Time exchanged for meagre increment

Yes, I have left this blog untouched for so long - now who shall I blame it on?

Office:
My boss - ex-boss now, left in October. No one else can cover me for management meetings, reports, presentations, office squabbles with other departments, etc...I would have to do it anyway so what did I do? I accepted their offer in hope that at least they'd give me a whole lot more in salary to cover for all my lost time and stress. Let's just say my expectations were high (is 20% considered high? I've heard of major jumps in salary for promotion...). My new boss (the one that once upon a time I asked my Dad to run over) said to me, "Open it, I want to see your reaction." I opened it and there was NO reaction. I have to accept his explanation - it's on a high side for this company and that they will use this for bonus payment too. That's when I found out from other colleagues that normal increments can go as low as 3%. Oh well, at least it's better than some previous companies that I've joined. But since that letter, I haven't had time for myself except if I'm on MC. I spend more than 8 hours totally immersed in work that my eyes are deteriorating, FAST!

My boss:
He isn't that bad after all. Well he did get me promoted that the rest of the other colleagues who've been here a decade are totally envious. The first thing they asked me was if I were going to shift away from the place I'm sitting in. And back to my boss, he said to me, "You have to be a bitch. All my previous women staff were bitches and that's how you get what you want." OK, so how do I be a bitch? Is there a course or something that teaches you how to be a bitch?

He invited all the HODs who reports to him to a karaoke cum eating cum drinking session last week before the long holidays. Not bad. It's just that I do miss having a boss who can talk about personal stuff and give lots of personal encouragement to you. I won't dream of talking to him about my kid who's jumping on the edge of the sofa, for example. He's more of the I-want-it-by-April-and-don't-care-how-you-do-it kind of person. Plus he's totally good in communications (how else can he convince the management to get me promoted when I was just confirmed 7 months ago?). He's also the kind that if you're good to him, he may be better to you.

I only had a man boss once in my working life. He bought me yoghurt every day because I had a weak stomach. That was years ago. Are all man bosses like that? Hmmm.....

Home:
You get it if you've been following my blog - I hadn't had time to blog about my trip to Bali (ages ago), my kid, my friend's wedding where I was the 'basket-holding' person, my sister's wedding, the Earthquake in Indonesia that was felt in my office, all other funny stuff. Horrors - I hadn't even seen the pictures I took of my niece and nephew playing with my kid!

Me:
I've been having diarrhea quite often lately that I thought something must be wrong with my stomach. So I went for a colonoscopy and endoscopy which were due four years ago. I guess all that stress must have gotten to me. I have acute gastritis, gastro-esophagus-reflux-disease and hemorrhoids. And all I can remember is the doctor's orange crocs. He said I shouldn't remember anything, which is true but his orange crocs were so distinct that I'd remember it for life. It would've been OK if he wore brown crocs or black crocs. I know Crocs has some hospital-designed shoes. But his were so bright in orange!

And talking about modern medicine - they really do improve. I could remember my last scope where I could 'feel' something poking in my stomach and going into my stomach like a train moving on tracks. This time, I couldn't even remember waking up, how I got into the car and how I got home. I can remember the vomiting part in the car though but the next thing I knew was waking up on the sofa of my living room.

The end:
I've applied for some off-days to clear my leave but they haven't been approved. So, till then, I wouldn't know when I would be updating this blog again.

Where's your spare key?

This morning, a young woman parked opposite my house and waved and smiled at me. I didn't recognize who she was so I waited till she got out of her car to see who she was. As she came out, she waved and smiled again. Only then I remembered she was the one whose kid I helped to save a few months back.

That day, this Indonesian maid came over to my gate and started shouting for help. She said some kid was stuck in the car. Remembering all the 'hoax' and caution emails that I've read about people asking for help and when you open the door, you're robbed instead, I refused to go out of my house. Luckily my Mum recognized this maid and ran over (with my kid) to where the maid was pointing to. I followed suit and found this woman frantically crying while trying to open her car door with whatever tools that she had at her side. She had locked her kid in the car and left the key on the passenger seat by accident. According to her it's been a while and I could see the kid was sweating profusely and had no more voice.

