My visit to NSTP yesterday brought 1001 memories. It was the place I considered as my first real job. My 2-month stint as an English teacher in Banting doesn't really count because I despised every single day I was there. And thank God I had the guts to resign and start a totally new career life, rather than simply go with the flow serving the mandatory 7 years of Government service and got complacent and ended up a bitter and couldn't care less teacher.
NSTP was a dream came true. I had wanted to work with a publishing house - specifically newspaper ever since I was 14 years old. At that young age my dream was to become a photo-journalist - to travel the world, take pictures and write stories. I was inspired by a TIME magazine Vietnam War coffee table book - I had it under my bed which I read every single night over and over again. While I was job hunting, I interviewed for a job at a radio station as a news writer and as a feature writer for a travel & arts magazine, besides NSTP.
The job I got was not as a writer but as a sub-editor or they called it editorial production. The job was to make sure the newspaper comes out the next day, by hook or by crook. And surprisingly I was made for the job, rather than as a writer, because being a Virgo, I am all for details. I managed to experience the off-stoning process where the subs need to read through the print (I can't recall on what paper), get the people at the printer to cut out the errors and paste the correct ones. Then, the process was modernized - any errors we just need to resend the amended page and check on negatives.
Of course you might have read that I almost got fired after serving there for 2 months, and surprisingly got a teeny weeny credit for it from my ex-boss named Derrik Khoo. It was not really a credit but a compliment for making a big boohoo compared to irritating small ones. Well, for the next 1 year plus, every time I become the OC and work at the printers, the uncles (who remember me) will come over and said - "So, you are the one who put the picture of Jamali Shadat on Management Times, right?". And they will laugh! Such good story to talk about during those early morning hours.
I didn't have any social life during my days there. Hubby - my boyfriend that time - was serving in Labuan. So, every time my boss LC asked who can work during weekends, I would put up my hand. And every Wednesday when we finished off-stoning early and LC told us to go home (usually after going home at 2-3am and coming back at 10am that morning), we would group together and go for a nice dinner and catch a movie. Because going home at 4-5pm is too early - we were like vampires, we couldn't stand the sun! I remember, every time I was up at the printers during weekends - usually at 1-2am - those nice uncles would tell me - "What are you doing here on a Saturday night? You should be out with your boyfriend!". And I would just grin at them :) There was this nice uncle who would collect the first print of all Sunday newspapers for the next day and give them to me to take home.
It was good 2 years there. I learned in leaps and bounds. I was blessed to have a good boss whom I learned a lot from. He was the soft spoken kind of person who will never go back home unless we have all left. Once I was still at the office at 4am being the OC, he came over, asked me when I was going back, and then went back to his office. I knew I had to go back immediately because he would be waiting for me to go back first. And he is the man who would impart his knowledge only if you ask! I knew he wanted to teach something when he called me up and reviewed my work on the newspaper but he would just point out the ones which I could improve but he would not tell me how. So I had to ask.
I left quite abruptly. I didn't tell I was leaving until the last weeks. The colleagues have become like families (we spent so much waking hours together!) and I knew I would cry if they threw me a farewell party. So, we went for farewell lunch instead, which suited me better. It was the start of a wonderful working life for me and for all of them, the ones previously from ITP - I am so much in debt to you and so very thankful.
NSTP was a dream came true. I had wanted to work with a publishing house - specifically newspaper ever since I was 14 years old. At that young age my dream was to become a photo-journalist - to travel the world, take pictures and write stories. I was inspired by a TIME magazine Vietnam War coffee table book - I had it under my bed which I read every single night over and over again. While I was job hunting, I interviewed for a job at a radio station as a news writer and as a feature writer for a travel & arts magazine, besides NSTP.
The job I got was not as a writer but as a sub-editor or they called it editorial production. The job was to make sure the newspaper comes out the next day, by hook or by crook. And surprisingly I was made for the job, rather than as a writer, because being a Virgo, I am all for details. I managed to experience the off-stoning process where the subs need to read through the print (I can't recall on what paper), get the people at the printer to cut out the errors and paste the correct ones. Then, the process was modernized - any errors we just need to resend the amended page and check on negatives.
Of course you might have read that I almost got fired after serving there for 2 months, and surprisingly got a teeny weeny credit for it from my ex-boss named Derrik Khoo. It was not really a credit but a compliment for making a big boohoo compared to irritating small ones. Well, for the next 1 year plus, every time I become the OC and work at the printers, the uncles (who remember me) will come over and said - "So, you are the one who put the picture of Jamali Shadat on Management Times, right?". And they will laugh! Such good story to talk about during those early morning hours.
I didn't have any social life during my days there. Hubby - my boyfriend that time - was serving in Labuan. So, every time my boss LC asked who can work during weekends, I would put up my hand. And every Wednesday when we finished off-stoning early and LC told us to go home (usually after going home at 2-3am and coming back at 10am that morning), we would group together and go for a nice dinner and catch a movie. Because going home at 4-5pm is too early - we were like vampires, we couldn't stand the sun! I remember, every time I was up at the printers during weekends - usually at 1-2am - those nice uncles would tell me - "What are you doing here on a Saturday night? You should be out with your boyfriend!". And I would just grin at them :) There was this nice uncle who would collect the first print of all Sunday newspapers for the next day and give them to me to take home.
It was good 2 years there. I learned in leaps and bounds. I was blessed to have a good boss whom I learned a lot from. He was the soft spoken kind of person who will never go back home unless we have all left. Once I was still at the office at 4am being the OC, he came over, asked me when I was going back, and then went back to his office. I knew I had to go back immediately because he would be waiting for me to go back first. And he is the man who would impart his knowledge only if you ask! I knew he wanted to teach something when he called me up and reviewed my work on the newspaper but he would just point out the ones which I could improve but he would not tell me how. So I had to ask.
I left quite abruptly. I didn't tell I was leaving until the last weeks. The colleagues have become like families (we spent so much waking hours together!) and I knew I would cry if they threw me a farewell party. So, we went for farewell lunch instead, which suited me better. It was the start of a wonderful working life for me and for all of them, the ones previously from ITP - I am so much in debt to you and so very thankful.
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