STB Training

It’s been a while since my last update. I was busy & tired with the stupid attachment at the Singapore Visitors Centre. Yes, besides the dumb training I had to attend in mid-Feb, I had to do 20 hrs of attachment at the SVC. And it’s UNPAID!! It’s a total waste of time. I certainly didn’t enjoy the experience there.

Let me tell u why…Firstly the job there wasn’t very relevant. Most visitors at SVC drop by to ask for directions to specific places, with only a few asking for suggested itinerary. Directions to places in Singapore will seldom be asked at the Expo. I mean, who would bother how to get to the Night Safari when one’s in Japan. People there will be more curious about the exhibits and things they can do in Spore, rite?And the majority of visitors who went to the SVC were Europeans. How to practice conversing with Japanese visitors then? Even when there were some Japanese, they chose to converse with us in English instead despite us trying to converse in Japanese. Is our Japanese so bad that they would rather struggle with us in English?

And there weren’t many visitors during my 20 hrs there. We just stand there talking among ourselves, reading & re-reading the same set of brochures to kill time. What a waste of time!What irritated me most was the staff at the SVC. Some of them were so “ya-ya” ~ think they are so good… in particular the guides’ leader… a 50 yr old male guide…The day he came on duty, he told us off in the morning. I don’t know what his problem is. He’s such a pain in the a**.

First he accused us of not greeting the visitors, to which we denied, so he said it’s not loud enough.Next he started talking about his experience as a guide, being in-charge of the guides there, that he didn’t want us to bring down the name of the SVC. And he claimed his team of guides was approached to work at the Expo, but the deal was dropped because their demand for salary of at least S$2000 was not met, that they were being offered $1600 only. We are only getting $1000, so what’s he trying to say? Hint that we are cheap substitutes for them? All 4 of us there were very pissed off with him.

That same night, the in-charge from Pico Art called to ask me about what that guide said to us. And he tried to re-assure me that we are not substitutes, and not to be demoralized by it. He apparently called the other guy on duty about it too. One of gals had complained this to her frd who wasn’t on duty, and her frd told the in-charge about it, and he actually went down to the centre to talk to the gal on the very evening coz she was on full day shift. The next day that guide seemed all out to pick on that poor gal. Disgusting!

On our last day we thanked the female guide who had been so very nice to us for the past few sessions, and waved goodbye to the rest, except to that pain in the a** male guide.I’m so glad the attachment’s over. The female guide told us to work hard at the Expo, so that we can get a good testimonial from STB, and work in STB in the future, or at the SVC. Good advice, but NO THANKS to STB-related work!