Shangri-la Hotel KL: A Whole New World

Besides a HR manager, I was interviewed by two gentlemen to get hired by Shangri-la Hotel Kuala Lumpur - the gorgeous five star hotel in the heart of KL.

One was a Japanese senior sales manager, Yawata-san, who was tall and smart looking man in thirties. He looked at my CV and told me that the guest service officer was already hired and no available position. But there is one as a sales executive.

I was surprised because I never thought of doing sales. As I had a few part-time jobs in restaurants and hotels before I went to US, so that doing guest service would be easy to start. But Yawata-san told me that I would earn a lot more as a sales executive than a guest service officer. With less than 1000USD in possession, I had no choice but to try this new opportunity.

Then Yawata-san asked about my expected salary. I wrote RM1,800, which all my Malaysian friends said it was a good amount to start as a new graduate. He asked me I was sure I meant it in RM, not USD. I said yes. Then he said, "This is too low and you will soon realise you earn so much less than other Japanese in town. You should start from RM2,500."

In 1994, 1USD was equal to 2.5RM. So it was around USD1,000 per month, but as prices are much lower in Malaysia and I was grateful for such a good offer.

I also met the Director of Marketing, Richard Myer, who was from Canada. He seemed to be impressed with my CV, not because of the contents but the format, and asked me if I really wrote it myself.

On the same day of interview, I got a job in Shangri-la Hotel as a new sales executive.

Although a sales executive is the lowest position in the sales and marketing department, it was a part of management team and various benefits were offered. As there was no uniform and had to buy own suits to work, the laundry of own clothes was free. Free meals at the staff canteen and 50% discount in all the restaurants in the hotel. And to experience the hotel itself, the new management staff was told to stay in a guest room one night. Everything was more than I would have asked for.

After the interview I came home and told my boyfriend what happened. He was happy for me and very surprised that I was offered such good terms.

At that time we rented a room in a very shabby apartment in the very convenient location with his female cousin, her boyfriend, and other people. It was behind another five star hotel called Istana, and it cost us only 200RM per month. But there was no air conditioning (again) and no hot water (again). My living condition was still at the bottom, but I did not mind. I knew that was a start line and the journey was just about to begin.

To start working in the five star hotel, I had to buy a few sets of suits, a bag, a business card case, cosmetics, proper shoes etc. There was Isetan, a Japanese department store, in Kuala Lumpur, and I bought most of them there using last USD I had. I had to choose everything as less expensive as possible.

I remember the first day at work. I was taken to the sales department, and given a desk in a cubical. I loved working there - all nicely air cond and beautiful furniture in corridors and lobby. Nicely dressed guests and staff were walking around. It was so much better than staying at home which was constantly hot and uncomfortable.

Yawata-san, my now immediate boss, took me to Nadaman for lunch a few times a week. Nadaman is an exclusive Japanese restaurant in the hotel where I would not go there if he doesn't buy me or had no staff discount. It was really a whole new world to me.

In this new fancy environment, I worked and worked so happily until my boyfriend complained that I worked too hard.

I went to the office before 8am to avoid the horrible traffic jam, and came home often after 11pm. After my boyfriend left his home, where all he wanted to do was to please his parents, he became sweet and caring to me again. Though he could go home so much earlier, he always came to the hotel to pick me up after work and cooked for me at home.

But by that time, I could not forget how he treated me in Kedah when I had no one to rely on. I started having distrust in him that he would always give priority to his parents over me.

So, working in the hotel long hours gave me a good excuse to have some distance from him, and this accelerated me to work even harder. And this made my bosses happy too.

My other colleagues were hard working too. There were many Malaysian Chinese, and a few Malay and Indian in the office, but most of them worked so very hard. As we spend such a long time almost everyday (I worked over weekends too), we had a strong bonding.

The time flew like light when you worked like that. The year 1994 ended with the light speed mostly in Shangri-la Hotel.