Work Chronicles

Day 9 of work: Was involved in the once a month mama store today. Each month, the nursing home tries to organize a mama store, selling food from outside to the residents of the home. So today was really fun! Went out just before lunch to collect and purchase the food from different places. We placed bulk orders at bengawan solo, chong pang market and admiralty market. Boss drove us all around for this shopping trip. Some of the items we bought include can drinks, nasi lemak, queh from bengawan solo, barbequed pork slice, ondeh ondeh, curry puffs and prawn crackers. At first I was thinking: hmm arent these all unhealthy food? Most of the residents are either post stroke or are suffering from diabetes, arent we harming them?

Then I quickly realised. Most are in their 70s and 80s, it's okay to have such indulgences once a month. Afterall, the food in the home is kind of bland. Besides that, most residents look forward to it. I guess it's okay because it makes them happy. Mama store opens at 2.30 pm and we even had a push cart kind of booth. It was really hectic when it started because there was a little jam. Most of them were wheelchair bound, so when one takes a longer time to select the food items he wants, the others at the back will get jammed. Then some residents cut queue too! Some didnt have money so we had to take their thumb prints, then after that deduct from their accounts. So it was a little chaotic at first. Some wanna pay, some cut queue, some turned back and wanted to add more food items, some no money. Some wanted chilli for their chwee kueh. Hahaha. It was chaotic, but fun! I was in charge of the cashier and as I wasnt familiar with e prices of the food items, i had to keep on referring to my list which had the prices written next to it. Then I panicked when I saw the queue forming. Hahah.. It ended around 3.15 pm, then we packed up and went back to office. Into my second week of work. So far so good. I get the sense of achievement and satisfaction when the residents remember me and they call out to me. It really made me feel good when some of them asked if I am coming back tmr, or the day after. Simple things like greeting those old folks daily brings joy to me. I might still not be able to remember their names, but I do remember their faces. I definitely love my job (I hope I still say this weeks into the job haha).