COUNTDOWN TO PARIS

Now that it's almost less than 24 hours we are about to leave for Paris. All things are packed and ready to go, and so are my children. All of them now talk about Paris, what to do, what toys to get. I have no idea what we are going to do there, but as for now, all I will start doing is domestication : cooking, cleaning, baking, give my all undivided attention to my children. 

I have bought some baking books and cupcakes too, I will definitely venture into this very soon, probably as soon as I landed!

My eldest Noah is so anxious that he wants to wake up as early as 6:30am when we reach the airport, just in time for check in.

Aaron too shows great anticipation with telling me which of his favourite soft toy to bring to Paris with him etc etc..

This trip is going to be a great adventure for our family, believe it or not!

My father-in-law have shown concern by coming over one day earlier, and offered his help to help me cleaning up the house. I love my in-laws, especially my father-in-law.

See you guys in Paris... !

Off to France, finally

We are leaving for France, finally.
Tickets are ready and printed out. All things are packed and readt to go. We are flying on the 13th March 2013 via Emirates, transit at Dubai for 1 hour 55 minutes, and fly to Lyon France. Total journey will be around 17 hours.

After you make a big mistake in your career and how to move on

I know this topic is not as easy as it sounds, it's never that easy.
First, you have a job that suits you, the bosses likes you very much, your HR head also seems to be in your favour and can be a close buddy to you, your director doesnt mind lending his laps for your 2 year old kid to sit on during a family dinner. Everything seems great and promising, and then suddenly out of the blue, you get another job offer and it's much closer to home, giving bigger salary than what you have. You get confused, big time!.

Let me share with you a few important tips before you start banging your head and make the most stupid decision in your career life :

1. Get some inside information about the new job they offer you. If you have an inside contact, you should make a simple phone call, asking the "future-to-be-colleague" about how the job is like, what the boss is like and how he feels about working there. You know whether this is suitable enough for you, than just blindly join the company without having a second opinion. If you do not have any contact in that section/department you are offered to, then get another contact from other department who you know have been there long enough, and he/she will be able to gauge about the department you are joining. This person's opinion is very crucial to your future work happiness.

2. During the interview, you definitely being interviewed by the person who head your department/section, therefore be observant. If the "future-boss" seems to be very demanding, having ridiculously high expectation and so "gang-ho" about his/her positions in the company, then by all means, stay in your current job. This new boss likes to be on the edge and very competitive, and you might not suit the colour scheme or background of what he/she wants from you in the long run.

3. During the interview, observe the body language too. If the person seems edgy and not in control, eg babbling about some other colleagues and undermine your experience by stating that what they have is far more better than what you are right now, do not accept the job offer. Chances are : you will be out of the job even before you get confirmation, or if not, the boss will do all means and might to kick you out soon enough and get a new replacement.

I have accepted the same type of job offer, thinking that they offer better money, no allowance, but the best of all, its closer to home. I thought i gave it a shot, took the challenge, left my current job and I thinking, that's it! I will retire in this company. After a month joining, I got to know many staff have resigned before me (non-executives, executives, managers) left after 2-3 month, some left after 6 months, and the most alarming fact was that almost all the staff under the new boss are only 2 years old max in the department. My gut feeling says, something is very wrong here. The reasons for people leaving : they cannot work under the boss.

That seems crazy, and after few months, she has been scheming for my exits, planting every evidences and causes for me to leave, there it is, I got the answer. There's nothing wrong with me, it's the company having and nurtuting this kind of pyschotic hostile bosses are intolerable.

God have given me the signs, earlier on, during the interviews, but I refused to look closer.
Anyway, I learned from this and move on now, enjoying my life in Paris with my kids and family.

Just something to share to others.... be careful out there!

VICTIMIZATION & RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

This is also another apparent yet most common reason people leave their jobs. Racial discrimination seems very subtle, yet the most offensive thing to know when the discrimination is against you, yourself.

