Short Getaway

In my dictionary, there are only three definitions for a short getaway. 1. Good hotel. 2. Nice food. 3. Do nothing, just relax and laze.

Penang, of late is becoming my favourite, has all these basic ingredients. It is not so near yet not so far. I’ve stayed at Bt Feringgi and Georgetown but I feel staying in Gurney Drive is indeed the most serene and convenient. It is in close proximity to the sea for that sea view and sea scent, yet just a walk away from everything else that you may need, the makan place and 7-11 and.. I can’t think of anything else. Oh, it’s a peaceful sleep at night. Georgetown is noisy and noisy. And you just must must go to Kapitan for its oh-so-delicious nasi beriyani or everything else that catch your fancies. Kapitan is located at the corner of the same building with Gurney Hotel and Residences, where we recently stayed. The food there was delicious and I do think rather under priced, kudos! Which explains why you will never be eating there without company from other tables. The restaurant is facing Gurney Beach , which I figure must be an exclusive condo looking at the cars entering and leaving the premises. Most of them are expats.

How about the hotel? The room is very spacious, I think the most spacious room I’ve ever stayed. I think it can easily accommodate another 2 king sized beds with comfortable walking space left. The bath comes with separate shower and bathtub with Jacuzzi. We were given half sea view which is good enough as the room is equipped with full ceiling to floor glass window, offering nice pool view and the next door Gurney Beach condo and Evergreen hotel at the same time. That said, the service was terribly terrible. The front desk never mentioned that the hotel building shares with office lots and that there are two separate lifts. From the car park, we just took the lift we saw and have been going up and down before we realize we are not going anywhere near the hotel. Stepping out of the lift, we saw two hotel guests waiting to take the wrong lift, just like us. At least, they were lucky to meet us, so there we were, looking for the hotel lift. You actually have to climb some stairs to locate the correct lift. I was really pissed. Thank God the room was alright. I have called to ask for a late check out and was passed to three exts, all giving contradicting info. Then, finally the front desk gave us the 2pm check out extension, and I confirmed that it was noted somewhere. The next morning, after breakfast, we headed to G Hotel, the newest hotel on the Gurney stretch, for a half day function. After the function was over, we rushed back to our room to find out that our access was denied. We went back down to the front desk, told our room number and they simply scanned the room card to allow entry. Why can’t they mention this when we called for the extension, we wonder. If not because of the special rate I’m getting, I would never come back.

We have stayed in Evergreen, the next door hotel before and never encountered such lousy services. Even a 3 star Sunway at Georgetown is giving a far better service but I wouldn’t recommend Sunway if restful night sleep is as important to you as it is to me. The problem with Evergreen is the outlook is not so welcoming. Compared to full glass window all the way from ground to first floor that Gurney had, Evergreen is blocked with marble walls and oh dear.. they don’t switch on their chandeliers making the entrance comparably dark and dull. You would think Gurney is more expensive than Evergreen when it is actually not. Ok, G Hotel. The rate was way too expensive that we decided it’s not worth the stay. Over 500 per night is excessive. As what my vendor puts it, we are not working where oil came out from our mouth, err.. something along that line. I think we made a correct decision as the lobby was nothing like a hotel. Black background, black uniforms and overall it does look like an airport setting or simply a very modern office reception. Very contemporary, too contemporary for my liking indeed. You just won’t feel like going for a getaway. While having our lunch there, a lady staying there was telling us about the room. Apparently, she wasn’t impressed. Well, after all, Gurney is catered more for business travelers than leisure visitors. So, given the only three hotels at Gurney Drive , you are indeed left with limited choices. G Hotel is definitely way too costly. Yet, tourists who can afford it rave about it, making me hope that one day I can afford to stay there too. Evergreen’s room is indeed small, way too small compared to Gurney’s. It’s near to no comparison. I remember Evergreen for its generous breakfast spread and that’s about it. I’m not sure about Gurney’s buffet as there was some miscommunication. The person who did the booking mentioned the special rate came with breakfast but upon check in we found out it didn’t. There were complaints on tripadvisor regarding their buffet and we were more than happy to have our nasi lemak and the so called banana pancake (it’s roti canai with banana fillings la.. what a name) at Kapitan. So, I guess I will end this post with an only one of its kind encounter at Kapitan. We saw a cock! Each time, every time we visited Kapitan this time around. Too cute. Just where this cock came from?

