Two meaningful calls

 Assalamualaikum & Hi,

Today at work, I made phone calls as usual. However there were 2 calls that really means a lot to me & really touched my heart.

1st call - I promoted some medicine to the doctor and he made some purchase with me. Towards the end of call;

Dr : "Happy celebrating raya with your friends, husband, children & family, Adlina!"

A: "Dr, I'm still single, no children yet, will celebrate raya with my family in my hometown :)"

Dr: "Haaa, you're single? How come a sweet girl with a nice voice like you still single?" (Dr never heard me sing, if he did, he probably will ask me to shut my mouth haha)

A: *smile awkwardly on the phone* "Not sure Dr, Dr pray la I will find a good man to marry"

Dr: "Come here to clinic, I recommend guys for you haha. By the way how old are you Adlina? Maybe I can ask around"

A: "27 years old Dr"

Dr: "Aaaaa still very young, Adlina. No worries, if any good man come here, I recommend some to you"

I don't expect my doctors to say that kind of things. But the kind thoughts he had really made me go awww thanks doctor you're so nice. The fact that I lived in KL & he's in Perak, but he still think of finding someone for me.

2nd call - while making other calls, suddenly another doctor called my phone. She wanted to place some orders & checking some stuffs with me. Then she had patients, so she said she will call back. So total time she called me in between was around three times. We talked about a lot of medicines, she placed orders & I also managed to penetrate some medicine she never purchased before. At the end of the call,

Dr: "Anyway Adlina, where are you located at?" (the doctor is in Johor)

A: "I'm based in HQ in KL Dr, that's why I called Dr every month instead of visiting clinic"

Dr: "Aaah I see, whenever you're around do come here, Adlina. It's nice talking to you. Thank you so much for bearing with me & help me to check everything. I check a lot of item with you" (I was speechless already at this time because a doctor said this to a normal girl like me)

A: "Sure Dr, no problem. I like it if Dr ask me, I can learn a lot from Dr. If Dr come to KL also do tell me, maybe I can meet Dr too.

Dr: "Hopefully Adlina, really hope can see you too"

A: *remember 1 item that Dr might purchase, so the conversation continues in the end Dr buy another item*

Some days, I got scolded. Some days, I don't know what to talk about. Everyday there's always new things I learn & enjoy. But today was a special day because there were memorable moments with me & my doctors beyond doing business. And these were things I will always remember especially during lows.

My bosses always told me to build good rapports with doctors & purchasers whether they buy from you or not. If they didn't buy today, they will buy one day. But you have to treat them well for them to remember the company & you especially. Because any company can sell medicine, but not everyone can give a great service & be an amazing salesperson.

To many more good rapports & more sales.

Till then,

Adlina.

A perfect call

Assalamualaikum & Hi,

I was on the train to go back to my hometown. It's 2am & suddenly I felt like writing this after waking up from my sleep. 

Today I had a session with my supervisor to analyse my performance. We used to have these kind of sessions back then when I started work. After my performances getting stable & all of us were getting busier, we kind of stopped doing this. 

Nevertheless, April & May will be a little bit harder for us, so perhaps that's why I was called for this session.

My performance was still on track & my work progress still okay. However, every time I walked into this room to discuss about my work, I was always amazed by how there's always and always something to talk about & improvised. Previous posts I've written already included the summaries of our conversations during these sessions (click here)

Like today, we talked about the calls I've made. 

1) Talking speed

When my supervisor played few of my calls, there were a lot of things I realized. I talked quite fast. Talking face to face & on the phone were so different. I thought I conveyed the information clearly but I was not. On the phone, we have to speak the words clearly 1 by 1 for the customers to capture the information we shared through our voices. We're not present in front of them but we have to make sure the way we talked were like we're sitting beside them. That's what I have improved since my first call back in August, but still need to improvise now for better customer experiences.

 

2) Monotonous 

The highlight of the review was most of my calls were monotonous. This was something new for me to realize & learn. When we listened to the calls, there were in 1 tone, lack of emotions & I was playing it safe in conveying the information. We hear some other successful calls and I was amazed on how they contained so much emotions according to what they're talking about, excitement to share information & the way to initiate buying signals from customers.

