Retirement Party

Well, yesterday my office had organised a dinner party to celebrate for 4 retirees. 3 of them are guys that retires at the age of 55 and another is a lady which choose to retire at the age of 50.

This is the first time in our company record that there is actually people served for approx 30 years and reaching retirement age. As usual, the retirees were requested to give a short speech and one of speech that hit me the most is when of them says ".... when I first join this company 30 years back, I was young like everyone of you there, and thinking retirement is still a long way to go. Who knows, here I am today, retiring from the company already. So fast, 30 years of working life just went by me."

It made me think myself, even me myself I have been working for 10 years already since graduating in 1999, leaving me with approx 25 years more before retirement. Anyway, for this 10 years, I can see myself change a lot. I had learn a lot of things, be it technical or not, useful or not and I am sure this will not come to an end so fast.

The road before I reach my retirement is still long long way and I will make full use of it to learn and improve myself.

Unreasonable Customers

This Saturday I will be working. Yes, you read correctly, working. As all my previous entries, I am working on a 5 days week company, however, this Saturday is exceptional.

This customer is really unreasonable. He is a facility manager for a reputable manufacturing company which would like to outsource one of their facilities and we are keen to take over.

However, it seem this exercise is so "secretive" that we are only allowed to visit the plant on Saturdays when the current operators is not working. To me this is not acceptable.

How can we who wants to take over the facility not able to see the plant in running condition and not allowed to talk to the operators? How can we evaluate the system performance of the plant if we are not allowed to audit a running plant? How do we know if the system is able to run or the specific equipment is in good running condition or not? How do we know what are the daily routine of the operators?

How can you invite people to submit a commercial proposal to operate a facility and not allowing them to know the situation of the facility? It is just like you are trying to rent out a house allow the tenant to view the house physically but not allowing the person to switch on and test all power point and taps to see if the electricity is available or water is connected or not.

This is a very unreasonable customer. The situation is made worse with the ignorance of our sales person who agrees to the customer's unreasonable request. I know sales is very important in the bad economic time, however, being a sales person, it will be your duty and responsibility to explain to the customer the viability of the action customer suggest and not blindly accept what the customer says and be a "Yes Man" all the time.

Another very unreasonable customer is the customers who like to call you at odd hours (odd hours here I define by after 7pm on weekdays) and on weekends. However, on Saturdays I understand as some companies does work on Saturdays, hence, they might not realise that their supplier do not work on Saturday when they call.

I do not understand what the customers are thinking to have call suppliers on odd hours and over weekends. What do they expect us, the suppliers to do at odd hours? Is the matter so important that you need to call people at that time and discuss about it? What will possibly happen if the call is postpone until tomorrow morning? Will the plant be shut down or the factory be closed?

What action can we take if you were to call during that time? 99.9% of the time, the necessary action only can be taken tomorrow morning when the business resume and no action is able to be taken from the time of the call to the next morning. So what is wrong with calling in the morning during working hours instead? Besides not getting your things done over the night, you would have also disturb the person's emotional mind as now he / she have this issue hanging on their mind until the morning. Is that the main intention? How would you like it if this happens to you?

Come on fellow customers, most of us are not for a 24 hours operating company. Hence, please be more considerate. Please do not think that with your few dollars paying to suppliers, the suppliers is obliged to entertain your request 24 x 7. Please respect people's privacy and personal time.

Therefore, to all out there, please be a little more considerate. Think before your put a request to your supplier or call your supplier. Take a peek at the clock or watch before picking up the phone.

Oversensitive

There were many kind of people around. Some of them can be really sensitive for nothing. Just as the incident this morning, one of our sales team had spotted a prospect for my team (the support team) to carry out a detail survey and finally come out with a proposal for the customer to resolve their current issue, hopefully it will turn into revenue for the company. We have a set of procedure that the sales need to follow before we were instructed to mobilize for the survey as survey cost time and money.

