversing… tat was the case… his English suck whereas my Chinese was as good as his English… the kitchen was nv filled wif a dull moment when he was ard… I can also remember how when staff first joined bakerzin they’d take the effort to go to toilet n change then put on the uniform… 1 week into the job… and they’d be running into the outlet straight into the kitchen and juz tossing tat uniform over their head onto their body n punchin in the card in hope tat we’d beat the 3 minute rule which I tot was utterly stupid… can remember another time when jack ivan and the 2 jons were working… my fren liting dropped off a birthday present for me… a big word jon yeow on this license plate kind of thing… the place was packed and she asked jack to pass this plate to jon… he then had to ask her… we have 2 jons here miss… which jon is this 4? Well… it doesn’t come more obvious than tat does it? All liting cud do was stare at him and then point to the plate… at tat moment jon lim couldn’t take it… he juz burst out laughing when he heard abt it… towards the later part of my career 2 guys joined us namely Jeremy and Raymond… they were really cocksters in all sense… I was close to them in colleagues sense whereas jon lim was like their soulmate… my 2nd new yrs eve was also another highlight… worked wif the usual garang crowd at bakerz… the nite only got interesting after work when I started receiving smses from this person who I believe to be drunk… for safety reasons I’m withholding tat person’s identity… interesting thing is… this person nv msged me b4 in my life… started with a happy new yr… but then generated into peculiar msges… I guess tat’s how our friendship started… nv looked back ever since…
*nobody understands*
I miss all of you