My second week here has been as fun as last week! I have been trying some new things!
Firstly, do you remember the inventory report I mentioned in a previous post? It is now my duty to maintain it and keep it up to date. Every week there are sales, refunds, and stock movements, I am able to access these reports and add all the information into my report, then this is the report everyone can refer to when they need to find information, as my report is well laid out in a very organised fashion. Thanks for helping me learn the excel tools I needed Sandy! We had another group meeting this week to discuss some information on garments, sales, and future plans, I will be sitting in these meetings from now on. Karl needed to see some information on some garments, and was able to find everything he needed in my report, he was even a little surprised! As previously he would have had to look at 2 or 3 separate reports, and some websites to see everything he needed. I felt fantastic getting praise for my work, it was really motivating. From now on the team will be using the report I have made.
After this meeting, my Chinese teacher Pan thought it would be a good idea if we went to get some lunch. Except, he was going to make me order the food. Great... We went to the MixC mall, and to a restaurant called the Grandmas Kitchen. Pan called the waitress over, then left the rest to me. He said I did very well, and ordered all the right food! Such a delicious meal, sweet and sour boneless pork ribs, fried pumpkin, fried green beans, Chinese leaves, all washed down with some nice healthy green tea. The public mustn't be very used to foreigners like me here, I deffintely attracted some attention, even caught a few people standing at my table just to get a good look at me haha.
Later in the week, Lily, Lynn and myself travelled for 3 hours in a car to see one of the warehouses where our stock is held to be delivered from. We were going down to check that our garments were of a high standard, and that the way the warehouse workers were packing them was satisfactory. I got a short tour of the area, then helped move some of the stock around. It is important in China that all important information about a product is clearly displayed, so we had to add extra stickers to the product telling the customer about the size and colour etc. There was a case recently where wal-mart, one of the largest businesses in the world, had 14 large stores shut down for 2 weeks because of an error where a piece of pork was stamped as organic when it wasn't. The amount of money this caused the company, let alone their reputation, must have been staggering. We then had to inspect and make sure that the items were packed correctly to a high standard, and after this was finished, it was time for home. I like being included in activities and tasks like this. I get to see what goes on behind the screen when someone places an order for an item. I see the numbers, how it effects a company, and now I see what happens with the middle men, that handle the items that go from A(manufacturer) to B(warehouse) to C(customer).
Before the end of the week Karl invited me into his office to tell me plans for a shop he is going to open next year, and that the success of this store will largely rely on research work that I will be spending a lot of time doing now. He explained that, he wants to sell clothing to the Chinese people, and since their style is so different, he needs to research what people buy, and when they buy it. Along with Yanti (Karl's) wife, who will provide me with links to some items that have shown to be quit popular on the taobao mall site, it will be up to us to deliver these results so that next years store can be a success. I have to take all the information about each item, as well as photos, and lay them out in an easy to see manor on another report, it feels good to finally have some real serious responsibility in such a big company.
Over the weekend it was time to relax. Karl was going to have some company over to the apartment, just a few couples and their kids, for a nice barbecue, and to see the great fireworks display to signify the end of the Hangzhou Expo, which seems to be an annual event. The company was good, Karl's cooking was great, and even though our view of the fireworks wasn't amazing, I still got to see a pretty interesting show, and have an overall good night! I had only seen some fireworks like these in old cartoons, they were coming out in shapes of stars, hearts and even smiley faces with coloured eyes! My favourite kind was a firework that when it exploded, it seemed to burst into 100 tiny lanterns, that fell through the air very slowly, they seemed to linger, float almost, and they were a very bright red. Spectacular.
So, another fun week down! I wonder what next week has in store. I am looking forward to an opportunity to go out and meet people! I will let you all know if anything big happens.
Drop me some comments, find me on skype, or email me, info in the side bar, looking forward to hearing from you!
Michael
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