So this is how the story goes.. Mr A who is in-charge of the sales side came in my room and told me he is going to take the lead of this new prospect. So, he ask me if I am free to attend for the site survey next week. As I am really tied down with so much work, I ask him back if it is necessary for me to go for the site survey? This is for 2 reasons, firstly, this prospect customer is now a prospect customer to us, but their sister company use to be our customer. They were the customer of one of our ex-sales team member who is now running his own business and became our competitor. There is a very strong chance that this prospect customer will also be taken by him. So, I am not keen to work on it. Secondly, next week, I already have a plan for another survey with another customer, but, the exact date yet to be finalized.

When I ask the question, Mr A suddenly got overly sensitive and started his bizarre attitude, saying, "... I will not kneel down and beg or plea you to go...." and I was like, why are you saying that? I am just trying to see if it is really necessary to spend so much resources for a low potential customer. Well, FYI, Mr A is more senior and hence, I think it is a valid for me to seek his reason for requesting me to do this survey. Mr A straight away storm out of my room and started to "label" me.

Well, I was quite surprise to see someone can get so oversensitive when being challenged. Actually thinking back, I did not even challenge him. I just ask him a valid question. I think he felt unease because he knows that he needed me more than I need him. He is not technically sound and only good in PR and I hate to say this, 'carrying the boss', making the boss happy. Anyway, that is besides the topic today.

Now as of this moment, we yet to come to even terms, lets see who break the ice. I know I need not to communicate with him but in-return he needed me more. So, I will keep my peace for the time being.

Leap month of the Lunar Calendar

Well, if you are Chinese, you would have noticed that this month is again the 5th month in the Chinese calendar. This is the leap month which happens once every 3 years.

Few years back, when my belated father was first diagnosed with his illness, my mom and me went to consult a very reputable medium. According to the medium, in Chinese believe, during the leap month in Chinese calendar, if the elderly daughter or daughter-in-law cooks longevity noodles with red hard boil eggs, it will help increase the health and longevity of the elderly.

Initially, I thought this is just a say out / hear say thingy. Until one day while driving, I heard over the radio, a gold jewelry company actually advertise on the radio saying about this practice.

Then, last week, when I was at home, while we were chatting, my mom reminded me that this month is the lunar leap month. Then, this reminded me of what the medium had told and what I have heard over the radio.

I send a few SMSs to my brother to request if he can ask his wife (my mom's daughter-in-law) to cook for my mom, without much of hesitation, they agreed. So, yesterday, my brother and sister-in-law came over to my house and cook for my mom.

To my surprise, besides cooking also, my sister-in-law bought a gold pendant with a Chinese word "Longevity" for my mom. It made her so happy. When my mom shown it to me, you can see she is so proud of it and so happy to received it from my sister-in-law. It is not so much on how much the gold is worth, it is the sincere gift from a daughter-in-law to the mother-in-law. It had been quite a while I did not see the 'glow' on my mom's face. But I can tell you for sure, he face was 'shining' yesterday.

Well, from what I observe, perhaps the moral about this practice is just for some reunion and sincerity of the heart purpose. As we all know, in Chinese custom, daughter which had got married, is like a pail of water which have been splash out. The meaning is that it cannot be collected back.

Furthermore, last time, the daughter would have married so far away and it will take days or even months for them just to get home to visit their parents. I am sure the parents would have missed the daughter dearly, therefore, with just one visit once every 3 years to cook for the parents, having the meal together, it is kinda reunion for them, this is good enough to make them happy / cheerful. A cheer up mind and body will lead to better health and hence longevity. The elderly will also ensure that they will take good care of themselves to look forward for the next leap month in 3 years time to again able to see their daugthers and grand children again.

With the same token, if you notice that I had mentioned either daughter or daughter-in-law, perhaps last time, the use to me maids and kitchen helpers for the rich families, the daughter-in-law does not need to cook. In the modern context, most of the daughter-in-law will be working and will either have to depend on the mother-in-law to cook for them or the couple will be staying alone away from the parents-in-law.

Therefore, this teaching was used to test the cooking skills of the daughter-in-law. I am sure if someone cook for the first time, it will be a comedy event eating the stuffs which is either half cook or tasteless. I can imagine a the round table, there will be some jokes and talks and laughter's when the meal is served to the elderly. Hence, again, cheerful elderly will lead to health and hence longevity.

