Throughout my 10+ years of work, I’ve had the good fortune of having great colleagues. We all work well together, have great teamwork, and we back each other up when needed. We are also truthful and honest with each other, because in our line of work, time is of essence and it does not pay to lie or cover any mistakes because they will come and haunt you and bite you in your arse when you least expect it.

So after having all these years of wonderful teammates, I guess it’s karma that I have to deal with a colleague who displays the following traits :

• Thinks he’s a know-it-all
• Imposes his opinion on others when someone has a different view from him
• Tries to push off work i.e. if he can get away not doing it, he will
• Didn’t pay attention during a critical meeting, which resulted in me doing additional work and him doing an about-turn on his initial decision (I find this so unprofessional and a display of total lack of integrity)
• Complains about everything at work but never giving solutions
• Has criticisms about everything and is so darn condescending when he opens his mouth

I started getting annoyed with his attitude a few months after he joined our team but after that incident in the meeting, I’d just about had it with him. Now, I only talk to him when required and minimize my contact with him because once I decide that I don’t like someone, I don’t bother being nice to the person because I think it’s fake and pretentious. I realize that it may not be very professional but if I can get my work done effectively with minimal interaction with him, I think it’s fine.

And just to reinforce that I’m not overreacting, I’m not the only person who has gripes about this person.

I hope I have the sanity to not blow up at him one day, after another one of his endless complaints/criticisms about something or other.

For all the things I gripe about my company’s management team not walking the talk (i.e. not practicing what they preach), one thing I do admire is their commitment to being healthy. This is specifically referring to the CEO, because earlier this year, he had issued a challenge to all employees to sign up for the Penang Bridge Marathon in Nov. And today, he posed a question : If you could do something to be healthier today, what would you do?

What would I do to be healthier?
- Exercise at least 3 times a week consistently. Currently, I’m only at 2x a week.
- Eat healthier, preferably a vegetarian diet. Currently, I do eat fish and some seafood.
- Watch my portioning. I think Malaysians eat too much for our own good because we have so many types of yummy (but unhealthy food) available anywhere, anytime. I pledge not to eat more than I need.

What I’m currently doing :
- Avoiding deep fried food
- Avoiding carbonated drinks (I allow myself the occasional 1oo-plus and Coke)
- Eating my veggies. I love veggies!

If there’s nothing else I admire about the Scandinavians at the workplace (work-wise, that is), the one thing that I DO admire about them is how well they keep themselves in shape. I was told that our CEO can run a full marathon without any problems. I know another colleague who is an avid cyclist and diver. An American dude is always seen munching on his fruits during meetings. I don’t work with many of them but from physical appearance alone, most of them appear to be quite trim so I assume they do something to keep themselves in shape.

So I am very glad that our CEO is promoting being healthy. Hopefully this will trigger people to rethink their lifestyle and make a change for the better. Being healthy is not a one-off effort. It requires ongoing commitment and effort to maintain and remain healthy till we’re old and grey.

Today I have come to a depressing conclusion that all for-profit companies are the same. Regardless of the “values” they claim to possess and preach, the management team hardly ever walks the talk.

I had initially thought that this company was different, that they at least have a bit of integrity when it comes to practising the values they preach. Unfortunately, naive (or rather, stupid) me got crushed today when the CEO blundered his way through a question on why the management team were given a fleet of new luxury non-hybrid cars when there are hybrid options available, seeing that “being green” seemed to be one of the big values this company preaches. Plus they totally avoided answering the main questions posed by employees and instead chose to answer the “safe” questions only. There were 90+ questions submitted, they answered only 3.

And our cost of living adjustment (COLA) to our salary this year is so pathetic, it’s insulting. The prices of almost everything has gone up. For example, my favorite pan mee at a coffee shop in Glenmarie used to cost RM4, now it costs RM4.50. Petrol prices are increasing, I’ve heard that it’s supposed to increase up to 15% this year. So, as usual, prices go up sky-high but there isn’t even a dent in our salary. Like, for me, after tax deduction, the adjustment is just enough to purchase just one additional tank of fuel per month.

I take back what I said about the company being in sync with my values. This has been proven to be untrue. The management team seems to be like a mini Malaysian govt — they squeeze their employees and vendors dry, and reap all the benefits for themselves and leave us to eat dust. If they’ve got a conscience, I don’t know how they sleep peacfully at night. I know what the hubs would say… “They sleep on 20,000-dollar beds”.

