Internship Experience at a Petrol Station

This document presents a detailed report on the author's internship experience at Noonamah United Petrol Station. It outlines their weekly activities, responsibilities, interactions with colleagues and customers, and key takeaways from the experience. The report covers ten weeks, detailing tasks performed, challenges faced, and valuable skills acquired in areas such as customer service, inventory management, and communication.

Name of student
Weekly journal
Week one
Date
Hours this week
Hours to date
Monday
Today was my first day at Noonamah United Petrol Station. I met the manager, Mr. Viranga
Perera, who gave me a brief history of the company. He introduced me to the rest of the staff.
The deputy manager took me a tour around the company to familiarize with the operations
around the company.
Tuesday
I reviewed departmental policies, rules, and regulations to get a better understanding of the
company and also to have a smooth time throughout the internship period. In the afternoon I
attended a meeting with other interns and the company's program coordinator. We discussed
our roles for the next ten weeks in the company.
Wednesday
From yesterday's meeting, I was assigned different roles. These roles included inventory
management, employees' management, profit track and dealing with customer's queries. I
talked to the head of the human resource department who explained to me about employees
‘management system. They record information about each employee in the company and also
records the total number of current employees according to division or department with the
automatic updating of figures when people are employed or leave.
Thursday
Today I interacted with the manager who explained his roles in the company. His major role
was to make sure the company was administered well without any errors. He acts as an
entrepreneur since he is the innovator and a creator. He also explained that he acts a
spokesperson for the company when he represents the organization to the outsiders.
Friday
I got a chance to interact with the customers who visited the petrol station. I asked their
opinion on the new the fuel prices and whether it was fair to hike the fuel prices. Most of
them were not happy with the new prices and felt that it was not right especially during these
harsh economic times.

Week two
Date
Hours this week
Hours to date
Monday
Spent the whole morning in a meeting discussing the objectives of the new week. The
manager claimed that it was important for everyone to work actively so we could achieve the
weekly goals. I had lunch with one of the employees and he explained to me he felt the
company was being run. He expressed his comfort with the current regime and that this was
better than the previous regime.
Tuesday
The human resource department decided to update its employees' and customers' database. So
we spent the whole sorting the files in an alphabetical order. This was to ensure that all
employees' details were updated without skipping any thus making work easier for the
department. After that, we sorted each employee according to his or her department.
Wednesday
After yesterday's sorting of files, we keyed in the information in the file to the company's
computers. The human resource manager claimed that this is an important role in the
employee management issue. He claimed that is important for every company to have
personal details of its employees either in softcopy or hardcopy.
Thursday
I visited the sales department to get a better understanding of the inventory management role.
Inventory management includes stock management, auditing and merchandising. I had a
conversation with the stock manager who explained to me the roles of a stock manager. He
claimed that a good stock manager must check the warehouse if they need a new stock and
write a report on the stock available.
Friday
The human resource department decided to take all of the employees in the company for a
team building activity. I decided to take this opportunity to interact with the employees. I
learned that actually, this was a normal routine for the human resource department to involve
all employees in team building activities. I observed how the employees and their seniors
interacted.

Week three
Date
Hours this week
Hours to date
Monday
In the morning meeting, the manager gave me an opportunity to speak and I decided to utilize
this chance and argue that for us to achieve that week's target we had to focus more on
product advertisement to the market world. Through TV commercials and also use of social
media to advertise, more people would get to learn about the company. Through such
involvement in meetings, I learned that the seniors always listened to their employees to run
the company.
Tuesday
In the morning, I worked on the profit tracks. I compared the sales of the current year with
those of the previous year. This helped me get a rough idea of how much the company makes
on average. It also helped get to understand which department is lagging behind.
Wednesday
I decided to come up with a questionnaire for the customers to fill but first I talked with the
sales manager to guide me. He found this a brilliant idea as this would help us get the
customer's feedback regarding our services. I spent most of the afternoon coming up with
questions to ask customers. The sales manager approved them and gave me a green light to
distribute the questionnaires the following day.
Thursday
I distributed the questionnaires to every customer who visited the petrol station for refueling.
The questionnaire consisted of five questions which involved the customer to tick along the
best answer and also a recommendation part, so this would not consume much of their time.
Friday
I went through the questionnaires that I had distributed yesterday to get a better
understanding of the customer's needs and interests. In the afternoon I decided to draft a
report from the customers' feedback and also wrote down all the recommendations that the
customers had recommended in the questionnaires. I was the last person to leave the office
today.

