Sec 3 Level CIP
I was kinda waiting to see if anyone would blog on the Viriya Flag day we had last Saturday, on 5th April, but sadly nobody wanted to, so here is my version, with Bennah, LinJin and Viet at Sembawang: (might be slightly long...)
I went to Woodlands MRT for Flag Day, and was really shocked to see so many others there from Innova JC, compared to quite a miserable no. of us... Anyway, we got into our groups- LinJin, BenNah and Me in a group. I think we/Mr Koh were/was smart, (no offense to other ppl) so we went to nearby neighbourhoods. =)
Okay, I have to refer to LinJin's blog for reference now, cant tell the difference between places. Ok, so we actually decided to go to Marsiling, and walked in one direction following the MRT track. However, after walking for about 10mins, we realised we were walking in the wrong direction... We were going to Admiralty! (maybe not so smart, lol) Okay, so fine we continued walking and reached Admiralty, realising that there were no proper shopping malls there! And then we discussed about our plans return or continue to the next station, Sembawang...Being the person that I was, I said to continue and not return, lol. Anyway the distance to Marsiling from Admiralty would surely be further then to Sembawang....plus I knew that Sembawang had a Sun Plaza or something beside it, haha. So while walking, we again realised that Sembawang was actually far from Admiralty, compared to the distances between 2 other adjacent mrt stations....ok complicated. We even saw the scene of an accident, some ppl were kaypoing and some were just talking and policemen were doing their job... Ok, so we reached Sembawang, and this was approximately, 1 hour after the whole thing started. Wow we were really fast. 1 hour into the job and we still had nothing. But we just had to have a drink, and went to Mac's then started our work. Split into 2 smaller groups, BenNah and I, LinJin and Viet, who just joined us cos he was late to report to Woodlands, but TOOK THE MRT to Sembawang! My group quickly snatched what I called prime land, lol. Referring to the space between the MRT station and Sun Plaza, and we got donations pretty fast and well, while LinJin and Viet took the other end of the MRT station, where the 'business' wasnt so good. We didnt take breaks from then on, just told ourselves to work hard! Even had to endure the rain at the linkway and the hated backsplash. People just couldnt see that my whole back was wet...but thats ok, haha. I found out the secret of getting donations, and that is to give a polite greeting and a big smile, lol. Cos people would be happy and donate too, or at least a smile in return, or okay, the worst case ever is to ignore you completely. Smiles from people and nice gestures, powered me on! I also learnt how to tell whether or not someone is likely to donate. Note that these are general observations, so they do not apply to all and no offense intended.
Signs of "No, thank you":
-Avoid eye contact
-Sharp turn when reaching you
-Gloomy face
-Hide behind others
-Hands full of bags/children
-Pushing pram/trolley etc.
Signs of "Yes":
-Smiles and comes to you
-Stands at one side while handing kids money to donate
-Purses/Wallets in hand
-Just bought something
-People who come and talk to you
-Other flag day participants, lol
-People who just bought toto/4d or wants to, more lol
Interesting moments:
1. One guy who looks like he's in JC (not doing flag day too) came to talk to us about his experience at a flag day last time, and told us about how 95% of his class were slacking while only he and a girl were doing it properly, lol. And said that we were 'considered' honest already. Hey, it wasnt like we were doing it half-heartedly! But he was very nice to us, and the first person who actually told us something instead of is telling them about the organisation.
2. A lady who walked to me and tried to take out coins from her pocket, but took out toto tickets instead, lol, revealing her true intentions...so she was too embarrassed and just went off...
3. Another lady who asked me to go to her and so I did. She donated and asked me for my bag no., saying that she wants to buy 4D with it, haha
4. Two girls who finished their duty in the morning walked past us towards Sun Plaza and donated, then when walking back towards the MRT station donated again. What generous people, lol.
5. Tried to explain in malay to a malay lady, who didnt speak english or chinese. Didnt really work, but she still donated becos of our effort! In the end the only proper malay words I spoke were "here" to tell her where to put in the money and "thank you", lols. very interesting.
6. Erm, a person who walked around in pyjamas...
Later in the day at about 5.45pm, we were joined by Alvin and ZiHeng, from Marsiling and some Innova people who BenNah said 'cut us off' from the other end of the mall, lol. But luckily we were finishing our shift, so it didnt affect us too much, I could tell that most of us were quite reluctant to leave that place, cos we all kept saying "just give out one last sticker" (=one more donation). Nearly ran out of stickers, lol, luckily I took an extra set when we left, haha. Had lots of fun doing flag day the first time, and got to see how society treats these people, haha. There are good and bad sides, but its quite real. Experienced slight sore throat, dry mouth and lips, some extreme taoing, but they were all worth it and there were certain fun things too!
Went back to Woodlands by MRT this time, and returned our donation bags. The person said something like "Woa, quite heavy ah..." when he took my bag, lols. *thick-skinned*
This was an excerpt from Jack's blog! Copyrighted! Contribute next time!
7:47 PM