Crocs?! A Brand that Makes Singaporeans Crazy!!!

What was your first impression when you heard "Crocs"?
The first thing that comes up to my mind is just some kind of ugly rubber shoes with some stupid holes on it...

Russell introduced me a job at Crocs Expo Sales. I thought of rejecting it since it is customer-oriented... Thinking of handling difficult customers made me feel so sick and irritated. But since it is a Expo Sales, I think it would not be that bad. Therefore, I just sign up for it, and I did not really think that I would got shortlisted. And luckily, Russell and I are in the same department, and it is considered the most easy job: Packers...

However, Russell and I are separated because we are assigned to different cashiers. At first, I thought the group of cashiers is made up of Temp Staff like what I did at Robinsons Expo Sales years ago, but in fact it was made up of Perm Staff. Each cashier will have 2 packers. Anyway, I was assigned to Counter 7B, to a cashier named Boon Yen Yen. She is a very nice lady. My packer partner is a guy called Danny. He just graduated from Polytechnic and is currently waiting for his NS enlistment. He does not speak much, but I think only when meeting new people.

The first day is the most outrageous. Russell and I arrived at the Hall at around 8.45am on Friday. The sale would start at 10am, but there was already one damn long queue!!! If people looked at it without knowing there would be a sale, they would think that it was just a usual autograph session by a pop idol. Haha.

While waiting for the sales to start, you could already see the Perm Staff shopping for their own stuff. The most of the Temp Staff just stood at their stations watching them and waiting to welcome the customers. Yen Yen told both Danny and I that if she helped us buy we could get Special Price. Haha. But we didn't really like the shoes.

Counting down to the commencement of the sale began, and when the countdown reached 1, the first few customers ran as fast as they could!!! Literally! That also occured during Day 2 and 3... It was that crazy. I also did not imagine Singaporeans like the brand so much... But it was really cheap since the shoes prices ranged from $20-$50 on the first day.

After receiving quite a number of customers, Yen Yen introduced quite a number of designs that they picked to us. Danny and I then quite surprised to see some nice models of shoes, so Danny when to pick one for himself during lunch.

During lunch, Russell also told me that his cashier told him about the Special Staff Price. I was shocked to hear the actual price!!! (I don't think is legal to put up the price here. Sorry!) No matter what kind of shoes the Perm Staff bought at the Expo, it is one standad price for all shoes. Haha. I was quite shakened to buy some, but I really don't like the designs (Except one) and the colour combinations, so tacky and impersonal... Anyway, the meals were catered for us! So it was quite worth it to work there! The food tasted not bad either! You could even get more rice if you still hungry. Furthermore, there were also hot beverages and buns too! But I couldn't believe I would see Joshua Ang's face on the stupid Milo Tin...

After lunch, Russell and I went to look around, I found the shoes that I like. Russell told me to reserve one, but I always think twice before I buy anything. At that time, I just forget about purchase anything for there.

As night falls, the customers who came to our cashier counter started to complain that they could not find any of their sizes or colours! I was so shocked, didn't think that the response was too great... But the response was the greatest for the First Day. For the subsequent days, the responses were not as great. We actually anticipated that there would be more people on weekends that on Friday. However, that was not true. Hene, we came to the conclusion that many people thought there would be more people on the weekends, so everyone just went on Friday instead. Or those experienced customers knew that there were more stocks on the First Day, so they came on that day.

After the first day, Russell and I walked around the Hall and noticed that the Staff in charge of the Pricing started to slash the prices by $5. They said they would slash even more on the last day!!! Then, on the last day, the range actually became $5-$30. Haha! The bad thing was there were not many stocks left.

Throughout the days, you could see the Staff reserved fully loaded bags of shoes for... Not only for themselves, they also buying for their families and friends. Haha, they even got a list of personal "invoice"!

At the end of the last night, we could get ourselves a free pair of shoes. Then, I could not find any of the shoes I wanted, but luckily Russell knew what I wanted and reserved a pair for me. Haha. Thanks! But he could not get what he really wants... As Perm Staff, Yen Yen also entitled for free pairs of shoes, but she said I could pick another one and could give it to me for free! So I picked another one my brother. Thanks a lot! Danny bought some pairs of shoes too, but he don't mind paying at the lowest Expo price. Haha, nice knowing him, since we didn't exchange any phone number or facebook account, when he left, he said to me "有缘再见" .

After seeing so many people bought Crocs shoes... I could not imagine when you go out of the streets, they could be 8 out of 10 Singaporeans wearing it! And when you see people wore the same one as yours, you would feel that there is no sense of uniqueness anymore...

I have so many thoughts after working just 3 days, it was a nice experience. Better than working in Robinsons actually. So I will edit this entry whenever I remember what I have left out!