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| ....... continued....
The next morning, i came to work early (at 8am), and only one other was in office. She always came early anyway, and we spoke for a while. A little uneasy.. however, she told me that she had an idea who will be taking over, and this new person wld be good....
And suddenly the dept head walks in, (he rarely comes to this room)... and he asked.. "is everything ok?" "nod nod". "ok, will get XXX to arrange for a catch up with the team".
The interlude months were surreal. Our boss was winding down, and we just came out from the successful hosting of S2006. We were still in a high, mixed with apprehension at the departure of the boss. Sept slowly became oct, and the dept had a victory celebration in Sentosa. I always remember this incident....
The team was seated in a little tent/couch thingy by the beach, with the out-going boss.. and we were chatting away... when for some reason, the in-coming boss (we didn't know at that time), was looking for a seat and walked towards the only empty seat... and i tk she felt weird, and we felt weird too.. the entire team sorta looked at her... and she walked off. HAHAH that was a sight to remember.
I also remember at that time, another colleague from another dept managed to "persuade" the head of the organisation to allow us to go overseas for our next retreat.. i was like.. my goodness....
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So the outgoing boss left to join another firm... we said our goodbyes at equinox and also went to her place to celebrate one of our colleague's birthday. And after that.. the page was turned.
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Oct- nov... we were not informed who our new boss was to be, and i was embroiled in a german bank project which if succeeded wld be good for us, and we didn't want it elsewhere. I went for my first lunch meeting at Raffles Hotel, and was largely alone for meetings.... so i steered it.. and i enjoyed it.. I enjoyed the fact that this was my project.. i enjoyed the autonomy that came with it.. no need to ding dong soo much... and then i realised that this is not normal as well....
First week of november,.. and we were introduced to our new boss.. i remember my first thoughts... *gasp* she is tall. HAHAHHAHAHH (or i am short) | | |
| So i divide my epochs in my organisation into 3 bosses.. cos' that was exactly what happened. (Jun 06 - Oct 06) Boss A was a great, dynamic boss. She lead the way, and well, i regret not having had the chance to work with her longer... First day of work, i reported to HR, and my HR partner brought me to my office. My office then was located on the 1st floor, in a make-shift training room called Lion-Fish. As i approached the door, i heard a screaming high pitch voice. My HR partner said " Oh.. that's your boss". I was like.. "oh no". Introductions, and my first official words .. " Hi hi, sorry, am still figuring my way around, not exactly sure what is going on". Boss's reply : " Don't worry, neither do we. ahhaha". And there i was introduced to 2 other female colleagues as well...one of which i grew close to, and bonded well. So anyway, first 5 mins of work... i was then told to go up to 17th Floor for the Financial Liaison Officer training. Went to the training room, didn't understand what was going on at ALL... what am i doing here???? *Break time* Went back down to the office to check out my cubicle. Ok, i saw my other friends' cubicles.. and really.. the one they gave me was very very very small. Tucked away in some dark corner.. with a door behind me, that i never really figured out.. leads to where. And maintenance crews always went in, and somehow.. never came out.. i wonder.... Anyway, as i took the lift down, i met another colleague from the same division. He was huge, big sized.. and he was like. " Hello, i am XXX.. you are new?" "yeap... am in this division".. " do you speak german" " Yup." "Oh!! You are the guy. coolz!!!" ... next thing i knew.. he dumped a whole huge stack of German files on my table.. and said.. "Nah, your portfolio!!!" ... i thought to myself.. oh dear oh dear.. what is this??!?!? *panic*.. ITIG.. what the hell is this?? no background, all the acroynms.. *pengz*. So i was properly introduced to the others at lunch.... one notable person was missing, and he occupied the centre of the room. He was in BKK.. and the girls said.. he is the Ah Beng. I was like.. erm hmmm why. ok.. i will know on thurs. So there ends my first day at work..... ------ The first week came and went.. i had trouble staying awake, haven't woken up sooo early in a long long while. Peak hour traffic was bad.. and well i took public transport for the 1st week.. and sheesh it was BAD. ---- 2nd week at work.. the interns who sat next to me have been relocated.. instead came 2 new colleagues, one from another dept, the other from another organisation. Introductions.. and i recalled... i found one quiet, while the other crazy. hahahah no guesses who was who. ---- Prep for S2006 So we prepared for the trip.. and