Listen to it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N2SBLUpBI4&feature=related

My Brush with Death

(Pic 1)
(Pic 2)

(Pic 3)

Yesterday evening (301208), i almost lost my life while crossing the traffic light junction along Still Road South. It was blinking Green light and i was walking halfway across the road when a reckless vehicle just bashed the Green light. I was centimetres from being hit. FUCK this Fucking vehicle. His Carplate number is SFJ 3571P. God has mercy on his soul as i hope He will Rot in HeLL and may his car just explode in mid-air. Drivers in Marine Parade are really a bunch of jack-ass reckless and proud drivers. Since, yesterday almost became my Death Anniversary, it bore special meaning to me. Somehow i felt a tinch of being re-born again. The meaning of Life and how one treasures and fights for it caught my attention. As i recollect the significant events in 2008, there are two episodes which caught my attention.

A China registered cargo vessel was attacked in the Gulf of Aden by pirates using speedboats and armed with heavy machine guns and rocket launchers. When the pirates successfully boarded the ship, the 30 Chinese crew refused to yield and locked themselves in their sleeping rooms, mess rooms and recreation area. The crew used 'water cannon, self-made incendiary bombs, beer bottles and other missiles to fight the pirates' during the five-hour stand-off. (See Pics 1 & 2). Five hours later, two helicopters from the multi-coalition naval force finally arrived at the scene. They fired at the pirates, forcing them to flee the ship and nobody was injured.

News Commentators were shocked and impressed with the Chinese crew because it is rare where pirates have successfully boarded the ship but failed to hijack it. Bear in mind that 109 attacks occurred this year off the coast of Somalia, with 42 hijackings. Fourteen vessels are still with the somali pirates with a total of 240 crew members (of various nationalities) held as hostages. The Chinese crew's will to survive is so overwhelming that they fought heavily armed pirates. This is in sharp contrast to crews of other nationalities who simply yielded without putting up any fight.

I think most of you can remember the Sichuan Earthquake which struck China in May 2008. The China press featured Wu Jiafang, a farmer who tied his dead wife on his back riding on his motorcycle. He was desperately seeking a mortuary in town. He refused to let her lying on the debris. He wanted to give his dead wife a decent burial- He was deemed by the China Press as "the loyal Husband of Sichuan" (see pic 3). The impression of "Till-death do us part" is deeply imprinted in my mind.

At this juncture, my point to make is simple: Life is too short and can end abruptly anytime. For e.g, i should be dead by nw if that jack ass car hit me. Fight for the pleasures and joys in life like how the Chinese Crews fought against the SOmali Pirates. Say whatever you want to say to your Loved ones and don't wait until your spouse pass on. I am sure Wu Jiafang, the china Farmer should have some regrets in not telling how much he loved his wife when she was still alive.

2008 in review

I recall at the Xmas service in Year 2007, my pastor asked all of us to state and pray 3 wishes to God for 2008.

The 3 wishes are 1) a good job, 2) family well being and health and 3) getting attached/finding the other person.

As i look back, i have most certainly secured wish #1. Abba has placed me in an excellent workplace. THE favour i experience here is overwhelming. My bosses like me and that includes my deputy director and director. The colleagues are fine so far. The staff below me look up to me to solve any big problems be it facing unreasonable customers or abrupt visits by building contractors commissioned by HQ. My grassroots assigned to me are also fine considering that i have worked hard to earn their trust and respect. There is an amicable working relationship between me and my GRLs. Indeed considering that i was jobless for a LONG while before my securing this current job, i should feel awfully blissed. I am indeed grateful and cherish my current job very much. But somehow a tint of joy is missing. Perhaps that is because i have been working too hard.

This Xmas somehow feels different. I suddenly realized it is actually quite a waste of $ to be sending Xmas smses back and fro especially when most of the time, these smses are recycled. I can receive 3 smses at the same time all bearing the same message and graphics. I did send a few Xmas smses but i only sent it to people that mean a lot to me. ;p

For wish #2, my family was in relatively good health. There were however a few health scares though. First being the stomach cancer scare my mom faced. Luckily after diagnosis and testing, she is cleared. Thank you Abba for a healthy year enjoyed by my family. I know many more years of good health will be enjoyed by my family.

For wish #3, I am perplexed. It seems to succeed abit here and there. I did experience a very-short-lived relationship in 2008 after the induction. Although, i am not sure if relationship is the right term for it. Then along the way, there are a few nice ladies who did appear. But more or less, im have decided on the one already.

Just a little sidetrack- As i examine the constitution of marriage, i can't help but feel there is NO need for MEN to marry. Frankly, if it is to satisfy sexual urges, the men can get it through paid sex. If it is a means to ensure you are looked after, the men can engage a maid. If it is a means to cure loneliness, the men can keep a dog or pet and spend more time with friends. If it is a means to pro-create, get a surrogate mother!. However, marriage does fill in one role: The sharing of each other's joy, success, sorrow and unhappiness. This mental exchange of comfort and support is perhaps the defining purpose of marriage. OF course, the next question is this-how do you know she is the right one for u?. Well, for me, its my emotion and heart which is guiding me. The peace that i must enjoy when i am with the right one.

For starter, i don't think i will make too many resolutions for 2009 because I am not a greedy person. Well.. i just aim for a #1)promotion, #2)spend more time with my family and #3) she will say yes

Misplaced - Passion

In view of this era of massive layoffs, it was stated in the Straits Times that the largest employer in Singapore, the Civil service is still actively recruiting. Among the positions open are a) Teachers, b) police officers and c) immigration officers.

It has been quite common on the streets that i hear comments like, "eh, you are laid off. Go sign up as a teacher la. They pay well especially for graduates. Work a few years as a teacher, then resign when the economy bounces back."


I just like to say that in the founding years of a child i.e. in their primary school and secondary school days, they are most susceptible to what their teachers do to them. A good teacher will dispense a lot of encouragment and positive energy into their kids while a bad teacher (who is merely in the profession to earn a living) will never be able to dispense anything positive. If not, these bad teachers will only inflict bigger damages to their kids because these lousy teachers will be quicker to say that their kids are stupid; that they are not cut out for success etc etc.


I urge you (if you are one of the laid-off folks) to consider seriously before you take up the teaching profession. Are you in it for the $ or you are seriously concerned about these kids? DO you really want to soil your hands and ruin a child's future? Please consider carefully.


Similarly, if you have friends who are laid off, please do not readily or in a spur of moment just encourage them to take up teaching. Please.. if you know your friend has utterly no patience with kids, is a lazy bum etc. pls spare a thought for the kids.


Thank you.

To this special Person

Anyway to this special person, i understand from Anthony about your successful application to be an ACM. keep it up. The initial hurdles may be overwhelming. For e.g., the committes you inherit may be in a mess. Their accounts may be in a mess. Your GRLs may not trust you. Do not RUSH and be in a HURRY to set things right. Do not panic but learn to calm down and always look at the big picture.

Initially, you will be overwhelmed by many nitty gritty mundane details. By all means, just write down all the tasks you have to do on a piece of paper. Always clear the tasks that involves your GRLs FIRST. Always leave the tasks that you can complete solely on your own the LAST. In the first month, try to grasp the working style of your committee chairman.