I remembered asking her a silly question, "Where are your spare keys" which she would have used if she knew where they were. Poor thing. I tried to be an engineer but failed. Wanted to hammer the windscreen. Luckily my neighbour came along and being a guy, he knew how to 'mishandle' the window and got it opened (like how a thief would open the car door without keys).

The kid was saved, the mom, trembling from fear was brought inside and calmed down. She looked different today, without the fear and all I guess.

Now where are my spare keys?

Kausai

My Dad was telling my sis and me the other day about how someone could get influenced by friends and colleagues. He was saying that before his married days, he was posted to this small town called Teluk Intan for work. He rented a room from this guy and apparently, they had to talk to each other a lot coz both were single. This guy used to end every of his sentence with the word 'kau sai' (dog shit). Eventually, my Dad picked it up from him and started to end everything he said with 'kau sai' too.

This is probably their morning conversation to each other:

D: Good morning, 'kau sai'.

F: Hey, good morning, 'kau sai'.

D: So, what are you having for breakfast, 'kau sai'.

F: Aiya, nothing much la, 'kau sai'.

D: Smells delicious tough. Where did you buy it from, 'kau sai'?

F: Aiya from that stall nearby la, 'kau sai'. The one that you pass by every day, 'kau sai'. You dunno meh, 'kau sai'?

D: How would I know if it tastes good or not, 'kau sai'. No one's told me to try, 'kau sai'.

F: You should try, kau sai! It really tastes good, kau sai!

.....no offence to anyone.....

The cat is gone....

My boss has gone for early retirement. Her last day was last Monday and no one's bothered to announce the replacement boss. And now the budgets need to be signed and submitted by Friday and I have no Head of Department to sign and therefore no Vice President would want to sign too. *Sigh*.....I'm getting a headache. I thought it would be fun without a boss. Oh yes, it is, in a way that the "prefect" as in my last post has no one to send emails to if I came in late, no one bothers where I am, I could have half day long lunches, I could skip coming to work and tell the rest I was on leave or on MC, no one pushes me to do anything, etc etc. As you can see, the list is endless but unfortunately, I am not doing any of these things. Instead I get myself a big headache worrying about the budgets and capex. *Double sigh*.

The budgets ain't even the biggest issue. The biggest issue would be 'moving out' of the office. Well, not practically moving to another area or town or state but to the next block. For the past year, my department has been in this so-called temporary department that my retired boss has somehow made it permanent for me. Somehow, after she left, the other higher ranking staff in this so-called department is keen on moving me out of 'her' department. So, she's actually told me to add the moving cost into my budget. Kausai.

Why am I rambling on about these issues that are giving me headaches anyway?

Wardrobe clearance

I've waited for more than a year and nope, my pre-pregnancy clothes still don't fit. I don't think I should wait any longer. They're taking up 3/4 of the space in my wardrobe. Even my bras still don't fit. Sigh....

Now, if only I had the time to clear them all......

The Prefect

The company has employed a consultant to help increase profits. The consultant has asked all department heads to specify job descriptions and what the department does for the company to prove its existence in the company. He's also asked each department on ways to minimize wastage. So, HR has come up with a way to 'minimize wastage' (in their eyes only). It's to ensure that all staff are not late to office. We have to clock in like factory workers and be treated like students. If we're late, the prefect will notify our teachers on how late we are. My teacher thankfully doesn't agree with all the nonsense as she believes in judging us by work quality and productivity instead of clocking in time. She's asked the prefect not to send her any of these emails.

Unfortunately, the prefect keeps on sending emails to latecomers and their teachers. You can't even be one minute late and you are not given a chance to explain. Even if you went directly for an outside appointment, you'd probably have to come to school office first to clock in otherwise you and your teacher will get the email. You are considered as missing in action if you forgot to clock in for the day. And yes, if this was the reason given, the prefect will check the CCTV to see what time you actually arrived at the school office. I think monitoring the clock in time is even more wastage than letting it be. I wish I was as daring as my other colleague who told them to sack her if they wish to for coming in late. As for me, since clock in time is so darn important, I clock off exactly on time too. Hah! 

Baker Brown's gone.....

Nope, it's not anybody, it's just the brand of a bread. I can't believe it's gone.

