Minion Life and your work life

There was once a manager whom- and he stabbed me right in the back later- that you know not everyone knows everything and that you know if you ask too many question or raise your feedback too many times, it will hurt people's feelings.

Of course, I insist that I didn't raise any unnecessary feedback but rather if I do that, it is because that it was pertinent and urgent. You see they were raising a ruckus because I was asking them to change a rule to allow a customer to sign in. My argument was that even if it requires all directors to sign, and since the rest were nominal directors, we just need the major shareholders to sign. You see there 6 diectors and 2 were the owners of the company and the rest were incidentally employees. The reason the boss, which was one of two did not want them to sign was that he did not want the employees to know about some of the transactions. And even if the latter were shareholders, they held 4% of the shareholdings- sort of an "employee" incentive plan by the boss- the rest of 96% were own by the boss and his wife.

I mean he has been a fantastic customer and I really want to close this deal and I ask some of seniors whether we can go around it and the standard answer was that you have to follow the SOPs. I know I have to follow the SOP but this is a special case, can we find a way to justify it. Eventually, the big boss override it- and I got what I wanted.

And the rest were not happy. [ How I know is very simple, I took a few law modules, what is pertinent is control and not whether who the directors are: I argued that the two can literally remove the four directors by a simple special resolution which requires 75% of the shareholdings, hence why the hell do you need the rest of the four to sign in the first place- and the rest accuse of me being difficult, negative and disrespectful, "hao lian".]

This is being the case, suddenly everyone felt the need to deflate me at every point. It is like, they cannot accept that like all organizations, business are run by the rule of the law, even if the SOPs start as such, there is always a way which can justify the position- simply because all SOPs always occur on the safe side. You just need a secondment from someone- and this was perfectly legal, even if the auditors came in and check on the deviation. It is simply back by the law of the land. The law of the land is the biggest when comes to anything. In fact this incident that the compliance system was not robust enough to allow for "business as usual" to happen within legal parameters. It did not have a caveat to say that on certain cases, discretionary approval can be given. It turn out that they were the best customers after that.

That same person who actually say to just follow the SOP, just shut up because she was the dealer doing all the transactions. She later try to prise me to the team and even encourage me to do more of the deals but by then, I was already quite pissed off with the manager for not even lending a hand, and actually give the stupid advice above and just simply acquiesce on everything. I explain to him why I was right, he keep on repeating the same thing. After that I know that, oh crap, it is time to go pretty soon. As always, the big bosses always love me because I always get things done, but it is these people that somehow never quite get to them that I wasn't "hao lian" or complain king. [ The CEO of the bank gave him a big tongue lashing and make him embarrassed in front of some the employees in a corporate event. He hated me even more after that- but it was his fault and not mine.]

I was reading a news article earlier about Kevin Rudd having two personnas of handling people close to you and the people that give you support. If I just okay to you- do you think I can ever get the deal done in the first place. If you attempt to see from my point of view, I do not need to be so nasty.

If I do not appear to be sort of "straightforward", how do I get across to you that, "yes, I respect you but look at this case." If you take the time to listen, you will want to see from my end and "stop whining" about how I make things difficult for you.

If I do not know what I am talking about, I will not be so in your face: which means, go and check it out for crying out loud.

This is not teamwork, and they accused me of not being team player also and being always negative- this is call covering each other's ass. Pro quid quo- I just blew you apart because I have something to do unless you want to do my job. I pay your bills because I bring in the money- so you better do what I tell you to do.

And of course, when you face all these type of obstacles and "so many minions" [ like the show "Despicable me"] - and they are not so cute in real life- you only want to do a job and go home, these people simply want everyone to wear the same jump suits like them that's all.

I just want to go home but it doesn't mean that I will want to be like them and just watch the clock tick by to go home. I have went through that life- and I don't enjoy it at all. The funny thing is they pay me more to do a simpler job at another place. Ironic isn't it.  The funny thing is that when I left the last place, there were no farewell lunches, and in the first one, I even got a present and a meal.

It was really quite ironic and funny how things have turn around. I was not successful in the first but everyone likes me. I was successful in the second, but everyone wants to strangle me.

I learnt that later, whatever in class about class was true. You will never break the ceiling by appealing to the people who are same as you, you will only break it when you really break it.

That is exactly how I landed myself in this position now. Being liked is very very easy, I was just cruising for the last 27 years on that. But it is being successful and having the guts to do so, that is the hard part. That is why I played for my first part of my life-without getting screwed and sinking too deep!!!

Friends you realise becomes extremely ephemeral and predicated on this thing call class. They are not your real friends actually even if you bring yourself down. They feel a little guilty and a little "small" in front of you. They know it, they just don't want to show it in front of you- and I don't want to make anymore embarrassing or difficult for them.

Had I know it will lead to this: I would stayed at the first job, and I would probably be an Associate Director by now but I will have zero chance of doing anything beyond my life.

But I wouldn't know my friends would be so superficial, if I didn't.