I thought that being a remisier was the most exciting and boring job in the world. It was especially boring when the market was sideways, not when its down mind you, when its down, it was exciting too in a bad sort of way. But when it was sideways………….YAAAWWWN!

You can even hear a pin drop then. It was so quiet and if you look around you, you’d see bored faces clicking on the Solitaire card game on their PC like zombies. Me? I’d be doing my cross stitch. I didn’t have a blog then, otherwise, I’d blog like crazy. Hahaha.

But when it was exciting…… well, it was the exact opposite. It was like a livewire. Each of the remisiers’ 2 phones and a handphone (thats what we all had) would be ringing incessantly. You’d have to talk loudly above the din in order to hear and you have to talk fast to get things done even faster! Every news would move the market instantaneously and you better think and act fast or else…..you’d miss the boat or rather the price.

Sometimes we’d key in a price either 2 or 3 bids higher or lower in order to make sure our orders matched. Otherwise, you’d have to keep on keying in and withdrawing (you must withdraw because you don’t want to take the chance of doing double trades) to no avail missing all the prices but sometimes the client does not understand this. You have to be up to the minute with the latest news then or you’d miss it. Can you hear my heart beating hard as I write this? Well, it would thump very hard then. Haha.

And what about the people at the stockmarket? Well, there are all kinds of course. First, the remisiers. We had ex-army personnels, former teachers, retired bank managers, fresh graduates, former businessmen, people from HR, Accountancy etc. It was a very mixed group. Well, everyone wanted to be a remisier at one time… but not anymore… some say its a sunset industry.

And then there were the regular faces you see at the galery. There were grandparents who brought the grandchild that they were babysitting along and many faceless men starring at the screen.

And what about me? Well, at one time I was heavily pregnant and waddling around with my ugly blue checked dress that would probably look better as a table cloth (it was the only cool thing that fitted). Haha. And after delivery and confinement, I sort of became a SAHM by default cos’ I had no one else to look after my baby. I can’t remember now, but I think I took an extended “maternity leave” for almost a year. I did attempt to bring baby in a sling to the office once or twice when hubby was on leave and able to help me or I’d leave the baby home with him. And when she was bigger, I would go in the office about once a week by bringing my girl AND my father along so that I would have an extra pair of eyes and hands to look after her. I was very slack, cruising in late and staying half days on those days that I went in. I don’t think anyone would want me as a remisier. You can’t find me to execute your trades. Hahaha.

I probably would have carried on being a remisier if I was a big time remisier with assistants and my own room with more privacy but I was only a small fry and it was not easy to carry on bringing my girl to work in my small little corner.

I never felt like I truly belonged there and I would often have dreams about going to work and finding my desk gone and everyone in new places with new workstations accept me! Hahaha. Its funny how the subconcious mind works. 

And so thats how I ended up being a SAHM after the second baby came along. Though I never really enjoyed the job, I feel a bit “sayang” to give up my license though, because well, I had studied and worked for it.  I’m not a person who is good with numbers so I really had to work extra hard to memorise all those calculations of PEs etc. Hahaha. Pssssst. I’d also rather read brainless women’s magazines rather than update myself on the latest corporate maneuvers or read about the whos who in the corporate world and what they have been up to. However in those days, I had to read the Business Section of the papers first before anything else whereas I had always ignored that section before becoming a remisier. Now, I’m back to ignoring it again. Lol!

Its really been fun writing about my previous jobs. Next, I’ll probably write about my first job as a Company Secretary.  No, not a private secretary but a corporate secretary in an accounting firm. Another big yaaawwwwn. The only job I ever truly enjoyed was organising Conferences.

I don’t think I’ve written about any of this in my 3 years blogging. Why? I guess, I’ve always tried very hard to write non-personal posts that feel personal but they’re really not personal. ????


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