Have you been to a mall at 9am when it's almost totally devoid of people?

I did, along with 35 Retail Studies students and their lecturers from ITE College East who livened up the silence. Taking the lesson out of the classroom, the teens were there to experience for themselves the nitty-gritty of being in the service industry as staff from Page One showed them the ropes...

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Organised by SPRING Singapore and the Singapore Workforce Development Agency, the Retail Career Industry Visit is part of a series of career seminars and visits, aimed at giving students from polytechnics and ITEs an opportunity to experience the backend and frontline jobs of the retail sector.

Indeed, the students went from barcoding books fresh from their boxes to putting jackets on them for display. Along the way, they also had a hand in shrink-wrapping books and also learnt about using the expensive scanners to help locate and categorise books on the shelves.

But perhaps, the most fun they had was when the students actually got behind the information counter and had to attend to various types of difficult and demanding customers played by their mates and Page One staff. In all, definitely an enjoyable and enriching morning at the bookstore.