Kenneth's blog

I cannot list only one thing or person that has influenced my SYCEP experience. Ten Thousand Villages, my amazing co-workers, fantastic facilitators, and the SYCEP members all contributed to create a great experience. 

I honestly did not expect my co-workers to be as great as they were before I worked at Ten Thousand Villages. The last day I was there, they showed me something. It wasn’t any tangible thing, but it was just kindness. I went out to Paper Source on my lunch break to buy them a card, but on the way, I was having a crazy heart ache (2nd time in two weeks). I came back and told my co-worker Anne about it, and she just started getting worried. My following nose bleed made her even more worried. She just showed many small acts of kindness that built up to be one big one. Then the assistant manager, Carly, came in to tell me to go home early because she was freaking out too. Before I left, she gave me a little good-bye speech, telling me how I lifted her spirits when I was there. She said I always had a positive attitude and that even when she is pissed, I just turn it around. I was actually surprised to hear that, but those were the best words I have ever heard in that store. People never really get cheesy until the end of something. 

All these people have a name tag and that name tag either says “Assistant Manager” or “Manager” or “Sales Associate. But after a short amount of time, I figured out how they were each different. Anne is a frank, sweet, and independent woman who I would go to for advice or just to chat. Carly is a person of surprises despite her soft spoken voice. She is also organized and a great leader (did i mention she writes a lot of poetry???). I can always go to her when I have a rough time fabricating ideas or making decisions. Darlene, my manager, is an experienced and sweet person. She knows how to fix any difficult customers and I would go to her for any general problems that does not involve technology. Brittish is only a few years apart from me, so we clicked on right away. I would say she is pretty similar to me; moreover, she is facing the same problems and feelings. Amanda is the adorable dork who would have discussions about musicals, the Great Gatsby, or plays with me (dork has a positive connotation in my perspective). My point to all this listing is that there are few parameters in Ten Thousand Villages. I can go to any of these people with any types of problems. They have a myriad of experiences, educated minds, and great attitudes, and that really enhanced my experience at SYCEP. 

Working at Ten Thousand Villages was my first real job experience, so it taught me many new things. Through the 5 weeks so far, I've learned various skills in both retailing and life. I developed more patience, responsibility, work ethics, and a camaraderie with my co-workers. Aside from those, I also learned some solid knowledge in retailing (included inventory, cycle counts, order days, visual displays) and customer service (proper customer service etiquette, greetings, showing friendliness despite difficulties). I know this for sure will have an impact on my future academic, professional, and personal endeavors. 

Patience, responsibility, good work ethics, and friendliness are universal traits that would benefit a person through any struggles or situations. Good work ethics will allow me to be more indulged in my work and studies. It can fabricate my path to my goals. Since I never really had luck in my life, I decided I would use my own skills to reach my goals instead of waiting for something good to come to me. In college, I cannot wait for teachers to come to me, I cannot wish for the many tests to be easy, I cannot standby for scholarships to come to me, I cannot be idle for opportunities that could potentially be my career. Having work ethics to push me through life's obstacles is vital.

I value responsibility more than anything, even though it does not mean that I always have it. I sometimes slack off and push away priorities, but I am trying to improve that. Ten Thousand Villages taught my responsibility because my manager, Darlene, would give me a task and I would be obligated to do it and do it well. It would either be cycle counts, inventory, oiling wood, take care of customers, or hanging up the products to make them appealing. Every bit of life is a responsibility. In terms of career, it is my responsibility to get the job done and to do my duties. In personal terms, there is a responsibility to take care of myself and others around me. In my future academic endeavors, there is a responsibility to strive for every opportunity and to do well for the sake of myself and people who believe in me. As Lynette Scavo from Desperate Housewives said, "Half of life are obligations". It is a simple sentence but it holds much truth because sometimes, we cannot be idle and we need to take initiative and be accountable for tasks. 

Patience and friendliness are two traits that I believe are universal. I see myself as a developing peaceful person (I would use pacifist, but I'm still far from that). Developing because, and I do admit, that i can be a bit impatient and hot tempered person sometimes. I know my flaws and the only thing I can do is atone them for the sake of myself and others. But when I am at a calm state, I usually am nice and patient. These two traits are too important to not have. Sometimes, life makes you wait. College admission processes, jobs, love, whatever it is. Patience is, I believe, the trait that keeps a person going. It gives an inner peace and hope for future successes in academic, personal, and professional endeavors. In a more tangible sense, it prevents yourself from pissing people off, which leads to my next point; friendliness is also important. People do not like it when an angry grinch approaches them. A smile can someone far, which is what my co-workers Anne basically said. A smile can make a customer feel welcomed, or make a classmate willing to help you out, or make your boss have a better impression on you. I think it is the one thing that I would want and need to wear all my life. For me, I smile because I just want to; there is rarely an ulterior motive (except when I have to work with a difficult person and I just need the job done). 

