All good things come in threes.
triquetra.threemusketeers.2for1bargains.trilogies.
threeblindmice.triathelons.muffins.goldilocksandthethreebears.charmed.triangle.
three-toed-sloths.triplets.orion-belt.mahjong-dice.
NAT-MEI-ELI.
Friday, February 29, 2008
i've realized that it is essential to be relevant. Relevant in the conversation, with the times, in fashion, in business and in professional attributes. You get my gist of it: we need to be relevant.
I know this may sound strange especially coming from ms loh soh who can never get to the point. I don't disagree that I go from point A to Z then back to D, 80% of my social life but when it comes to dealing with strangers or even while i'm at work. I'm very very different. i'm sick and tired of people who don't not only get with the program but just don't plain make sense. Its okay if you're stupid. we're all stupid in one way or another. thats not even an issue here. but using your common sense is one of god's greatest gift and to me, in order to stay competitive, we need to make sense. as simple as that.
I've become irritable with a lot of things of late.
for example, there's this girl at my work who makes zero sense. let me give you an example, we need some drawings for a design protection. and we need it in angle A, B, C. These are pre-requisites to even getting them to look at you. But no, Ms girl at work who has 0.05% level of common sense thinks that she's so clever that she can bargain with the lawyers and ask for discounts on their price. in the end, we got dropped, we got re-hired by them, we are currently in a phase where we shouldn't be in IF we did follow the instructions and be... relevant.
So another example of Ms. girl at work. Long long time ago, when we had an Australian subsidiary, we were given the option of changing our webpage domain from .com.sg to a .com. But because ms girl at work didn't want to either (a) deal with it because it was too much work signing the check to pay someone else to get it done or (b) had 0.01% common sense which signalled to her that we should let a subsidiary take total control of our website, we lost control of our website. All the money and time spent developing the website, having searched and passed from web designer to another is now down the drain because our ex partner from our ex subsidiary now owns the domain name because he 1. took the initiative to change it to a .com website and register it under her name and 2. realized that ms. girl at work has 0 common sense and therefore, took it as a sign that he could eventually charge us kazillion dollars for in the future.
another example, is the ongoing Parliament debates. WTF is really going on? because whatever our so called ministers talk about is really nothing but nicely constructed speeches that were so obviously not written by them because they can't pronounce the words! So we can go on and on about rising costs and question how the poor people are going to survive and this and that. but so what? cause really. inflation is up. GST went up. even our simply luxury of after clubbing taxi cab rides are up up up, so seriously, what is the point of all this talk? how are they being relevant? but there's one person i absolutely adore. I love love love LOVE Vivian Balakrishnan. He's like our singaporean version of Obama. Eloquent, smart,calm, extremely witty with his answers and very relevant with the times, his involvements, his projects and just someone who seems so promising. Not some of the useless speakers I watch on TV these past few nights. Some can hardly speak. Well yes, nobody says you need an accent but please, if you want to be a leader, please at least, learn to articulate your words. So that people can understand you. So that you won't seem so prudish and so that you get the attention you deserve.
and finally, my last example of being a irrelevant idiot is this agent who calls me wanting to hire thomas as a French tutor. And initially, it was okay, he said he has a student who wants to take French as an A Level subject and asked if thomas can do it. I said I am not sure but we are 1. willing to do a free trial lesson to see if the parents and the student are comfortable 2. go through the syllabus before hand and plan before hand 3. instead of a 1 hour lesson, change it to 2 hours. So this guys goes on about how its in Yio Chu kang and if they wanted a meet outside they wouldn't need us but would go to a French school. And i casually asked him about how he was going to get paid. (Relevant) his answer was that the parents would pay him so I probed further only to find out that when the parents pay me/ thomas, he gets the first two lessons automatically. If, the client decides that after one lesson, we were no longer needed, then he gets 50% of the fee!!! hmmmmm... interesting detail. Despite the fact that he was a smart ass and was getting on my nerves, i pushed further. In the end, we left it as such, with no agreement because I asked if they were interested in free lesson and he said he don't do free lessons because there was nothing in it for him! I asked bout the welfare of the kid and he kep quiet.
So late last night, Mr. Useless agent of the year calls, after 2 weeks to say that the mother wants to try us out. I told him that we were no longer interested in working with him because :
1. We didn't see the point in paying him ANYTHING when we didn't seek his assistance in looking for a student when we took the time to post ads online.
2. He didn't care about the student and that was something we were not about.
3. He was rude, unprofessional and was plain wasting our time.
He tried to come up with some lame explanation that he is similar to a sales man who knocks on your door and when people knock on your door, then they want you money. Again relevance?!?!?!?!
