the MSF staff canteen

Cafe Canteen

The last time I came here, I was three weeks fresh into the job of an administrative assistant at a center in the social services industry. I'd come here to get some stuff for one of the programs that was run by the center, and having known that a former classmate was working here on one of the upper floors, we'd arranged to meet for lunch.

We'd eaten here in this staff canteen.

That was over a decade ago.

She has since found her love and married.

Me, I've moved on to another role in a completely different industry altogether, and I'd like to think that I've come a long way since the days of being an administrative assistant in an office housed on the ground floor of a residential block. I've learnt much along the way, I'm more aggressive than what I used to be, and I'm less patient than what I used to be. I guess I'm more practical and more honest and more direct than what I used to be, too... even if I try to be as diplomatic as possible.

Not that it always works.

Things do change,

Like how the industry that I'm in now works on a time-cost- critical standard. Or how the moolah is carefully caliberated and so there is very little room for trial and error and any trials and errors have to be factored in and planned for with no nonsense in the process.

Cut a long story short, I need a job. :D

And because I need a job, I cannot simply be the same person as I was over a decade ago. :)

But some things don't quite change. Some skills you still retain. I still do my own paperwork. :D And I still punch holes and file my papers by my ownself because, you know, this is a cost-critical industry, and no one is going to pay for an assistant when you can do your own d*** task. :)

Which made this one lunch visit a fairly nostalgic one.

Because the place looked almost the same as it did ten years ago. Sure, there are modifications- the furnishings are different, there have been renovations done, there are more plants now, and it looks more like a cafe than a staff canteen- but the vibe was more or less still the same. There was the same quietness that comes with it being upon a hill surrounded by trees. There was the same staff canteen lunch hour feel that made you feel partially welcome, partially held at arms' length because you had no staff pass.

But it was charming.

And almost comforting.

As if the place were telling me that no matter which industry I'd transited to, no matter how much I'd changed or grown, no matter where I'd go in my life journey, the career path that I'd once embarked on would always be a part of my life, and wherever I went to, the memory of that time would always be there still.

The thought sat well with me that afternoon.

Made me feel kind of homely, kind of villagey even, whilst I drank the post-meal mug of kopi, served to me in a sponsored Goldkili mug with enough coffee and condensed milk inside. :)