When I Grow Up

Life is full of surprises.

Never in my entire life have I ever envisioned myself to be a secretary/PA.

Never ever.

In my growing up years, in the midst of searching for myself, my ambition included many professions like:

- A teacher.
Yes you can stop puking now. I love to teach, and I think knowledge is a wonderful gift to pass on. However, this ambition soon died after I discovered my extreme distaste for children. They are, to me, as pesty as those eeky cockroaches at times. It is perhaps a good thing that I turned down a job as a childcare centre teacher a couple of years back. Those imps really freaked me out. -shudders-

- A bank teller.
Surprise surprise. As a child, I've always been very impressed with their poise and confidence with dollars and cents. Thinking back, perhaps this stems from the fact that I need my toes and dogs' paws to count whenever numbers go beyond 10. Maths teachers have never liked me much and I don't really give a shit since English teachers adore me year after year.

- A writer/author
Nothing to ooh-ahh about since this is what I do best. Of course, this is the only ambition that makes sense. Am looking to publish a book someday..... -twiddles thumb-

- Visual Merchandiser
What can I say? I live and breathe creativity (minus the bank teller part of course). My stylist moments are just about as enjoyable as my writing one. Oh, how I miss it!

- Scriptwriter
Most Singaporean shows can bore a perfectly healthy person to his/her grave. I don't know what's with the scriptwriters in Mediacorp really, specifically those writing for Chinese channels. Thank god for cable TV.

- Songwriter/Poet/Copywriter
I had candy thoughts of seeing my works published and recognised until I realised I have a problem showing them to others. Too private lah. My babies are all so perfect in my eyes that I swear I will rip out the thumping heart of the person who dares insult them unconstructively. So there goes my dream. For now.

And now, what am I?

A Coordinator/Secretary/Personal Assistant all rolled into one humble package. The freaking most disorganised person on Earth is doing filing now for God's sakes. Geez, to think the only thing I thought I would file in my life is divorce.

I remember not too long ago, my sister and I were having a conversation about admin jobs. My little naive sister has great ambition to join the workforce as an admin person in time to come which scared me pretty bad.

After all, aren't ambitions supposed to include jobs which are oh-so-glam and oh-so-cool?

"Can you have higher aspirations?" I chided her, glad that our mother wasn't around to hear that she is paying through her nose for my admin-wannabe-sister's education. "I mean, admin is so not a great ambition."

"Why not?" my sister defended. "You get to sit around, looking pretty and ta-da, you get your paycheck."

Well, for a 13 year old she sure got a point there.

After all, isn't this what many people think? That admin is really a super sinang job which burns about as much brain cells as sleeping. I thought that way too and was horrified when my sis even dared to suggest admin jobs for me.

I am really not an admin person, this I know from the start. If I don't drown in paperwork, I'll die of boredom. Either way, its not a pretty way to leave the face of Earth.

Life is hilarious. In a funny twist of events, I landed myself in an administrative kinda job. For the first time in my life, I am at the beck and call of my boss as well as 10 other people (i am not their PA but they don't seem to get the point.)

So now, if you have problems with your paycheck, go ask Mel. If you have problems getting your certificates, go hammer Mel. If you need an appointment to see the boss, go beg Mel. If you need your documents signed, go pester Mel.

Mel. Mel. Mel.

She'll handle everything, from your annual leave, to your appointments, to your vehicle's registration in your condo's carpark.

I am like a mother, just short of breastfeeding all of them.

In my days working in this line where I never thought I would be, it has been a learning journey. And my biggest lesson so far is opening my eyes to the world of administration. No doubt, it is almost as boring as I predicted (creativity is the last word to be associated with it) but its no less demeaning.

In fact, it is not a job any Tom, Dick, Harry can handle as opposed to the common misconception. This job requires quite a specific set of skills and personality for a job well done and not many people are up to par (read: me!!!! Enough of the paperwork already!!!!)

And so, I hereby give a salute to everyone who does administrative jobs for a living, whether you are a PA, secretary, coordinator, admin asst etc. Kudos to all of you!