High C
The recent trainings/teambuilding events that I’ve attended for work seem to have been somewhat of a soul-searching trip for me because the activities/teachings made me learn more about myself.
Like, for example, how I am a very high C personality (as per my previous post on my DISC personality assessment).
Ever since I can remember, I get very annoyed when people cannot follow simple rules/regulations and instructions, such as not running red lights, queueing up to wait for their turn, not bringing in outside food into the cinema, silencing their phones in the cinema, not throwing thrash out of their cars, not switching off meeting room lights when they are done using the room, and not cleaning up the board when they are done with the room, to name a very few.
I also get very pissed off when people don’t practice what they preach. Like, in the last organization I was attached to, the company was forever preaching their core values like respect for the individual and best people. However, in my last assignment, the partner who was heading the program was one of the main culprits who yells at team members in public and belittles them in full view of others. I remember on several occasions, hearing him berating his managers and senior managers in their weekly status meetings, and this was behind closed doors! Can you imagine how loud he was?! Although I didn’t get ‘hit’ directly by this partner, I couldn’t stand his treatment of the others and this was one of my main motivators of leaving the firm. (Side note : I recently found out that to-date (from April 2009 till now), 72 people have resigned from this project. And this is not including those who resigned when they found out that they were assigned to this project i.e. prior to even commencing work on the project. The attrition rate should count towards the management KPI. Best people? Yeah right. Where are their best people now?)
The most recent experience I’ve had was with the world’s local bank. They sold me their credit card by promising to waive the RM50 govt. fee if I made a minimum of 5 transactions on the card within the month. I transacted 5 times, didn’t pay the RM50 when it was charged to my bill and when they called up to chase for payment, I told them that they were supposed to waive it because I met the requirements. They told me to call up the call center to get it waived, which I did. And the call center agent kindly informed me that they cannot waive fees charged by the govt. Which utterly pissed my off because that was what they promised me in the first place. If they are not allowed to waive govt. fees, then don’t bloody offer it to customers! I am more than willing to pay the fee if they didn’t promise to waive it. Since they informed me that they cannot waive it, I am planning to close all my accounts and terminate any dealings with the world’s local bank. I really hate it when companies promise the sky just to get a sale.
When things like these happen (e.g. organizations or people who do not keep up to their promises), I will do whatever it takes to disassociate myself from them because it disgusts me to be linked to them in any way. I don’t care if the organization is an established one or the person is a well-known/older/more experienced person; I will not ‘give face’. Actually, it’s even more shameful and disgusting that an established organization or a well-known/older/more experienced person would commit something like this because they are supposed to know better!
Now that I know I’m a high C personality, it makes more sense why I cannot tolerate situations like these i.e. non-compliance and lack of integrity.
Back to practicing what we preach. Before I complain about something or someone, I will make sure that I myself don’t do the thing that I am complaining about e.g. if I don’t like people cutting queues, I will make sure that I myself don’t cut queues. What really irks me is that when people complain about something or someone, sometimes I’ll find that they are committing the exact thing that they complained about! Isn’t that like, double standards? If you don’t like it, then don’t do it. Else, you have no right to complain when other people do the same.
Another thing I’ve observed about myself is that when in a group, I will always consider my actions based on the collective good of the group (not sure if this relates directly to my high C personality). For example, if I went on a white water rafting trip with my friends and there are 7 of us in total but the raft can fit max 6 people, I will willingly offer to join another raft so that my 6 other friends can be on the same raft together. I don’t think this is a noble gesture; I think it’s just a logical thing to do to ensure minimal
impact to the group. It’s a simple thing to do but you would be surprised, not many people would offer to do it. Years back, someone mentioned to me that I would be a good hiking team member because I wouldn’t keep my team members back if I were to get caught in a dangerous situation.
There are so many instances I’ve come across where people don’t take responsibility and accountability for their actions, both in and out of work. For example, why do people throw thrash out of their cars? If they can keep their car clean, why not extend it to the roads? Why do people not park within their alloted parking spots? Don’t they realize that when they are out of their box, they are reducing the no. of parking spots for others because the next car won’t be able to park in the next lot? To me, these types of behaviors show one’s selfishness and immaturity.
Ultimately, my principles and values center around integrity, honesty, responsibility and accountability. And not to leave out humility as well. I can be flexible in other aspects but I will not compromise on these.
Always a pessimistic idealist… the perfectionist… animal lover… dance enthusiast… and snob to people who don’t know me. Coz I’ve got the “proud peacock look”, according to a friend. Ah well… always takes one to know one, no? 