As starters, if you have queries, start by smsing them 1st because i assume your GRL would be working. If you got really urgent matters, maybe you can try just calling them during their lunch hour or after their work hours say after 8pm. Always remember that you are "paid while your GRLs are not."

Initially, there may be some conflicts. But always use your sincerity to touch your GRLs. Show to them that your committee is not jz a means for you to get promoted or earn a higher bonus. But show that you CARe. This will mean say volunteering to help your GRLs; be it shopping for lucky draw prizes with them etc. Of course, please set the limit and NOT over-pamper your GRLs. For starters, check with your fellow ACMs how they treat their committee and try not to spoil the market too much.


JIA YOU JIA YOU... ;p;p;p

Interesting thoughts of WISDOM

I heard a few thought provoking lines this week. I just thought of sharing it with you. The 1st line i heard was, "妈妈要有高的EQ来对待孩子,而爸爸要做什么呢？就是要好好善待妈妈，让她拥有高EQ". (From a Married mother with 2 kids)

In English, it means Mums need to be equipped with HIGH EQ to treat their kids while the role of the Dad is to LOVE the mum and ensure she has HIGH EQ.

When i 1st heard this statement, i was speechless. How often do the guys just start to take their partners for granted? How often do couples quarrel because the woman feels that she is NO longer loved by her husband?

The 2nd memorable line i heard today was from Cindy. "Ladies should learn to COOK not because it is the WOMAN's ROLE to cook after marriage. But it is an incentive when once in a while e.g. a special occasion, the woman tells her hubby that she is making home-cooked food. The guy will look forward to go home to taste the home cooked food." (FROM A SINGLE WOMAN)

Then i also heard a 3rd memorable line from Jolyn. "Andrew, do not ever ever pamper a woman too much because she will take you for granted." (FROM AN ATTACHED WOMAN).

The 4th memorable line was from Elaine, "When you train your domestic pets (e.g. dogs) always make sure that in the process of training it, you show who is the MASTER." (FROM A ROM-ED LADY)

Wow.. In a span of one week, i heard several wisdom of truth from a married mother with 2 children, a ROM-ed woman, a single woman and an attached woman. Although the sample size is not sufficient, i see a distinct level of expectation for each category of women. Well i shall not elaborate further. Just your own imagination.... lol lol

Drive Thumb

I do not want to sound like an alarmist but I believe a lot of office folks are unaware of the dangers of using the innocent looking thumb-drive.

How often do you hear this dialogue in school or in the office?

"Hey, i didn't bring my laptop. But my slides are in my thumbdrive. Lets' plug & play in your computer to present"

"Hey, im lazy to email the files to you. Here you go, copy it from my thumb drive"

"Hey, I got something to print from my thumbdrive. Let me use your computer to print."

Just recently, there have been a few incidents where computers in my office were infected by GRL's thumbdrives. They would pop into the office and demand the staff plug it into their computers to print some documents for them. Hidden in the thumbdrives are trojan horses of all sorts. Our computer's antivirus did a good job in sweeping the trojans. (I think so).

Anyway, my message to you is: When someone insists that you plug in their thumb drive; be firm and state that you would like to scan their thumbdrive 1st before opening the files. Stress to them that your computer contains a lot of important information and hence the need to scan their thumbdrive.

Spending that extra 2-3 minutes will help save you from the trauma of losing your data. Also imagine the embarassment your colleague will face when their thumbdrive is found to be infected.

No clues on how to scan a thumbdrive? Call your company's computer helpline tomorrow.

Ear Wax

Today my ears were itchy. It must be the ear wax in my ear hole. It's been a long while since i dug my ears with say cotton buds. I believe most people do that with the cotton buds. The most agonizing discovery today was that i ran out of cotton buds.

I just wonder what will happen if i just simply do away with the cotton buds. Will the ear wax just grow like grass and cover the entire earhole? Will this lead to hearing loss?

Actually if you haven't realized it by now, perhaps you should be grateful how GOD structured our ear holes. You see there is a natural drainage curvature in your ear hole canal. As ear wax accumulates, it is disposed when we move our jaws to chew on food. The chewing motion from the jaws will vibrate and shatter the ear wax into mini bits to be disposed naturally. The ear wax will fall out of our ear hole without you realizing it.

Such a simple and efficient natural cleaning mechanism. The next time, someone takes a dig at you for not hearing instructions clearly, e.g. "Hi Go dig your freaking ears!!!" ;

You can reply the person with the finger and retort, "Hey mother****er, God did that already. My hearing is ok. Just that your explanation sucks. Use proper english"

Anyway, if you have seen enough movies, you will realize that somehow the female protagonist likes to pull the male protagonist's ears especially if they are playing the couple role. Why do ladies like to pull their guy's ears?. Ladies, do not assume men are poor listeners. At least i am not. :p

While we are on the topic of hearing; you will probably hear this cliche movie dialogue in most action movies:

(A & B engage in a rescue / treasure hunting mission, then A has some hidden stories, while the companion B is very interested in probing the story) The dialogue usually is like this:
A: "Oh well, that is a long story"
B: "Well, we have a long walk. I want to hear it"

Oh well, the point that i want to bring across is simple: God ensures your ears are never clogged with ear wax so it is only a matter of your will if you want to receive the gospels. In addition, regardless of how badly you have sinned, how traumatized you are, how self-condeming you are, Jesus will always bend down and address to you, "My dear child, we have a LONG WALK. I want to hear it"

I believe if you feel this empty void in your heart i.e. you have everything but feels that you still lack something, then i recomend you to spend sometime and visit a church. Just pour your hearts out and confide to Jesus. Talk to him like you talk to your best friends. Visit a church with an open heart. It doesn't hurt to hear more. Most people resist going to church because they fear that they will be brain-washed by some deviant angry pastors. I assure you this fear is good. It keeps you on your toes to weed out lousy pastors. By all means, enter the church with this fear. Listen to the sermon,if it brings you peace and liberation, then there is no harm in embracing it. If you feel intimidated, leave. You are not obligated to stay throughout the service. But, i believe Abba will lead you to the right church. If you are willing, just close your eyes and do a simple prayer, "Dear abba (hebrew word for God, it's used on a intimate team, like hw you greet your father as Ah pa ), guide me to the right church in your honour and glory".

Mind Boggling Questions

There are some questions on Earth that when it is asked, the audience will be in a dilemma and will take great strength to answer it.For e.g., "if your spouse and your mother-in-law were to both fall into the sea, who will you save 1st?" Now this is a classic question.

Or how do you explain the extraordinary change in greeting one another in a relationship when it progresses from "dear/honey"(in courtship) to "sugar baby/xiao3 tian1 tian1"(near proposal stage) to "Oei" (after marriage) and ultimately "Oei Lao3 Za1 Bor4"(after the woman bore the man children). How about, "Do you live to eat or eat to live?". A very hard question considering the temptation from good food.

Or how about, "Do you believe in God?". If yes, then "Do you believe that there are multiple Gods or just one God exists?"Or this annoying question, "Why do you think you are born into this world?" How about "Can women live without men? and vice versa?"

Or how about the following 2 questions:................

How precious is your heart?