Sometimes, you being so happy & putting your emotions similar as in customer shoes will build their trust in you. That's something I will need to focus on starting from now.

3) Follow up service

Starting from day 1 making calls, my bosses already told me to have probing with customers on anything from what they liked, how was their days & etc. But as usual, I was playing it safe. Usually I will call to follow up on stocks availability, share promotions & told any additional information. Sometimes if I already called for all of these on previous month, I will feel I don't know what to talk about in this month conversation.

One thing my supervisor highlighted today - to follow up on our service. I never even once called to ask our customers regarding their shopping experience with us by call, if through WhatsApp I had always done it. Thus, this was definitely a keypoint I need to remember.

In summary, there were still a lot of room of improvements I need to make for me to reach that perfect call. 

Another thing that was highlighted - sales was not only about money. It's mostly about satisfaction & happiness in doing your job. I realized that since day I went for interview, but now I felt it stronger. Money will make you stable & comfortable. But passion & purpose were what will make you happy & excited to do this repetitive gestures in your job.

Second thing, I just want to share was today I was sent to meet vendor to test something for my department. I went to the meeting room where I used to have my SL1M training back then. 

It kind of made me felt nostalgic because this nobody girl who was just a trainee that didn't get the opportunity to shine, finally be back in the same room now given a chance to be a part of decision that will make a difference in the company.

 

I shall remember today for these two memorable things; a great review session & realising how far I've been since before.

To many more making good changes in life :)

Look at how far we've become

But I'll never forget where I came from

Till then,

Adlina

3am thoughts

Assalamualaikum & Hi,

It's almost 3am while I was writing this and I couldn't sleep. Just finished eating Maggi Kari & had a long hot shower to refresh myself. I had a lot of things on my mind & here's the only safe space for me to rant.

Life has been both good & bad. The good part was fine. But the bad part was quite hard for me to digest. 

Few months ago, I met someone who's seemed fine too me. Of course I put boundaries & kept space for suspicious thoughts to be safe. However it turned out this person was lying to me. Things I have doubt for turned out to be correct. I was relieved that God showed me truth more feeling hurt. In fact I felt I wasn't hurt at all. I was just glad.

Unfortunately, few weeks after that, I was struck by thoughts that made me cried for days. It was, how could a person lied that way, especially to someone who's honest & sincere to open her heart? How could you fake yourself for someone who's ready to learn to accept you? How could you use someone to fill the empty spaces in your life while the other person wanted to make you a part of her life? How could you caused someone's light to be dimmed by decieving her? How..just how could you? 

It's be better to be rejected than being lied to because at least you're being true to yourself.

I never knew I was hurt until someone splurged to me about this which made me reflected on this. It was me who trusted people so easily and I wasn't careful enough. But how could I have mistrust people if I wanted to get to know them? I was in deep pain crying for days. The pain was not on the surface, but deeper at the bottom of my heart which I failed to see. I was told I was no longer on fire for work. My fire started to extinguish. I didn't show much passion at work. I realized that too. I noticed I just do things for the sake of doing it instead of being excited to learn like I always do. That's when I started to realized I should stop feeling whatever I was feeling because it could affect my current life. The last time I felt similarly this way, I moved to a new city, and that's something I didn't want to do.

As I was writing this, my tears just couldn't keep flowing. I couldn't contain the pain of keep meeting the wrong people. Despite everything that happened, I still have the courage to be brave to give chance to others. That's the something in me nobody could steal - perseverance. I kept telling myself whenever things didn't go my way, generally in all aspects in life;

"There's so many exciting adventures ahead you'll never see if you give up now"

I kept praying to God, please, please..lead me to people with sincere & honest heart with good intentions the way I have in my heart & mind. Now, I wanted to focus being my better self because you'll attract people with the same energy. I also need to find back my burning fire I used to have back then. I was one of diamonds of the season before, I have to be one again. Most importantly, I must learn to surrender my heart to God & accept whatever he has in store for me wholeheartedly.

No pain can't be cured, no heart can't be healed, no life can't be better - as long as you give a chance for it, no matter how hard & bad things you've faced. You'll appreciate the sweetness of success later :)

p/s: I really felt so much better after writing this. And it's 3am plus now so, I felt really sleepy already. Good night readers, sleep well. And please pray everything will be better for me. I wanted to glow & shine the way I always do :)

Till then,

The sappy Adlina.

