Typical work day

On a typical work day, I will wake up at 8:00 am and look out from the window of my Donghu Expo Village apartment complex to see the Expo grounds; the massive China pavilion always impresses me with its size. Once I am ready for work, I walk to the Expo employee bus stop, where the bus going to the Expo picks up employees every 15-20 minutes. I go through the ridiculous security station that is really only for show (since one person per pavilion is given a "Security Station Free" pass) and then get in line to ride another bus to the USA Pavilion. Once there, I greet my supervisors who ask about the status of my VIK project and then say "Good job;" after that, I go to my desk, turn my computer on, and withdraw my VIK notebooks and folders from my filing cabinet. Following that, I make a timetable schedule for my shift: a list of company representatives to contact, coworkers to harass for helpful information, and physical receipts and invoices to review and translate. After all of these steps, before the end of my shift, I have to review the spreadsheet in which I record my work and make any necessary changes. This helps me go about my day in an organized fashion.

After making my lists, I open my email inbox to check for responses from the previous day's emails. If there are email responses from our pavilion's corporate sponsors, I read them and respond accordingly; otherwise, I open my contact list spreadsheet and begin contacting corporate representatives. Most of the time, I have a contact name and email address that were each given to me by either the sponsorship department or Jake Parker, one of the supervisors in our pavilion. The email I send will diplomatically thank the representative for helping to sponsor our pavilion, explain who I am and how I know his/her contact information, and politely ask for any records they have of VIK goods given to us. If I only have a phone number, it becomes more difficult; sometimes, the receptionist does not speak English, so I have to use my Chinese ability to achieve my goal of speaking to the representative. During my conversation with the representative, we usually decide to only speak over emails from that point on, as that is the easiest and most convenient way to transmit data. If I have already emailed a representative but have received no response for several weeks, I will politely resend my request; this has not happened very often, but there is the occasional representative who has not checked email since returning from vacation. Whether I call, email, or send a follow-up email, I always make a note of it in my VIK spreadsheet.

The best way to get new contact information or follow up on other requests for information, is to directly contact the sponsorship department, Jake in Operations, or one of the IVG (Australian company we contracted our restaurant and retail services with) supervisors. This is one of the many times where patience and good relationships help: they are all usually busy with their own jobs, so I have been told many times to "check back later," "ask me another day," or "who are you again?" One of the sponsorship department employees, Stephanie, is the supervisor of the state sponsorship relations; I have helped her out numerous times with various tasks, so she helps me get contact information when she can. IVG supervisor Dominico often helps me with my requests for contact information, like the names of our Gallo and Ecolab representatives, and any new invoices he has for delivery of cleaning supplies or wine.

Somewhere in between various tasks, usually about 12:00 pm, I will gather other employees and head to the staff cafeteria across the street for delicious and ridiculously cheap food.

After lunch, I will continue working on the task of contacting representatives, then I move on to transcribing information from various invoices and receipts that have been given to me. Usually there is at least one new Wal Mart receipt, sometimes I have a new Dell delivery notice, and if I am really lucky there will be some information I requested from IVG. The items delivered, date, and usage are all required in my spreadsheet, as well as a physical copy of the invoice; if the information was delivered in an email, I will print the email and file it away in one of my VIK folders.

A few times per week, I have another task to perform at some point throughout the day, such as lifting heavy things, handing out money to students, traveling to the bank and back, traveling to China Mobile to pay a bill, walking to one of the Expo offices to check for mail, organizing invoices and statements in large binders, or compiling and processing receipts for expense reports. These other tasks break the monotony of office work somewhat.

At the end of the day, I usually check my VIK spreadsheet to make sure it reflects all work I have accomplished over my shift. This includes any new delivery data I have received, purpose and usage information, contact information changes, and I make sure the new dollar/RMB totals for our VIK received thus far are accurate. After I complete that, backup my data on my flash drive, and log out of my computer, I will say goodbye to my coworkers and supervisors and walk to the bus stop to return to the Expo Village.