Damn My Bloody Mouth
Hate my mouth sometimes. Truly I do. I can be so bluntly honest that I many cases I could only be called an ultimate dumbass. Being constantly truthful is not good and I mean it. It can be really crap at times especially when it comes to playing mind games or political games in the work environment. Which is just ultimate crap either way you choose to play your game. Basically, all you have are only 2 options.
Option 1: Be and idiot (like me so far) and answer every question truthfully
Outcome: Offend your colleagues or worse still your boss, usually unintentionally, as you may be seen as “sabo-ing”, “fly-kite-ing” or just “fucking aournd”.
Option 2: Tailor your answers to all questions depending on your audience and be ready to warp or alter “the truth” to please people.
Outcome: Seemingly happy colleagues and bosses, BUT at an extremely high price as you would constantly be weaving this intricate web of “half truths” or “lies”, which also means that you would have to remember exactly what you said to who. In fact, it is a huge ass bomb waiting to go off the moment you lose focus or accidentally slip.
Well I guess, this is working life ain’t it? I personally feel that all companies should be evaluated by “politics specialists” whom will determine the level and the extent of office politics that occur in very company AND recommend the extra amount of allowance or pay to give to their employees who have to deal with this EXTRA work. Haha!
I guess I am just plain silly or just wayyyyyy too naïve regarding this shit. Time to grow up and FAST!
Sigh. Moo~~~~~
PS: Here is just a short list of the things which are already considered as taboo to be spoken of by us, as Singaporean new employees, namely, my pay, my allowance, my place of accommodation, Singaporean average pay, China politics, Taiwan politics, religion, independence rights and the list goes on…..
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I Got Too Close?
Actually I wanted to blog about this yesterday but was so exhausted these few days that I ended up dozing off at 2230 hours for 2 days in a row. Well, here it is, finally haha!
WE as Singaporeans usually have this mindset of how self-centered and inconsiderate some or most lowly educated Chinese could be. (by Chinese I am referring to local mainlanders from China) Admit it. How many times have we used the rather degrading term of “Ah Tiong” to refer to them? Well, argue all you want, but I’m sure we are all guilty of the stereotypical thinking once in awhile.
Enough of that mambo jumbo of mindless banter and back to my story. Just yesterday while going on with my mindless operator job at my 7th day at the printer (applies solder paste to PCBs or printed circuit boards in all your handphones), while opening a new packet of new PCBs, my hand slipped and accidentally broke and separated 1 piece from the co-joining pieces from 1 PCB (Each PCB is made up of 4 pieces of handphone boards joined by very weak and tiny joints, I broke 2 joints basically.). This, under their Standard Operating Procedures would require the line manager to come screw me a bit then ask me to sign a form claiming all responsibility and accept any punishment (usually a fine of 200 RMB).
Me, being a way too honest Singaporean went up to the line manager to tell her the truth instead of some cock and bull story about the board being broken before I opened it, expecting to receive some scolding and all. But guess what? My 师傅, 1 other co-worker who stands next to me everyday (together, everyday, the 3 of us struggle to make ridiculous targets set by the management) and 1 technician went to talk to the line manager (also my friend la actually), asking her to not write that fault report and ask her to help me cover. And guess what? She did! Without blinking an eye! Despite it causing the entire line a little more hassle and compromising the end product quality. Man! Was I flattered and very very embarrassed at the same time for making such a careless mistake. But I guess, it can be summarized in 2 words again. 关系 or relationships are what drive the working environment in China. I was very lucky to have tasted the sweet end of it first.
It is today that I was informed by my trainer (an Indian) at the line that we would be moving on to another station tomorrow and may be transferred to another building for purposes of facilitating the training. It was then I realised. Out of the 300000 employees, I was very fortunate to interact with some very nice and kind ones and whom I may no longer see ever again from tomorrow onwards. I felt a sudden tinge of sadness, that the friendships (or acquaintances) that I built up for the past week or so may be gone just by the snap of a finger. Did I get too close to people leading to such vulnerability?
Cherish your friends, your family. Everyday of your life. You will never know when you will lose them. (OPPS! I think sentimental and emotional moo struck again. Haha!)
Ciao! Moo~~~~~
NB: Some Nelly Furtado Songs can sound realllllllllly horrible. Haha!
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5th Day as an Operator! Wee!
Today was day 5 of my life as an operator on the very 1st station of the making of a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) or the green shit board like thing that is in your hand phone when you open it up. Oh! I just realized I forgot to inform you guys that I am in the MPB (Mobile Phone Board) deparrtment, ODM (Original Design Manufacturer) Section of the WLBG (Wireless Buisness Group) under FIH (Foxconn International House => Check out their Stocks! Hahaha! ). That is one huge ass of a description with no explanation ehy? Haha! In simpler terms, my department designs or co-designs and manufactures mobile phone boards for mobile phone companies. Nokia is my department’s main focus.
Enough of that crap. Back to day 5 of my operator life. I reached the company in a really sleepy state course I had an extremely bad night last night from constantly waking up to cramps in my calves. Argh! Any brilliant and cheap solutions to this?
For my current life as an operator, all I have to do is fit the circuit boards onto some other boards and load it into some machine. This requires hardly any skills or techniques, just extreme stamina as you will be doing it for the whole bloody day from 830 am to 530 pm, STANDING! To makes matter worse you have to wear some anti static bracelet, attached to a short cable and which is fixed to a stationary table, greatly limiting your movement to a tiny space of approximately 1.5 metre radius around you. To put it in simpler terms I am sharing the plight of a chained up dog. Haha!