My Sunway memories - The Sunway City

Assalamualaikum and Hi,

Back to my Sunway series stuffs (lol this is not a TV show sis haha). Sunway is one the places that have many memories I will always remember thus this city deserved a separate post from me.

• Sunway Pyramid

What is Sunway without the heart of the city, one of my favourite malls in Malaysia - the Sunway Pyramid. 

If I didn't have any class or anything to do at university, you definitely could find me here. It's like my second home already. I usually came here with friends or even alone. My favourite thing to do here of course food hunting! When I first came to Selangor, at that time there's not so many franchise restaurants in Kedah yet. So coming here means I want to try everything. Among the things I loved to eat during earlier days were The Kenny Roger's Roasters. Then over the years followed by Sushi King, DubuYo & many more. There were times during degree years, I often went to Sunway Pyramid with Husna, Along & Nina. We finished our assignments & studied there  till late night. I remembered it will always be The Coffee Bean or McDonalds.

I only went to ice skating once, using student rate which was RM10 at that time. I had fun but I remembered I fell more times that I actually skate. I loved to sit at the pavilion or stairs (don't know what it's called) in between Sunway Pyramid & Sunway Lagoon to see the nice views. What more I loved about this place? Popular bookstore! I always went there whenever I craved to touch books. Sometimes I also sat down & read before deciding to buy. Most of the times I didn't because I was a broke student. But I will buy whenever I have book vouchers given by the government. Ah, another thing I loved doing was going to Aeon & bought clothes on discounts. I loved the bread at Aeon too! I still remember there was time I wanted to buy bread but allowance money was not transfered yet so I just waved good bye to the delicious fluffy bread. I always went to watch movies at the cinema early mornings because the price was just RM7 back then. Whenever blockbuster movies came out I'll be the first one to watch. If nobody wanted to go I usually went alone.

This mall really has a special place in my heart; bought my first pair of shoes with my own money here, gathered with my family & friends here and graduated here also. Every corner of Sunway Pyramid had a piece of my memories.

It's been almost 3 years I haven't been there. And I don't think I should go at the moment because the memories there were too strong for me to build new memories because I always reminisce the old good times whenever I went there. Never mind, my favourite mall now is KLCC hahaha.

• Shuttle bus

In Sunway, there was a shuttle bus that will cover some places in Sunway. I couldn't remember all location but it covered Sunway Pyramid, Sunway University and Monash University which I always went. 

I remembered I usually took this bus after classes back in my Foundation year. At that time I lived in Sunway Monash Residence located in Monash University. So I will wait at the bus stop in front of Sunway College and the bus will send us back home.

Sometimes when I wanted to go to Sunway Pyramid on weekends I will use this Shuttle bus too. There's one time I throw something at the bus because they left me when it didn't stop to pick me when I waited already for almost half an hour.

• Canopy walk

Besides the shuttle bus, there are other ways to travel in Sunway. It's the Canopy walk which connected to same places that the shuttle bus travelled. My first option to go to college or Sunway Pyramid was always Canopy walk if I have the energy to walk or gave up waiting for the bus. The walk was very long, I don't know how long but very long lah. But when you usually walked there you will know it's not that long. And you can enjoy the Sunway view especially when you passed by the Sunway Lagoon.

Even on this canopy walk, I have so many memories. One of them was, there's this one night I went to Sunway Pyramid my friends during foundation year. It was so late and we're so tired. So we decided to wait for the shuttle bus. After waiting for 1 hour, the bus still didn't come. In the end, we decided to walk through the canopy walk which took only 15 minutes for us to arrive home which we might arrived earlier if we walk at first. 

• Sunway Lagoon 

Sunway Lagoon is one of the top places to visit in Malaysia, but I only went there on my final year of study. There's one time we went to Sunway Putra Mall and there's a booth promoting Sunway Lagoon. They have package for unlimited access to Sunway Lagoon for the price RM150/6 months or RM200/year. The difference was just RM50 but since we're finishing our studies in less than a year, and we're students which technically means we're also broke, we decided to take the 6 months package only. 

