Retirement Gift

Last week, we celebrated the retirement of one of our colleague with a lavish dinner at a 5 star hotel. He had been working for almost 15 years with our company and was considered a long service award staff.

At the end of the dinner session, our current boss presented him with a Branson Missourigetaway and we all could see the gleam of tears of happiness of our retired colleague. You see, he had always been planning to go for such getaway but did not have the budget for one. We are happy that the company actually gave him his opportunity of a vacation of a lifetime.

Bad Vs Good

I received my bonus today but not too happy as it was a huge drop as compared to last year. Not that I was a slacker but I got a new boss since last April. Long story and no mood to elaborate on it. Increment also like chicken feet only......triple sien.....(BAD)

So, what did I do? Go shoppinglah of course! What else other than retail therapy that can perk me up? Yoohoo Vien, see what I bought? Nice or not? This is called GOOD ah? Spending my hard earned money again wor :( Kick my boss' ass for making me do this!

Bonus...bonus...where are you?

While most people are already spending the fruits of their labour, i.e. BONUS.....I am still sitting here pondering when I am getting mine, that is if I am getting any at all *sigh*

It has always been like this for the past 10 years. Nobody in the management group have ever been so silent until the time when bonus and increments are about to be declared. DEAD SILENCE, I tell you. This is the time when I wish there were some rumours hinting at the percentage. Haiya.........for the sake of annoying me to bits and pieces, tell me, what have you spent your bonus on?

High Flying Job

This post is an ego booster for me, a middle aged woman with flyaway hair which is usually bundled up with hair band, dressed frumpily due to the start of portruding belly and weight gain. I cannot even remember the last time I had a facial so, please spare me the talk about grooming. It's probably because of this I had remained anonymous to everybody as any photo of me will probably disappoint you. I write better than I look :P

That was not how I was 10 years ago though.....10 years ago, I remembered I had the "IT" qualities to garner an offer as an air stewardess for Brunei Airlines. Never heard of that airline? Ha ha ha...nolah, I did not make it up, it existlah....under the small dot in the land of Brunei, one of the riches Kingdom in Asia.

Back then, I had been offered a job with my current company and left my banking job. There was about a week of freedom in between, so ETFNTD me went for the walk in interview for Brunei Airlines. Partly, what prompted me to go was also the fact that I always wanted to be an air stewardess from young. It did not help my ego that my best friend worked with SIA after she left Form 5 and my cousin worked with Brunei Airlines. I surprised myself by successfully passing the interview. The next day, I collected the Letter Of Offer and was in a dilemma. I was unsure whether to reject the offer from my current company and fulfill my dream. Then again, if I take up this high flying job, ideally I would have to go for the 5 years contract and by the time the contract ended, I would be in my late 20's. Where would that leave me? At that age, it is not easy to get a good job offer in Kuching.

Needless to say, you all know I did not take up that offer. So, here I am sitting typing this in the company which I have worked for 10 years already. No regrets as I hate flying nowadays. I cannot imagine having to fly almost everyday when I even hate flying on a monthly basis. What I am trying to put across is if you happen to see this aunty one fine day, just remember that 10 years ago, I had the "Oomph" to land that high flying job. And yes, I still have the Letter of Offer to cherish and show my kids one day that their mommy was once an attractive woman. *sniff sniff*

Office Cleaners

Over the past 2 years plus since I transferred to my current location, we've changed 4 cleaners. I absolutely have no idea why this is happening to us.

a) Cleaner 1 : Very good, very efficient, keeps to herself, works without asking. After a week, she was back to her original location due to convenience of transportation.

b) Cleaner 2 : Stayed the longest, close to 9 months. Initially, she appeared ok and I even thought of asking her to babysit for me. Thank Goodness, I found out she was a bit short circuit later. She started accusing people of peeping at her in the toilets, scolding her behind her back, claiming my male colleagues were infatuated with her. Errr....problem was she was already in her late 40's. We requested the cleaning company to transfer her to another location.

c) Cleaner 3: Grandma in her late 40's to early 50's. A little lazy and does not work without further prompting. Only does the necessary. Was absent about a week ago and the hubby reported that she was acting weird lately, like being cursed or something like that. Therefore, we are now stuck with....

d) Cleaner 4 : Too early to say....

Problem is everytime we change cleaner, I have to do the briefing cum orientation for them. I really hate doing it! Grrr......

Appraisals

It's year end appraisal time again. I hate it so much as these procedure are so fake. To old timers like me, we know that the bosses have already decided on the rating to give you so, the interview is just an act. There is no point arguing or debating about it as everything has been predetermined.

I wish I could just tell my boss to shove it up his a** as I'm pretty pissed off with the rating I got. I've been working my tails off and traveling so frequently to cover other colleague's duties and I don't get any appreciation at all. I know my immediate superior tries her best as she gave me a good rating but my manager actually slashed it down.

Nevermind, if my other ventures do work, I'll make sure I give a 24 hours notice for my resignation.

Unmarried Lady Boss

For more than 10 years, I've been working under 6 different bosses and most of them were women. There were three unmarried women bosses which I had reported to. You know the talk about unmarried women being nasty bosses, errr.....my experience showed that it is mostly true!

However, when I was working in the banking line, there was this single lady branch manager whom I reported to. Just for the record, she is a smoker and a drinker. I can hear the "Ahhhh....." from you guys *wink*. While she is a very agressive leader who looks for result, I sincerely respected her because she gave me the chance to prove myself. She does not discriminate and recommended me for promotion to Officer rank when I reached 21 years old. Back then, being a bank officer at 21 was a great achievement. My role as an officer was to provide customer service and acting as a PR for the branch. Thus, my boss and I often grace social functions and dine with clients.

To this day, I am thankful for her guidance and the opportunity she gave me. I am what I am today partly due to the exposure she had given me. I have never seen her since she was transferred back to KL but I wish her well in everything.