Therefore, next time when we (the younger generations) were told of some practices / believes, don't just reject it or push it away. Look at it from a different perspective. Sometimes, the old tradition practice is not totally baseless / superstitious. Perhaps try to do it for once and see the effect. Of course I am not asking you to be god to see thru the human body to see the it have increased the health / longevity, but observe the outcome of the action. I am sure you will notice the chain of effect and from there we can deduce from there if the practice is logical or not.

Having Lunch

This incident took place today. I was busy working in the office since morning without realizing that it was already lunch time already.

My colleague (Mr. A) walked into my room to ask if I am joining them for lunch and when I asked where are they going, he told me some place that I knew will take at least one and a half hour to complete the lunch. So I rejected him, telling him that I am really busy today, so I just want to have a quick bite somewhere nearby and he is kinda disappointed to hear that and walked away from my room heading downstairs for his car. Therefore, I presume that he would have went with my other colleague (Mr.B).

However, Mr. B came into my room a few seconds later asking me to join them for lunch, again, I told him I am kinda tied down for the day so I think I will just drop-by the stalls nearby the office for a quick bite. However, Mr. B insisted that we go together and he says it will be a quick lunch. So I took his words, all 3 of us went together.

Even until reaching the car, I told Mr. A that I have lots of paper work to do, hence, I want to just grab a quick bite, he still insist that we drove all the way to where he suggested initially. Well, what can I do? I am already in his car. So just have to follow.

The lunch took approx one and a half hours, we left the office at 12.30pm and arrived back to the office at 2pm. Wasted so much time waiting for our food at the restaurant. When I got back, I kept very quiet as I knew if I were to show my displeasure, Mr. A will sure get upset.

At times, I just can't understand. To me lunch can be just a simple drive, and by simple here I mean just perhaps a 5 - 10 minutes drive to the nearest decent, clean food stall / shop, take your pick from the ready cooked food, eat and drive back. All in, it will take less than 30 min. By the time I reach the office, I still have time to write this blog or surf some net / relax.

However, there are people who like to take long lunches. They will just like to drive somewhere far and sit and wait for the food. Sometimes, people even willing to spend time standing and wait for a place to sit. Therefore, for me, it is simple. On working days, I will not wait for a seat. If the food is good and there is no place to sit, I will just pack and take back to eat in the office. You might also realise when you pack, the serving also tends to be bigger, hence better value for money.

Insurance Claim

I submitted for an insurance claim for my car back in September 2008 when my car was accidentally "kissed" at the rear end by another car. The repair cost me about 4,000 that I had paid in-advance to have the car repaired.

I have immediately submitted an insurance 3rd party claim the moment the police report and other official documents were made ready by the respective parties. I can say, all of it was done within a month to compile all the necessary documents and submitted.

However, until today I yet to receive any news from the insurance company on my claim, hence, I gave them a call instead. To my surprise, they were waiting for just another 2 more pieces of paper, one from my side and another from the different insurance company before they can process the claim.

At that point of hearing this from the lady who was in-charge of my case, I was still calm and cool. I requested her kind assistance to send me the letter they claim that they had send to me, but to my shocked, the letter was dated in March 2009!!!! What is this insurance agents doing?

They send out the letter back in March 2009 and after more then 3 months, no one is replying to and they don't bother to follow up??? I really got heated up and immediately ask her the basic questions, don't you company have a policy to follow up if the customer received the letter from your side or not? Don't you all bother to call after 30 days if the letter was not responded to? You all just sit and wait for the moon to fall is it?

Well, having 'blasted' enough already, she just kept quite and didn't speak a word. So I immediately re-collected all the documents again, called and spoke to the other insurance company for the requested letter and ask the lady to follow up. I even gave the lady who should she be talking to and the person's extension in the office.

It seems like insurance claim agents have the best job in the world. Happily sending out letters to anyone and need no follow up. If it will come in, it will come in, else, sit on it. That's the policy of insurance company.