Assume you are able to place a price tag on everything, how much do you think you are worth in dollars and cents?

Now my fucking question to your questions is why bother? You are still alive arent you? There is still at least one person who care/misses you/loves you on this Earth. You are still alive to read this blog at this moment. You are still breathing. You are still able to make a difference, be it how futile or insignificant the change might be. You are still able to eat, sleep and pee/shit.

What a silly blog entry you might say. Yeah thats why it is mind-boggling.

How to counter Abusive Customers.

After 2 consecutive angry postings on unreasonable customers, i have kind of calmed down. I have spoken to many people regarding this issue. A mind boggling question always resonates in my mind, "How do you counter such a verbally abusive customer!?!!?"


Strategy 1: Usage of "Same to you". The concept of this reply is really crisp and simple. For e.g.

"You.. stupid chinese Dog, give me my transport voucher" (customer)
"Same to you, Sir" (me)
"You are a stupid PA officer. Why your parents give birth to such a stupid son?" (customer)
"Same to you, Sir" (me)
"May your whole family die tomorrow". (customer)
"Same to you, Sir. May it happen faster to you Sir" (me)

Such a simple yet powerful reply.....

Strategy 2: Switching off. When the customer is scolding you, try to look at a focal point e.g. your shoe or a nice scene outside the office and focus on it. While the customer is still berating you, continue looking at that focal point. When you hear silence, then smile to the customer and ask, "Thank you for your feedback. Sir/Mdm"

Strategy 3: To an abusive customer who is scolding you non-stop or going into vulgarities, you can proclaim loudly to him/her:

"I am sorry Sir/Mdm, I am afraid we cannot continue this conversation if you cannot calm down and hear me out." Repeat for 3 times. And if the scolding still continue, leave the customer and ignore him/her."

Strategy 4: Facilitate a transfer of ownership effect. This concept is a little hard to comprehend. Take the case of the same transport voucher incident. Before the fucker handed you his application form, he could scold you as much as he wanted. However, after a period of scolding,you decide to "take" in his application form. The customer would calm down now and on the contrary now fear you because his application form is in your hands now. So when the customer takes his leave, you can simply chop the big "REJECT" stamp on the form without a blink of an eye. If the customer scolded you too fiercely, you could also simply shred the application form because technically, when he returns to dispute the case, you can simply reply, "Sorry Sir, do you have an witness to prove that you handed the form to me?" (Remember to smile innocently)

Strategy 5: Always prepare a digital camera that has video recording capabilities with you. The moment you encounter a verbally abusive customer, take out the camera and ask your colleague to video-cam the whole process. Do not speak a word until the camera is rolling. Ask your colleague to point the camera explicitly at the customer's face when he/she is scolding you. Then calmly proclaim to the customer that, " I welcome all feedback from you Sir/Mdm. Please do continue to verbally abuse me as i will have enough evidence to sue you."

If the customer rushes forward to snatch the camera or smash the camera to the ground, you now have valid reasons to call the Police and you may now file a magistrate's order to sue the fucker for

1) Stealing of personal property
2) vandalism of CC property ( if the camera belong to the CC)



My ending words are: It is never worthwhile to get so worked up such that you end up beating up the fucker.It is not worth it because there are better ways to piss these fuckers. Cheers!!!

How NTUC Deals with JAck-ass Customers

I refer you to a Straits Time Article published on 24th September 2008 Pg B1 in the Home Section. In my previous entry, i highlighted the fact that my organization lacks the balls to do anything to stand up against unreasonable customers. In fact, the upper management do not care because it is the field staff who bears the brunt and verbal abuses. At the end of the day, the Big guns will just rub it off and proclaim: This is what your field allowance is meant for-to be fucked by customers.

NTUC Income sets the leading example in dealing with Jack-ass unreasonable customers. They simply DROP these fuckers. I love the way that NTUC justifies her reasons diplomatically and i quote,

"Despite our best efforts, customer XXX has made clear his dissatisfaction with our services, and we are not confident of being able to meet his expectations moving forward. As with any business making a commercial decision, we feel that it would not be in the best interests of both parties to continue this relationship."

I love the subsequent part of the reporting: It is not the 1st time that NTUC has dropped a customer. It has in the past refused renewals from people who "ACT UNREASONABLY" when settling a claim, those who are suspected of colluding with car workshops to inflate motor accident claims and IT REFUSED TO DO BUSINESS WITH PEOPLE WHO HAVE HARASSED ITS SERVICE STAFF.

Bravo!!!! and Kudos to NTUC Income. My organization will never have the balls, not even one ball left to do such a thing.

Getting Scolded

(Artistic Impression of the fucker who scolded me)

The title cannot be clearer. In my line of work, customer service is an important facet. Staff at the community centres face a barrage of unreasonable customers all the time. Empirically, it is possible for a counter staff to be verbally abused at least once a day.

As per all customer service doctrine, the golden rule has always been, "The customer is always right". But how right are these customers if you ask? What about the unreasonable customers?

The recent issuance of the transport vouchers was another perfect episode for the community centre counter staff to be abused again. Usually, the point of contention arises due to complaint 1) the resident did not produce his/her NRIC card which is needed for the application and complaint 2) the resident blaming us when they are notified that all vouchers are given out.

Historically in the past, the norm has been that the counter-staff would be verbally abused by unreasonable residents. Because most of the time, the counter staff are ladies, they tend to be submissive and not retort back. Most importantly due to the scene created by the rowdy resident, the manager would usually step in and grant whatever the customer demands. The signal delivered from the manager's gesture is crystal clear to the public: "All i need to get my way is to RAISE my voice and create a scene. The staff of all community centres will give in."

This is definitely NOT applicable for me. I met an unreasonable customer this week. I informed him that the application of the voucher is closed. He was furious.

"I took off today to come to make the application" (customer)

"Sir, application is closed. HQ has ordered it so." (me)

"Who said so? SHow me Black & white. WHere? Where?" (cust)

"HQ sir. The boss upstairs in HQ." (me)

"I dun care. I want to talk to your boss now" (cust)

I ignored him and served another customer waiting in line. I stared at him. My counter staff who sensed that trouble was brewing called for my boss to receive the customer. In any case, the customer declared loudly that he wanted to file a complaint on me. I stared at him and replied, "Go ahead. I am not afraid. I do not give in to tyrants like you". In the meanwhile, my boss who is a sweet lady managed to pacify him and explained to him properly.

Later i learnt that this fucker also came in late to apply for the vouchers last year. The staff at the counter gave in to him. Now that explained why he assumed that this year, he could do the same again. Too bad, he met the wrong dude to mess with. I will never forget his face and his tone and his "Come-beat-me-up face". I beliveved that I would have beaten him up. I swear i would. A man's ego is not to be messed with. I was not born to be shouted and verbally abused by people.

Some residents are just really cheap. When they see the counter staff is a lady, they will raise their voice and bully them. It takes a strong will to say NO. Because yielding to these customers will only invite MORE abuses in the subsequent years and days to come.

I was fuming mad for the next few days. Mad because i met such a customer. Furious because my Boss gave in to him. Agitated because i did not get to beat him up.