ANDDDDD it was the best decision ever! Why no one told me Sunway Lagoon was so nice?! It's sad that I only went there in my final year. If I discovered the package earlier, I probably will went there like everyday. The ticket itself costed RM100++ so if you bought the package and went twice, it's nice already. But I went there, 6 TIMES! Hahahaha. Twice with friends, twice alone just because I wanted to ride the roller coaster and another two times I couldn't remember. 

My favourites were (so hard to describe, I went to the website to find the names) the Vuvuezela, the Spongebob Monsoon 360, the flying fox, the pirate ship, the roller coaster ride & the ferris wheel.

Hopefully one day I can bring my family here like I used to promise before.

Thank you Sunway for being a part of me for 4 years :)

Read more about my life in Sunway during foundation and degree here

Till then,

Adlina

My Sunway Memories - Graduation Day

Assalamualaikum & Hi,

I still have so many Sunway drafts to post but I maybe I skipped all that for this one as yesterday marked my 5th year of graduation anniversary!

I looked back at all the pictures to take the mood to write this & everything still feel like just happened yesterday. I completed my study in December 2016 & the graduation only happened in April 2017. It's been 5 years so let me squeeze my brain to remember back what happened on that memorable day.

My family never went to Selangor together, complete the 9 of us. One of my biggest dreams was to bring to them to Selangor on my graduation day. I also have the thought to treat my siblings to Sunway Lagoon, but at that time I was still unemployed, so I was kind of broke, I had to let go that dream. I don't remember whether I contribute the money for this trip, but if I didn't then my parents paid for all of it. 

I went to Selangor few days earlier to settle some stuffs & met my friends. Couldn't remember I went there by train or car haha. After looking back at the pictures, I saw that I went to KLCC with my Monash peeps & Tuwa. We ate dimsum at our favourite place too, Minimax Restaurant. I also went to Monash with Nina to take some documents and we took some pictures around the university.

On Friday, my family came by car with my grandmothers also. We stayed in homestay at Residensi Laguna, where I used to stay for 3 years. I was so excited to show them around the apartment where there was a swimming pool where you can see pretty view. We bought some groceries and cooked together. At night, I took my siblings & my father to Sunway Pyramid to show them my favourite mall where I always go whenever I have free time. I brought them to my favourite desserts place, Snowflake! I saw they enjoyed their time here.

On the morning of my graduation day, we decided to go to the hotel by Grab because it's easier than to find parking. Before going to the hotel, we had a quick stop at my alma mater because I want my family to see where I studied. We took some pictures here. As we left the university, my heart felt heavy a bit knowing I need to let go this phase.  After that we booked Grab again to the hotel. There were so many people that day. My session was in the evening. Only three people can go into the hall so my parents & Tuwa went inside. My grandmothers & siblings sat in another room which was less crowded where a big screen was provided.

I went the hall at 1.30pm and got seated before the ceremony started at 2.00pm. It started with some speech and then proceeded with giving the degree certificate. The event with The School of Medicine first then followed my school, which was School of Science. I was very nervous when it's my turn only because I was afraid if I tripped and fell down. But it was just fine hehe.

The ceremony was proceeded with speech from the invited speaker which was Dr Amar Singh. He talked about making changes in the society. Some of the main points from his speech were;

Three changes that are required for us to make a difference in the society

1) Discover ourselves 

2) Discover what is meaningful to do

3) Build sustainability

He elaborated that points which were too lengthy if I wanted to write all of them here, you can watch it here (click at 2:13:55). After his speech, it was the end of ceremony. Before that, all of the graduates were asked to stand up & turned back to the audience to thank everyone who had been with us throughout this journey. At this part, I teared up a bit especially when I saw my parents waved at me. I couldn't do this without them, never in my life.

We then walked out of the hall, and here came my favourite part, eating the good food! I always loved going to Monash graduation day because they served us with food from 5 star hotel hahaha. I met my friends, their parents, basically a lot of people. It's nice catching up with everyone. Then I took studio photo with my family (which was so expensive by the way, but in any event, photos will be what remained forever, so please don't hesitate to spend for good photos).

We went back to the homestay and refreshed ourselves. At night, my relatives came from KL & we had dinner together. I was so happy seeing my very big family gathered. My family did not travel much back then because there were so many of us, but furthering my studies here brought so many opportunities for me to get to know them. That was something I did for my mom, because she always asked me to do so, but I was so happy doing that to strengthen bonds between families.

