It’s almost here, almost here! I can smell the weekend! I survived my first week of work in my new co without any major hiccup or boo boo. Throughoutly enjoying my work here so far and I put what little I know of my merchandising knowledge to good use. I can’t help but compare how different I felt then and now. Back then, I felt like I didn’t gel with my former colleagues. Old birds and sample room staffs gave me no respects nor attention. Often, my samplings were ignore till the last minute and they made utterly no apologies in missing my requested deadlines. And being at the bottom of the food chain, I felt like I have no voice - I was often told I was not allowed to ‘chase’ anyone for my due work unless given the permission. All this made me feel like a redundancy in the company - very much like an extended internship program. Over here, I am forced to learn and pick up as fast as possible. While my partner is very understanding and patient in guiding me, I also have to take care not to annoy her with any stupid questions. Paper works does not frazzle me; however the communication with buyers and the factory staff does. I’m not a particularly detail-oriented person; I don’t have a knack for retaining written verbal much information and I am not good with regurgitating words from other people. A lot of times I forget that I have to stand up for myself and cover my ass in everything that I do, lest I get shot down for not doing my job properly. I don’t even know how to negotiate persuasively with the factories in order to get my stuff through. A lot of time I forget the tone of my emails, and my partner have to remind and correct me. I so bloody have to work on my ????. I’ve been pondering. Should I keep my private life outta my work, or should I open up? At the moment, I can’t help but feel abit of an outcast - I don’t know who they are talking about, who are their boyfriends (not like I want to know but its one of their usual discussion topics). They are way past the small talk stage, so how can I begin to mix in, without divulge my private details to them? In a work environment where pays and ranks makes the ladder, how do I maintain a level of sensitivity and professionalism? Most of them are younger than me, so maybe they are less aware of office politics and backstabbing. And I realized, offering sweets as a conversation starter only works to a certain extent.