The turning point came when i did my block visit with my MP yesterday. In typical practice, there will be an entourage of officials from the town council, the police, NEA, LTA, HDB and lastly from the CC (i.e. me) who will follow the MP in the block visit. The logic for the presence of the other agencies representives is that whenever a complaint is made to the MP, the MP could quickly on the spot refer to the right chap from the right agency for answers.

After the debrief session, all the agencies reps sat down at my RC centre. The MP has left and we were casually feasting on the food that my RC has prepared. I remarked, "The residents in this constituency are really pampered, spoilt and unreasonable."

The reps from the other agencies all laughed and shared their experiences of unreasonable residents' complaints / demands. The list of complaints / demands ranged from

(From the Police)

1) My neighbour above me is dragging the furniture across the room. I cannot sleep. Go and arrest them. (Its 3pm in the afternoon, mind you)

2) My son is confined in the army camp. He is just a young boy at 18 years. I want you to enter the camp to arrest his commanding officer and bring my boy back. Oh he is such a poor thing.

3) Wild cats are mating furiously in my void deck. My little girls ask me to explain that sound. I can't. I demand you to kill these cats.

(From the Town Council)

1) I am about to dry my clothes on the bamboo pole. But it is going to rain. Can you make the rain stop? (DUH, WTF!!!! JACk ASS Resident)

2) The airplanes are disturbing my reading hour at 1pm. I demand you to ground the flights or i will complain to the minister. (Complaint filed during the Paya Lebar Airbase Open House)

(NEA)

1) I have mosquito larvaes in my dentures cup. I expect you to come to my place within the next 1hr to remove the larvae without touching my dentures in the cup.

(LTA)

1) The roads are too dull and dark. Can you get your workers to paint the road in front of me in pink?

2) Street lamps are too bright and shines into my reading room. It disrupts my reading hour. I demand them to be shut down after 7pm.

At the end of the sharing session, i felt so much better because other agencies have it worser....much worser.

You stupid stupid child!

I was working PM shift today. I reached bedok bus interchange at 1130pm and i saw a memorable sight.


This boy about 5 years old was playing and crawling at the floor. He was doing leopard crawls ;worming in and out of the queue lines railing. Coincidentally, this fat lady was sitting on the railing with her legs etched on the opposite end of the rail bar. The playful boy crawled underneath the fat lady's butt.



To the astonishment of the boy's mum, his mum shouted aloud, "YOU STUPID BOY. WHY DID U GO UNDERNEATH SOMEONE ELSE'S PI GU (meaning Ass). YOU WILL BECOME DUMBER AND DUMBER FROM NOW ON. I HAVE TO DISOWN YOU NOW!!!!"



It was a truly harsh remark. The boy was petrified and he was shocked to tears. He ran to his mum and embraced her. The mum was very pissed and pushed him away. Oh i must stress to you the mum and kid are both PRCs. I knew it from their PRC-ish accent.



The boy was definitely innocent. Im sure he had no idea about all these stupid cultural norms. His mum was certainly and probably justified in making a huge fuss due to the way that she was brought up. All these superstitious and silly myths and cultural folklores ingrained in her since young can make her lose it and be cranky.



I pity both of them. The child for suffering such a tramautic experience where his mum disowned him and the mum getting the realization that her son's future is gone now because he will be stupid forever and forever after today.



Whose fault is this? I shall not elaborate further. If you are smart enough, you will know the answer.

Im glad i listened on...

In our line of work, there are times when we meet one or 2 customers who will pour out their hearts and sorrow to the counter staff. Sure, as part of the GEM protocol, "Go-the-extra-mile" protocol, indeed we should hear the customers out.

Sometimes, my colleagues will lament that they are not paid to consol the public and worst of all these people take up too much of their time resulting in them being unable to finish their work. I also feel that at times we are just not equipped with the right counselling skills. Over time, without proper management of the staff's expectation, the staff will only grow to loathe these troublesome customers (who are usually homeless folks and senior citizens). This may sound really cruel but due to over-prolonged exposure to them, it is hard to sympathize with these customers because one thing is.. their problems are never ending.

Last week i encountered one such customer. She was a single woman in her late 50s. She brought several english letters to the office and she needed help to translate them. I was at the counter and i rendered help to her. It was'nt before long that she began pouring out her story to me. She was staying in a 2-rm rented flat. Her rental mate had passed away and by HDB's regulation, she had to find a new rental mate within a deadline or else she will be evicted. It was a sad story but there was nothing i could do. I advised her to go to the Meet the People Session.

She continued to pour her story to me. 30minutes had passed. My colleague back in the office sensed that something was wrong and they called my mobile phone. So i excused myself from the customer and ran to my desk to pick up my phone. When i got back to the office, my colleagues said they were trying to get me out of the situation by making me leave her. However, i reasoned that since it's already 30 minutes, i doubted that she had any more strength to continue. So i returned to the front desk again to listen to her. Oh gosh, she continued with much gusto and fire.

I glanced at the clock, 45 minutes have passed. Thie time round, my colleague wanted to rescue me again. She hovered to the front desk and remarked loudly to the customer, "Hey Andrew, your dinner is turning cold. You want to eat it first?". Again the customer did not budge and continued confiding in me. I felt that i was so helpless. It was only at 10pm, that my colleague made an announcement to announce the closure of the CC that the customer stood up and decided to end her talk. At that moment i heaved a sign of relief. Just when i was ready to head back to my desk to pack up, the customer held my hands and she commented, "Thank god, someone hear me out today. Or else, i would have jumped down the flat tonight"... With tears of gratitude in her eyes, she left the CC.

Oh Jesus, at that moment, a cold chill went down my spine. It was hard to get a hold of myself. Hmm i was so glad that i stayed on and listened to her despite several rescue efforts by my colleagues. I strongly belived that it was Abba who made me stay and listened to the customer. The power of hearing is so powerful.... I also realized that technically, no harm was done to me by listening to her. I did not lose a piece of flesh or something. I was glad i listened on...

The Art of Stalling a Reply

In my line of work, i spend a decent amount of time daily interacting with walk-in residents who enquire about courses organized by the community centre and other grassroots organizations. At times, i have to admit: I will bump into some really JAck-Ass customers.

For example, I organized an inline skating class for the residents. It was a 4-week course and one parent missed the last class with her 2 children. As per past practice on the 4th lesson, the vendor will issue the certification cetificates to the students. It is understood perfectly from a layman's point of view that if you miss the last class, you will fail the course and not be eligible for any certificates. It is the same logic for taking a driver's license test. If you miss the final test, do you think you can ask for a re-test or even claim the license? DUH!

After a few weeks, i was shocked to receive a call from this parent demanding a certificate. I explained nicely to her that she missed the last lesson hence no certificate will be given by the vendor. She shouted at me on the phone and blew her top. On my part, i was as sympathetic as possible. I listened to her whinning. At the end, i told her i will ask the vendor if it was possible to give a make up class for her children.

I called the vendor and explained the situation. The vendor was unwilling to issue a level 1 skating proficiency certification cert because honestly the coach cannot assess if her kids are fit for level 1. The vendor was only prepared to issue a certificate of participation. When i put down the phone, my colleagues cautioned me with this advice. "Andrew, do not call the parent after you have asked the vendor. Wait for say a hour later."