So, to all of you out there, if you are waiting for an insurance claim, please pick up the phone and start calling if you want your money. Don't be surprise to hear that they have send out some letters to you requesting for few papers some "donkey years" back waiting for your feedback / response.

New Notebook PC

Well, this is the first posting with my new notebook PC. It is a Core 2 Duo processor with Windows XP under our company image.

The first thing I came to notice is that the keyboard for this notebook is much quieter compare to the one I use previously.

Secondly, is one of the feature of this new notebook is that it have something called the ambient light sensor, where the screen will dim down and light up depending on the brightness of the place you are in.

This feature is quite cool at first, but eventually it became a very irritating feature. The sensitivity is too high and when there is just a shadow over the sensor, the notebook dim down immediately. For a while I was thinking it was running on battery and hence it is coming to a power save mode and it is about to shut down.

Overall, the notebook is faster than the previous unit during start up and shut down. The colour of this notebook is also cool, its BLACK!! Very professional look.

Well, just keep this posting short. Just another working tools given by the company for us to make more money for the company.

Changing a new Notebook

Well, I think this will be the last post that I will write from my HP Compaq NC6230. From tomorrow onwards, I will be changing it.

Well, it is not I am upgrading or anything around that corner, it is out company policy to change our notebook / laptop every 3 years. The reason because all computers are given a 3 years warranty, hence, all of us use laptops which is under warranty by the manufacturer. When the warranty voids, the company do not want to risk keeping a non-warranty unit (in-case it breaks down), therefore, all of us get a change every 3 years.

Another reason is also to keep updated with the technology as memories is getting cheaper and bigger, processor is getting faster and more efficient by the days, therefore, the employee must also be kept not too outdated lor.

This is how my HP looks like after 3 years. Still looks new right? That is because I always take good care of all my things. hahaha.. to be honest, I am really careful with my office computer.

This is simply because, it is my working partner. I keep all my work documents, records, mails, anything and everything possible in it. I can't risk to lose it at any given time. Therefore, I took particular care when come to dealing with it.

Talking about taking care of notebook PC, this unit did not go thru what the previous unit went thru. The previous unit I have was a very rugged. Once during a meeting, I had accidentally spill hot (I mean really hot as you can see steam coming out from the cup) coffee with creamer and sugar onto it and after the spill, I can still see steam coming out from the keyboard and the unit was still running, given me enough time to save all my work and shut it down before removing the battery and wiping it dry.

Amazingly, after wiping it with dry cloth and keeping it under direct air-cond vent for about 2 hours, I install back the battery and try to start, it work back again like nothing had happened. I was so happy with it. Even one of my colleague was amazed by the outcome. He practically sits next to me seeing me pour the whole cup of hot coffee onto the notebook and 2 hours later after shutting down, the notebook was working as though nothing had happen. Now that's what I call a rugged notebook. However, lets not mentioned any models or brands here ok. This is not an advertising blog, sorry....

Anyway, today will be the last day I am using this unit. This is my 3rd unit of notebook I have changed for the past 5 years. How? Well, when I join back in 2004, I was given an used notebook. Then, about 4 months later, the keyboard malfunctioned, then the IT department gave me a new replacement (lets not mention brand here ok). I have used it until 2006 and then in 2006, they change it to this current unit. Now its 2009, they are changing it again.

Office Ladies

This is a hilarious event which took place in my office recently.

The stories goes this way... One fine morning, as the office secretaries came in to work in the morning, one of the manager called to request for a projector for use at a hotel for their training. Unfortunately, the direct secretary (S) is as usual, late for work and the phone was attended by another different secretary (G).

So being helpful, G had send the projector to the hotel by herself and return back without saying a thing. However, this good deed was not appreciated by S. She in return came in and throw her tantrum towards G. She acted like a mad dog making rude negative remarks towards G.

S normally does this to other more polite / quiet secretaries and got no rejection back in return. However, she met her challenger today. G is not a quiet person. She is the type that will not sit quietly when being confronted. She started to response back to G and the ladies started quarrelling.

The irony thing is that when both G and S were quarrelling, another different secretary C started crying. Perhaps she is shocked or surprise, she started crying.