Before the mock-tail event today, I was somewhat lost in terms of knowing a specific career I want to pursue. I always knew that I want to indulge in a pool of creativity and be a part of the corporate world, but there are so many options and paths that make it so easy to deviate from one direction to another. The presentation was didactic; however, talking to Mr. Horatiu Gratian Stefan was even more of an insightful experience. Hearing about his successes, opportunities, and tips about the business world facilitated my options. When people ask me, "what do you want to be", I usually just respond with, "ya know, something in the business fields, preferably marketing". Now I can confidently say that I want to work for a big company (he worked at Samsung and Ebay, which inspired me), such as Topman, Urban Outfitters, Zara, or any fashion company. 

Why just fashion companies? I've listed my main interests so far and it includes: instrumental music, human rights work (Asian American and LGBT issues), and shopping. Out of the three, I chose shopping as my biggest time spender because it is quite a hobby of mine. I believe in the fashion world, eclectic surprises and eccentric styles will just blow my mind everyday. There is always something new, something special, something creative that appears. With two passions, fashion and business, I can truly focus on my job while enjoying the luxuries it could provide. Yes, marketing could be extremely vigorous, but I believe it will be worth it at the end.

Horatiu briefed me about different fields of business; some of them terrified me, such as bank investments. 14-16 hours a day, with limited time to survive. I decided that bank investments was not the job for me. There are two types of people: one in which he would value success and career over time and personal life, and another who would value success, but also value personal luxuries. I guess I am the second one, but I haven't mustered up a concrete solution, but as I keep discovering myself, I will soon understand. Horatiu also told me about the involvement of statistics in every field. I already had a taste of that in Ten Thousand Villages. Numbers and data are vital to analyze, interpret, and change the course of the business. I'm taking AP Statistics coming this year, so it would be a good preparation. 

But behind the marketing world and corporate evils, what I would love to do after all of that is to have my own cafe. I forgot to mention that visiting cafes is literally my favorite thing. I even made a bucket list with my best friend to try at least 15 different well-known coffee shops in Philadelphia this summer. But anyways, having a homey, warm, and creative cafe is what I want to have after years of hard work. It could be a place I would just sit down and reflect or just have a friend over to chat up. I even thought of a name-- Piazzol, which is after my favorite musician, Astor Piazzolla. He is my all time favorite instrumentalist and musician. His songs have a Spanish and tango theme, which I am enamored with. They act as my shower songs, "on-my-way-to-school" songs, or pooping songs; they are always playing in the background. These dream jobs are just what I would envision my life to be if all goes right. 

"Discuss how you can develop your StrengthsQuest strengths, within and outside your work site. Your response should contain a minimum of 4 paragraphs."

In Ten Thousand Villages, communication is the key factor of working. I have to communicate with my co-workers for store improvement, communicate with customers to teach them our mission as a non-profit organization, and communicate with the store itself. What I mean by communicating with the store is that I have to understand each item and its story behind it. Not only is communication exigent in my current workplace, but also vital in any career, especially business. Daily interaction with a myriad of people is required for a progressive career and improvement. For many years, especially as a child, communication had always been problematic; however, I saw that great flaw and seek to improve on it. Talking and sharing ideas with people become a past time for me. Everyday, even outside my work-site, I communicate to self-improve as well as learn more about the ongoing world from others. 

I have always racked up some guilt if someone does not like me. I always self-evaluate and analyze my flaws and what I did wrong. I believe that is the positive factor of containing Woo in my strengths. In both careers and personal lives, constant progression is required. Winning others over also makes my life easier. Without as much difficult people, problem solving, exhalation of ideas, and processes can go through in a s smoother pace. My co-workers win others over every day; the "others" are the customers. In order to fabricate the biggest sales, they have to get the customer to like both the sales associate and the store itself. My co-workers would smile and tell them all about our perks, which usually places a good impression of the sales associate. Winning others, as i view it, may not necessarily be a good trait because it portrays a person's ulterior motive; however, it is a beneficial trait to help someone through their life and processes. 