"Why? I want to be efficient you know!", i retorted.

"Well, by calling one hour later, you can give the appearance that you negotiated hard for a long time with the vendor. Look the vendor is not going to budge, so do the customer. Stalling time will pacify the customer and earn her gratitude!", my colleague explained.

"Awwww.. icic..", my eyes were enlightened.

Indeed an hour later, i called the parent. She was calmer and spoke in a peaceful tone. In addition, she bought the story that i negotiated very hard for her. In the end, she was satisifed with just a certificate of participation and not a level 1 certifcation from the vendor.

This episode has taught me a valuable lesson in the rules of engagement for such nasty customers. If you are in the service line, i hope this advice will be helpful.

A good Hesitation

A while back the local banks launched the sale of their preference share scheme. These preference shares promises a sizeable annual dividend of 5-6%. I was really tempted to subscribe for it but at the same time i balked at the minimium sum needed, $10,000. Sure i have this amount but to sink it in preference shares i had to think twice. I guess there was no peace. Coupled with my busy work schedule, i missed the application deadline for the shares. I was so glad that i missed the application because later i read an article from business times written by my finance professor from SMU. He has adviced the public that preference shares are not for young grads for me who are in the wealth accumulation stage because

1) Preference shares are not that liquid. YOu can't dispose of it to sell it for cash when you need it and the preference shares are only redeemed by the issuers i.e. the banks at god-know when?. Hence technically, your principle is considered lost... for a long long time...
2) Preference shares are only suitable for retiree folks with tonnes of cash to spare and look forward to a steady steam of income per year.

Thank God. Sometimes. the best way to grow the reserves is to do nothing for the moment......

New Name for ACMs

Ladies & Gentlemen, ACMs have a new alternative name now. It is also called the "Advanced Combat Man system"

Advanced Combat Man system is a term that can best describe my job scope now.... :p

When you say Nothing at all

At this moment, I am listening to this really cheesy song titled, "When you say Nothing at all". Oh do not misunderstand me. I am not listening to the one sung by Ronan Keating but it is the version done by Alison Krauss & Union Station.

If you think about it, a lot of things in life are better left un-spoken. For example, that silent breakup between couples, the silent job resignation that people tender, the silent joy that someone receives say when he/she wins 4D etc, the silent pain endured by a terminally ill patient...

Recently, i learnt of the resignation of another induction mate JSM. Perhaps what is most succinct about his resignation is that he was dead silent when he tendered his resignation. He only informed us like days after he tendered. Or a month ago, when a resident in my constituency just commited suicide by jumping down from her flat; dressed in all red. Moments before she jumped, she said nothing too.

Perhaps the most memorable incident to struck me is my residents' committee's recent visit to the Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society, Moral Home for the Mentally Disabled at 20 Jalan Eunos. The residents are intellectually challenged. Some are psychotic and some have slow mental development. But what binds all of them together is their inability to voice out their pain and suffering. They are in pain.. no doubt. Most of the residents are dumped by their family members. Whenever festive seasons like CNY or christmas come, their longing for their family can never be expressed verbally....

On this topic, it is coincidental that the government has opened the local political landscape for citizens to openly protest at the Speakers Corner. But did people really come forward to address genuine issues of dis-contentment? Self-censorship reigns. The newspaper reports speak for themselves. Anyway, this post is not meant to be political.

How about the endless sweat and toil endured by your mother when she brought you up? I bet she just kept silent and embraced it herself. How about the moments when she caned you after you did something wrong as a child? Im sure her heart ached but she said nothing at all...

Somethings are better left unsaid... right? How about this declaration of love for a person you like be it your parents, the girl/boy next door you fancy, your children? Hmm better left unsaid too right? Or should you say it and take that risk? Do you do it at a cost of your face/pride/ego?

Anyway.. i still have a debt of 4 kisses to collect... Please remind me... ;p

Discoveries

Dear all,

I received feedback that my readers are craving for new entries in my blog. So here it goes: I made an amazing discovery today: My ties with my parents have improved. My communication and talking skills have improved. You can credit this transformation to my interactions with my grassroots leaders (GRLs) who are mostly my parents' age. Let's put it this way, GRLs being at their age can be unreasonable at times. They like to keep their faces and expect absolute respect even when they can be wrong at times. Working with GRLs can be tactically challenging and commands a lot of patience. When i talk to my parents, i tend to get a little confused and take them as my GRLs. Nonetheless, it is a positive change that i welcome.

Talking about working with GRLs, my boss always stresses that they are volunteers and thus we must never push them too hard (be it chasing for account statements, namelist of residents for certain activities etc.) or else they will reject you and even switch off. Well sure, there are times when i get scolded for just sending reminder smses to this GRL. This GRL can shout to me and say, "Hey please respect my personal time and space. Your sms intrudes into my private family time. I am only a VOLUNTEER, ok!?!?!". Wow it was just a harmless sms (FYI i just sent ONE sms only) and it sparked off such a fierce reaction. I have not even called the GRL on the phone yet. Well, yeah that is one of not-so-nice moments.

Getting scoldings from your GRLs can be terrible and it totally spoils your day. But at the end of they day, i realize that we are working with GRLs not robots. Our circumstances are thus always fluid and challenging. Some GRLs are excellent and nice people. Some are not-so-perfect. But it is this variety of challenges that makes up the "SWEET" & "SOUR" aspects of our job.

i always advocate a support group. Whenever any of my cohort induction mate is in trouble, i try to meet up with him/her. You know what is the art of successful consoling?
Listen with a Graceful heart: When someone confides in you their problems, do not be too QUICK to offer solutions or even scold the person. What is needed here is that you JUST LISTEN FIRST and show that you understand his/her sorrow. Especially if the person in trouble is a lady. I tell you the psyche for ladies is that more than 80% of the time, they already know what they should do. They just need someone to hear them out and be the capturing device for them to pour their complaints out. After the pouring session, most ladies will come to the conclusion on what they should do.

Nostalgic Recollection

This picture was taken in August 2003. It has a lot of sentimental values because it was taken at our Year 1 orientation camp in OBS (Pulau Ubin). I would say it was a pretty darn memorable camp.

I recollected how i was able to administer the stuff in the 1st aid box given to each team and in effect i became the stand-in medic. I remembered how everyone was clueless with using the army jack knife to open the tin cans for our outdoor cooking and i had to step in to become the "Tin-can opener".

Anyway, time has since passed on and most of the buggers in the pic are already out of my life. Save for just JY and Son Of Singapore. So yup. Just thought i better post this picture here in case i reformat / dump my old CPU and this picture will never be found again...

It is amazing that i can still recollect everyone's name in the picture. Hmm that is good..

Compromises you make

Sometime ago, i had a lunch with my uni church guy friends. The main agenda of the lunch centered on the marriage preparations of our friend. He will be married in a month's time. In our conversation, I learnt that his bride (also a christian) has placed him on a strict diet. The reason given by the bride was : "I want you (the Groom) to look good and handsome on that day." She also bought him a portable small electronic pace-meter device where the groom must clip it on his belt everyday. The pace-meter measures the number of paces (aka footsteps) the wearer makes in a day. The bride has instructed him that he must hit at least 10,000 paces (footsteps) a day. Among other things, the Groom had been feeding merely on salads.

