November 10, 2005

• I have a confession to make, I used the toilets for the handicapped during my National Service stint. Before you yell at me, allow me to add that I did so only after office hours, which meant that the likelihood of a visitor on the level my office was situated was close to zero percent. In addition, I used it only because that washroom had a shower. As for a certain blogger whose site has more daily hits than mine since its inception, it was plain wrong to confess that she utilises lavatories for the handicapped. I could spend the next few hundred words airing my view, but that would be overkill, since the papers already reported a deluge of e-mails, most of which apparently did not agree with her.

  
  

  All good things come to an end. It is virtually impossible for a group of colleagues to stay together for the whole of their careers. People resign or get transferred internally. Most of my colleagues have difficulty accepting that. Some bigwig at our head office decreed that two officers from my branch be transferred away and they would report to their new office on Monday. Our manager kept their names under wraps until yesterday, when he revealed one of them. Not surprisingly, she burst into tears. I predict more tears on Saturday, after our farewell dinner.

  
  

  According to the manager, those who actually do not mind a transfer are deemed not eligible, himself included (e.g. too old). Life is ironic, is it not? I am one of them, but I do not qualify for a transfer since I am too new. I feel fortunate to be blessed with nice colleagues, especially the senior officers, who have been wonderful. Since transfers are inevitable, I do not mind going first, since I am the latest addition to the staff roster. It is slightly further than my current workplace but still quite convenient. It might also give me a reason to quit, if rumours of unfriendly future colleagues are to be believed. It is awfully boring having to work six days a week.

  
  

  A small note about the coffeeshop where I usually eat my lunch. I usually decide on what to dine on before I take my lunch break. However, since Monday, the three different stalls I had in mind were not open for business. I decided to check out what was available today instead and I was pleasantly surprised that the popular curry rice stall had only one person getting his lunch. I could not believe my eyes, as there would normally be around ten people queuing up. I gleefully stood behind him and waited for my turn. As it turned out, he was only ordering the second of seventeen packets of rice. WTF???

  
  

  Lastly, I am quite upset to find out that one of my colleagues did not clear her probation period due to the number of major errors she made. The same bigwig failed her despite appeals from our branch manager. The fact that I indirectly contributed to it made it really galling for me. Basically, she was working with me and made a glaring mistake. Her figure affected mine, I thought I made a mistake and I covered it up. As it turned out, they found out about her mistake and I escaped. Banks take a serious view of certain things and what she did fell under that. I guess she made too many mistakes during her probation period. Even if I tell them what happened, who the hell is going to believe me now?

  
  

  At least she seemed to have taken it well. She was in limbo, undecided about when to further her studies. She has now been given some sort of impetus to change that, most jobs (excluding commission-based ones) for non-diploma/degree holders are pretty dead-end. She takes things well in her stride, as she was previously thought to be one of the two who would be transferred out. She just shrugged it off as being inevitable, no hint of tears whatsoever.

  
  

  Still, life sucks. Fuck.

  • 12:15 pm
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