Leopards

There was this training I attended a few weeks ago that touched on networking. As much as we are encouraged to build rapport at work, the trainer was being practical. Office politics exist. Bad people exist. Maybe 10% of them. While people can change, and some life threatening events did change people, some characters just won’t change. As the saying goes, leopard won’t change its skin. I couldn’t agree more. Some characters are just irritable and as days go by, years pass by, I have come to accept that there is really no point trying to be in good terms with such characters. As the trainer puts it, it’s better to just avoid them, keep them at arm’s length. And so, here goes the story of two leopards here.

Leopard 1

This leopard 1 exists before me. I’ve heard tales from many who have lived and experienced hostile encounter with him. A year ago, our paths crossed. We are now formally in the same department and gives me an opportunity to assess the tales. No, they are not mere tales, they are real facts. One has told me, with him, if he says cows have 3 legs, you should say yeah, I just saw one. That aside, I tried to be in good terms with him. You don’t want to create enemies when you spend most of your waking hours at work. After more than a year, I now give up. He is a leopard and he will remain as one. I will follow what my friend does, ignore him. Don’t even bother to look at him when you bump into him. Indeed, that’s the best way to treat a leopard.

 Before this, I tried to regain perspective every time the encounter with him turns unslightly. It could be his communication skills that he is seen to be rude or disgustingly commanding. Maybe he just doesn’t know how to put things forward.  Actually, since it happens too often, to too many people, I know I just kid myself. He’s been portraying that others are creating problems while he is working so hard to solve those problems. One of my friend reckoned that he is probably having inferiority complex. Anyway, the turning point for me is an incident which took place a few months ago. I was presenting in front of the GM and while the bosses were in tune with my presentation, he butt in and find faults in my presentation, in front of everybody. I was taken aback but managed to remain calm and maintain a positive acknowledgement on his feedbacks. Actually, it was bad. His motives were obviously questionable but I left it behind. I have thought of bringing this up to my boss but I choose to let this incident passed. I consoled myself that it is a waste of time and energy, as I’m not sure how good is his relationship with my boss. Surprisingly, in a daily briefing session that we had a day or two later, in front of my boss and the GM, he came in front and apologized for his what? behaviour during that review? It caught me by surprise. It caught others by surprise, too. What had happened? Later that day, I bumped into him at the walkway. He’s not even looking at me. So, yes, it’s not a sincere apology. I guessed as much. I only found out later that my boss has brought this issue up to his boss and he probably received an earful leading to this fake public apology. Then, a month later, we had another review, this time in front of the new VP. My presentation has caught the VP’s attention who has asked more about myself. I guess it was a good first impression. You see, at work, you really wouldn’t know who your true friends are but you can know who your obvious foe is. Somebody told somebody that the leopard’s face was seen to drop when the VP was asking about me. Then, just a few days ago, my subordinate had a presentation in front of the GM. It went well but the leopard again interfered, pointing errors and voicing concerns, in all his efforts to belittle people’s accomplishment. That’s the time I decided I had had enough. He is an ill hearted leopard with fatal social ills. Incurable. I can’t even bring myself to even look at him from the corner of my eyes now. I just wonder when the GM is going to realize this.

 Leopard 2

I have worked here years before he joined. Even though he came in with higher post, there were lots to learn about the system here and I helped him to fit in. My friend at work has warned me but I guessed what done can’t be undone. After he learned what he needed to learn, his true color shows. With him, it’s more about hurt. What do you feel if the person you had helped bites you? I reached the peak about two months ago when he called me to his office and gave a, what my colleague referred to as psychology attack. He’s trying to weaken you psychologically, that’s what my colleague told me. I’m not too sure whether this is true. But yes, rather than tackling the issue on hand, he was trying to shut me off by telling I can’t manage and so forth. Several friends at work had suggested I escalate this to higher management. In fact, I almost went up to my operation manager to complain about this. Why did I skip my boss? Because he plays golf with my boss. However, that didn’t happen. We were going to celebrate Raya at that time and I had decided to just leave this behind and come back to it later. After I come back, I guess I just move on. I just stay away from him. I get my subordinates to attend his meetings whenever possible. But I guess, what goes around comes around. I found out that the GM is not in favour of him for reasons I’m not sure why. I guess his arrogance backfires sooner than later.

