Actress Felicia Chin reveals she was ostracised by colleagues when she was 17 for being 'proactive'

Sometimes the worst thing to happen at work is to be ostracised by your colleagues, whom you see every single day. Even more so when you’re young, perhaps.

That was sadly what Felicia Chin, 38, went through when she worked at a local fashion store when she was 17. 

In the video posted as part of her Ling Ting  (loosely translated as "Listen") series earlier this week, Chin addressed the question: "Have you faced antisocial behaviour at work?", which reminded her of that period in her life. 

"I was working to earn some allowance, and the pay was about S$3.50 to S$4 an hour back then. The other salespeople I worked with didn't seem to want to speak to me," she recalled.

Chin later realised that it might have been because her co-workers secretly felt that she was too "proactive" at work.

"I am more optimistic and enthusiastic by nature, so whenever a customer walked in, I would cheerfully greet them and ask if they need any help," said Chin.

She continued: "Maybe that caused my colleagues to feel, 'Why are you so proactive?' because I observed that they're all more chill and laidback."

Needless to say, her colleagues' unfriendliness made Chin, who believed that their "boss would've wanted to hire employees who were more proactive and smiley", "pretty upset" at that time.

The actress, however, also acknowledged that she could have approached the other girls to talk things out back then.  

"I could have, if possible, asked the girls if there was something I was doing that made them feel uncomfortable. We could have found a compromise, so this is also a learning experience for me," she said in retrospect. 

This story was originally published in 8Days.