What is it that you are doing?

My favourite TV channel is Discovery Travel and Living.. And, sometimes I get to watch Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservation”.. Bourdain has been slogging in a kitchen as a chef for 20 over years before he became a writer, a travel journalist, TV presenter, food critic, blah blah blah.. he is humorous and daring.. dared to try any sort of cuisine, ranging from Singapore Chili crab, Taiwanese bubble tea, Korean live squids to Ostrich egg cooked on charcoal (on the ground) in Africa… Once, I watched this episode where he went to Ghanna and there was this black boy who asked him, “What is it that you are doing?”. He was stunned by this question and did not know how to answer him instantly.. later, at and interview, he humorously said that he did not know exactly what he’s doing… haha.. how about you? What is it that you are doing?

What is it that I am doing? Or rather, what is my job scope like…?? When we went for interview we would always like to ask this question. Sometimes it might already be included in the newspaper ad.. job scope and job descriptions are not exactly the same.. job description describes your job. For example, a customer service representative answer customer’s enquiries, process orders and makes delivery. Job scope means what you should do and what you should not do.. most of the times, people confuse between these 2 terms and hence argument might arise as a result..

In Avnet, the line between these 2 terms are not drawn clearly. So, there is a lot of blurring of responsibilities. Sometimes, a customer service (CS) is doing a sales job and vice versa.. thought most of the time is CS covering sales. I feel that Avnet sales people are generally lazy people.. so most of the times, CS are doing their job for them.. why not feed them, bathe them and wipe their buttocks also.. haha.. as a sales myself, sometimes I do feel ashamed that people in my department behave like this.. luckily I am not one of them… kekez.. but I sometimes do laze around too..

So what exactly am I doing? My job title is Inside Sales Executive… the job description includes answer customer’s sales enquiries, quotations, close sales and ensure goods delivery. As an inside sales, it is the cross between a sales and a CS.. my job scope actually is blurred, because of bad management.. I shouldn’t complain here since I am quite satisfied at this moment… what is my day of work like..?? mainly checking emails, checking cost and calculating resale, keeping in mind the margin, freight, storage cost, admin cost, packing cost, transportation cost, etc… quote to customer and ensure the Purchase order is received… then I will hand over to CS for order processing.. the job is not yet finished… customer calls every now and then to check when is their goods going to be delivered.. sometimes I have to be the delivery girl for very urgent shipments.. when customer didn’t pay up, I have to chase $$ on behalf of accounts… sales job just encompass almost everything…! But I also spent a lot of time surfing net… looking for info.. these are all essential as a part of my job…

This may look blur here, this is my Inbox, you see it is rather empty.. I like to keep it clean and neat.. only leave outstanding issues in my Inbox, you can see how many there are, the rest, just archive...

this is a typical email that i sent out everyday

one of the websites i frequent...