So, yes, there are people who you can work with and those you just can’t no matter how hard you try. Sometimes, we are lucky and sometimes we are not. I consider myself lucky because I have worked here long enough to get all the chances I need to prove myself. Reputation is a big thing. It took years to build and may take seconds to ruin. As the case of Leopard 2, as much as he has tried to dent mine, I have the years behind me that back me up. He has resorted to private attack when he can’t do a public damage. I’m still standing despite the chaos he ignited. And I still can’t forget what had happened. One day, if the situation warrants, I will reveal all his dirty tactics. But looking at the situation now, I think he will be swept along by the current he himself generated. Leopard 1 is a different story altogether. He and GM are good friends. Actually, it’s quite funny how he likes to cc the GM rather than his own big boss to win his case when he is not even in the GM’s organization. Now, this goes back to networking. But, life is good to the rest of us, too. I surely love the idea of changing the top management every few years, despite the change that we have to keep adapting. We have one American and one British at the top hierarchy now. These are fresh faces so nobody can really claim they are in their good books. There is no misuse of friendships nor abuse of power to support the so called network. If things turn awful, I know I can bring the matter up to the British VP. But I sure hope, GM is a wise enough old man to know what is actually happening down here.

When things are gravely bad..

I work in a china man company. Since the past one month or so, the complaints mushroom to the extent that one can metaphorically go mushroom picking in the plant, an extraordinary condition for a company that has been in existence for more than 30 years.

Some of the attention grabbing actions by the management are:

1. The engineering manager’s room was suddenly empty. He shifted himself to another room.

2. My boss, a senior product manager,  brought some kaffir lime leaves (daun limau purut) to work and was seen stroking them all over the walls of his room.  His clerk, upon catching sight of him in action,  exclaimed, “Just what are you doing???!”.

He responded, “Buang sial!”

He gave one stalk to the engineering manager as well.

Life of a factory worker

This is an excerpt from a forwarded mail. It could possibly be created but it contains significantly real fact of life of a factory worker. So hilarious I can’t hide my smiling face despite us having faced with crisis at work. Would you be this honest in your resignation letter?

 PER : SURAT BERHENTI KERJA

Saya seperti nama diatas, ingin memohon berhenti kerja. Saya berharap permohonan ini diluluskan. Berikut adalah sebab- musabab saya ingin berhenti kerja:-

1. Saya kerap dibuli oleh senior.

2. Makanan di kantin tak sedap tapi mahal macam KFC. Tambahan pula kalau makcik senior yg kira.

3. Lagu 5S tidak masuk dalam carta ERA.

4. Waktu rehat tersangat pendek 15 minit je… Nak beratur pun dah 20 minit!!!

5. KERJA BERDIRIIIIIIIIIII… … … . Kasut takde sponge pulak!!!!!

6. Bas kilang tersangat laju… . Tersangat BAHAYA… ..

7. Kalau setakat nak keja kilang, lebih baik tak payah ambil SPM. Indon tak ambil SPM pun boleh keja jugak!!!

8. Pekerja dipaksa O.T. Ingat kita orang ROBOT ke!!! Kalau tak O.T. ugut nak bagi Warning Letter pulakk… ..

9. Pintu kecemasan dihalang. Bila BOMBA audit baru kalut. KESELAMATAN TIDAK DIUTAMAKAN.

10. Scan in/out sikit nak masuk kena beratok sampai GATE HOUSE nak balik kena beratok BULEH TAWAF satu kilang..

11. Pintu keluar masuk 2 shj. Pekerja beribu… . Masuk LATE marah!!! Balik LATE driver BAS pulak marah!!!! sampai rumah mak bapak pulak yang marah KAMI selalu kena MARAHHHHHH…

12.Boss kadang 2 ok, kadang 2 tension sampai tak ingat 2 yang kami ni orang gak

13. Faedah2 lain tak memuaskan. contoh keja bagai nak tecabut kepala lutut profet shereing HAMPEHHH

14. BANYAK LAGI NAK HABAQ TAPI KUT TAK SANGUP DENGAQ KUT!!!!

Untuk pengetahuan tuan, saya telah berjaya menabung sebanyak RM 1.5 juta selama saya bekerja sebagai operator. Wang itu telah saya laburkan dalam bentuk dinar emas. Setiap bulan, pendapatan saya adalah sebanyak RM890. Inilah faktor utama saya ingin berhenti kerja. Terima kasih atas segala kerjasama … … … … tunjuk ajar tuan selama ini dengan saya.