A few months back, I saw this bread on the shelves of an organic shop. They said it's not organic but it's healthy bread. There were three different variants - white bread, wholemeal bread and multi-grains. The white bread costs only RM1.80, the wholemeal RM3.00 and the multi-grains RM6.00. Out of curiosity I bought the wholemeal bread.

It actually tasted so good that I got stuck to buying it on every Tuesdays and Fridays when the stocks arrive. It's better than Gardenia and Hi-5. It actually tastes like the 'mee-ku'. You really can eat it plain unlike the other two brands that taste bland without butter and jam. With a slice of cheese, the Baker Brown's bread was fabulous! I promised to try the multi-grains one soon. They even had a website as stated on their plastic bread wrapper but when I surfed, the website wasn't accessible so I thought maybe they're still new and thus their website is in progress.

Later, they even came out with buns which tasted just as great! Rm1.20 for 3 pieces - I tried all 3 variants.

Today, I went to get it again and found the shelf empty. Only ones left were from last week and they expired today. Then the disheartening news was told to me. They've closed their doors. In fact they closed it earlier on but their staff who distributed the bread tried their best by making and selling the bread themselves. But what do they know, they don't really have marketing skills. So finally, they stopped.

No more 'mee-ku' tasting bread. How sad. I didn't even get to try the multi-grains one yet.

Cleanthon is on again!

For the third time since January, the 5S cleanthon thing is on again. Someone labeled my umbrella this time....

http://myfoodforthots.blogspot.com/2009/04/awesome-office.html#links

DO NOT try this stunt

If you're having a tummy ache and you feel like going to the toilet but not just yet, DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT start driving yourself to anywhere even if the destination is just 10 to 15 minutes away.

It happened on Tuesday morning. I thought I'd be fine, it was just 10 to 15 minutes to office. So I went, but I was not even halfway through when I had to stand the churning tummy, the horrible tummy ache while holding it back as best as I can. Oh, and while concentrating on the road too.

You know sometimes when everything just comes crashing down on you at one go? This was the day - every car in front of me seemed to slow down or block my way. Actually it does not just seem so, the cars did slow down to a mere 40kmh and they did it on the day I had to reach the office toilet fast. That wasn't even all - there were no petrol stations on the way to work and that public bus chose to race my car that morning that it blocked the road entrance to my office. Sheesh...and when I stepped on and cut in at the right moment, the bus driver gave me a playful honk. What a cheek!

Guess what happened when I finally parked in the Vice President's car park and ran to the toilet? The toilet was locked - they were washing it. I almost banged the door down and the cleaner reluctantly opened it for me in slooooowww motion. Haiyo.

There was poo on my new Hush Puppies knickers. If it wasn't that comfy and if it wasn't new, I would have dumped it away but it was my first time wearing it. Sigh.....Too bad.

I was still having a little tummy ache so I called my boss who laughed (maybe she did it tastefully so it wasn't that bad). I had to go home fast now so that the 2nd round will be in my toilet at home and not on Hush Puppies again. And guess what? Some brainless fella had to park his bike behind my car. Well, maybe the VP should thank me otherwise it would have been him knocking the motorbike down. Luckily the fella wasn't on his bike. Phew!

Didn't I just say, everything just comes crashing down on you on a bad day?

My ex-boss

No, not the one I'm working for now...hmmm...come to think of it, isn't it funny that my boss now was also my ex-boss? Anyway, she's such a changed person compared to last time. For e.g., she called the rest of the staff who were working late today to ask if they wanted KFC or anything else for tea break.

Oopss..anyway, I'm not here to talk about her. What I wanted to say was that it's really important that you get bosses who would praise you and appreciate you and I don't mean by just actions but by telling you straight to face. My ex-CEO, TF was like that. He'd go around telling every other company and everybody nationwide that his most prized possessions were his staff. He'd go around telling you, "You're the best" right to your face when he sees you. He'd invite you over to Bangsar to have dinner with him and didn't even think that he's the CEO and you're some kuchi-rat in the company. He didn't want to know what position you're holding as there's no hierarchy in the company. He'd talk to you like you're his friend and not a staff working for him.

There was once he put on the ramp workers' (those people who carried baggages to the plane) jacket and went to carry up the baggages with them.

I suffered from culture shock when I changed companies. No regrets but I do miss working for people like him (minus the HR policy there and minus some other people who did it all wrong). It was fun.