How to Work with a Baby in tow

I have the experience of working with a baby in tow. A 7.5mo baby who does not know how to crawl yet but can sit already, a very clingy baby and a fully breastfeed baby too! I definitely can't work without a helper so I brought my eldest 9yo daughter with me to help me carry his baby brother when there is customer to attend too. Simple task like unlocking the computers for the customer to use, receiving money and returning the change, I will let her do. She learns how to count money, mentally which she is still not so good at it. But it is tiring for me because I cannot lie down from the moment I wake up till my bedtime. On that day, I slept before 12mn and woke up after 9am! I have not been sleeping more that 6 hours since I have my baby. That is how tiring it is to work with a baby in tow. It was not just the work at the shop. I still have to complete my housechores before going to work. Upon coming back home, I have to continue what I left behind and attend to my other children too. Still, we are still not earning enough for the family. :(

Thank You Card for Employee

Employers out there, how do you show appreciation towards your loyal employees? There are a few ways to show your appreciation towards them. The most favorable one is monetary then comes the company holiday and company dinner. How many of you have given a Thank You card to your employee? Have you heard of Love Languages? Some felt love/appreciate through words, gift, quality time, service and touch. The employee thank you cards work best for employee whose love language is words. Scribble some nice, appreciative words for that particular employee year after year, s/he might work with you till s/he retires! :)

New Work Schedule

For this year, one of hubby's part time staff is working lesser hour at our shop. He won't be working on Mondays and Thursdays. I think he got a better paying job for that 2 particular days.

So now, we are hoping that the other part time staff can be available on both days. If not hubby will have to work from morning till sunset or even midnight if the night part time has something on on that day.

We are thinking of employing another part timer to fill in the gap. Not easy to find one though.

EPF Statement is Here

Thanks to hubby, I still have some money growing in EPF. I am unofficially an employee in his shop. ;) Looking at the amount, I thank God that I still have some money for my old age. Second look, I will have double the amount if I am still working in Topaz. Well, this is the choice that I have made; sacrifice my almost 3k income to stay home to mind my children. Maybe I could register for energy auditor certification then I can earn some side income.

Degree First, Experience Second

These days arh, if you don't have a degree, don't ever dream of working in a MNC. My uncle has been working with one MNC for more than 2 decades and is very experienced in safety products. His last salary before he was retrenched is more than RM3k. Reason for his retrenchment is because he did not hold any degree! And also, the company pays lower for a fresh graduates with a degree. Everything can be learned; so cut cost lor. Get rid of the higher salary employee and get fresh newbie for a lower pay. Experience is not important. Sad!

Jobless for A Year

Today, I am officially jobless for a year! I resigned last year and my last day of work was on the 30th of June 2008.

So, how is it being jobless?

Well, it did not turn out as planned. I had many scary moments when I thought I might not have sufficient income for a particular month but God came in at the very last minute to save the day. :D

Do I regret it?

I did not regret resigning from the company. But I do feel a lil bit regret not earning a fix income and have to control myself from spending like before. I might return to the working world after my son is 2 years old to help hubby support the family.

I am so used to being the breadwinner and when I am not, I felt so restless!

Working with a Newborn

It was very challenging especially when he needs to latch to feel secure in a new environment.

Read My First Experience Working with a Newborn.

Back To Work

I am seriously considering to go back to work after my newborn celebrate his 1 year old birthday.

I don't regret resigning from my previous job. I enjoyed my work a lot but I don't like those who pays me. I like them as a person but not as a boss. They are nice people but they are way too stingy and do not know how to appreciate their employees.

Why am I considering to go back to work again? Well, with the economic slowdown, hubby's income is very much affected and that includes my online income too.

The thing is, whenever we have a fulltime worker, the sales tend to be lower and on certain months hubby doesn't have income at all. But if we don't have any worker, hubby's health will be affected because he has to work from 10am to 12mn Monday to Saturday! Sometimes I wish hubby has a fix salary job and not running his own business.

My worry now is that if hubby has no income and I am not earning enough from online, where are we going to get the money to pay bills and to top with that, my tenant is leaving end of this month and we have no new tenant yet.

If I work, at least my salary can cover everything; if God bless me with the same salary before I left the workforce or more. ;) But I have to sacrifice my time with my children and I would need my mom to babysit my youngest.

Haiya, don't want to talk so much lar. Kek Sim lar. :P

I hope money would fall down from Heaven soon.

Latest News From Ex-Company

I just heard not so good news from my youngest sister about the company I was previously attached too. The girl that took over my position is my sister's good friend and she called my sister and cried due to work pressure and indifferent treatment towards her!

When I heard this, I felt pity for her. I didn't expect that things will be more difficult after I left. I was hoping that they will learn from their mistakes and be better bosses. But it seems that everything is becoming bad to worse.

You know what, the Admin Exec. is not even allowed to check the company email because the bosses said that her English is not good enough to reply emails! According to my ex-colleague (who is also my aunt), the Admin Asst. who is supposed to reply emails doesn't possessed good English either. Not up to my standard of English, she said. I find my English is very simple and straight forward! Like that hire the new york it services . Guaranteed good and professional English.

Oh ya! That Admin Asst. resigned today because she cannot stand the calculativeness of the bosses! Hah! It seems that the Admin Exec. is also planning to resign soon.

I wonder what will happened to that company. The best, call their daughters back from Australia and work for them!

