#005 Mid Valley

Several days after the "I'll take it as a challenge" conversation I had with SW, THE day came.

Today was my meeting with SW for the pre-opening discussion. I was very nervous because SW has been very strict and firm in all my prior dealings with him. He doesn't scold you or anything like that, but there's this air about him, this seriousness that makes you worry about making mistakes. But since i was "taking it as a challenge", i had no choice but to brace for impact. Hehe.

After a short conversation, it was back to business. SW handed me a New Store Opening booklet and boy was it thick. It had these time lines leading to the store opening day, some 16 weeks or so. SW was very thorough in explaining all tasks required of me for the opening. We went through the booklet page-by-page and I felt like there was this increasingly heavy boulder on my shoulders. There were requisitions to be made with Finance, discussions with Marketing, trips to the bank, site visits, looking out for a panel clinic, F& B orders to be made, small wares and packaging items to order,this and that, that and this, a follow up here, a follow up there, a budget P&L, people to hire and the list went on and on and on not even the energizer bunny can handle, let alone me. But i wasn't about to say that to SW, no sirreee...wouldn't want him to think that I'm not capable now do we. By the time we were done that day, i had this long list of things to do. SW told me (and i came to learn this act as Setting Expectations in the coming years) that he'd like me to give him an update from time to time and that he'd like to be made aware of any problems i was facing. I thought "Yeah, progress update shouldn't be a problem.....follow-ups are easy"

Boy was i wrong!

In the coming days and weeks, i had more and more conversations and updates with SW and i realised that progress updates aren't much fun. Especially when you find your self saying these a lot -

"Let me check and get back to you",

"Hmmm....I'm not very sure about that, can i check and get back to you?",

"Err....no, i have not managed to do that yet, but I'll do it soon",

"Yes, i have done the follow up with them.......they say they'll get back to me. When? err..they didn't say when",

"Yes, yes, I'm prepared for it, I'm just waiting for him to be free for us to do it".

"Oh I'm sorry, i didn't notice that"

Hahahahahahahhahahaa............it was tough. I guess i wasn't used to such detailed and hands-on coaching before this, so i found myself explaining why things are not done on time a lot. But i knew that the stakes were high and that i really need to make it work. So i shifted gears and started to get with the program - being more firm with datelines and follow up, having things documented whenever necessary (which was very often!), getting people's attention and support rather than waiting for it, etc... and then things started to work! I was getting more and more attention and support from people. My store opening assignment led me to dealing directly with partners at the SSC. That was when i first met people who later became friends and best buddies!

One of the first few partners SW introduced me to was Wei Wei, who in later years transformed into Mary, hehehehehe.....(but more on that later). She assists SW for anything and everything that is Ops. And she did it well too! Wei Wei helped me with all the office needs and then some. Little did i know that we were going to be really good friends!

Choi Ling and Yee Chin were the ones helping me to sort out all my needs for cash, coin change and petty cash. Oh yeah, there's also that 300 bucks worth of items to purchase like cleaning accessories and stuff. They too, in the coming years, became my good friends. And i should really apologize to Yee Chin for teasing her all these years about the name incident, hehehehehhehee.......tui pu chi Yee Chin! :)

And then there was Michelle, who became my good 'ol neighbour at the SSC in the years to come. Michelle was, and still is, at the time of writing the person in charge of SCCO (back then it was referred to as Purchasing....i think). She was the one who puts up the orders of small wares, packaging items and all the store equipments to Seattle. I worked well with Michelle, i liked the fact that she was direct, honest and very helpful!

I also came to know the partners i was going to work with - Angie and Uzir! I already knew Angie but i have yet to meet with Uzir, who works at #002 Bangsar. The word on the street was that although things are the same when i t comes to standards, the partners over at Bangsar have their own working style, their way of doing things that are different than what partners in KLP do. So i knew that we will need to discuss and agree on a lot of stuff even before we start to work together. And we did just that. The 3 of us agreed that when it comes to standards, there is only one way of doing it. But for things that are not standards, we will discuss the different ways each of us is accustomed to and decide, as a team, on the way that is most beneficial for us. This led to many discussions and I'm proud to say that we communicated well among us! Hats off to Uzir and Angie!!!

Soon, it was November and the store opening day was closing in fast! There were more and more things to do but i was very fortunate that SW and the people around me were always helpful, even my brother! I had to ask for his help to drive me around town for me to get the coin change needed for the store. My ex-5 bike can only carry so much :)

There were about 8 of us doing the pre-opening including SW, who were hands-on to a scary level. hahaha! After 2 days of cleaning, unpacking, calibrating and multi-tasking (am not sure i can put in Organizing in there), we were ready.

And in mid November 1999, #005 Mid Valley was open for business. YAY!!!!

(Bowing as i hold the award)......I'd like to thank my mom, and my family and my friends..........hahahah!!!!)