CORP TEA 🍵: i quit my FIRST FT within 2 months…😐

⚠️ 𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐓𝐇𝐘 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐀𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃 ⚠️

i’d like to preface that a lot of things happen internally & not every situation i’ve spoke about here is the reason i quit. this is a ramble post - feel free to skip!

i got to know of this company during my poly intern days, they are the kinds that collab w schools to provide opportunities for students

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company’s BG—they’re a local SME, total head count is <10

- husband-wife boss team: 2

- fashion/product (design) team: 3

- marketing team: 2.5 - i’ll explain why there’s a 0.5 below

- ops/e-commerce team: 5-6

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𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐃

it was a 3 month internship, for a marketing intern role. during which i had another course mate from the same course! we both got the role & another batch mate from the fashion course that joined the design team. the other 2 were already friends due to CCA & i’m glad i got to be acquainted with them. during the seemingly short 3 months, it was hell. it felt like 30 months instead. firstly, when we started the internship they were already moving office so we had to pack up 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐂𝐊𝐒 & 𝐔𝐍𝐏𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐄. as if it’s not tiring enough, the lady boss decided to have a 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐄. so we had to organize the stocks that she wants to have for the sale into the atrium event clothing push cart (𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑤) IDK WHAT’S THE NAME FOR IT 🤡

so for the first 2 weeks it was nothing design/marketing-related just pure labour from stocks (𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑎 𝑓𝑒𝑤 𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 1-2 𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑠)

after the whole hoohaa of moving & warehouse sale ended, we finally got to do proper works in proper environment (𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎 𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑦 & 𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑙), even got a proper photo studio. despite the nice interior the office has, i felt like everything was so stressful. there was 2 seniors on the marketing team, let’s name them 𝐒 & 𝐘. being a marketing intern, we had to do product shoot/gift sets > edit (𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑒𝑡𝑐) + shoot videos for promo/paid ads + come up w marketing strategies for IG post/stories/FB ads & other ad-hoc tasks too. the other intern & i also came up with a new concept for gift sets apart from the normal gift sets they had

i feel like the lady boss had lots of ideas but only via visualization & speech LOL “i want something like this” or “i want something to give off this vibes” blablabla. the 3 of us interns even said they dw to have FT position here even if they offered one LMAO it sucks so bad, we can’t wait to get out. for sure there’s other situations that build up to this. in addition, the 3 of us (interns) used to hang out w the old ops/e-commerce crews during lunch as we relate to e/o a lot bc of this company ☠️ 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐎𝐍𝐄 from the old ops team quit & i’ve heard story along the way where some people quit too

after it ended the company offered me a FT position but it wasn’t inclined as i alrd felt so suffocating during intern…why would i wanna work here as a 9-6 lol

𝐅𝐔𝐋𝐋-𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐃

graduating @ 23 definitely feels old. i did not went on a job search immediately as i wanted to have a good rest after completing my studies. fast forward a few months later ⏩ the companies that i felt interested in & applied to—didn’t response. i waited & waited, decided to reach out to my intern company again to see if they’re hiring for the same position they offered previously—it was my last choice. i did so as i felt like i was lacking behind—don’t even have a proper career @ age 25 & little to no savings. so i’ve decided to kickstart my adulting life after accepting the role, almost the same responsibilities as intern, just. 𝑴𝑶𝑹𝑬.

some changes were:

1. Y staff moved over to ops/e-commerce as the bosses felt like she shined there more & that aspect needed help

2. only S was left on the team before i hopped in. but Y also worked on 𝐁𝐎𝐓𝐇 ops & marketing (𝑖𝑓 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑒𝑑) hence why it’s 2.5 pax (𝑆 + 𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 + 𝑌) for marketing team

before i started, we chat a mini chat/interview again for both the husband-wife boss to get to “understand” me on why i decided to reach out again. they also said my position was to assist in S as a marketing junior

the first few weeks was great as i felt like i’ve the know-how of some tasks alrd. however more tasks piled upon me as i realized i’ve to almost do everything myself while S had to handle planning-related stuff for an upcoming event. luckily during that time, i was glad i had the knowledge. having 2 staff on a team, 𝐈𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐀 𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐌 (imo). i’ve to do e-newsletters, shoot, edit (𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑠/𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑜𝑠), even animate sometimes. basically every task i do requires 𝐀 𝐋𝐎𝐓 of time such as drafting, designing, unpacking of products & putting it back into warehouse area. but they think that everything is so easy? 🤡 i feel like i’m doing 2-3 people’s work. the micromanaging is also high-key annoying…sometimes there’s photoshoot images that’s 𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐘𝐘 𝐓𝐎𝐎 𝐃𝐄𝐄𝐏 into the google drive & it also takes time to find the desirable images for said content…

after a month, S handed in her resignation as she has been there for a few years. little did i know, i’ll be handling almost everything on the marketing team myself (𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑜𝑟 𝑌) - & so it became a 1.5 pax “team”…more like a 1-man dept lol i’ve to learn the handover tasks as well as craft out new ideas for videos/ads/new products + said tasks mentioned previously. it was so overwhelming, i started questioning my job & if i really wanted to build my career here. with that, bosses also mention that these are only handover tasks, don’t see where the stress is coming from. after all, they have not given me a “proper project” to handle yet. on top of my FT job, i was also occasionally help my parents to design promotional posters/banners for the business. i felt really stress as design takes time & by the time i reach home, i 𝐃𝐎 𝐍𝐎𝐓 wish to touch any design-related works & only had ~2.5-3H to myself before K.O-ing 💤 i know i sound selfish & i really wanted to help my parents out but i just didn’t have the energy 🪫 to do so…

i did question myself every morning on the bus commute, to the point i overthink it for a few weeks, close to a month…i had even had trouble sleeping for most nights, or even dreamt of work…wtf 💢 i consulted 𝗺𝘆 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀, 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿, 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴-𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀, 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 & 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗱𝗶𝘁 & 𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗻𝟴, to see if what i’ve felt was common. well, indeed it is. if u’ve read my previous post, after breaking down multiple times i decided to quit. the “singaporean dream” & the rat race is just #NotForMe 😭 i definitely cherished the opportunity, but i just can’t take it. call me weak if u must, but i do not wish to sacrifice myself in this stupid corporate ladder that i have no intention of climbing 🥲

if u read til here, thank u for reading my rambles 🥸

#adulting #AdultingWoes #CareerJourney #adultingdiaries #adultingishard #Lemon8SG #MyLemon8Journey #MyLemon8Diary #MyPOV