The day after we went back to Kedah. I took the train with my grandparents and the rest of us went back by car. It was a really good time & I was so so happy to celebrate this special day with my loved ones.

In summary,

Graduation day felt like wedding day. Although I never experience that yet, I'm sure it felt that way. It's one of the busiest days of your life yet also the most beautiful one too. You put on your best dress, the happiest smile, walk in your highest heels & said thanks to everyone who congratulated you. You met you friends who struggled & went through it all with you from day 1. Your family will be smiling from ear to ear feeling so overjoyed for what you have achieved. And you, will feel so grateful to God for making this day happened for you to witness all these amazing moments.

At the end of the day, you'll be so so tired like you never felt before. But you knew you made everyone proud, especially yourself. The moment you walked on that stage & took the scroll, all the memories of everything in 4 years suddenly replayed on your mind. "You made it, I'm proud of you", that's what your heart will tell you.

This day was just a celebration day. After that day, that's when your real life started. It's not going to be easy from here. The road ahead will be bumpy & have so many obstacles. But just like how you managed to graduate despite all the difficulties you faced, you will get through this life too. Students always think graduating means it's the end of all the hard things you faced in university yet it's the only the beginning of everything.

We always want to reach the ending of every chapter, little did we know, life is the continuous stories, one that will always relate to each other. After 5 years, when I was writing this, I have been through a lot in life. But coming back to my graduation day, listening to the speech from Dr Amar, had made me realize, it's gonna be okay. It will always be okay. It's just a matter of time.

Despite whatever that will happen, never ever give up. There are many uncountable ways for you to figure out life. You will be fine as long a you don't give up. My life motto now is;

"There's so many exciting adventures ahead you'll never see if you give up now"

Cheers to living life with adventures, peace & purpose!

Till then, 

Adlina.

Friends forever ok?

Anak MARA from School of Science class of 2017

Me with my grandmothers

The magnificent seven

I hope I made them proud

Forever "Ancora Imparo" (always learning)

It took 4 years to wear this robe

"The reality starts now"

2022: The long March stories

Assalamualaikum and Hi,

It's March alreadyyyy! 2022 definitely flew faster than we thought. I couldn't barely breathe because there's a lot of things going on. 

Let's start with the first week. I didn't go back to my hometown because there was rising in Covid cases.

WEEK 1: I took a day off on Friday because my lovely cute Mama came to KL. & she surprised us by bringing Muadz. We visited my fairy godmother, Aunty Nija & her family. May Allah keep you & your family safe, my dragon godmother. In the evening we accompanied the newlyweds to pickup their new car. It was a good day with unplanned events, but it's definitely one of the best days in my life 😊 

Spend my Saturday following my Mama to her college reunion. Felt sentimental seeing how they've been friends since they're 18 and now already 50++. & of course I become Mama's personal photographer hahaha. Made friends with her friends too ❤️ I love being friends with older people because got many advices!

I ended my Saturday spending my time with family at KLCC. The view at night was so beautiful so we decided to have a graduation photoshoot with the newlyweds since we can't attend their convocation day. It was a very tiring day where I felt why I always make myself tired like this but it's fun to be productive so I'll do it again the following day & also every week. On a side note I really wish the whole family can come here. 

The next morning, I brought them to Kfry for the first time! We went to Cold Storage KLCC and found the best healthiest ice cream I've ever ate. Had quick lunch with Mak Long and fam at my fav sushi place, Nippon Sushi before sending them home at KL Sentral to take the ETS & me going back to my home too.

WEEK 2: I went back to Kedah with the newlyweds. We had a day trip to Penang to surprise Mukhlis for his 19th birthday & also took a family photo for the Tuwa & Alizul's convocation day since 4 of us couldn't attend their big day. Quick trip to Queensbay to eat the famous chili pan mee, visited my grandmother (also kidnapped her to follow us back) & went home to Kedah again. Then I went back to KL already. Adlina Maisarah & rushing weekends were very inseparable. Both work & life are demanding but squeezing time for them in between is always the right thing to do 😁

WEEK 3: Mama came to KL again for work but this time she brought Mahirah. I went to the hotel she's staying at after coming back from office by train. Stayed with her for the rest of the week while work from hotel. Treated them with so many good good as Mahirah had so very long list of food she wanted to try. After sending them at the airport on Friday, I went back to the newlyweds' home. Planned to stay until night only but ended up being there the whole weekend. I went home on Sunday by train.

