I received a call last Sunday, asking me whether Im interested
in joining their new company, which is expanding and hiring staffs.
I was a bit surprise to get this call because I didnt apply for
any office job. I ask the person how she got my number and she said
she got it through a survey. Funny thing is I didnt do any survey
and I dont do surveys when I get approached in the streets.
Anyway, since I got nothing to do, I went down on Monday to take a
look. The address she gave me is LOT 18, Aliwal Street. It is
directly opposite the Concourse Shopping Mall. When I arrived, I
was quite surprised to see that its only a 2-storey shop house as
I was expecting it to be a multi-storey building. I look around the
surroundings and found that opposite the office is a karaoke
lounge while the shop next to the office is a popiah restaurant
and the one even further down is Ulu Ulu Pub
The girl, who called me, came to meet me. Her name is Kelly. She
bought me into a showroom where there are a lot of chairs (like a
hotel lobby) and theres a cross-sectioned bed that she told me has
magnetic fields (or something like that).
She started telling me about the company, which is dealing with a
type of technology, called LIFE SCIENCES, which is started by a
Japanese. The company name is ASAYO xxx I cant remember the full
name.
Kelly took my IC to change a visitors pass, then she say she will
now bring me to look look see see their office. She led me out of
the showroom to the side of the building to take the lift.
(Suspicion no 1: why is there a lift when its only a 2 storey
building? Its a shop house! ) As we walk out, we pass by some
cars. She asks me what I think about those cars. I replied, Ok,
nice big cars Kelly went on to tell me that all these cars
actually belonged to the staffs working there. When a staff reached
certain targets or did something that impressed the Singapore
boss, Mr Ng, he will pay the downpayment of the car for you. As
Kelly puts it, Mr Ng is a very humble man. Kelly said that by her
eighth month with the company, she has already worked her way to
a car already but because she didnt have a driving license, the
car can only be put on hold. And shes only 22 years old, mind
you.
Upon reaching the office, I saw there are actually a lot of other
people like me who were invited there for the same purpose. I was
shown 3 videotapes. The 1st programme is the local channel 8
morning programme,
ZAO AN NI HAO (Good Morning Singapore). This programme shows the
host, Xu Nan Sheng introducing the boss,
Mr. Ng. Kelly told me this programme was taped about 3 years ago.
The 2nd programme is about the Asayo group at their Japanese
Headquarters. It also showed a bit about LIFE SCIENCES. The 3rd
programme is a Premiere 12 documentary about a wheel-bound man
able to walk after going through therapy with the LIFE SCIENCE
bed for some time. It also showed a Hawaiian woman who is able to
sleep through the night without waking up several times. And she
was able to sing better after sleeping on the LIFE SCIENCE bed.
(Suspicion no 2: I have seen the Good Morning Singapore show
before. The guest is usually invited to the studio whereby the host
will ask questions and the guest will answer. But the video which
they showed me, is after the host introduce the guest, the rest of
the programme is a pre-recorded clip of Mr Ng sitting in his
office, telling his story of the hardships he faced and how he work
against all odds to become who he is today. Another point is
Kelly told me this is a new company so how come Mr Ng is already
on the show 3 years ago??!)
After watching the videos, Kelly kept on talking about Mr Ng. How
he used to work as a apprentice in the furniture trade but by
accident his fingers were amputated by a machine. Then he went on
to sell insurance and became a millionaire, earning a 5-figure sum
monthly. But then, at the end of the day, he realized that although
he had the cash, but his health is failing him. Then at this
crucial moment, his friend introduce him to the LIFE SCIENCE
technology and from then on, he became the distributor and got the
rights to this technology and set up this company in Singapore.
She very clearly emphasized to me, we are NOT employing salesman
to sell beds
Later on, she shows me around the various departments. As we pass
by the departments, I noticed that no one is working at their desks
at all. Rather, all the people were chatting. It was around 2pm and
lunch break is over long ago. All the men were wearing white shirt
and black pants like uniform. Kelly brought me to a special
department(nobody there) made up entirely of malays to tackle the
Malaysia market. (But I remember the 2nd video I watched said that
the ASAYO group had operations in HK, Thailand, ROC, China,
Singapore and
Malaysia!) So what has the branch in Singapore got
to do with the operations in Malaysia?
Kelly also pointed to the commandments certificates that were
hanged all over the wall but they looked so fake. I can also make
one with my computer. Then she showed me some of their employees
photographs. She pointed out an Indian to me and asks if I
recognize him. I thought he looks seemingly familiar but I am not
sure where I have seen him before. Kelly told me that he is the
Indian actor from the channel 8 mandarin programme Qi Cai Xue Tang.
She also showed me photographs of them in Tokyo Disneyland. She
said that Mr Ng would bring the whole company to excursion the
Japan head quarters every year and will on the way sightseeing
also. All expenses paid!!
Kelly then brought me to see her superior, a mandarin speaking
Indian. He really has very good gift of the gab. He keeps asking me
tricky and difficult-to-answer questions like, What is the
difference between a JOB and a CAREER? The questions he asks make
me feel very uncomfortable as if hes trying to corner me or trap
me or something.
Throughout the conversation, he explained to me that the company is
a new one and is looking to train a group of
top management people to run the company in the future. He
mentioned that they(company) do not look at educational
certificates to hire people. What they are looking for are talents.
He cited an example to help me understand better. The company right
now is just like Insurance 30 years ago. 30 years ago, nobody knew
what is Insurance and what is it for? But look at the people who
joined Insurance at that time. They are now sitting at the top
management and earning big bucks. These are the people the company
is looking for now to sit at the top management seat. He also
told me the objective of the company is to open 50 branches in
Singapore within the next ten years!!
Right now, some of the people in the company only have primary 8
education(?) (So far, they still havent told me what post they
want me to fill up) The Indian told me that we(the people selected)
will go through a few courses like sales, management, marketing,
etc
all these for free. And from our performance, we will be
further selected for the interview to join the company! So it means
even if we now go for the courses, we are not considered hired yet.
Before I left his office, he further stressed what Kelly has told
me earlier, we are NOT employing salesman to sell beds
After the conversation with him, Kelly took me back to the showroom
again to change back my IC. Before I go, she told me not to tell
anyone about this. Not even my family?? The time was about 7pm. (My
tour took about 2 hours) I asked her what are the working hours
of the company and she told me it is up to the individual for
people in the office but they have shift for the showroom so it is
actually 24 hours for the showroom because there may be customers
who might pop in for a look.(Yeah right, the only people I see
are the sleazy customers from the karaoke lounge opposite. Other
than that, the street is like ghost town.)
Kelly fixed me a 2nd appointment the next day when I will learn
about more into the details of the companys products.
On my way home, I keep thinking about the whole thing. It sounds
like a spam to me. It looks like some sort of pyramid kind of
thing. What do you think??