So at 2.30am, Mr. Agent of the year texted me:
" If you are not happy that people offer their service to you, you shouldn't be offering your tutoring service to other people. Don't be to proud that you have passion in teaching, it is agents who makes a large part of it possible, even the guy who clears the rubbish contributes." [ oookkkkkayyyyy..... at 2.30am.. maybe he was sore that he lost some money cause we didn't want to do it anymore.. maybe he was drunk... ]
my reply at 6am: " I'm sorry if we came across as ungrateful. That was never our intention. But your lack of professionalism is something we would rather not be associated with at this point of time. Like how you would msg me at 2.30am. I think this would work out for the better. We love tutoring others and I'm sorry that it didn't come across to you. But thank you for your efforts and I hope that there isn't any hard feelings."
his EXACT reply: "You may believe in giving free trial lessons or others may even give free voluntary lessons to the poor but it doesn't mean people who don't do so doesn't love what they are doing. I just felt you way if thinking is wrong take care."
and here is mine: " And your way of thinking isn't wrong? Please stop messaging me because you're just wasting my time. Just because we don't see eye to eye does not mean that I am wrong. I wish you well."
Few things I want to highlight. After my long rant. that 1. if you want to sound smart, make sure you write well enough and not make stupid mistakes which makes you seem like u're an idiot and 2. please SOUND FUCKING RELEVANT!!!
it's been a long day. and if by any chance you know an agent, Mr. Agent of the Year is a chinese ah beng called Jackson!
Maybe I should re consider HR. Although I got my major in it for the sole reason of prolonging my education and staying in Hawaii longer, I've realized that I quite like it.
I have had HR experiences before. Not full fledged experiences but partial incidents. Please look up FMLA laws, please fire so and so, please do interviews for this position, please tell so and so he can take leave, please re-write our job descriptions, please re-evaluate our salary range.. And recently, please hire a new Sales and Marketing Executive and Manager.
So this is my new adventure. On top of planning a launch event ( you like how I bring my interests into a boring industry aka. Engineering? ) , arranging Marketing materials like photo shoots, catalog designs and even advertising mediums, I've been given the task of finding a much needed Sales and Marketing Manager and Executive. When I placed the ad on Straits Times, I didn't think that we would have gotten the response that we did. There's such a range from non-qualified applicants with no experience to 15 year veterans who aspire to become managers??? but oh well, so I was tasked to do this. okay. this should be fun!
So along the way, I've redone the company's HR procedures. I've made new job descriptions. Created new Candidate assessment evaluations forms as well as reference checks templates. Its been quite fun and I'm surprised that despite not being interested in this in school and having the mentality that Singapore HR is completely different from US HR, i've managed to easily shit out these forms with much ease. I dunno if they use it here in Singapore but I know its popular in the States, so whatever happens, since i'm doing the interviews, I'm doing it my way..! Yay hay hay! Its day 2 of my interviews and its been interesting. I've realized that people expected me to be much older. Despite my really nice brown suit, they all had this face when they realized that they were being interviewed by a young punk! What I don't understand is the common impression that the people with the lowest position are the most unimportant. Please note that if you do want to succeed in life. Be nice to the smallest people. Be nice to the receptionist because she will help you get to the boss before the next client. Be nice to the waitress or barista because he will make sure that your food is edible and you won't be spending the next 30 minutes shitting in the public toilet in Orchard road and please please be nice to the young punk who is interviewing you because you never know how much influence she has on deciding whether you get your next job opportunity. Sure, this isn't the only company you applied for and this may mean nothing to you because you have all this experience and wealth of knowledge. BUT if you spent the time to apply and respond, then why not make the effort to be nice?
In Hawaii, people are generally nice to each other. Even to strangers. When you meet the FedEx man in the elevator, you'll be nice enough to say hi. Why? Because even if you're not naturally nicer and you think its a waste of time, do it for the selfish reason that if you do treat him better, you can guarantee that when he deliver yours earlier. it may not be first but you know that because he knows who you are, it'll be sooner than expected. Thats how people work. Especially in Hawaii. Be nice and people are more inclined to make your life better. So even if you don't believe in Karma and all that yin and yang forces (which I do by the way), know that you're just doing yourself some good by making things work for you. If that fails, than try being nicer because it makes you feel good.
