it's a beautiful world. if you are hyperopic

i'm not claiming to be some big generous person. but it drives me absolutely insane when a person who clearly isn't on the brink of poverty, calculates every single penny she or he has or spends.

business is business, rules are rules, be it 10 cents, or $1000.
if customers are always right, are always king, and you are always at their mercy, then all businesses in this world will crumble and come to an end. it doesn't matter whether you are a small one-person operation like me, a medium sized SME or a large conglomerate; whether you are in the business of indie and handmade, or in the business of large scale mass-production. it will become a vicious cycle eventually. or maybe it's just me being more of a pessimist. which i am rarely.

i have learned to pick my battles over the years, and learn to be smarter when handling difficult people. i haven't perfected the art yet, i don't wish to perfect it either, because i deem the perfection of the art of completely pleasing testy customers to be the absolute end of my soul.

i prefer to retain that little belief and principles i am entitled to, so that i can live with myself. i do not need to sell my soul over that little money. maybe i am afraid of offending you, and that you may spread lies and rumors and tell everyone you know your very one-sided story. but maybe, i don't really give two hoots about it.

if i give in to you, it doesn't mean you have won the battle. it simply means, i can't be bothered to fight and that it was simply not worth my effort. it is, after all, just a few cents, which can't buy me anything in this world i live here. maybe a one-stop train ride. that's about it. i don't put money to heart. but i am very opinionated, and live by my beliefs and principles, and i have a ton of those.

a person who buys, will be on the selling side at some point, and a person who sells, will buy at some point. i believe in karma. i believe that one shall not do unto others what one does not want others do unto her/him.

i believe in being nice. playing nice. does that even exist anymore? i don't really care. if something doesn't go my way, i always give chances. my natural instinct is to empathize. to put myself in your shoes. when that doesn't work out, it means that your ways do not flow so well with what i believe in, then we are set on different paths, and i may choose to be confrontational or not, depending on the battle returns. likewise, when i choose to do it my way, and if you insist on veering me off-course, then... depending on the battle returns, i may fight, or i may choose not to.

i am truly amazed at how some small businesses are run. i could be jinxing myself here, but just look around and see how many so-called "small" businesses are still hanging around after a while. i am not claiming to be a know-it-all, but since this is essentially business... in the business of business, you are not suppose to do anything that loses $. maybe you are running a charitable organization, i don't know for sure. who am i to comment? i am after all, in the same company as you too, in etsy. which says just a tiny fraction about my conflicted feelings about etsy and it's demographic mix. for the sake of business, i choose to carry on. and take this as an unlucky day when a bird shat on my head.

or. maybe you are just like me, sticking to your own beliefs and principles. which is, choosing to fight tiny battles and to win them, to fight over a few cents, not relative to how much you earn, to stick to your guns about what you stand by. so maybe i should admire your guts. but i don't, not the slightest bit.

because i do not believe in living a life by being petty and calculative, and confrontational about those 2 things mentioned which you believe in. life is way too short and beautiful to be tainted like that. for every one person who is unhappy with me, there are always more who love me and what i do. not that it matters, but yes, unfortunately, i am only an ordinary human, and it actually does matter at least that tiny bit.

petty

1.	of little or no importance or consequence: petty grievances.

—Synonyms 1. nugatory, negligible, inconsiderable, slight. Petty, paltry, trifling, trivial apply to something that is so insignificant as to be almost unworthy of notice. Petty implies contemptible insignificance and littleness, inferiority and small worth: petty quarrels. Paltry is applied to something that is beneath one's notice, even despicable: a paltry amount. Something that is trifling is so unimportant and inconsiderable as to be practically negligible: a trifling error. Something that is trivial is slight, insignificant, and even in incongruous contrast to something that is significant or important: a trivial remark; a trivial task. 3. small. 4. stingy, miserly.

someone up there is testing my patience, yet again. did i pass the test? does it really even matter?

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add-on!
i still need retail sales personel (details below!) urgently!
25th august - 14th sept
9.45am - 9.30pm (1 hr lunch + 1 hr dinner)
1-2 shifts / flexible schedule
$6 per hours + 5% commission
temp, full-time.
in singapore! orchard location! thanks!