Organization is not stressed enough in a chained retail store. Everything has order and chaos is not allowed. That is simply a must, both expected by my bosses and the customers. This week, I have been here for the first order day, which means new products come in. Some people might view it as an easy process, but there are so many rules and requirements. Each item has to be counted and marked down (there are hundreds of items), boxes needed to be evaluate to save, and items have to be shelved in an appealing way. The back room is so packed that there is barely any moving space. Without teamwork and organization, it is impossible to survive an order day a week. The "arranger" trait probably lies in every one of my co-workers, for they have to do everything in a uniform and try to commit very few to no mistakes. My manager is the epitome of a perfect arranger; everything she does is orderly, her judgment is all correct as far as i have seen, and she creates a clean and proper environment in the store.

Accountability is exigent in both the current work-sites and our future careers as a young adult; it keeps us focused and responsible, prioritizing our position in the job. I believe having accountability means having ownership in my position, and taking in a serious and passionate manner. In the past two weeks, I have grown to enjoy working at Ten Thousand Villages and that it is didactic in both skills and knowledge. My positive and willing mindset motivates me to be responsible in my work, giving the best I can offer to the store. 

In this job, I am responsible for many different tasks because there is a myriad of factors that need to be considered in a retail store. The largest one, which is customers, needs to be taken care of and observed. Since not all people are saints, people will steal. On Wednesday, my co-workers and I observe a certain customer who seemed suspicious by many factors. He came and went in the store a number times, potentially "scoping" whatever is valuable. Then he came in and had a needy and difficult attitude. From my manager's past years of experience, she could tell that he was probably a thief. Luckily, we all had our eyes peeled and served the customer and he did not try anything with the four of us. The moral of this story is to be responsible, observant and aware of my vicinity at all times because people can strike at unexpected moments. 

Another way i keep myself accountable during work hours is my tendency to always do something. Since July is one of the slowest months of the year, the store is not always booming. With that in mind, I always know that there is something to do, even if it's just a simple task. When customers are taken care of, I observe the merchandise, making sure nothing is displaced, dirty, or placed unsightly. Visuals are vital in a retail store and that is one of the prime aspects of business marketing. With an appealing look, customers would tend to buy more things. Hypothetically, everything ostensibly seems fine, then i would ask my manager and co-workers if could assist in any tasks or projects. Occasionally, they would think of something to do, whether it was to complete cycle counts (inventory), create power points of a certain theme of merchandise to display to customers, move items around, or learn more about each merchandise (since each item has its own story). 

“Describe the challenges, obstacles, and rewards of beginning work as a new employee of your work-site. How important is adaptability in transitioning into your work-site? Your response should be at least 4 paragraphs in length.”

Before I stepped into my work-site, I have already spotted an obstacle.In the vicinity of Ten Thousand Villages, there was a Starbucks, Cosi, Chipotle, and a Subway; they can be called one of my big weaknesses. But in all seriousness, working in Ten Thousand Villages is far more challenging than I had expected. Since the store has a myriad of items in 39 developing countries and over hundreds of artisan groups, it was a mouth-full to remember. The main purposes of the store is to share its mission-- the idea of Fair Trade and how it benefits developing countries and poor artisans-- and also to maintain top-notch customer service. The amount of information seemed a bit overwhelming at first because I had to read the large customer service manual and be able to identify different artisan groups, materials, countries, and sets from simply looking at the items; however, my level interest in these items and stories were able to help me through the process.

Aside from the physical challenges in my work-site, the social challenges were also numerous. Before my first day, I had numerous thoughts and conjectures of the type of co-workers I would be having. But these random guesses vanished when I met them; each one of them are all humanitarians, altruistic towards both developing countries and everyone in general. The first day was especially interesting because i got to witness a more unusual day of the year. It was one of the co-workers, Anne's 10th year working in Ten Thousand Villages. There was food and gifts galore, with wide smiles and lots of clapping. I felt a bit out of place since they were sharing their past faux pas and personal anecdotes while I was clueless, but it was great overall. The main challenge, however, did not lie in communicating with my co-workers, but mostly in the customer service. I shadowed each co-worker, observing the way they greeted and shared the story and purpose of Ten Thousand Villages. I was and still is dubious about my ability to be able to present myself as well as they did. There is a myriad of steps-- steps that were not concrete because each customer is different-- to learn. Though I am nervous about taking the step to greet customers, I am confident that I will take a big step to greet customers soon.

The process of transitioning to the work-site was interesting. In a way, it was like going to school, hanging out with mostly the same people and watching other people come and go. That was the superficial aspect of it. As I worked, I felt like I was slowly slipping into the adult life because my parents told me that now that I was working for these 6 weeks, I would have to pay for everything myself in the time duration. That means I have more responsibilities! Though it ostensibly seems like quite a lot of change, I find it invigorating and progressive. I finally found something to do that will keep me productive in the summer while learning and preparing for the future. The transition was different, but I will get used to it very soon.