Speaking of Karma. My dear friend, Mr. Karma, is a real bitch. As you all know, I haven't been having the best luck with jobs. Thomas has only been here for a week and a half and he landed himself an excellent job. Something he really wants and an ideal location 5 minutes away from our place. But, I do know that I've been picky. I don't want to get paid so lowly, I don't want to do this job and that job and I don't want to travel so far. SO, with all that being said, I know that I deserve to get stuck in this shit hole called my father's office. Which has become better as the days go by because people are slowly realizing that I'm not that much of an idiot and I'm actually quite good at fixing their mistakes and taking things in stride. So yes, I am still at Lisus Technology. Do I hate it? yes I do. Do I want to leave for something awesomely fantastic? Of Course! But do I have the chance to come to work slightly late by 10 minutes when my dad isn't around, have open tabs of myspace, forever21 and facebook all at the same time? Yes of course! See i am working on my multi tasking skills!! haha.. But nonetheless, its a job. I'm getting paid. I am saving for little mini trips to the spa and for short nearby trips. BUT, I am looking.
Anyway anyway, back to what I was going to comment about. I am such a digresser. haha, if there's such a word. BUT anyway, When i first came back home, one of my first interviews was with the Headhunter firm called XXX. Lets leave the name out so that he can't google his name and find it here and I end up spending all my spa money on lawyer fees hiring Mei Shuang to defend my indian ass.But ANYWAY, he was an ass to me. he was rude, he was condescending and he was just unhelpful. He decided that any overseas experience was redundant in the Singapore context for the simple fact that Singapore has a hierarchy. You need to work for a long time, gain experience and then get the better pay. Education has no longer become a deciding factor. Be it the truth or not, it was a horrible experience and I don’t think that anyone should be subjected to that kind of behavior. So after we placed an ad on the Straits Times on Saturday, he contacted me via my company e-mail without knowing that he has met me before. He introduced his services and basically mentioned how they are a professional scouting company that has excellent customer service and a whole lot of bullcrap. So politely, I replied him implying that I will never recommend anyone to him from my horrible experience and that they were very unprofessional and condescending. And at the bottom, I lied and placed that I was a HR manager, just to spike him since he didn’t believe that I could someday become somebody. His reply was that he was glad that I could find a respectable managerial position in the IT Industry (wrong, we’re in the engineering business) and that he will take into consideration and look into what I said ( which is weird since I was commenting about him). His next reply was, since you have SOME managerial experience now, I have a fantastic spa manager position now and he would like to recommend me something which coincides to my expertise and shortlist me. Why now? Because logically speaking, my imaginary 4 month stint as a manager isn’t long enough to imply that I’ve gathered anything valuable. In the end, I told him that I was very happy with the opportunity that was presented to me and I love my job. No replies after that. So I say boys and girls, Karma is a bitch and since I was last one to be a bitch, my horrible applicants who are giving me a hard time might be life’s way of saying let the evil people do what they have to do and just remain quiet because you’re worth more than that.
And as a general comment, I’m surprised that the older and more experienced male applicants are so repelled that a young punk, like me, is interviewing them. They can’t seem to shake off this cockiness about them that I am so beneath them. And when I ask them questions that they can’t answer, they give this sly laughter, as if that is supposed to be the answer of the question. The females have been more professional and have provided comparatively more substantial and thoughtful answers. So please, lets all be nicer to the smaller people because they can actually assist or break you.
Ps: I broke my phone again and this time, I’ve managed to crack the whole screen. I’ve been reduced to a black crack screen. So if you texted me and didn’t get a reply, its because I can’t see it and not because I don’t like you. So call me instead. If that doesn’t work, then call Thomas at 81892724. You’ll definitely be able to get in touch with me then! =)
when I was in the states, I loved Making the Band. The last season was the best. The boys were super cute.. =) okay, i don't have this black boy envy thing, but if they look good they look good what!
anyways, I'm missing Making the Band Season 2 and I'm very sore.
Anyone knows how I can sneak peek the whole season??? pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...
I'll even pay like $2 to watch it.. ha! no seriously...
since i'm not completely chinese, i won't wish you a happy chinese new year cause its not for everyone. but the ah neh in me doesn't mind shutting up this week cause i'll be about $200 richer. sooo... happy chinese new year! for whatever its worth. =)
*newsflash* my handsome dashing beautiful boyfriend arrives on fridae.. wheeee... here comes my shining knight to chase away my gloomy island city clouds. yes yes, its still pretty glommy but it'll be shinier come fridae!*sings* my boyfriend's back and u're gonna be in trouble.... hey now hey now, my boyfriend's back..... heyyyyy, my boyfriend's back.. yaaaaay my boyfriend's back".... thats all i know from this retro song.
anyway, does anyone know where i can get Pureology shampoo in singapore? Dove shampoo isn't all that and i wanna get Pureology again!
okok.. bye everyone. Happy chinese new year or holidays.. =)