I am quite displeased with this legalistic mindset of the bride. No doubt i agree that marriage dinner is once in a lifetime and the couple involved should look good. But why all the legalistic restrictions?? So lets say.. the Groom refuses to go on diet. Will the bride hence not marry him? Is the bride that superficial? So if the Groom puts on say 10kg on the actual wedding day, will we have a run-away bride? Since when did the exchange of matrimony vows become so legalistic and SUPERFICIAL?

Since when did it also become the Bridegroom's job to distribute the wedding invitation cards to the Bride's friends while the Bride is away doing some other things? Why pamper the Bride so much? Is the Bridegroom in effect already an slave for the Bride?

I guess when you are so deeply in love, you tend to lose your position and compromise. But compromise to what extend? If you do not compromise, you will be seen as a male chauvanistic pig. If you do compromise too much, you will be seen as hen-pecked and well.. a slave? Very complicated issues here. Just for you to think out loud. How far will you go to compromise for your other half.. BEFORE and AFTER marriage?

A very touching Farewall Note..

I stumbled on this really touching farewell note. If i must comment, this is probably the most touching one i have read. The deceased, i.e. Mr. Derrick was a pilot and his closest pals posted this very touching obituary in the papers.

As i read the poem, i could visualize his life in a glance and the numerous lives he must have touched. In a way, i thought his personality was similar to mine. Nonetheless, the poem was written in a celebratory tone to celebrate his life and in the last paragraph, his death was decribed as the airplane flight to Heaven. The last ending line was also impactful:"Till we meet, Your buddies".

I wonder when i pass away, how would my buddies write of me.....

Respect in Peace Derrick.

The harvest after the drought.

I still recall in September 2007, i had just tendered my resignation letter for my first job at Synovate, a top-5 market research MNC. The feeling was jubilant. How glad i was to leave my anal female boss ; the verbal insults and the restrictive work environment. I felt really optimistic that given my qualifications, i should be able to secure another job quickly with the next month.

Oh boy! I was so wrong. I entered into a financial drought period of 6 months!!!!!!. (i.e. jobless for 6mths). Here is a quick recap of the names of the companies i have applied: Accenture, AXS,Bloomberg, Changi International Airport, Civil Service College, Consumer Probe (Market Research agency), DSTA, IPOS, OldenDorff(Its a German Shipping company), Stanchart, DBS, UOB, Taylor Nelson Sofre, Finexis, Singapore Airline, Credit Suisse Bank, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of National Development etc.

This 6-month period was living hell for me. It was devatasting. Some jobs offered very low starting pay (i.e. <$2K). Some jobs required long working hours over the weekend. Some interviewers' attitude were really undesirable. Being a fresh grad who resigned from his 1st job in less than 6 months, i was subjected to a lot of criticism and sacarstic remarks from the interviewers.

I still recalled that for this 6 months, i was drawn closer to God. I attended church diligently since i had so much free time. I listened to each service. After each sunday's service, i alway felt so energized and confident that in the following week i will miraculously get a job offer. But nope, it never happened. Week after week, months after months nothing happened. I still went for my interviews. Well, deep down my heart i know that Abba has heard my cries for a good job. But i guess i was always overwhelmed by the fear that i was going to be jobless for a long long time. The fear got so bad that at a point i just cried out loud to the sky and asked, "WHERE ARE YOU!?! ABBA?"

At every job rejection, i will reflect and assure myself that this job must be unsuitable for me or else Abba will not close the door on this job. Of course, when you are jobless for 6 months, it is hard to sustain myself with the same reasoning. Human nature dictates that somehow a person will just grow more and more desperate. At one point in time, i really had this mind to just accept any cheapo job offer that comes along and resign my fate to that pathetic job. But i guess somehow i always have the clarity of mind to turn down these cheapo job offers. Anyway, try imaging that for 6 months in a row, you wake up every morning feeling dejected. Then this thought, "Hey you are going to bum today again.." will overwhelm your mind.

Now as i relflect, i am so ..so.. grateful for my current job. It's at least 10,000 times better than my previous job. The pay is freaking fantastic; at least close to S$1k more than my previous job. Oh i also started to tithe in this 2nd job. Oh Boy, the power of tithing... it's.. overwhelming. I received a substantial salary adjustment, plus annual increment and yeah the special bonus. Amen! My office is also like Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. My colleagues treat me really nice, like a family... Bosses. are superb.. and im given the autonomy in my job to do my best. I believe Abba placed me here.. for a reason. I'm very sure im in the right place...

The bottom line i want to say to you is this: Abba is alway always.. FAITHFUL....the first time you mutter your prayer.. He would have heard it already...

Interesting Observations from the Red-Wedding Bombs.

There will come a time in your life when you suddenly receive a lot of wedding invitations (call it the Red-Wedding Bombs). This phase naturally occurs when say the girls from your school batch have reached a "must-marry-age" or "must-go-lelong-sale-age" (just kidding).

This time has arrived for me too!. There are also a few interesting observations i noticed.

1) All of a sudden, ex-classmates who never bothered to attend any class renuions suddenly start to appear like 3-6mths prior to their wedding date.

2) All of a sudden, ex-classmates whom you have lost contact for a long time start to call you suddenly and strike a very warm phone conversation with you (as if you two were on very good terms since time has begun).

Of course, quite frankly at this juncture, this post is NOT to ridicule my classmates who are or have married. Deep down my heart, i am very happy for them. Because finally, they have grown from little girls to grown up wives. Because finally, they have found someone to pamper and take care of them.

This post is meant as a sound alert to notify you that perhaps it is better not to burn/abandon your bridges prematurely Don't neglect your friends because 1) your time is totally taken up by the other half or 2) you are pissed busy at work. Neglecting your friends like that will actually not be wise because when the big day arrives, you have to scramble like crazy to cosy up all the old friends just to ensure there are indeed people who will turn up and fill up the tables at your wedding.

Oh well, but of course, if you are a bride/groom to be and you read this post, take it with a pinch of salt. Peace.. Peace.. Shalom.. Shalom...

The definition of buying 4D

A very interesting dialogue occured last week between my colleagues. You see earlier on, we celebrated Wendy Koh's birthday. Her birthday was on the 18th June hence i got the inspiration to buy 3 sets of 4d namely 0618, 1806 and 6018. A few days later, i was having lunch with my colleagues at the hawker centre and I commented that i better rush to the 4D betting station before my 1hr lunch break. Then one of my colleague who is a believer remarked that "God told us not to gamble ah...".

Later that evening, i mentioned casually to Aaron again regarding me buying Wendy's brithday date for 4D. Surprisingly, Aaron also gave the same reply, "God told us not to gamble leh". As i recollect, i realized that i did not feel any sense of guilt. I know in my heart that me buying the 4d is like akin to those harmless bets that friends make with each other. For e.g. " I bet James will be late again for the outing.", "Lets bet if the waiter will serve our table faster if we get the prettiest gal in our table to ask for him." etc etc.

