Category: work

Summer’s over: Views on single life from movie View from the Top!

~ Emmie ~ Leave a comment

This was my first summer as a single girl in about 5 years, can you imagine? I have been in a long term relationship since then that ended early this year in the spring, and I have never looked back.  Not even once.  How is it that I have found so much comfort in being on my own, when the whole world seems to be looking for relationships and romance?  I don’t know, but the reality of it is…a relationship is a lot of work!  As women, we put so much into dating and our boyfriends, and when we think about it, how productive would we be if we were single, spent our time on ourselves, our work and career, our family and friends?  We could finally be the “super” women that is expected of us–to be everything and more.

I recently saw the movie “View from the Top” again, as it was playing TV, and I remembered why I liked it.  It was on the W Network, which is notorious for showcasing sappy rom coms that bombed with critics and viewers alike.  And the movie “View from the Top”, from 2003, was no exception.  It was a critical flop, but I actually really loved this movie many reasons: It talked about beauty, ambition–it was about a woman’s journey for love and career, and it was also pretty funny (Mike Myers was in it). Donna Jenkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) is a woman with a mission to become a flight attendant, but not just any flight attendant, but to be the best.  She has to choose between the man who loves her and her career destiny, and is back stabbed by her girl friend along the way, hence an over the top cat fight scene with Christina Applegate.  Loved it. So much fun. (**spoilers of the movie ahead, beware…)

I like the retro glam of this movie...as it seems to make reference to the hey days of flying...
I like the retro glam of this movie…as it seems to make reference to the hey days of flying…

Reasons why “View from the Top” was not a turkey: (*spoilers)

  1. It is about following your dreams. Whatever they might be. Donna wanted to be a flight attendant, and loved the glamour and worldly prestige it gave her: to be elegant, classy and well-traveled, which seemed to be the antidote of her upbringing in a trailer park in a no-where town.  Even if you have no desire to be a flight attendant, it is a metaphor to go for your dreams whatever they may be…and to be ambitious about it.

    A great scene from the movie with her gal pals as they try to get out of their small town beginnings...
    A great scene from the movie with her gal pals as they try to get out of their small town beginnings…
  2. Donna put her career before her man. Here she was, with Ted (Mark Ruffalo) telling her he was in love with her, and to stay with him in Cleveland, but she chose to go to Paris, as a first class flight attendant, because she believed it was her true calling.  She put her needs first.

    Mark Ruffalo before being the Hulk. Just the perfect boyfriend to tempt a gal to lose sight of her goals!
    Mark Ruffalo before being the Hulk. Just the perfect boyfriend to tempt a gal to lose sight of her goals!
  3. After realizing she made a mistake, Donna takes responsibility for it and fixes it.  When Donna realized she loved Ted back and had proven to herself she could be the top at what she does, only then does she go back to Ted in Cleveland, and tells him she wants to be with him.  It proves she is on her own journey, and not on his.

    When Donna finally makes it! love the perfect make-up and hair. Gone were her tacky trailer park ways.
    When Donna finally makes it! love the perfect make-up and hair. Gone were her tacky trailer park ways.
  4. Paltrow gives a great performance on the eternal struggle of beauty vs brains vs ambition and is always super pretty, whether in her hicktown get ups, or in her evolution to classy Parisian lady. Fashion and make-up wise, what more can you ask for?

    Go girl, you classy fashionista! What a gorgeous departure from how she used to look. What a make-over!
    Go girl, you classy fashionista! What a gorgeous departure from how she used to look. What a make-over!

But back to my own thoughts of my summer on my own:  I’ve loved it.  I’ve launched my company selling online cosmetics with natural ingredients: dreamecosmetics.com, spent quality time with friends and family, and have just realized how nice it is to not have a boyfriend.  To be my own person, trying to make a living, and trying to live in this world. 🙂  I am not saying that “View from the Top” was negative for making Donna need to be with Ted in conclusion (as so many people had complained). I respect all choices of women, but boy am I glad to be on my own and aiming for the top, with no regrets or desire to settle any time soon.

Is Bath and Body Works racist?

~ Emmie ~ 1 Comment
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This is me in front of the offending store. Boo!

Okay, so this entry is as political as I’ll get.  I don’t usually like playing the “race card“. It’s too done. Being the first generation of my family to be born here in Toronto, one of the most multi cultural places in the world, I haven’t really ever felt racism. I mean there were awkward times during my high school years where I didn’t fit in with the main cliques, partly do to the fact that I was a small, withdrawn Asian girl that didn’t play sports…but other than that, I’ve lived without any major discomfort due to my Chinese background.

