The Singapore Airlines A380 has 471 seats in three classes: the New Economy Class, the New Business Class and the New Singapore Airlines Suites, "a class beyond first" exclusively available on this aircraft.
The Airbus A380 is designed to carry up to 800 passengers, but Singapore Airlines has configured seats for a comfortable 471 passengers on board the world's largest commercial airplane.
I took this video while on the Airbus A380's first flight (ever, in history). I was on the second leg of the world's first A380 flight, which is on its way back from Sydney to Singapore. This is an exclusive flight not available for purchase on their ticketing system. You have to bid with contributions to charities to be part of this historical experience. And when you do, you get to sip on $700 bottle 1997 Dom Perignon Rose, be served by onboard celebrity chefs from Australia & Singapore who will personally make sure your airline food is as good as it is on land, and get up close and personal with the CEO of SQ (Mr Chew Choon Seng), who will thank you in person.
I have found that the Business Class service and product offered on the A380 to be exactly if not very similar to the one already launched on the airline's Boeing 777-ER's business class. The seats are said to be exactly the same. So if you've traveled on the new Business Class on these aircrafts, there is nothing new or surprising about the services here. Bummer... so if you're expecting to be wow-ed upon entering the aircraft, you'll be disappointed.
While the first class offers cabin suites... and double beds if you combine two together, it's rather claustrophobic, as each compartment resembles a cable car compartment, equipped with an ottoman. It offers privacy... and if you're ready to pay for it, it's worth the money. Especially since the Business Class consists of 60 seats, separated into two cabins. Making Business Class cabins a little bit noisier, busier and less private than you'd expect. My point is that, if you make the plane bigger, I expect privacy and comfort a big concern.
People who pay this kind of money do not expect to wait 10 minutes for the service to serve the front to the back of the Business Class cabin. They don't expect too many people chit chatting away, clanking on cutlery, walking to the toilet or worse, a symphony of snores from snoozers on the flatbeds. So, the A380 is actually no improvement in those terms over the Boeing 777 offerings.
The economy class... well, there's the new USB port offered on every seat. Plus, upgraded entertainment services (which I experienced to be slow and unreliable, even on its first flight... as it froze and needed a reset).
The pitch is good, and the seat is decent in Economy class... the LCD screen is huge and very un-economy class like.
Sorry, the is no grand staircase, no bar, no gym, no shower, no Starbucks inside the A380 like the promo videos and early artist impressions of the interior. It may be arresting to look at from the outside, but it's business as usual in the inside. Don't expect to be wow-ed by the Airbus A380 beyond its mammoth size from the outside.
To be honest, I'm more excited about the Boeing Dreamliner. It will run quieter, more fuel efficient, more comfortable, built mainly of state-of-the-art composite materials and decked with features that is centered on improving the flying experience, instead of chasing pure passenger numbers like Airbus did.
Had a wonderful dinner at Basilico in Regent Hotel. The tortellini with parmesan, in mushroom and truffle sauce ($30) was an absolute delight. The dish that everyone seems to talk about, but with much dissatisfaction, is the risotto alla pugliese ($31). It is a pretty good risotto. Perhaps after some bad online reviews and such , basilico has buckled up their signature dish.
I was not told what risotto it was until I tried a small spoonful of it. I could immediately taste the scallops and seafood. However, the chunks of seafood were a little lacking in taste. The sauce is magnificent, the taste of the ingredient, unfortunately is not.
So, basilico at regent hotel in Singapore gets an above average rating from me. I would say "recommended" if only the menu was more comprehensive. There are only six pasta choices. For an Italian restaurant, that's unforgivable. And I am a big fan of Italian food...
So I went for my second interview with Geox in Singapore today. The first interview was with a lady called "Miss C". Nice lady, it was pretty much a regular interview with her. No drama. It went well for both parties, from my point of view.
The person who interviewed me the second time was a pompous prick, a person who seems to have sentiments that Malaysians are lesser beings. This 'director', let's give him the name "Mr G" (is a fool by any other name btw). Conducts the interview in a brash, partisan tone. I am a mature, I would say pretty intelligible person. I know how the world works. I know that the world isn't always nice. I understand it's not your duty to make interviews pleasant, but you didn't have to be condescending and disrespectful. As an interview is a perfect opportunity for a person to know your company better, and for the interviewer to find out more about the candidate - a mutual discovery of each other, it never pays to play the "superiority" card. And what I've gathered here is that Geox Singapore or Opticsflair (the holding company) is led by a closed minded, prejudiced and shameful bunch of bigots in shirts and ties.
I would hate to transcribe the exact 40-mins interview into a long, long post. But here are some of the abridged examples of what went on...
Pompous Director: So do you have any retail experience?
Kenny T: As I have explained to Miss C before. I had some retail experience on an ad hoc basis in the past. I've worked in *** and *** and *** company during the holidays when I was studying...
Pompous Director: *raised eyebrow* *laugh* *shaking his head* That must have been like what 10 years ago?!!
Kenny T: ... in college. Yea, I suppose you can say about 8 years ago.
(he laughed in my face, discounting the fact that I have a bachelor's degree and other skills to offer)
Pompous Director: *shakes his head* *looks at me in a patronizing manner* We don't consider that experience.
Kenny T: Mmm. Ok.
Pompous Director: So what kind of articles do you write for the magazine?
Kenny T: I write mainly articles relating to technology, driving and sometimes lifestyle articles that touch on fashion, travel, food or entertainment.