WEEK 4: Suddenly got Covid out of nowhere (but I was always on the move so maybe got infected from the places I went). The symptoms started with my throat felt itchy like there's something inside, followed by on off fever & then only just sore throat. 

Post covid effect; easily felt very tired, sometimes felt a little bit out of breath & hungryyy like I want teh ais or apple juice all the time. I was always busy going somewhere on every weekend since January so being still at home for 1 week not meeting anyone & staying in the room really made me felt a little bit suffocating. Luckily I was still able to work from home so it kept me occupied from being bored & overthinking. Maybe Allah wanted me to rest a little, spend some time with Him, have some self reflection on myself & read more instead of going out a lot hehe (finished 1 & half book). Alhamdulillah it's all good now, fully recovered. May Allah protect all of us from harmful diseases & keep us in good health :)

This week also, I found out about something that kind of broke me apart. Had a tough time recovering both Covid & healing. Nevertheless I was so so proud of myself to always trusting my guts & knew my worth

WEEK 5: After all that happened, I needed an escape. Texted Husna on Monday & she said let's go for staycation. We booked hotel on Tuesday, and check-in on Thursday. Took a day off on Thursday and staycation for 1 day.

Before meeting Husna, I went to Jalan Masjid India to finally signed my car loan. While waiting for the car dealer to come, I changed my old debit card & ended up restructuring my ASBF too. Good deal by the way because now the interest rate were lower.

Then took Grab to meet Husna at the hotel. The experience deserved to be written on another post.

On Friday of 1st April, I had 3 hours online meetings in the morning. We checked out during lunch, continue working at cafes in KLCC & spend time roaming around KLCC. After dinner, we watched the water fountain at the lake & this time they had nice musical show. My heart melted when they played My Heart Will Go On. We departed after that. Since it's late I went to my sister's home instead of mine. The day after she brought me to her friend's restaurant. We ate the best Nasi Kerabu ever! Then the newlyweds send me home.

At night, we welcome Ramadhan for this year. After 2 years of celebrating one whole month of Ramadhan at Kedah in 2020 & 2021, this year will be the first time being away from my family again. Alhamdulillah still can perform tarawih prayers with the residents here. I know I'll be fine either way but I did cried a bit because I miss the moments with my family. 

May everything in Ramadhan this year will be eased & blessed.

May all the prayers we wished for will be granted. I have a lot of wishes but the biggest one would be to find & settle down with the right person this year. To anyone reading this, please pray this one will come true. Aminn.

As for Ramadhan goals, I have series of mini goals I wanted to complete on weekly basis.

To the best Ramadhan ever!

Till then,

Adlina 

The first quarter of 2022

Assalamualaikum & Hi,

This quarter was about hustling for work & having adventures with loved ones.

I was either at the laptop screen analysing data to find sales, squeezing my brain to digest so many science terms to talk to doctors, replying whatsapp & making calls, 

or bringing my laptop bag & luggage everywhere on the car & train, sometimes while reading books, to many different places. It was of course tiring & exhausting but at the same time still fulfilling & fun.

A lot weird things happened too. Some which I couldn't even digest why.

Things I learned this season:

• No matter how brave you are, you're still a girl - & you should be more careful as you never know what danger lies ahead.

• Put limitations in trusting people no matter how kind how big their promises. It's not wrong to trust but have some boundaries because you'll never know when & how they will break it. At least it'll not make you shatter too much & not losing the grip of yourself.

• Nobody's perfect - no matter how perfect you see them on surface. Everybody makes mistakes & deserves forgiveness but not everyone can get 2nd chance. Some things are meant to just pass by.

• Never settle for less, despite how demanding people might say you are. Because no matter what, you know that you deserve the best for yourself.

• The more you love yourself, the tighter you'll hold on & nothing can break you apart (except God) no matter what circumstances lies ahead.

May next quarters ahead will be filled with more beautiful memories & dreams that will come true.

At work

Always on the move

Till then,

Adlina