**Akhir kata, terimalah sebuah pantun MAUTdari saya… … .. IKAN KELI, IKAN KEMBUNG; ANGKAT KAKI, LLLAAAMMMBUNG… … … … … SEKIAN, TERIMA KASIH..

Gold

Its glitters somehow doesn’t enchant me. In my lifetime, I reckon I have only paid for 2 bracelets with my own money. Ok, actually I should have 4 bracelets with me now if I was wiser not to trade in the other two.  There were two rings self purchased as well but those were unfortunately lost and never found. I dropped one of them and in a rush to spend time squinting for it (?!). The other I have no idea how I lost it. I can only think I misplaced it somewhere. I had this habit of removing my ring and forgot all about it until I remember the ring is no longer with me, which by the time I realize, a long time lapse, in days or weeks or probably month has passed by.  The good part about not being charmed by gold is I was not depressed having lost both rings. Hmm.. lucky I don’t apply the same habit to my bracelets!

Is gold a good investment? Oh it certainly is NOW! How I wish I had been wiser. I never thought gold jewelry is a good investment. You would have paid a hefty sum for a mere workmanship making the resale value not so interesting anymore. I later figured from a good friend that buying gold coins would be a fine act. I also learned about the gold investemnt via passbook, which is currently being offered by only two banks here, Maybank and Public. When I was in my learning stage, an ounce fetch about 2.7k, I felt it was too pricey. Now it kangaroo jumps to 3.6k! Gold is a pretty marvellously fast return investment, don’t be mislead by other who says it’s not.

I’m now thinking to have more glitters in my collection but the gold price makes buying decision at this point of time rather indiscreet. Yet, how would we know what’s the price for tomorrow? It could probably skyrocket sooner than later and will we regret for not purchasing it now?

Foe whatever it’s worth, glitters are actually good, I now presume.  I should start  diverting my shopping trips to the gold smiths! Before that, I must find out if the  the custom of shopping malls window shopping applies there too! One should not be expected to make a purchase when all she wants is to get excited by the glitters and see if she can actually afford what fancies her?

Eavesdropping

Exactly what I’m doing now. Heheh… I’ve been trying to catch forty winks but I don’t know why it’s so hard to snooze. I woke up before 3am this morning, supposed my eyes are just behaving well today. I’ve been thinking to take a sneak at the clothes factory next door but I guess I’m not so much in a shopping mood either. Believe it or not, I have yet to draw my August pay yet. Now, wide eyed not, that’s simply because I overdrawn my July pay. Muahahha..

Career Ladder

While waiting for the members to turn up for a meeting, we were chatting how our workplace is treating their employees. Many evidences suggest that reward and recognition is generally poor. Frequent changes at the top worsen the situation even more. Sekali air bah, sekali pasir berubah. And we have to keep changing the sail according to the wind. To look at it positively, it’s a pretty good lesson in adapting.

Here, you have to move out to move up, said a colleague.  At a glance, he’s right. Many left and came back with higher post. Many who don’t leave, stay in the same post like forever. The company has also built a reputation to reward the good people when they tender their resignation, by counter offer. While it’s musics to the ears of the people who are planning to leave, it demoralizes the people who don’t bother to hand over that letter. If they are good, why don’t just reward them justly in the yearly performance review? I commented this in the HR survey before.

I guess companies everywhere are the same. You probably win some, and you lose some. The company I’m working for used to be a leader in its sector but now we are bombarded with critics from customers that the main mission has now changed to building reputation. What has gone wrong? Change of management.  The loss of experienced people. I think the loss of experienced people should have weighted greatly on the analysis scale. Many left with sour heart, bringing away the know-how and later joined a competitor and some has turned into being customers themselves. As the cliche goes, each has his own story to tell and bad words spread fast. Damaged reputation is not easy to heal.

While we were chatting, I remarked, I don’t want to go up. Seriously, I am tired of climbing the ladder. I think I’m fine being where I am now. I figured, the more we go up, the more answering we have to do, the more exposed we are to the game of politics, the less laughs we would have during working hours! Really, people somehow want to see you are tensed, that’s what is expected of you. Having a good laugh when your boss is so stressful is clearly a big no no. Even when the jokes are so funny you just must MUST laugh. But even when he doesn’t look so stressful, it’s wise to keep a straight face.  If you are like a cat on a hot tin roof, people assume you are involved. Being seen as involved is a perception that is expected of you because everybody is involved in problems here.  The company works 24/7. We produce parts every day, every hour, every minute and along the way, we produce problems and we solve the problems and the cycle repeats itself. Hmm.. manufacturing is a tiring business.