I guess the bigger picture here is we still have the flesh in us and we still sin everyday. For example, the bible also tells us not to lie. But if you ask yourself fairly, i think on average you would lie like as many as 2-3 times a day. Be it a white lie (e.g. Boss tells you to work OT and asks if you are fine. You say you are "fine" , or a deliberate lie (e.g. hey this lady is coming to look for me in the office. Tell her i am not in".

We are no longer in the Law Era but now under the Grace Era. Daddy God knows perfectly well that us mortals cannot never adhere to the 10 commandents. Daddy God is also aware of our flesh issue. That is why He has sent his son Jesus to shed his blood for us on the cross so that our past, future and future sins are forgiven. The awareness is that through Jesus's blood, we have the righteousness of God (meaning we can stand upright, guilt-free to face Daddy God) through Christ 24/7. The moment one starts to wallow in guilt and self-condenmation, it will only led down the path of self-destruction and exposure to Devil's lies and attacks. Of course, i must clarify that it does not imply that we can and should simply commit sin at will. Rather, it is the appreciation that, when you have done the worst thing on Earth and Daddy God is there to completely forgive you, do you think you will still have the heart to want to sin again? Its like akin to say when you were little. You broke the vase but somehow your little brother got the rap. Your brother gets caned badly by your mum. Do you still have the heart to break any more vases in future; knowing that an innocent man ( in this e.g. your little brother) took the rap for you?

If you ask me: "Andrew do you feel bad or condemned that you gambled and bought 4D?". My answer is "No". I am not addicted and in my opinion, buying 4D is as good as a recreation or as good as one who participates in a lucky draw. But In anycase, I know at any one time, I will eternally have the Righteousness of Daddy God through Christ.

Post 46th Induction Withdrawal Syndrome

To be perfectly honest, this induction camp has been the most memorable event in my life. A few significant events took place in this camp and i doubt i can forget them even till the day i am about to lie down on the coffin.


List of Major events:

1) A big wild explosion occured in my r/s life. The repercussions of this "earthquake" are still felt far and wide till this every moment. The thoughts of making someone run a few thousand kilometers a day is really no joke. Many "firsts" encounters occured. Indeed memorable. My cravings for instant mee is going at an exponential rate by the minute. Damn I will miss the gong yuan

2) First time voicing my views and arguing against the Nacli trainer i.e. Mr. D in a bid to protect all the 46 th gin-nahs. I guess i never got the chance to properly rebute and stand up to our bosses at work. But hey this induction, it's free and i did that.

3) The first time i finally appreciated the word "Fate". As i said it, "Fate has brought us together and it is really hard for us to cross paths like this. We should treasure this destiny". I said this sentence at least twice during the camp. Once during the emergency meeting at dinning hall and lastly at the sharing and reflection session.

4) The first time i got so pissed drunk from Wala Wala. The first time i puked non stop into a zip lock bag and dumped it into the forest beside my bunk. The first time i felt i can't walk in a straight line. It is also the first time, i failed a person in my promise. Because i was drunk, i failed to honor my promise to one person that night.

5) The first time, i got nominated into Tekong Bunk 1XX (female bunk) as the top 5 candidate. HahA..

6) First time, i sang so well in KTV. First time, im so freaking addicted to KTV liao.

7) My first time performing exorcism in Brani 102 bunk. I guess it wasnt exorcism lar. Just that we held hands and prayed in tongues and we summoned all evil spirits to leave that room. That night, i heard that the girls slept well.

8) My first time sleeping in a girl's bunk due to some paranormal observations. There were separate discrete water puddles in the girls' room floor. The puddles were not joined and there was also a puddle underneath the bed. The strange thing is that by law of physics, if the water leaked from the aircon, the water should flow down in a continuous stream. There should not be separate puddles of water. Anyway, that night with my presence, i hope the girls slept well.

9) The first time my hp bill went extraordinarily high because of the high volume of gsms that i send. But i tell you, it was worth every penny.

10) The first time i exhausted all my cold jokes and learnt many more new cold jokes.

Just like to say this few words to my christian bros and sis in this 46th Induction => I see myself in this position as my way of serving Daddy God. Just as Daddy God wants us to submit to earthly authorities and pay our taxes, he also want us to submit to our bosses, our RC chairmen, GRLs etc etc. Take it in stride that at the end of the day, no matter how shitty your bosses are to you, Daddy God will be there to restore you like the Eagles. Psalm 103. The over-exceeding favor that behalfs you will supersede all the trash and stress you experience at work. In your most troubled moment, pause close your eyes, pray and ask from Daddy God to give you the wisdom and clarity of mind to settle those issues..

To the non-christian bros and sis, i just want you to know that you are in a very novel job. Sure you may be there just for the money or you have other intrinsic reasons. Anyway, just bear in mind that every ounce of work you put in will surely benefit someone and touch someone's life in your small significant way. Sure there are moments when we feel like slacking. Ha im guilty of that too!. But yeah... ;p

Alright i am indeed truly blessed to know each one of ya. OMG. that includes Mr. D and D.

Outright Profiteering

If you have been reading the papers lately, you should be aware of the latest headline i.e. the massive earthquake which struck China. I will not go into the details like the name of the tectonic plate which caused the earthquake, the size of the earthquake on the Ritcher Scale, or the number of casualties. These facts are easily avaliable if you want to search for them.

I am just disturbed by the "wolf in sheep clothing" gesture of local and overseas financial institutions (FIs). If you are aware, these FIs have pledged to provide free remittance services to China for disaster relief. To the ordinary and naive mortals, this is a great humanitarian gesture. But wait.. THINK AGAIN...

Do you really believe that these FIs will remit each sum of cash instantly as and when they recieve it from you? Of course NO! They will want to consolidate all the cash first and in the meanwhile decide to hold the cash for say one month period. Then during this one month, invest the money in some financial instruments and EARN interests!!!! When they have accumulated enough cash and earned sufficient interests to cover their costs, then they will remit ONLY the principal amount to China; minus the interests earned of course!!!!!!!

To those folks working in these FIs, wipe that smirk off your face if you think your bank is doing a good deed. DUH...

Paradoxical Question.

Today is a really slow and boring day at work. For the 3rd consecutive week, my boss has taken the sunday off AGAIN.;p Office is slow. Basically, i have nothing much on hand to do. Waiting to knock off at 530pm.

So here i am day-dreaming if you must say. Well a few random thoughts came to my mind. Firstly, i recall a few months ago, i posted an interesting question to a christian friend. I said, "Hey Jackie, you do know that P&G (the biggest manufacturer of soap, shower foam, toothpaste i.e. toiletries in general) actually tithe to a Satanic church in U.S.A; so would you still buy products from them?"

Then my friend replied:" Does it matter where P&G tithes? Abba is the creator of all things on Earth. The natural and raw ingredients for the shower foam, soap, shampoo etc all came from Abba, not P&G leh. Does it matter?"

This is a subjective issue for you to judge. :p

Revelations at work

Today marks the 17th day in my new office. I still recall from my previous job's orientation where my ex- manager told the rookies: "If you are keeping count of the number of days in this job, chee you must really hate the job." Opps, please do not get me wrong. I do not hate my new job. I am merely informing you my progress in my new job.