Week four
Date
Hours this week
Hours to date
Monday
I presented my report on the small research that did on the previous week for this helped us
understand what the customers really expected from us and what they needed us to improve
on our services. In the afternoon, I talked with the customer care department on what to
improve so that we could implement the small issues the customers raised.
Tuesday
Today the manager invited me to lunch and we discussed on my progress in the company. He
congratulated me and felt proud for the good work that I was doing in the company. We also
discussed the different career paths throughout the company there were and what may be best
for me when I graduate.
Wednesday
I took part in a training program created to help the internships on the importance of working
together as a team and sharing responsibilities. This will help create a conducive environment
for working and also help relate well with our colleagues thus increasing productivity. Later
in the afternoon, the manager gave us an off and I used this time to reflect on the importance
of teamwork.
Thursday
I was placed at the customer care desk and I was able to interact with the customers very
well. I was able to solve most of their issues and also queries regarding our prices on
petroleum. I made sure that they were satisfied with my answers and also assisted them on
being able to access the company's website.
Friday
Today was a holiday so we did not go to work. I took this time to plan the following week's
activities. I also called my boss to inquire some of the issues the customers had raised
yesterday when I was at the customer care desk. The main issue was about the company's
website which had an error but he claimed that the issue was being sorted out.
Week five

Date
Hours this week
Hours to date
Monday
Today during our weekly meeting, the manager selected me to join the roadshow
advertisement team. I felt this was an important opportunity for me to practice from
recommendations that I had suggested in the report and try to find if I could put some into
practice.
Tuesday
We spent the whole day designing posters for the roadshow. These posters needed to be eye-
catching and also well detailed. We also designed the art for the branding of t-shirts and caps.
It was fun for I had time to interact with some of the newly hired employees. We also had a
small meeting to discuss issues concerning the roadshow.
Wednesday
Today was the actual date for the roadshow. We spent the whole day advertising our new fuel
prices and why people should fuel Noonamah United Petrol Station. We were also giving
away t-shirts and caps to customers who fuelled at our petrol stations.
Thursday
The whole staff held a coffee and donut party to celebrate my birthday. It was a pleasant
surprise. I discussed with the human resource manager on the importance of motivating
workers. He said for increased productivity the staff needed to be motivated a while. Also, he
said that a good leader was the one who listened to his/her worker's problems without been
too quick to judge.
Friday
Today we had another team building session. It was all about playing indoor mind games
such as chess and scramble. The bonding among the staff was a great experience.
Week six

Date
Hours this week
Hours to date
Monday
Our weekly meeting today was postponed to the following week due to some small issues. In
the afternoon we visited our manager at the hospital who had a small accident over the
weekend and wished him a quick recovery. I visited the warehouse with the sales manager to
write a report on the stock of items.
Tuesday
I was on duty on the customer care desk for the whole of the day. One customer enquired as
to why the fuel prices were high yet the government had reduced the previous day. I had to
explain to him that this was because we had to clear the old stock before adopting the new
prices. I told him that he had to wait for a few more days.
Wednesday
Welcomed back our manager who had been hospitalized over the weekend. He seemed today
to be in a good mood. The sales manager taught me a formula on how to calculate profit. This
is through:
Profitability/ gross profit = Net sales ex GST – purchase amount Ex GST
Thursday
We started the day with a small prayer meeting to thank God for His care and protection. The
human resource manager and I discussed on issues affecting employees at workplaces and
how to solve them. These included bullying, sexual harassment and also communication
problems. The HR said that rules had been set and were put into place to help solve the
issues.
Friday
The manager asked me to create a table that would show the average profit for the previous
three months. Having already learned the formula for calculating the formula, I used
Microsoft Excel to create the table and also insert the formula.
Week seven

