The 3 short months being at the "helm" of the restaurant has been an educational, enriching, frustrating, enlightening and truly awakening experience for me personally. When I first laid eyes on this restaurant, it was just a red-bricked structure with no roof and no water in the man-made pond. After months of elbow grease, I saw it morph into this popular "semi-dining" restaurant thats already been featured in The Edge, The Star, Sur la Terre and Citta Bella, not forgetting a short NTV7 slot. Not bad for a 3 month old place I might add.
Throughout this short time, I saw the extremes in human behaviour: people who gave selective and manipulative advice to satisfy their own greed, brotherly love and respect from my staff who I plucked from their simple backgrounds, true friendship and camaraderie from those closest to me, and blatant betrayal and back-stabbing from some whom I've wrongly placed so much trust in. After some reflection, most of the blame lies with my overly friendly nature and partly on my own disorganised nature which I will need to address immediately.
After months of tolerating humiliating personal attacks from the powers-that-be, and gross insubordination that was openly condoned by the same "powers-that-be", I had no choice but to work up enough courage to seek out greener pastures. Sham beat me to it and left in April 09, so I ended up alone to face the full brunt of these attacks. Then Sham called to remind me of a conversation we had a few weeks back about an investor looking to grow their restaurant and catering business.
Well, to cut a long story short, Sham will lay the groundwork and get everything ready for the outlet to beopened by late-June 09. As soon as I join in early June, work on the menu, renovation, staffing, marketing etc can start. As for the rewards, it'll be on a profit sharing basis, where the investors provides the platform/hardware, and whatever business we make, the profit is shared equally between them and us.
So finally, after slogging for years, both Sham and I will get to run our own business (so to speak), where we have full control on all decisions, and best of all, there's no limit to the kind of money we stand to make from this restaurant as well as the catering arm. At the end of the day, at least both of us have the same dreams, that is to leave a legacy for our kids, as well as to be financially independent.
One things for sure, this is finally the break I've been praying so hard for all these months, and I'm gonna do everything it takes to make this new venture into a profitable one for our investors, Sham and I, as well as the team.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
My Life as of the 29th May 2009
Well, it has been a hectic 3 months since the restaurant openend, and my inactivity on the blog front says it all. Hell, I've only had time to update some pictures onto my Facebook account, apart from replying to the odd e-mail. Anyhow, here's an up-date of my simple life as of the weekend of the 29th May 09.
It was my maid's off day this week, and with Azie having a couple of interviews with her candidates the whole Saturday, it leaves me no choice but to take leave today to be with my mother. Ever since her knee surgeries, and the numerous drugs given to her over the past months, I have a sneaky feeling that some of them has done more harm than good. I'm no doctor, but I think some medicines contained steroids that has resulted in Mak becoming paranoid, especially if she's left alone. She'll have her panic attacks which will be broadcast throughout the whole country, and I'll start getting concerned calls from aunts and uncles telling me to look into it...
So anyway, the day was spent with me having a rare breakfast with Mak, a simple one of toast with peanut butter and jam.At least I managed to catch up on family gossip and who's marrying who etc etc. After breakfast, its the papers to readup on the Jaya Supermarket crash, where Syed Idid's car got some un-wanted bullet holes in the bodywork. It must be said that I truly miss the leisurely morning routine with the papers and the girls climbing all over me....
After lunch, I put the girls to bed and after they've entered dreamland, it's the laptop for some serious Facebooking. After uploading some old photos, it's replying and deleting close to 200 emails dating back to the Cretaceous Period when dinosaurs still ate nothing but Roti Tissue and Kari Kosong at the local mamak stall....
After Maghrib prayers, a simple dinner was in order and after some TV time it's bedtime for the girls. After the grumblings and small tantrums, I managed to bundle the girls into the bedroom and put them to sleep after much cudling and rocking. Looking at them sleep in the dim light, my love and affection for them grows stronger and made me even more determined to make a better life for me and my family, insyallah
It was my maid's off day this week, and with Azie having a couple of interviews with her candidates the whole Saturday, it leaves me no choice but to take leave today to be with my mother. Ever since her knee surgeries, and the numerous drugs given to her over the past months, I have a sneaky feeling that some of them has done more harm than good. I'm no doctor, but I think some medicines contained steroids that has resulted in Mak becoming paranoid, especially if she's left alone. She'll have her panic attacks which will be broadcast throughout the whole country, and I'll start getting concerned calls from aunts and uncles telling me to look into it...
So anyway, the day was spent with me having a rare breakfast with Mak, a simple one of toast with peanut butter and jam.At least I managed to catch up on family gossip and who's marrying who etc etc. After breakfast, its the papers to readup on the Jaya Supermarket crash, where Syed Idid's car got some un-wanted bullet holes in the bodywork. It must be said that I truly miss the leisurely morning routine with the papers and the girls climbing all over me....
After lunch, I put the girls to bed and after they've entered dreamland, it's the laptop for some serious Facebooking. After uploading some old photos, it's replying and deleting close to 200 emails dating back to the Cretaceous Period when dinosaurs still ate nothing but Roti Tissue and Kari Kosong at the local mamak stall....
After Maghrib prayers, a simple dinner was in order and after some TV time it's bedtime for the girls. After the grumblings and small tantrums, I managed to bundle the girls into the bedroom and put them to sleep after much cudling and rocking. Looking at them sleep in the dim light, my love and affection for them grows stronger and made me even more determined to make a better life for me and my family, insyallah
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