But life ain’t all that bad here. So don’t worry about me. There are times where we could escape from the monotony of factory operations through events like lunch, meetings, trainings, briefing and feedback sessions. Our very rare trainings are held by an Indian called Saravanen (Who does not really understand what we are asking half the time. And the other half of the time we don’t understand what the hell is he talking about! Haha!).
Yup that is all for now. Exhausted from standing all day! Haha! And finally Junyen is here too! Wee! Our team of fantastic 4 Singaporeans are here! Wee!
Last but not least, HI MOM! HI BRO! HI DAD! I know you guys are reading this! Haha! (Lucky I cut down my vulgarities like F***! Haha!)
Ciao! Moo~~~~
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1st official blog entry written in Shenzhen
Wee!
Yesterday was the first day of work for me after a gruelling 3 day course in Chinese which encompassed 12 hours of lessons everyday with only 1 miserly hour of lunch and half an hour of dinner in between, To makes things worse, they had to conduct the whole bloody course in Chinese and the notes were in TRADITIONAL CHINESE. Goodness! We had to survive a 80 MCQ exam at the end too. Which somehow all 3 of us here miraculously passed. I seriously wonder how? As i barely managed to finish reading and answering all the questions. But oh well. Hahaha.
Today, i was asked by the HR to go for a mandatory healthcheck as prescribed by the company and the local government. I was chauffered to the hospital (In Shenzhen City, an approxcimnately 45 min car ride from the workplace). The ride there was considerably uneventful with the usual jams, bad driving etiquette and loads of horning. The only more "exciting" thing that occured had to be the "妈的!" that my driver screamed out after a bright white flash, where he asked me if he was photographed by the traffic police for smoking and driving at the same time. I was actually genuinely shocked. Not because he asked me the question or at how similar the laws are compared to Singapore. In fact i was amazed that the police would even be bothered with smoking with driving when the road conditions of extreme reckless driving, ridiculous overtaking and an occasional vehicle driving in the OPPOSITE direction.
That's all for now. Getting reallly tired from the work and all. Will update more on me living here soon.
Ciao! Moo~~~~~
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Weak
It's been 3 or 4 days
The deed was supposed to have been done
Case closed
Finito
But I realized
Nothing is as simple as it seems
Not usually the quitter in any scenario
Strangely I still hurt
And ache
And ponder
I guess I need a little more time for this to go away
As fast as possible
I hope
In desperate need to move on
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A patch on a quilt
A single pixel on a screen
A dot on the world map
A drop of water in the ocean
A grain of sand in the desert
1 insignificant me
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Weather Today
Date : 02/08/2007
Beautiful morning sun
Peering through the towering trees
Wonderfully pale blue skies
Dotted with fluffy white clouds
Hopefully it stays this way
Doom and gloom go away
Thank you very much
Music: 郭美美 - 爱是你眼里的一首情歌
Labels: Linkin Park – What I've Done
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The 2 People You Meet In A Day
Been wanting to blog about this for sometime. But, well, the past few days have been nothing short of crazyiness. Hence the delay.
Person Number 1
Just 5 days ago, after my convocation ceremony (shall post pictures on this soon) and was on the train travelling to VivoCity to chill out a stranger walked up to me and dumped his namecard onto my lap. This stranger then promptly moved to one end of the cabin (i was seated in the centre of the cabin) and bascially started to steal occasional glances at me as if waiting for my reaction.
Naturally, anybody's reaction would be the same as mine. Utter shock. Memories of namecard peddlers on the Shanghainese Metro kept flashing through my head. But this is Singapore not Shanghai, China. How could this be happening? There has to be some law somewhere prohibiting this? Or am i wrong? Anyways, what i did was expected, where i tried to return the namecard and said thanks but no thanks. The stranger's reaction was nothing short of bizzare.
"Keep it. You will need it....." (Naturally i tried my utmost best to smile and continue returning the card)
"You remember me?"
"No!"
"STTS. 1 week course?"
"OH!" (Sudden revelation of being recognised by my trainee from my army days)
"So do you recognise me?"
"Sorry i don't. I am so sorry about that. Thought you were some salesman."
We proceed to go on chatting about our lives after Army. He went on to enquire about my current employment status and degree i was holding. AND very surprisingly he went on to say he could get me a job in some very prestigious company with very good pay. Naturally i have to turn him down as i am already employed. How strange fate plays out itself, sometimes.
Person Number 2
I got off next at Vivocity, had dinner, shopped around and while boarding the escaltor to bring me up to the cinemas to get movie tickets, a stranger who was riding down started staring at me. Which triggered me to look just back (Look not Stare. I'm reasonably polite most of the time okay. ^^) Then he started talking.
"Do you remember me?"
"No. I'm sorry"
"STTS, signal course. You were one of the instructors?"
"OH! I'm sorry i could not recognise you." (Looking reasonably shocked and embarassed)
"Its ok. You took so many trainees. I'm sure you get this all the time?"
Mumbling "No not all the time. Just TWICE today....."
Again. Twice in a day. Naturally my goldfish memory does not help at all. A slightly more comforting thought was that thousands of trainees sat through my lessons, so i guess, a little amnesia time and agian would be fine. Right? haha.
These people i met that day, left me wondering. How many people's lives have u affected through your everyday actions? How many people who remember you course you were once significant in their lives? And among these people, how many do you actually remember or cared to remember? And yet among these people, how many of them had a postive impression of you? The face they last saw, was it friendly or enemity?
Fate is a funny thing. It kints this intricate web, crosslinking the lives of people who would otherwise be strangers before the "immaculate" or "cursed" meeting.
Be as nice to as many people as you can every single day of your life. You never know when these "accquaintances" will come bite your ass off or kiss you on your cheek, one day, many years down the road.
Music: Rihanna - Umbrella
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