Only after G and S finish their arguments, then I came to know that C have a medical condition "hyperthyroidism" which makes her very emotional and it is uncontrollable.

I think this act of arguing in the office is totally unacceptable. S should be given a warning letter for her action. Anyway, talking about HR is another different issue - no comments for now.

Tzu Chi Foudations

Yesterday under then invitation of Tzu Chi Foundation Kuala Lumpur, my gf and me visited the Tzu Chi Foundation in Malacca. It was suppose to be a graduation ceremony for the students who have completed various courses offered by the foundation and proud to say that my gf have also complete her basic violin lesson course with them, hence, she is also suppose to be graduating. I must tell you, I am really impressed by the facilities they have there.

The land was donated by a business couple who initially wanted to build a fabric manufacturing factory but later it was donated to Tzu Chi Foundation. Now, they have used that piece of land to build a nice clinic, known as "Buddhist Tzu Chi Free Clinic (Malacca)", with both Western and Chinese medical practices to serve the general public as a free clinic every Sunday and also they have a dental clinic setup that is able to treat 2 patience at the same time as there were 2 dental chairs available side by side. Besides that, the clinic also have a small surgery room to help hemodialysis patient to implant the dialysis port for free. All in the name of charity.

Within that facilities, they also have a recycling collection center, where old unwanted goods e.g. papers, cardboard / boxes, aluminium cans, steel can etc. are collected and sold for recycling to generate funds to sustain their charity organisation.

Then, they have this "Jing-Si Books and Cafe" bookstore that sells various collection of Buddhism teaching books, motivational books, books written by various masters, stationery's, meal sets (as they promote the use of reusable containers and cutlery's), some healthy biscuits, nutritional drinks etc besides serving some nice teas and coffees there.

Attached to this building, there is 4 rooms where various skills namely, tea art, DIY handicraft, floral arrangement, yoga, sign language, violin, etc. skills were taught.

For the Malacca branch, they also have a kindergarten, called "Tzu Chi Humanity School and Kindergarten", which is housed in the "Tzu Chi Academy" building. Unlike any other kindergartens outside, the students here have to be independent. They have strict rules and regulations to follow, e.g. wash their own dishes after meals, learn the teaching of the masters etc. The kids have to be there at the kindergarten from morning 8.30am until the evening 5.30pm, as they want to ensure the kids cultivate the good habit. They have found that just keeping the kids for half a day, say 8.30am until noon say about 12.30pm, when the kids reach home after school, they have gone back to their own bad habit, e.g. being lazy, getting the maid (if any) to do everything for them etc. Therefore, they keep the kids for the whole day, so those good habits are instill in them as much as possible.

The main building for is the "Majestic Still Thougths Hall". There were 4 missions being promoted, namely, Mission of Culture, Mission of Education, Mission of Medicine and Mission of Charity being drawn on one side of the wall and on the other side, 4 main activities being drawn, namely, Community Volunteers, Environmental Protection, Bone Marrow Donation and International Relief.

As you enter the main door, you will enter to the "Spiritual Culture Hall". On the left to this hall another hall houses a very big comfortable room that can easily fit up to where there were 3 projectors, 2 cameras and a good sound system. In the hall, there were also the AV department and the animation / editing / filming department that control all the presentations, sound, slides, live videos etc.

On the left side, there is another room where again, a very comfortable area where people can sit and meditate. The whole place is fully air-condition, clean, bright and really comfortable.

The team there took extra care with all the chairs have a fabric cover on the legs (something like socks on human) to prevent the chairs from leaving marks on the floors. All the chairs were even marked with the foundation's Chinese name besides having a ID number to them.

They also have big kitchen where vegetarian food is prepared. At about 12pm, we were served with vegetarian lunch. The menu for the day is chicken rice with marinated cucumber and carrot with sweet and sour bean curd (tofu).

Overall, we spend the whole morning until about 3pm there. It was a nice experience. It is really worth the drive there.

I am really proud to see that there were to many Malaysians that is a member of this great foundation and really proud to say, I am also a volunteer myself too.....