Titles of a longer length release will be marked with (LL) at the back of it’s title. (LL) titles span between 2-4 releases. The longer length allows for better character development and more detailed scenes for build up.
James start work in a high end confinement centre. With prices starting at 50000 a month, most people are priced out of this premium service. It was a place reserved for the elites, and elites, as James slowly come to discover, have rather special and unique requirements when it comes to ‘services’
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Having worked as a facility manager for more than 5 years in a large mall in town, i felt it was time to move on. There was barely any career progression with the mall and the $150 increment a year is barely making a difference to my salary in this period of high inflation.
Everytime i raised the subject of a raise with my boss, he tells me the department is not given enough budget to do so.
Sounds like he’s being mean but i know he’s also struggling, he gets the same increment as me by the building owner. If not for the fact that his wife is a banker and he didn’t need the money, he would have moved on before i did.
I tendered my resignation even before sending out resumes.
It was a dumb move but i was mentally exhausted and i’m sick of the office politics withshit stirring colleagues. So i took a one month break, travelling to China and Thailand. I remember the day when i landed at Changi, i got a call from a contractor. I’ve been working with Steven for a couple of years, he’s a nice hardworking guy. Small, 3 man company but he helped me fixed a lot of stuff while i was working with the mall.
He knew i was on the lookout for opportunities and he called me with a ‘lobang’.
Steven : James…i’m doing some electrical work for this place…i think they are looking for a facility manager…they ask if i have someone in mind to recommend. you interested or not?
James : oh…which mall?
Steven : Oh, it’s not a shopping mall…
James : I don’t want to do Condos ah, dealing with the residents will die one…hahha
Steven : No…no..it’s not…it’s actually a…you know…confinement centre.
James: Confinement centre?
Steven : Ya…you know …those high end place, do until like resort for those rich people to rest and recuperate after giving birth…
James: oh…i see…that’s interesting…
Steven : You keen? I can pass your contact along. Then you go sort out the rest…
James: yeah sure…thanks man…
Steven: ok…
Now i didn’t think too much about it, it’s just a recommendation. No one is going to get a job purely through recommendation unless it’s my father’s company and my mother is the one recommending.
Tio bo? You agree?
So while doing my laundry the next day, i never expect the call to come so soon.
Hector : Is this James?
James: Speaking…
Hector : This is Hector…i’m from J confinement…i got your contact from Steven..
James: Oh hi…
I stopped what i was doing and spent the next 20 minutes talking to Hector. He’s the CEO of the centre and they have just began operations. He was upfront, they had a centre manager initially, but he suffered a stroke and he’s in no condition to work. They needed someone urgently, which is why they begun asking around for managers who were available to start work in short notices.
James: I see…i see..i hope he gets well soon.
Hector : I think it’s going to be tough, he fell and sort of broke his ribs too…anyway, he’s still on company payroll and insurance. all is good, we will probably transfer him to another role once he gets better…
James : THat’s good to know…
We spent some time talking about job specifics, they needed someone who could not only manage the building, but someone with experience running interior renovation works as well. He also needs to have the usual certification, fire safety manager, business continuity planning and what not.
It’s like you try to enter a RPG game last minute and heading to the tavern to try and get a character with half the spells and armor already equipped.
Hector is lucky, i have the experience, and most important of all, he likes me even over the phone. He’s spoke to a couple of guys before me and they were either not communicating clearly, or lack the necessary experiences.
Hector : The renovation part is important, We have clients, usually high networth individual, they want to make adjustments to the rooms before moving in…we have a small in house team of 4, carpenters and metal workers and electrician, they will all be under you if you get the role.
James : ah…i see…sounds…good…
All in all, i thought the chat well rather well, but i still need to go down for a formal interview.
A date was set and i was to head down 2 days later to meet Hector face to face.
The details for the interview was sent to my phone.
First thing i did was to google for the building. It was located within an industrial area, i didn’t even knew such a building existed. Google map exterior wasn’t impressive, just a tired looking building sitting alongside other tired looking building.
However, the moment i approach the gate, i began to notice the subtle difference.
Differences that were deliberately engineered, to make the building not stand out.
Vehicle entry was restricted, usually you get one of those ERP barriers, but here, it’s different. It’s a full electronic sliding gate. The heavy duty type too.
On the floor, painted the same colour as the concrete road, crash barriers.
Tons of solid steel, ready to spring up to stop any vehicles thinking of entering the confinement centre without permission.
I’ve installed stuff like these before on site, and it was done only because Singapore was hosting some important international forum at the hotel next door. Our mall had no choice but to start doing stuff like these for security measures.
Security guards inside the booth were not your usual retiree uncle collecting CPF payments every month. Surrounded by an array of screens, they checked me in, scanned my IC, and even took my phone,putting it in a special locker and giving me the key like i’m visiting some onsen in Japan.
I walk towards the dusty concrete building in front of me, wondering what kind of confinement centre this was.
The sliding glass door opened and i realised the 1st set of doors, just led to a security check. I’m talking airport grade stuff complete with 3 guards waving warn, checking your belongings on x-ray machine.
That 15m passage way then led me to he 2nd set of sliding doors.
I walked towards it, holding my breath.
My ears picked up the hiss of hydraulics as the panel slid open and my jaws literally dropped.
Inside that tired looking building, is a whole different world altogether.
Coming soon