This doesn’t mean that I’m not sensitive to it.  I am well aware of some Asian stereotypes, and I still do fight them today.  But most recently I had a brief stint working as a seasonal sales staff at Bath and Body Works.  And it was one of the worst employment experiences I’ve ever had.  I wanted to work in the cosmetics industry because it is my interest, so I went in for an interview, even though I had my reservations to work for such a big box company.  It was a group interview involving me, a busty redhead from the UK and a BBW manager that shall remain nameless.  So as I battled it out with the Brit, answering questions for this position, I realized that with my superior knowledge of the make-up industry and my retail sales experience in general, I kind of blew her out of the water.  But at the end of the interview, we both got the position.  That’s fine or is it?  It turns out that that there were only so many hours that could be doled out, so it would mean that me and the Brit would be splitting the little shifts that there was.  I worked 3 hours a week during the brief stint, barely worth getting out of bed for.

Luckily, two weeks and miserably into the position at BBW, I got a call from another make-up company ready to take me on!  I went for the interview, and it was immediate click.  They knew I knew my stuff.  And I knew I wanted to be with them.  No jumping over hurdles, battling it out with a red head, fighting over three hours shifts.  I could relax and know I got the position, because I was qualified.  I decided however to finish one more day at BBW before letting them know I was quitting.  Big mistake.  On this day, they didn’t let me talk to customers, I was put on bag duty, which is double bagging bags.  😦 Then I was sent to the back room to cut box trays.  I know this was prep for Black Friday, but I couldn’t help but feel that they didn’t appreciate me, and I finally noticed that all the front line staff that day were white.  When I looked at the next weeks’ schedule, I had only 1 on-call shift, while the new hire UK girl had gotten 2 shifts.  It had nothing to do with me being a new hire then.  What else could it have been other than race?  Hmm, I can’t prove it, but I sure felt it.  To make matters worse, they gave me a shotty knife to cut the boxes with and I ended up straining my two fore fingers, and they ended up turning numb!  For one week my fingers were numb and were not the same and even as I’m typing now, my index finger is still weird.  BBW, I truly hate thou.  The next day, I phoned in my resignation, and danced for joy, having a way better job to fall back on!  I will write more about my new job in another entry soon!

As a side note, despite what BBW did to me, don’t shop there anyways.  They could be possibly racist, but also, their products suck.  They all smell the same, and are loaded with synthetic chemicals that are junky.  You heard it from me first!

Check out the following video.  It shows that racism in the retail workplace does totally exist.

Stress will age you…

~ Emmie ~ Leave a comment
munch
You gotta love Munch’s The Scream

I’m not writing as many entries in here as I would like, the reason being that work has been a major drag as of late. I can no longer keep silent. The worst thing you can do for your skin, and your psychology is to have a draining, unfulfilling job. Women are trained to give, from childhood until adulthood then motherhood, we are expected to give…as if there were no limits to our energy, time and will. This can be problematic when fast-forward into the future, we are grey and old, our children resent us, and our husbands are looking elsewhere. We’ve given all our lives and have gotten little to no recognition.

This is also the norm in the workplace. I’ve been working retail now for many years, and I do it as a job to clock in some hours, be productive, and pay some bills. Technically, I work for fun, as my vocation and profession has always been in the Fine Arts area. But recently, I’ve been feeling more like a slave than as an agent working for fun. The terribly hip and trendy store I work in has recently gotten more and more demanding to the point of blackmailing me to work harder than I am comfortable doing for my rate of pay and my position. It’s not healthy, I am skipping breaks, and just ending the day on total energy drains…sure they want to make an extra dollar, but why should I let them on the cost of my psyche and youth? It is not worth it.

Many people are astonished by my youthful appearance.  When I get I.D.-ed for a bottle of wine, I get many responses.  My most fun one yet…the cashier looks at the year I was born, smiles, looks back at me, back at the card and he declares: “what a pleasure”.  Really.  A pleasure.  So I’m not joking when I say that I am youthful looking for my age.  Back to my point: my youthful appearance is probably not free.  My wrinkle free skin does have a limit.  And I am not going to spend another moment in an energy draining workplace for an average paycheck.  I know maybe it is my vanity that is motivating this decision  but I believe enjoying life is the secret to staying young, and it’s not too late for me to turn away from this gig.  I know that with my background and experience, I will be able to find another job in mere weeks…barely giving me enough time to win back a rosy tinted glow from a stint of unemployment rest.

To take care of your skin:

1. Drink lots of water

2. Try to avoid stress.  Don’t over work yourself to the point of exhaustion.

3. Give enough moisture to the skin: vitamin E oil, night creams…etc.

4. The use of  gentle non soap based face cleansers not more than once a day.

5.  Try using eye gels/cream.  The skin around your eyes is different from the face.

6.   Sleep-in whenever you can.

7.  Believe in something, whether it be religion, or your inner good…always aim for something that will give you happiness and hope.