Lost Data

Every company that stores a lot of important data in their computers should have data protection solutions. I still remembered when I was still working in the previous company where we lost all the data in the inventory system due to virus attack. I remembered that I took my own initiative to bring home the CPU so that I can key in again all the important data before the ISO audit. Was I appreciated for that? Was there any "Thank You"? Was I paid for the extra work? Am I still working there? Then you would know the answer to those questions. =P

Surviving without IT

In this present time and time to come, no company can survive without IT. It is the fastest way to get job done and communicate; be it in business or education. We can't escape from spending money on IT if you want to make more money.

Let's take a look at a small scale IT scenario; emails. When I was working in my previous company, I am the one who read email and reply emails besides other administrative work. Even writing emails to the boss daughter's principal is being done by yours truly.

So, when I left, they hired a Chinese educated girl. The girl that replaced me is not so internet savvy and did not possess good English. They hired her because she has some experience in ISO. They are paying her 2k a month.

So, the boss hired another girl to do that part of my job (the emailing part) and she got paid 1.8k. In total, they are paying 3.8k for 2 administrative staff to do one person's job. They have not even engage the New York IT Consulting .

And I was only asking for 3k a month before I left! In the end, they lost a good employee and they have to spend more to replace that good employee. That is the cost of being stingy. =P

Truck Driver earns 3k

Do you know that a truck driver earn more than 3k a month? The work is hard but for those who does not hold any college degree, this kind of salary is very lucrative. Even I with a Bachelor Degree, I did not earn that much when I was still working.

If you are interested, all you have to do is go for the CDL training program to obtain your truck driving license then look for a reputable transportation company to work with. Those small transport companies cannot afford to pay you that much.

De-stress with Baking

I love to bake. My favorites are muffins, cakes and pizza. To me baking is a great way for me to de-stress after a long day at work. When it comes to baking cakes and muffins, you have to experiment a few recipes to get one that you will like the best. This gives me the excitement and my mind will forget about any work stress that I went through on that day.

Picking Apples in Australia

Hubby is planning to go to Australia to pick apples. No for fun but to work there until he has enough to pay up his business loan. Meantime, yours truly will manage his business here.

The application only opens next year January. I told him to pick Queensland because Gold Coast is there and the local airline here always have cheap flight deals. Meaning, I can go visit him when I miss him terribly. =D

Mommy Bloggers went to Disney World

Two of my blogger friends just came back from Disney World. They really got money to splash. I wonder whether they get the discount Disney World tickets online. Maybe they did because they told me they did not spend so much on this trip. They even plan to go again next year!

How I wish I am in their shoes. Blessed with good employee that really takes care of their welfare. One of them can save so much every month because the car she drives provided by the company, petrol can claim, road tax & insurance and maintenance paid by the company too and lunch is provided by the company for free. She is no director or manager. She is just the Admin Exec.

If my ex-employee where to do the same, I would be joining them to Disney World already.

Debt Collection

Times are bad now and sometimes the company has to “beg” to get their customers to pay. All this so called dirty job, the lady boss will hand it to us to do. We are not a pro and most of the time our appeal fell on deaf ears. They should just hire a debt collection agency to do this job instead of us.

A day before I left office, my colleague told me that the new girl got scolded by one of the customers for calling him asking for payment. To us, this customer is a very nice soft spoken man; maybe she got him at then wrong time. He hangs up the phone the moment she asks him for payment. The new girl has the courage to redial his number; she got hang up again! On the third try, she was scolded by him; “What is wrong with you???” he said then hangs up.

The next way, the same customer called my other colleague that always liaise with him to inform her that the cheque has been posted in his gentle soft spoken voice. The new girl definitely got him at the wrong time.

This is only one incident. We encountered many other worst scenario in which we tried to delay calling the customers whenever possible.

Totally Jobless

The bomb has been dropped. The network that I am working with no longer wants to advertise in blogs and they do not want to do referrals too. That means that I am out of job.

So what now? I shall go back to full time blogging. Start a few more blogs and try to earn from Adsense and Affiliate Marketing.

DLP tv have to wait.

Moving to New York

I still have not received the email from the Boss. The next I heard they changed to new management. Another company bought over theirs. I just hope that the new management will be on my side and still continue our business relationship.

I have think crazy idea...what if the new management offer me a place in their office? I would definitely need mover NYC. But then living in US and earning in US is the same as living here and earning in RM.

I think, I'd just stay put. Don't like busy city after all. ;)

At Last I Resigned

Yes! This is my dream come true. Today is my last day at work. Being a SAHM and also getting the chance to earn income from home. Errrmmm...I am also a WAHM.

I said my Goodbyes to everyone in the company except my bosses! The MD did not come in. The lady boss left early before I get the chance to say my GoodByes.

I said my Goodbyes to my favorite customers and suppliers too. I am sure they are gonna miss me. :D

Some of them even asked whether my boss give me any farewell party or some special bonus after serving for them for 9 years. Jangan harap...Don't even dream about it.

3 Days Notice

Both my eldest and my youngest got chicken pox last Sunday; I was thinking about right away resigning because they would need at least 2 weeks to heal. That will be till end of this month. But I decided not to since I have been working there for 9 years, I do not want to leave in a rush.

Today I went to work and informed my lady boss that this Friday will be my last. This time, after 8 days away from work, she finally realised that she can do without me, so she let me go without any persuasion for me to stay.

Well, if I am bored staying at home after while, maybe I would register into a beauty school. To be a beautician has been one of my ambition since school days.