They can start by saying, "oh we dont spoon feed staff", dismissing the fact that its the boss's job to lead and guide us as a staff, as a team player. Yet, by saying this, they can simply just enjoy the ride without guiding or providing any support for the downline/staff. A lot of hostile bosses gets away with this, just using the above sentence.

We, as the team member becoming scared to even ask, coz when we start opening our mouth, we will be labeled "needy" and need spoon-feeding, and she already said it up-front she doesnt like it. There you are, stuck, with no one to consult and no help is coming. 

Chances are, with bosses like this, your team mates will not support you either, coz they wouldnt want to be spotted "spoon-feeding their fellow colleagues" as well by the terrible boss.

When you encounter this type of boss, start updating your resume, its time to move on.

Observe how many malays, how many chinese, and how many Indians. 

If malays do have high post (ie managers or above), then there's something to look for if you are a malay. But if the numbers are filled up by clerical staff, non-executives, then look no further, this company is not for you. Get out and move on.

In my experience, malays only filled up clerical, non-executive levels and only 2 (together with me) are managers. One manager are quite okay, very sharp and subject matter expert.

The other manager, female is totally psychotic, too much worshiping the boss till we as muslim thinks that this mad bitch thinks her boss is the GOD. I'd like to think is this lady as Indian, because she is not really a malay. She looks Indian, and she has that KP (Kelahiran Peranakan) in her name, which clearly states she is not malay. She gets away with many things,  therefore, I omit her from the counting. 

Funny, but it's true, and its exactly what happened and I have witnessed this in my own 2 eyes. To me, Allah the Almighty is only one true GOD and no other worth worshiping, not even your own boss. Your boss dont own you, they dont give you your mind, body, liver, heart, health, she is just the same, like us, nothing more, nothing less.

Despite of the motto -"no spoon-feeding", there were times we can see chinese are coached, in closed doors, chinese are not shouted at, like malays do in meeting.

This type of harrasment, I would call it, is not apparent on the outside. Human resource department can simply dismiss this issue, coz they can never feel or hear or see what actually happen in the department on daily basis, because Human Resource is just Not There, not IN there like we do.

Best Friends are for life

I had encountered and accompanied by many, through changing jobs, changing places etc. But only few remained in my heart and well kept in touch. That is my closest buddy here. She has been amazing. We saw each other through many things, losing jobs, losing parents, losing places to stay, losing boyfriends etc. Now I am with kids, we remain closer than ever. Love you eliya!

HUBBY is off to France

Me & Hubby

31 December 2012

Hubby flew for France. 
I was lost and grieved for a while.
The whole day I was in no mood for any outing. Surely after this life would be different for 3 of us left behind.

FINANCIALLY TROUBLED COLLEAGUE

Dia start masuk kerja bulan April 2012, so kira baru 4-5 bulan kerja. Dia Project Manager di tempat kerja aku sekarang ni. Kerja tak lah mudah, banyak bende nak kene pikir, banyak bende nak kene settle. Semua kene organize. 

Selama aku ada kat sini, aku selalu guide dia, bagi dia idea cane nak buat.

Orangnya memang ok, secara lahiriah nye, nampak macam warak, ber"goatie" dan nampak gaya macam orang alim dan berumur padahal dia jauh lagi muda dari aku. Dia panggil aku KAK LIA.

Mula-mula kerja dulu, dia dihantar ke Klang workshop, dia di hantar sana untuk familairize dengan system dan cara kerja kami. More or less macam on-job-training macam tu.

Dua minggu atau tinga minggu lamanya.

Dalam masa tu juga, kami dapat order dari Flexsys untuk fabricate tangki sebanyak 7 biji. Mata bulat semua orang, order close to 2.5 milliom ringgit. semua happy. semua senyum.

Tup-tup, kene buat kick-off meeting kat Singapore sebab consultant untuk Flexsys memang kat Singapore. Consultant nak ajak meeting di Singapore. Maka terpaksalah project team ni pergi. Dia tak boleh pergi. HR cerita panjang lah dengan aku kenapa dia tak boleh pergi. Rupa-rupanya hutang PTPTN tak bayar. So passport International tak leh buat, katanya...