Firstly, all my life i always thought that the NRIC number of SG citizens will begin with the letter "S" i.e. S1234567Z. But i am surprised to learn that for babies born after year 2000, their NRIC number begins with letter "T"!!! haha.

Anyway it's quite nice to know that 50% of my cc colleagues are christians. My big boss from the cc is also a christian. Moreover im pleasantly surprised that the chairman and vice chairman of my resident committee are also christians. The bible speaks of submitting to your bosses just as Abba wants us to submit to earthly authorities and pay taxes. When i have this revelation and i know that my bosses are also believers, i no longer see my job as just a mortal job, but i am also serving Abba through this channel.

For the first time, i have malay and indian colleagues to work with. Previously since JC onwards, all my classmates, project mates, colleagues in my 1st job are chinese. I must say i have very natural good vibes and get along very well with my malay and indian colleagues. They have been most helpful in dispensing advices and answering my queries.

Well, to be quite honest, the portfolios that i inherit now are in a terrible shape because of inefficient, lazy and maybe irresponsible predecessors. Did you know that before i assumed my current office, at least 6 ACMs have resigned?. There are improper documentaions, loss of documents here and there. When i meet the members of these committees, they were initially quite skeptical about me. They all wonder how long i will stay in the job. I could sense their sense of disappointment and they felt let down. Deep inside me, i feel that PA owes them too much already. It's time they deserve a good PA officer to put things in order and regain their morale. Bearing this in mind, i no longer see servicing my committees as a chore but more of a moral obligation to ensure the members willl not be let down again. Of course, this also creates an additional level of self-imposed pressure i guess?

In terms of job training, i must say there is barely any coaching at all. Everything is on your own and learnt on the job. High role ambiguity is how i would describe my current situation now. The mentor assigned to me is not so perfect. This person will promise to teach me something only to forget clean slate about it. I have to ask my fellow colleagues of my same pay grade to help/coach/teach me. I mean perhaps my mentor has a lot of work to do and he/she has no time for me. So yeah i understand yeah. Anyway, i will just have to exercise a lot of initiative to ask other colleagues to teach me.

Ok.. i shall end here in the meanwhile.

Vibes in the New office

The vibes in the office of a community centre is sure different from a corporate office. When i am too busy to have lunch, my colleagues will gently remind me to go lunch. When i need help, i just yell across the office and someone will willingly answer and help me ( i repay the favour as well). When i stay late in the office, my Boss will affectionately ask why i am still in the office because he knows everybody's working shift. When i have been diligently working in my desk all day long with no moment to rest or eat my meals, my colleagues will helpfully announce to the whole office, "Andrew has been very hardworking today. Keep it up and remember to eat your meals"

We shall see if these vibes exist in the long run. ;p. In this new job, i will need a lot of Abba's favours; be it in soliciting help and favours from my RC members for events; getting their replies on financial quotations etc or getting information from them to compile reports for submission to PA HQ. You see it's not like i can simply chase them like how a superior chases his understudy for undone work. RC members work on purely voluntary basis while officers like me are paid. We have to be doubly patient with the RC members and be courteous to them AT ALL TIMES. Of course, the same respect and courtesy is reciprocated back to me from the RC members (as least from the RC assigned to me).

In addition, there is no structured on-the-job training. Every thing is taught on the job and when the need arises for this work to be done ; then the coaching is provided by my superior. By the way, this coming Saturday 10th May, i am joining my RC committee in a mothers' Day dinner. It will be a good chance to networK with the residents and get to know some important people.

Ok.. thats my update for now.

Desperation

Not too long ago, a good sister friend of mine shared with me her love story. Her bf(who is now currently her husband) and her dated for a while before her bf dropped the bombshell: He was going to leave SG to a faraway land to pursue his graduate school. She was devastated and yearned so much to dump everything in SG to follow her beloved bf. However, Abba through His mysterious means created circumstances to stop her from leaving SG in a heat of moment. At that point in time, she sure must hate Abba. Nonetheless, as the time passed, she no longer felt the urge to be with her bf and even grew accustomed to living on her own in SG without him being around. Finally, about a year later, the time and circumstances were right and she said, a year later she felt the overwhelming peace (not desperation) to go to this faraway land to join her bf.

You may question is there a difference if she joined her bf immediately then or one year later? In my humble opinion, i think there is a difference. If she flew over immediately, she is going with a heart of desperation i.e. a heart of "I can't live without him every second of my life". This would be bad. She would probably be utterly possessive and would cling on to her bf like crazy. How was her bf ever going to study with a peace of mind? Conflicts would probably arise leading to quarrels, fights and disputes. In such a scenario, Jesus would be missing in their relationship.

Abba only gave her the desire and obligating circumstances to join her bf after one year. Note that, i stressed she grew accustomed to living a life without her bf in SG and she spent more time in the word and in the presence of Abba. This time round, she flew over with a steady heart, a steady heart which has Jesus in it, where she knows she can find favour, recognition and love from Jesus. Such is a stable and secure woman who will not be possessive of her bf and her bf also knows for certain that he can leave her alone at times to focus at his studies. He would know that she is an independent lady.

Hence, more often than not, when you get an overwhelming, burning passion for something, or when you become too overly zealous in it, perhaps it is probably not from Abba. You are probably not prepped and ready for it yet.

You see barely into the 2nd day of my new job, i suffered a panic attack. Perhaps i was overwhelmed by the tonnes of portfolios i have to take-over from my predecessor; perhaps i was empowered by a sense of guilt that my new job requires me to work on Sundays on alternate months; perhaps i was tormented by the fact that the kids at the kids ministry would miss me. All these emotions accumulated into a single desire : I want to serve full time in my kids ministry. So i sent an sms to my ministry full time leader and enquired if the ministry was still hiring. But surprising i heard no reply!! Usually, my ministry leader would reply sms-es promptly. Anyway by the 3rd day of work, things got better at work. It seems i wasn't overwhelmed by work already. In fact a thought came to my mind to take things in my stride and take it easy; learn on the job, pick up things slowly one by one.

Yesterday i was chatting with that good sister friend again. I spoke to her about my desperation and my desire to want to serve full time in the kids ministry. Then yeah she alerted me and shared with me the story you read above.

In her opinion, there is a good reason why Abba placed me in this current job. Serving in this job is as equally important as serving say full time in the kids' ministry. Because we will still be serving Abba. Imagine if all christians would just want to serve full time in the churches? Then who is going to manage your savings, take care of you in hospitals, mow the lawn for you, fix the plumbing system, uphold law & order, defend the country, plan your estate taxes etc? Sure i mean non believers can also serve in these positions but Abba has a plan for each of us for believers and unbelievers. Perhaps, I am not ready to serve full time in my kids ministry yet because there are still importants skills & knowledge which i should learn and pick up from my new current job. If i would to hastily rush in to serve full time, i would not be equipping myself fully to serve the kids.

Another sister of mine Val had a slightly different opinion though. She felt that i should stay in this current job because in my new job^, i am able to make a impact and possibly help many people. The kids in the kids ministry will always be well looked after but what about the people outside the church? They need me..

Hmm.. yeah thats my current predicament for now. I think i will stay on and preservere in this new job until further notice from Abba...

^I am now working as an assistant constituency manager under Peoples' Association.