The management not walking their talk was one of the contributing factors of me leaving my previous firm because I cannot stand hypocrites and double standards. That’s where I’ve now come to a conclusion that all companies are the same and I either deal with it and accept it, or leave. Again. Which wouldn’t solve this problem because I would most likely come across the same thing at another organization.

Gawd, how disgusting.

Today I won 2000 bucks

And I’m finally convinced that visualization of an outcome that I desire really works.

There was a quiz at work to create awareness on the company’s corporate social responsibility initiatives, specifically the green initiatives. We were given links the day before to read up on the info in preparation for the quiz.

Since this was up my alley, green initatives and all that, I was quite enthusiastic about it and tried to read up as much as I could (there were really LOADS to read) the day before.

The night before, I visualized myself winning the prize (there was only one prize) and kept that thought with me throughout the day right up till quiz time.

As a result, I won by answering 50% of the questions and not answering the remaining 50% (by letting my opponent answer incorrectly — 2 out of the 3 questions answered were incorrect).

I was so shocked that I’d actually won because it was something I didn’t expect! Sure, I visualized myself winning but when it actually happened, I was totally blown away!

So yes, I am now a believer in the Law of Attraction

And I learned a few more things about being green in the process, hehe… such as :
- Refrigerators with the freezer at the top is more energy efficient than other models.
- If you keep the ice tray in the freezer full, it saves energy.
- Turn down the A/C thermostat to 24-25 degrees Celsius as each degree cooler will increase energy use by 6-8%.
- Optimal refrigerator temperature is 26–35F (2 – 3C) while freezer to 0-5F (-18 to 15C).

Learn more about DiGi’s green initiatives here.

14th October 2010 : We celebrated DiGi’s 15th anniversary with a bang! We created the country’s longest human domino and got into the Malaysia Book of Records with a total 1409 pax!

The day started with most DiGizens meeting at D’House and in a convoy of 30-40 buses, we were police-escorted to Pavillion. If you’ve never been in a large convoy and police-escorted, it’s quite a grand feeling when you see the whole fleet of buses with their hazard lights on and police escorts in the front, back and sides Yeah I know, syiok sendiri

The Incredibles! This is part of our team

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One of the things that I’ve observed of my current workplace and which I like is that they seem to “walk the talk”.

Aside from the usual revenue generation and customer service goals like many other organizations, one distinguishing initiative that this organization embarks on is their Deep Green initiative.

And they don’t just give lip service to being green, unlike my previous organization. So far, I have seen green initiatives being put in action throughout the office, such as :

1. Recycle bins are available within the office as well as in the parking lots.
2. The lights are switched off during lunch hour.
3. The cafeteria provides paper bags instead of plastic bags for people who wish to take away kuihs and such.
4. Staff who carpool are entitled to park their vehicles in the covered carpark, thus encouraging people to carpool.
5. Almost every week, there is a lunch screening of video(s) on a ‘green’ subject or on human impact to the earth.
6. The buildings (existing and in construction) have ’green’ components built-in.

Read more here.

Project A : 4000+ mandays
Team size : 50 at peak
Duration : 1 year

Project B : 80,000+ mandays
Team size : An army
Duration : Across several years

Scope : Similar for both.

