Friday, May 16, 2014

Training Got A Victim

I don't normally take request for what I write, but my most loyal reader kept asking me about this one, sooooo this time I'll make an exception ;p

Once upon a time our office had this one training. Not sure if I have mentioned it before, but most of the trainings were irrelevant to most of the departments in our company. BUT, we all have to attend. So you can imagine half of the people listening to it with either blank, sleepy or don't care face (pretty sure some people did fall asleep once in the training XD). But again, this company is really great in picking employees. Eventhough all of us hate it, we all still (I dont know how) put all the effort and can do the quiz well. Okay I'm going offtrack already :l

Anyway, this one training was special. Eventhough the other trainings were also irrelevant and we were forced to come, but this one had "optional" on the invitation for most departments (including my department of course yayyy). So imagine how happy we were seeing it.

On that fated day, I came on time for my office hours (There's no way I would come on training hours if I wasn't needed :P). When I came, the training apparently was held at my department, so I didn't get in. Later on my lovely colleague told me, there was a big scene happened there...

Now let me say it again. The training was optional, but the training was held on my department floor. So these optional guys didn't attend the training, but sit at their desks busily working. The trouble was, their desks were in the area of the running training.

Then suddenly, superexcited scolded one of our design department colleague. Let's name him Boldie. He said, "Are you attending the training or working? If you aren't attending the training, just GET OUT!!". Boldie then stood up and left the room. Slitherin and Little Missy actually were working too, and once superexcited said that, they straight away stopped typing and turned around to the screen lol but superexcited didn't notice them. Either that, or he just had this err thingy about Boldie. They didn't get along that well sometimes.

Apparently, superexcited didn't know about the whole optional thing for the training. And when he was told later by the management team, he insisted that the content was relevant to everyone and shouldn't be made optional. I'm pretty sure he would have made a fuss about how they didn't discuss it with him before making it optional. But, I'm glad I made the wise decision not to enter that training area :P

The next Monday Boldie was fired. I'm not sure if it's true, but there was this rumor that Boldie himself wanted to resign that day. However, when he got to officenya Si bawel (superexcited's office), before he managed to open his mouth, he was fired. He left by lunch time, and the scene they made show that both hated each other. Especially in regards to reference. When superexcited asked Boldie about needing reference, Boldie replied "I don't know. What are you going to say??". Which superexcited replied in the same harshness, "I don't know. I can write up something!". :l

Boldie left by lunchtime without saying good bye to most of us. And since then, even if the training says optional, all of us never trust it anymore, and get someone to clarify before getting too excited :P

PS: mecat si Boldie sih bener2 bloon ya buat si bawel, secara si botak uda kerja 6-7 taon. Di sini, kalo uda kerja lebih dr 5 taon, cuti panjang mulai diitung. And kalo kita dipecat, kantor musti bayar cuti yg uda mulai dikumpulin. Wkt Si bawel pecat, Si bawel kayanya ngga tau deh soal ini. Soalnya ga brp lama abis itu, Si botak nuntut duitnya lewat depnaker gt dehhh... abis dicek2, mrk bener musti bayar ;)

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Yeah, right! -_-

Had our company training the other day Btw, I don't know if I have mentioned about trainings before, but our boss likes to give us training every now and then. When each of us joined the company, we were told that we have training once every 6 or 8 weeks. Yeah right. In reality, we're very lucky if we have it every 4 weeks. At the worst time, we have it every 2 weeks. We even had a couple of times when we had it twice in 2 weeks.  Not to mention the training they squeezed into our forever long meeting. You might think isn't it good to have training? Other companies don't even have one. Well you will be put off too if the training happens to be held earlier than your official working hour. Also, IMHO, 89 out of 100 trainings I've attended, the topics were not relevant to my department. Don't even ask me if it's relevant to accounting and design departments, but unfortunately we all have to attend most if not all of them and then do the quiz after that. Yep, there is a quiz. I got 40 on my first quiz, and I had to resit the training. There is another story about colleague who did not attend one training, but I might have to write it separately.

Anyway, I can't remember the official title of the training, but it's something to do with employee recognition and how it benefits company in terms of employee retention and productivity. Seriously, I did not expect this training to be the most relevant, interesting and close to heart to maybe 19 out of maybe 25 employees XD I usually struggle to concentrate and open my eyes, but this time I happily and excitedly took notes :P later on I found out that I wasn't the only one.

