Business Trip (1)

This is a series of random tidbits about my recent business trip.

- Background -

Company gave business to this Singapore supplier to build us machine, paying some large sum of money.

Then company sends own employees to the supplier site to help them on validation, check, troubleshoot and debug. Pretty much doing their job for them.

So, pay the supplier to do stuff, but end up with own employees doing the work, plus having to spend extra money to fund own employees' trip to supplier site to do the job the company paid the supplier for in the first place...

Does not compute? Well, doesn't make sense to me too, but that's how it is.

Plus the company is giving more business to this supplier, given the track record. I guess mere engineer simply cannot comprehend the working of the management's mind.

Those who talk usually are not those who do the work.

And that is how I ended up in this business trip, they needed someone who doesn't talk much but is used to getting his hands dirty.

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- Ever changing plan -

Initially, the plan was two working weeks at the supplier site. Meaning two sets of five working days with weekend back home.

Then it became two working weeks plus three days. The three days in the week before the start of the initially planned two weeks.

Three days over, backed for the weekend. Said goodbye to wifey and sons as they went to the inlaw's to spend the school break. Oh well, guess it meant I won't be seeing them when I am back during the in between weekend then.

Start of the first five days stretch, got an e-mail late in the evening from those who talk. The message is simple: "stay and work through the weekend".

So instead of two five days work weeks, it's now a twelve days stretch.

...

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- Laundry at Orchard -

Having only prepared five sets of clothes, laundry became a necessity after the change of plan.

The poor man in me simply could not bring myself to use the hotel laundry service, even when the company will foot the bill. I mean, come on, such ridiculous prices!

SGD10 per t-shirt, SGD5 per underwear, SGD5 per pair of socks... 0_o

And the hotel is too high class to have a self-service laundrette, bummer.

Exercising my google-fu resulted in two nearby laundrettes on Orchard Road. I am sharing this information here for anyone who is interested for any reason.

In the basement of CentrePoint is a laundrette named Laundry Club (not very creative is it?), it opens from 10:30 to 20:30 hours and charges SGD6 per kilogram of clothes. There is a minimum of 5kg so basically it's at least SGD30 per wash.

I ended up using the service of another laundrette called Laundry Day (seriously these people need to be more creative...), which is located in Cuppage Plaza. Business hours are 10:00 to 19:00 weekdays, 10:00 to 18:00 Saturday. Cost is SGD4 per kg, minimum of SGD12 (3kg).

This information is of course only up to date as of early June 2011.

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to be continued...