Date
Hours this week
Hours to date
Monday
I presented the table showing the profits of the company for the past three months during our
meeting. The profits had increased over the past three months. This was because of the
implementations that had been carried out at the customer care department to meet the
customer’s needs. Also it was because of the discounts and advertisements we had carried
over the previous months.
Tuesday
I analysed the reports from the sales manager on the inventory, system reports and deliveries
reports. These reports help the sales manager to know the amount of time spent on different
sales activities and whether the company is meeting its daily activities and goals.
Wednesday
Today we the internships had a meeting with the manager to discuss on our progress in the
company. He congratulated us and felt proud for the good work that we were doing in the
company. We also discussed the different career paths throughout the company there were
and what may be best for us when we graduate.
Thursday
The human resource manager had a meeting with us to discuss on issues affecting internships
at work. Challenges he pointed out include fear to ask questions. He claimed that this was the
major reasons why interns fail during their internships. He encouraged us to ask questions
where we were not able to solve. He also pointed out that supervisors sometimes forget that
we are new in the field. A supervisor may give you a project to work on but you are not
familiar with the direction given and still we do not ask questions because we are afraid.
Friday
The human resource department decided to take all of the employees in the company for a
team building activity. I decided to take this opportunity to interact with the employees. I
learnt that actually this was a normal routine for the human resource department to involve all
employees in team building activities. Interaction between employees and their seniors was a
good one and I came to learn that through these interactions, employees were motivated to
work even harder.
Week eight

Date
Hours this week
Hours to date
Monday
The manager pointed a few issues that we had to work on as employees. He commented on
that some employees had become rude to each other and also some arrived late to work. He
said that serious action would acted upon these employees who arrived late to work and also
being rude.
Tuesday
I took part in a training program created to help the internships on the importance of having a
good relationship with co-workers. This will help create a conducive environment for
working and also help relate well with our colleagues thus increasing productivity. Later in
the afternoon, the manager gave us an off and I used this time to reflect on the importance of
teamwork.
Wednesday
I was placed at the customer care desk and I was able to interact with the customers very
well. I was able to solve most of their issues and also queries regarding on prices of our
products. I made sure that they were satisfied with my answers and also assisted them on
being able access the company’s website.
Thursday
I keyed in data concerning the new customers to the company’s computers. Also I made sure
that I keyed the same information into the manual files. The human resource manager
claimed that this is an important role in the employee management issue. He claimed that is
important for every company to have personal details of its employees either in softcopy or
hardcopy.
Friday
Today was a holiday so we did not go to work. I took this time to plan on the following
week’s activities. I also called my boss to enquire some of the issues the customers had raised
yesterday when I was at the customer care desk. The main issue was about the fuel prices but
he claimed that the issue was being sorted out.
Week nine

Date
Hours this week
Hours to date
Monday
In the weekly meeting, the manager gave me an opportunity to speak and I decided to utilize
this chance and argue that for us to achieve that week’s target we had to focus more on
product advertisement to the market world. Through TV commercials and also use of social
media to advertise, more people would get to learn about the company. Through such
involvement in meetings, I learnt that the seniors always listened to their employees to run
the company.
Tuesday
I was on duty on the customer care desk for the whole of the day. One customer enquired as
to why the company’s website still had issues. I had to explain to him that this was because
the servers were and that he had to wait for a few more days.
Wednesday
I analysed the reports from the sales manager on the inventory, system reports and deliveries
reports. These reports help the optimize distribution and also better financial decisions. Also
these reports understand the amount of time spent on different sales activities and whether the
company is meeting its daily activities and goals.
Thursday
Today we had an emergency meeting to discuss on one of our colleague who had an accident
and needed blood so we needed to donate blood. In the afternoon we the internships had a
small discussion on how on how to navigate through the rising problem of unemployment.
Friday
I interacted with the customers who visited the petrol station. I asked their view on the new
prices of petroleum and whether they felt that it was fair for the government lower the prices
of petroleum. Most of them were happy with the new prices and felt that it was right
especially during these harsh economic times.
Week ten

Date
Hours this week:
Hours to date:
Monday
This was my last week at Noonamah United Petrol Station which had become almost a
second home to me. I made sure that this whole week I would perform to my best. I asked the
manager on how to identify a suitable working place and promised he would get back to me
soon.
Tuesday
I talked to the human resource manager on how to avoid bullying at work when one is new in
a company. He recommended me that I should report these incidences to the human resource
department of that company.
Wednesday
I had a meeting with the stock manager whom I thanked for assisting me throughout the
internship period. Through him I had learnt a lot of skills and techniques on inventory
management and also profit track. In the afternoon I talked to the customer care department
whom too I thanked.
Thursday
The manager asked for a meeting with the internships whereby he thanked us for the good
work that we had done for the past ten weeks. He promised us job opportunities on our
completion of studies because he had observed that we were hardworking people.
Friday
This was my last day at Noonamah United Petrol Station. I felt a bit emotional to leave. Time
really had travelled fast. The manager gave each of us an opportunity to speak. I thanked
everyone in the company for supporting during my internship period. The manager then
signed my internship log book.