Quite Hopeless

So it's been almost a week here in Shanghai... and unfortunately, it's one of those days where I start doubting my own abilities to do good work. From the first day of my work life, I guess I've always suffered from attention deficiencies... I cannot seem to get my teeth down into a task until, well, the deadline is near. But most times, I would have already grasped an understanding of the task at hand, and often, it's alwasy a matter of documenting down what I've understood.

My current task at hand... the client's physical stock balances can never agree with the books. And woohoo, I've been assigned to "figure out why". It's a manufacturing company, so the goods travel from one production phase to another, and I'm supposed to figure out the process. Unfortunately, this time round, I really feel my language deficiency. I can't manage terms like Purchase Price Variance, Standard Cost, Manufacturing variance... hell, I cannot even fully comprehend the workings in English, what more Mandarin. So yes, I've floundered for a week, and when I tried to take stock of what I've learnt... I drew a blank. Yes, I have my "guesses" as to where the stock has gone to... but I cannot substantiate it, worse still, my understanding of the process could be all wrong...

Somewhere in the middle of yesterday I suddenly felt as though I'm so not suited for this job. It was after a very defensive discussion with the client. He's the Logistics manager... and therefore, the person who is supposed to be in charge of the inventory. I tried voicing my guesses... and well, he said no to every one of them... is it true? I dunno. If I were in his place, I'll be defensive too! After all, his job is on the line. Sighs... do I really want to do something that cost others their job?