Aku geleng kepala, dalam hati, itu masalah peribadi, kenapa tak settle? 

So dia memang tak pergi. Yang pergi ke Singapore adalah engineer kami dan project team yang lain.

Setibanya dia ke office di kemaman, dalam 2-3 hari lepas tu, dia cerita kat aku pasal hutang PTPTN dia tu lah. Aku bagi nasihat selamba - "you kene settle hal peribadi you, jangan sampai melibatkan kerja you...pandai-pandai lah you settle..."

Aku pelik kenapa tetiba nak cerita kat aku, padahal bende tu amat sensitif bagi seorang lelaki, tapi dia cerita jugak. Last-last, betul tekaan aku, dia nak pinjam duit.

Aku tanya dia nak buat apa, dia kata hutang PTPTN dia sangkut sebanyak RM5000, kalau dia boleh settle hutang dia yang tu, dia boleh bebas buat loan. Dia mintak aku tolong. Aku tercengang. Ha? baru je keje, aku baru kenal dia, dah mula pinjam duit? cane ni? aku terdiam. Aku cuma cakap -"tak pe la, nanti akak try bincang-bincang dengan hubby tengok banyak mana boleh tolong." 

Aku buat senyap je pasal issue tu, tak mention langsung, dan dia pun tak tanya.

Seminggu sebelum hari raya 19-20 Ogos hari tu, dia masuk bilik aku, bagi tahu dia ada hal penting nak cakap dengan aku. Aku ingatkan pasal kerja, aku pun pergilah.

Tengok-tengok dia bercerita pasal duit lagi. Kali ni dia cakap dia segan dengan engineer dia, sebab kalau pergi KL meeting, asyik nak kene naik kereta engineer dia aje, sebab kereta dia sungguh teruk keadaanya. Kancil dan sudah tua. Banyak problem, katanya.

Dia cakap dia nak beli second hand Honda Accord. Dia nak pinjam duit lagi dari aku.

Aku pun nasihat la, jangan cari pasal nak beli kereta second hand. Nanti banyak rosak, warranty tak de, lagi banyak duit keluar. Beli baru terus. Aku tak tahu lah apa yang masuk dalam kepala dia.

Pada hari raya kedua atau ketiga, dia call aku beberapa kali, tapi aku busy gila, aku tak angkat. Tengok-tengok dia ada sms aku, bagi tahu yang duit raya untuk aku, liza dan mokteh dah hilang. Dia kata dia simpan di rumah dan dengan duit dia sekali lesap.

Aku tak tahu samada nak percaya atau tak, tapi honestly, aku macam ragu-ragu dengan dia. Aku rasa, dia memang nak pakai duit tu dulu dan nak delay bayar, so dia bagi alasan lah yang duit tu dah hilang. Dia seolah-olah nak suruh aku cakap dengan liza dan mokteh,tapi aku bagi tahu dia, cakap sendiri lah, elok-elok. Rasa diaorang boleh terima kot. Tapi aku memang syak dia ni tak jujur dah.

Hari ni, 27 Ogos 2012, kami ada internal meeting. Bincang pasal project, pasal issue-issue workshop. Tup-tup dia mention pasal scrap carbon steel dengan stainless steel kami. Aku cepat-cepat jawap - "pasal scrap ni, very sensitive issue, apa-apa scrap sekalipun, belongs to MMC, you kene refer pada account department before you do anything, they will decide what to do. Scrap kita akan simpan".

Aku, Liza dengan Ayapa mula la rasa resah sebab mamat ni nampak macam bakal akan jadi trouble kalau tak di pantau. Dia sebagai ketua, sepatutnya dia kene tunjukkan teladan yang elok pada engineer dan colleagues yang lain, barulah mereka respect.

Hai pening..... dah lah minggu ni aku last kerja kat sini, macam2 plak aku dapat tengok...risau plak rasa tinggalkan mereka-mereka ni.... Liza dan ayapa pun rasa macam aku jugak... 

WE DONT TRUST HIM!!