H1N1

Looks like the epidemic is seriously acute. I’ve heard people I know who have their relatives quarantined.  At work, a mandatory temperature  check for every employee is conducted at the gate prior to allowing entry. We have reached a high alert stage, despite not knowing all the details to be led to that stage. Despite this all, we laugh, we joke and we are happy. We don’t really feel the impact nor worry too much. Life simply goes on as usual. Ignorance is bliss or period of anxiety has yet to arrive?

Hunting

So, wordpress has made some slight changes on the login layout I only discovered just now. 

Anyway.. my new job. Ok, not exactly a new job. I was property hunting  when a part time vacancy appear right before my eyes, a writer! Aaah.. who doesn’t like to see their work printed and published. The only time my work get published was in the school magazine. Hahhaaha.. So, I replied almost instantly and got a response rather instantly, too. Then, the mistake happened. Gross one. I had voluntarily shared the link to my blog.  The potential employer visited.. Only then I realized I made a mistake. What a reference. All I did the past entries were hammering and reproving my job leh.. The verdict: I never heard from them ever since. Muahhaha.. 

Anyway, we lived and we learned. The next day, I stumbled onto another advertisement. Part time education consultant. The what I thought would be an interview turned out to be a briefing session on what the job entails and yeap, I went back with a new job. I  just need to find working adults who want to pursue their education funded by EPF withdrawal. It sounds good. 500 per student. The problem is, some of the courses, despite link to a public uni, is not LAN accredited. I don’t want to sell a product when I know I won’t buy it myself. The training manager was also rather hesitant to agree with my request to sit in one of the lecture classes. So, the kit is still lying there on my dining table. Hmm…

Well, I will have to post the exhilarating stories on the property hunting later.  How to describe the whole episode? I guess moral of the story is, you just get what you are willing to pay for. Life is fair sometimes.

Self inflicted injury

Staying or leaving is a choice. We don’t leave because we choose to stay. If we choose to stay, learn to live with it. Yes, it’s a matter of choice. Learning to live with it is like forcing sea water down our throat every single day until we suffocate. And vomit.

I always think despite my occasional whimpering, my job brings some level of happiness. There are parts of my workload which I do love.  There’s that inner satisfaction I do experience once in a while. I take the unfavourable tasks as part and parcel of my job and if I have to grumble to feel better, I will and I do it often.

Well, things change. A variable is turning into a constant, slowly but surely. 

1.  Dragging myself to work is a denominator.

2. Yawning in the morning meetings is obligatory.

3. Problem, even the slightest of it,  constantly becomes a pain in the neck. I can no longer see it as an opportunity in disguise.

4. I’m using coffee to stay alert, and I used to be a person who detests coffee.  I realized that I have stopped pressing my favourite hot Milo from the dispense machine but instead am stocking up  3 in 1 nescafe in my drawer for my convenience.

5. Excitement is lost. In all areas. Ok, maybe almost. No, I think it’s no longer there.

6. I no longer want to do what I used to like to do so much.  Lazy or demotivation, the impact is the same. I will only do when I have no other choice but to do it. 

7.  Oh dear…I have lotsss to nudge myself that I should start packing my bags. I do hate my job now!

What causes this tragedy? Staying in the same place for far too long? Possibly. I used to feel this feeling 3 or 4 years ago before I switched role, switched department, switched boss. Maybe I seriously need a change and a heavier wallet, too? Hehheh.. Oh yes, I do find myself always daydreaming getting a sudden fat pay raise of late. Even at the point that I know well I’m not doing any extra ordinary stuffs to deserve that. How outrageous.. Hey, I’ll be jumping around if I do. At least for a while. Then, I can go job hunting with higher pay expectation. No, first things first, I’ll get chubbier compensation when the VSS comes knocking!

Oh well, really, being a whiner is the last thing I want to associate myself with. Regardless of what I reason, in all consciousness, I choose to stay.  I accept full responsibility and consequences of choosing to still stay (because I’m so wanting the VSS money? Huhuuu..). Yes, I can testify that if you have come to this situation, choosing to stay is a very unhealthy decision.  Yet, many do. Poor souls at work. I’m one of them. Huhuhuuu….