this is where fortune smiled in a way. I wasn't supposed to handle any of the key players... since i was new, i was to handle the less taxing ones... but somehow, the person handling this particular "player" injured himself, and i was thrown into the thick of things. Introduced to the counterparts.. and i always remember, and to this day, still tease the country head.... he commented, "he looks so young, are you sure he can handle it? and the previous 2 LOs were girls.. now a guy? Ah yo" ... But things as they said....never became the same again. Thanks to this exposure.. i gained credit... as the "German guy".. a reputation i didn't mind, but i was abit possessive too.... all german.. anything germanic.. i had a german flag on my table.. and sang german songs. haha Pity Germany lost the World Cup at the finals that year.... --- Final day of S2006... Sept 19th i believe... my boss called for a meeting at Starbucks opposite. And she said " i tk we are doing well, S2006 is good for the division, we have performed well.. and so.. its time for me to move on". *Silence*... stumped... silence... i remember feeling a sense of loss.. and morale took a tremendous dip. I had to rush off, to staff a meeting with an Italian bank.. but i remembered a sense of un-ease as i walked back. Oh dear.. who is the new boss, how how? what does this mean? ---- Oh.. and the first mistake i made in my organisation... i got trillion and billion wrong.. how embarressing. --- will continue stories at a later date for the "interlude - Between 2 bosses", "the 2nd boss" and the 3rd Boss". | | |
| So, the clock ticks and my final date in my current workplace fast approaches. The closer it comes, the more nostalgic i become. I KNOW for a fact that I will miss the people... they have been nice/ helpful and most kind. I have been lucky and fortunate, and have been given many opportunities, but largely driven by good luck & fortune. I was at the right place at the right time. A trace of the developments: My first entry into the building located at 10 Shenton way was in Feb 2006. Then it was the first round of interviews, and i was rather "dressed" down. It was quite painless, surprisingly but one thing for sure.. i was starved. HR told me to report for the interview at 0830hrs, we had a group discussion and then we had the one-on-one interviews. My one-on-one only begun at 1pm!!! I was damn damn hungry, and couldn't wait... gastric juices were churning. So i knocked, and asked how long more shd i wait, cos i was hungry. The HR lady (who later joined my dept), got me crackers and hot chocs, agreeing that the previous interviewee lasted longer than expected. 2nd Interview: With dept heads, somehow this interview went by in a blurr.. i have NO idea what happened.. really. 3rd Interview: Division head.. this was my Ex-ex Boss... who has since moved on. And i remember... she asked me.. whats the chinese name for this organisation. I was like.. CHINESE??!?!?!? errr.. my chinese sucks.. so i didn't bull-shit with her.. and admited upfront.. my chinese cannot make it.. Conclusion of interview, i thought.. ok time to look for others... June 2006, received a call, I got the JOB!! YAY!! not long after, i always remember, i got a call from an ex colleague on 14 June 2006.. i remember, cos i just recovered from Dengue... and was going to Genting for my Birthday (which is 2 days later)... ex colleague told me to report to work on 26 Jun 2006, instead of 3 July 2006 to attend some Liaison Officer Training... so there we have it.. i started on 26 Jun 2006. | | |
| So lately i have been enthralled by this game. My christian fundamentalist friends detest it.. but its quite a good game though. Essentially, its an evolutionary game, tracing the development of Man from his ape days to modern days. It covers ice age and other climate changes. Man also has to master animal husbandry, plant cultivation and later on resource exploitation. Man will progress, eventually from Stone age to Age of faith to age of reason. Fascinating game... anyone else keen to try? | | |
| So.. i felt an earthquake in office last night, and again this morning. The tremours were abit un-nerving. Initially i had thought i was suffering from a massive headache.
In any case, I wonder what is going on, sand storm in Sydney, Typhoon in Phillippines and Vietnam, Earthquake in Sumatra, and Haze in Singapore. It seems that humanity has made an enemy of the earth.
So the earthquake.... tremours lasting a few minutes, windows creaking, window blinds moving... very very scary. Alot of commotion, and frankly a lack of awareness of what to do.
Perhaps in a way, we are fortunate to be immune from these, and the worse we ever get is well Haze.. and some tremours. But all in all, nothing massively life-threatening or costly. And yet we complain... complain about the weather, the smog, the dust, when all we need to do is look around us, and realise how fortunate we are.
Ah well, such is humanity.... we only look at things half empty.. we forget.. its also half full. | | |
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