If this is not a recipe for failure for Project A, I don’t know what is.

~~~~~

On the other hand, it feels good to be recognized and appreciated by my peers.

I did a series of .ppt decks in preparation for a project which never took off. When it did finally take off, I was unfortunately assigned to this current hellhole of a project. But my colleague who was in the same team at that time managed to get back to that project and on two occasions, she MSN-ed me :

“Your decks are really useful!”
“AI LING!!! I miss you!! Please come back!!!!!!!”

Even my peers can show some appreciation. But I guess the big bosses think it’s too generous to give a word of praise now and again.

Had a short powwow over cake and coffee, with the app manager after our gruelling full-day session with the client.

He is from the London office and he shared the differences between his office and the KL office.

The stark differences between how the London office values their staff vs. the KL office is quite appalling.

It seems that the London office sincerely cares about things like their employees career path, interests, work/life balance and they actually take the time to listen to their employees. They structure the teams based on the people, not the work. Whether they do this just to keep people happy or they sincerely do care about their staffs’ interests and welfare, I don’t know. But the end result is, people are happy with their work, people are happy to work for the firm, which ultimately leads to people being loyal to the company –> lower attrition rate.

Here, out of all the crappy things happening, the most insulting and demotivating thing I have heard coming from someone up there is that they (the bosses) will not hesitate to remove anyone who doesn’t perform, from the project. And I have also heard of one of them (the bosses), coming to check on my team at 10pm because he doesn’t think we are working hard enough.

What a way to motivate your staff! Already we are given an impossible timeline to meet and an equally ridiculous scope to deliver, and we are already working our butts off to deliver the work (I have colleagues who work till the wee hours and also weekends to get the work done, every single day and weekend), now they threaten to remove us from the project if we don’t deliver?!

You know, I am not surprised at all when people decide to resign. Not at all surprised.

You would think a large multinational firm like this who claims to have every benefit in the working world, would have proper policies and procedures to ensure their staffs’ welfare but in the end, they are just like any other chinapek company out there. Well, the KL arm, that is.

People tell me to detach myself from work and just do what I can but I find it difficult to do so because I must do my best because that is my nature. I cannot deliver something substandard. And because of this, I will get affected by all this nonsense because crap, my contribution is not being appreciated! How can one not be angry and demotivated?!

Being very emo at the moment because I am feeling very shitty. And I don’t need anyone to tell me to (1) quit my job and find another one, or (2) deal with it coz this is how every organization works, because that is not the point.

Seriously. I will bite.

Never ever trust anyone.

Just when I started to have a sliver of faith in humanity again, I got sabo-ed by the client. Which resulted in this person’s boss getting onto my boss’ case.

Thank gawd my boss was nice enough not to get on my case about it but still, he took the flack on my behalf so it bugs me because it made me look bad.

In hindsight, it was my fault for not covering my back well enough. But because I’ve been dealing with this person on various things for some time, I thought we had an understanding. Apparently not. So much for fostering client relationship. And for this stunt, this person’s credibility, in my books, just went to zilch. Z-E-R-O.

Biatch.

~~~~~

And, pray tell me, how the hell am I supposed to fit 33 people (and counting) in a space with 19 workstations, where the size of each table is at most 3 feet wide? First, they not only make us work like dogs, and now they can’t even give us proper workstations and expect us to cram 33 ppl (and counting) into such a small space!

Bloody morons!

~~~~~

I am very incensed today.

There’s only a couple of reasons why I work as hard as I do, hard as in the long hours.

It’s not because of my loyalty to the organization. A business is a business i.e. to make profits. It does not make sense for the business to look at employee welfare when the business is suffering. So the business wouldn’t care jackshit about me if times are bad and they need reduce costs. 

It’s not because I want to climb higher and faster up the corporate ladder. From my observation, the higher one goes up the ladder, the more detached one becomes from being a decent human being, bordering on mean and ruthless. With the exception of a few amazing individuals, whom I’ve had the good fortune to work with. I’d rather remain as a lowly consultant for as long as I can or even quit, as long as I maintain my sense of compassion and emphathy towards my fellow humans.

So why do I do it?

I do it all in the name of teamwork. Because we are a team, we struggle as a team and celebrate as a team. Because our work is all related and sometimes dependent upon another’s completion, if one person doesn’t pull his/her weight, then the whole piece will eventually collapse. All it takes is just one person to not be in sync with the team and it will make it difficult for everyone else because now, not only do you have to deal with the pressures of the workload, you have to deal with people dynamics and find a way to resolve it.

I have been fortunate all of my working life to have had amazing team members who do not only their share of work but are willing to go further and help other teammates when things get too much.

Sure, we complain and gripe about it. Who wouldn’t, having to work till 2am in the morning every single day for 2 weeks in a row, including weekends? We complain about it together and then we go cuckoo together, like youtube-ing the Smurfs theme song and playing it, in hip hop version. My boss kept himself psyched during the late hours by playing the Star Wars theme song (he’s a Star Wars + movie buff). After the Smurf episode, we all started reminiscing about the cartoons of our childhood : Thundercats, He-Man, Voltron, Jem and the Holograms. And we started singing their theme songs! That’s what sleep deprivation does to you, I guess. Heh. This was my memorable experience in my most recent all-nighter stint.

Also, a more realistic view of this is, we are all not indispensable. If I don’t do it, someone else will be more than willing to take my place. Especially in times like these. So what does one do? Slog la…