Shell..earlydays as an intern

20th Nov 2006
I was supposed to report to office at 9 am to meet the person in-charge of my internship. Wanting to give a good impression, i reached there early..toooo early..i reach at 8.15am. My superior only came at 9.20am. He briefed me on what he expected of me and what i should learn and i was to be placed in the engineering logistics department. His name is Md Zaid. He told me that he wants my internship here to be a fruitful one and not photocopy stuff and make coffee. He was telling me about how i should cherish my experience here and learn as much as you can from it and enjoy my internship.

I was then passed over to the HR manager for Shell LPG Msia and Spore to get my RFID tag and also was briefed on the fire escape routes and what i should do. AND i was briefed on the whole company structure and going through every department and who was the head of dept and who was under them..and what they were in charge of. I was soooo sleepy and im trying to hard to remember everything.. all the abbreviations for each department and what they stand for and who is what in the chain of command. I have never woke up soooo early for such a long time (7am). Then i was taken around the WHOLE officeand introduced to everysingle person from the security guard, to the receptionist to the finance staff. I was having a fun time trying to introduce myself in different ways. After that...i was supposed to report back to Zaid for a briefing. He had my job description all written our and a Gantt chart of my learning pace and targets. I have to write a weekly report on what i have learnt and also give a presentation on what i leant throughout my internship at the end of it.

THEN!!!i was thrown 2 manuals to read. 90 pages all together, A4 size by the way. I was to learn the scientific fact of LPG. Then in those 2 manuals i had to understand the engineering standards on how LPG should be kept and hazards it succumbs to and stuff like that. 90 pages of new stuff. it felt like i was crashing for exam. Was trying very hard to stay awake and give a good impression and actually getting some reading done.

I followed the whole office to Bukit Aman to eat sup daging. Was very confused with whos doing what and what peoples names were. Everyone was very motivated with their jobs and was happy with what they were working for in shell..everyone was so happy to explain what they do for work in shell and its not like a single line or a single paragraph description. it was more like a 5000 word essay. Before the day was done, i was thrown 2 more manuals but this time on equipments in the LPG filling plant for read up. This was relevant to my course.


21st Nov 2006

I came to work early, a few guys from the HSSE department grabbed me to have breakfast with them. Got to know some people better and realized how the world was so small. Viz, when i was having a joint troop meeting with MBS and he was one of the scouters present that time. Headed back to my second manual and finished it just before lunch. Headed for lunch with the guys from HSSE and went to Maarof to eat at banana leaf. It was good shit la..Nice fried bittergourd, yummy!! When i came back i started on the new manuals.. and yes..by the end of the day.. i got somemore stuff to read.. MORE manuals and a project tender (cant say what, not allowed to) to study so that i can assist him in Kuching some time december i guess. I got to have a proper conversation with some of the people there today because i was finally finished introducing myself to everyone. I met Vanessa, she sits a table away from me, shes a Chem eng and doing sales. Excellent! waste of course study. Anyways, i keep asking people why they dont exploit our expertise and they said its because they like the way engineers think compared to other students. Cause and effect mentality and efficient thinking...CHEWAH!! Then an intern josephine invited me to join all the new ppl (the new gang) and interns for breakfast to socialize. That was nice.

22nd Nov 2006
I came to work later compared to usual because i left the house slightly later then the past 2 days.. yes yes..the cause and effect of traffic congestions. Went there and met the new gang and socialized with them during breakfast. Met a few senior staff there also, they were plant managers and sales department manager. Shared a long conversation about life and the mentality of people nowadays and how society has changed. Interesting topics which sometimes became dull when he elaborated boring stuff.
Went to the office and headed back to reading the other manuals..total i have 6 folders of stuff to read up to date about 300 pages total i guess. Then i was told that i needed to do some "engineering cataloging", which was of course...rearranging his engineering records, files and stuff. basically becoming a librarian. Finish reading the 2nd last booklet of stuff and headed for lunch. Followed the HSSE guys to lunch with a singaporean employee. He was here for briefing on his new job and a tour of the plants. We went to Hilton KL and ate in a restaurant called Chynna. It was the most luxurious chinese restaurant and restaurant ive been to so far. Waitresses were dressed in cheong sams that costs 1k ringgit, cutleries used were the dining cutleries of tradional chinese dining with crafted chopstick rests. We were served ginseng tea upon arrival, it was poured by an employee which was flown all the way here to pour the tea from a 20 cm long spout or longer. We had dim sum for lunch. the prawns was soooo fresh that you can feel the texture when you bite into them. Its like biting into a pomello but with prawn taste..the scallop too was soo fresh that it would just melt in your mouth when you put it in. everything was soo good. i had the best dim sum in my life..i had scallop chee cheong fun..omg.. heavenly..soo fresssh!!! I was soo tempted to take a picture of everything but i didnt want to act like a jakun infront of everyone. The bill came to 300 ringgit for 4 people for dim sum..damn nice price also. Had a long lunch.. soo full.. and tried to read my manuals again.. and i couldnt.. so spent the rest of my time arranging the files and records in the store room. I wasnt soo tired compared to other days. was getting used to the early and long hours in the office. Guess its not so bad. infact.. it was great. i love shell.. work hard and enjoy life and work