One of the point they made was that companies should recognize their companies frequently to make them feel appreciated and so they feel as part of the company and do the best work they can. They then went on to say, unlike our company, not everyone says thanks for your work, not everyone has employee recognition program that we have, and not every company takes their employee on Friday night to drinks etc. I heard about drinks from my recruitment agent when I applied for this job, and I thought it was nice, but reality is always a little bit different...

True our company say thanks for your work. I hear thanks everyday everywhere in our company. I don't know if it's company culture or we just happen to have the nicest people here. We have employee recognition program. Yes. It works like a testimonial form. You submit the testimony of someone's work and it will be read out in the meeting for everyone to hear. Then the person giving testimony and the recipient will get some points. These points will be accumulated and if you get the most points, you can get a CD, to be played on company CD player ;)) So far, nothing is wrong with this recognition program. But if you don't submit anything within late say a month, an email will be sent to you that pretty much says, "You haven't submitted anything for a month! You better submit something!" Of course in the nicer way. Do you get what I'm trying to say now? Also, later on I found out that this program is also a factor for our quarterly employee award. Someone was a great contender to get the prestigious quarterly award, but he didn't submit anything for a quarter, so superexcited decided that that person shouldn't get it. Just an FYI, it is not stated anywhere that you need to submit something during the quarter in order to be eligible for the award.

And then drinks. Once a month on Friday, we go to pub for drinks. It is not mandatory, but later on I found out too that there was some negative talks behind (by uknowho), about people who never attend the drinks. Um... One it is not mandatory, two, the people they talk about do not actually drink alcohol -_- unless you enjoy alcohol, going to pub is pretty boring :l

That's all for now! Talk to you again later :)

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

To Get A Letter, Write A Letter

Yeah, right!! That's what I read on the cover of notebook sold in the mall on my way to station. But really, it doesn't always happen these days. When someone writes a letter to a friend, the most common reaction is "huh? A letter? You still write letters? Who writes letter these days?? Waste of paper! Why don't you just whatsapp me?"

Less and less people appreciate and enjoy little simple things in life nowadays. It's sad, actually. Most people won't know the joy of happiness from all those little things. For example, when riding on the train. I remember when I went to a colleague's house. It was a 2 hours train journey, and I prepared movies to watch on the way. I guess that's what people do too, 2 hours is a long time, so better do something. Luckily, I didn't just look down at my mobile phone all the time, because it turned out that the way to her place actually passes a huge beautiful river. It was really pretty! However, not everyone look up from their phones every now and then, so I bet they must have missed that beautiful view.

Years ago, I used to take bus to work. I get carsick easily in Australia, so I can't read book all the way through. But because of that, everyday I get to see the magnificent view of Opera House and Harbour Bridge and realised how lucky I was to live in Sydney. I know there are other people who wish to live here but can't, so I shouldn't take it for granted and remember to be grateful.

Also, do you still remember postcards? I am lucky that I am still surrounded with friends who still appreciate and send me postcards when they are on holiday. Eventhough sometimes the postcard actually arrives after they got home, it still gives you the happy feeling when you receive it and to know that the sender spare the time and effort during their holiday to write to me. All of you who never sends postcards on your holiday don't know how much effort goes into sending it. You have to find the stamp. You have to find the time to write it. It's really hard to find time to write them as we're definitely on tight schedule to visit all the places and by the time we get to the hotel we're dead tired. And then, you have to carry the postcards and keep reminding yourself to post them when you can find a postbox. See how much effort is it? But the senders are happy to do that, and want to share their happiness with you. So next time you receive a postcard, try to be happy and appreciate it! 

Same thing with souvenirs, when someone bought you a weird looking magnet from their holiday, just smile and say thank you! They might have scratching their head for days to get you that (yeah there are ppl who buys souvenir without much thought too, but there are other kind too!). Paling males kl uda cape2 cariin, squeeze it in my luggage, ehhh pas dikasih komennya "apaan nih?? Jelek gini. Buat apaan giniannmm?? Gak usahlahhh". Kachengggg mustinya ga usah dibawain emanggg.

So the point is, be thankful, appreciate the seem so not important little things you happen to get, have, or see everyday. Eventhough they are little and seem meaningless, they can still make your day :)