Pompous Director: ...and this is all in Malaysia? *smirk*
Kenny T: Yes.
Pompous Director: Why don't you write for Singaporean publications?
Kenny T: Because I am currently looking to start a career in marketing instead of publishing. I think it's time for me to make the next step and move away from writing because my true passion is in marketing and fashion.
Pompous Director: *looking disinterested*
Kenny T: ???
All this is hard to explain in a dialogue because not everything happens in a turn-to-turn basis. But his expression was really awkward throughout the interview. He spoke in a condescending tone. Showed facial expressions that borders on disbelief and disinterested. At some point during the interview, I had to explain why I couldn't write as much articles when I am in Singapore. Duh, I am not physically in KL. So I gave the example of the Accor group contacting me recently about the possibility of a hospitality review. He asked me "Accor who?". I was thinking like you know Accor Hotels? Hello?! Mercure? Sofitel? Ibis? Novotel? Club Med? After I explained that it was a hotel chain... he still didn't know what Accor was. What a complete...
He then went on to ask question that seemed to verify the authenticity of my history. Peppering the interview with questions that backtrack to information I've said before and asking "I thought you said...such and such?" "I thought you have close family friends here?"... "Who are they?"... "I thought you had family friends here, why are you staying with a friend?" It's like I came from my mum womb, do you think I should climb back in there? Can't a man live anywhere he wants? I don't react adversely to these questions, I am quite indifferent with any of the personal questions in an interview... but if you think I am a Malaysian, therefore I am a liar... then you must really have serious issues.
Kenny T: If I may ask, what are my career advancement opportunities within the company, should I accept this job?
Pompous Director: We are not the civil service. We don't offer a clear hierarchy. Firstly you must be willing to do bla bla bla... We do not offer job advancements but you must first prove your worth before we can further add responsibilities to your job scope.
(FYI, Mr G, added responsibilities is not a career advancement)
Kenny T: Ok. I see. I do belief that every job or every task needs to have somewhat of a destination. In case I was driving, I would also need to know roughly where the destination is, so I can put down the speed of which to drive and what to expect from the journey. I think it's important for a person to have goals and ambitions within a company. The reason I asked is because I was wondering what is the outline of a brand executive's potential achievements, within the company?
Pompous Director: We can't just simply promote you. And the speed of promotion depends on how well you contribute to the company... bla bla bla.
Kenny T: Oh, the speed I mentioned was metaphorically speaking. But what I meant to ask was, what exactly will I be looking at potentially achieving, optimistically, in say 10 years time.
Pompous Director: Perhaps, if you do your job well... assistant brand manager. And consequently brand manager.
Kenny T: (this information I could only obtain after her went rhetoric for 10 mins) Ok...
At a different point of the interview, I asked Mr G what was the common problem related to the retail side of the business because he said that I will be handling the problems at the stores... I asked him "is one of the problems - store theft?" He looked at me puzzled and laughed like I was asking an idiotic question. He later answered the question but not without making me feel like a fool. Was that necessary? Really.
Kenny T: I believe this job requires a fair bit of traveling between stores and etc. Will there be any transportation allowance provided by the company?
Pompous Director: Nope. Basically the package is it. That's all you get.
Kenny T: ???
Ok, so this is a job with very little career advancement opportunity. I get it, it's a dead end job. I had a problem with this interview at various points because :
1. The pay is going to be peanuts.
2. No transportation allowance at all? Even if I were to be extra super duper frugal, I would still need to take the MRT to get to the stores everyday?
3. No career advancement opportunities
4. The director whom the Brand Executive reports to is a dick
5. Misleading advertising
The other problem I have with this company is that it advertised that it was looking for Brand Executives. You see, from his explanation during the interview, they are actually looking for someone who can work at the Geox stores nationwide in Singapore after 4:30pm and the peak hours during weekends. Mr G said "you can't just visit the stores for 30 minutes. You have to be at the floor selling the product with the sales assistants. And help out during the crucial hours of closing time. You need to be at the shops selling the shoes too". That plus, doing stock count at the warehouse and the stores. Inventory checks, sales projections, making sure the products arrive on time and handling complaints.
I have no problem with stress, tight deadlines and crazy hours ( I did work as an account executive at an ad agency before) but GEOX is looking for a store supervisor, not a Brand Executive. They have knowingly and with intent to mislead, embellished the job title! Even Miss C admitted that they are looking for someone to fulfill the responsibilities of a store supervisor. Then why the hell glam it up to Brand Executive? This falls under MISLEADING (recruitment) advertising!
The other question is... Do you think nobody would notice when they come for the interview?
The 5 GEOX boutiques in Singapore do not have store supervisors. They do however ask the current 2 "Brand Executives" to go around the stores to manage them on a day-to-day basis. They are looking to add one more, which is where my interview comes in. Yea, if I knew you were looking for a retail supervisor, I wouldn't have applied, you dum-dum! Geez, I hate misleading ads. Not only have you wasted my time... I gave you my time so you can ridicule me. WTF! And to add salt to the injury, he seems to have undermined all my "Malaysian" work experience and achievements as frivolous and unworthy of his Singaporean presence.
I am not an egomaniac or arrogant prick, I always enter an interview room with a smile, humility, honesty and positive attitude. I don't think interviews are fun, nor are they meant to be... but I understand that we must both get comfortable quickly and have a healthy discourse if we are to truly uncover whether the potential employer and employee are a good fit for each other.
It's unfortunate that this interviewer does not understand the concept.
Note: I can't believe I rushed back from my Jakarta trip for this.
