Practical steps to Working?!

The Start of the Day

You'll never know what you're going to get when you wake up in the morning. Just like any other day, I did what I usually do. Only thing was that, I was really sleepy this morning. The only thing that probably was calling out to me was the aroma of coffee...okay, that was in my imaginary land whilst I was still queueing at the bus interchange. I hopped on the bus, only to have some even sleepier person behind me, I guess, either that or too anxious to get on the bus, to step on my heels, causing my right sandal to drop off onto the steps. In the end, I had to save my heel, hobble up the bus, and try to pretend that nothing happened, while of course half the people on the bus saw this sleepy girl unglamourously trying to put her slip ons back on. Okay, since when did I have any poise in the first place?

Lesson #1: How to Ask for a Favor

"Gooooooooood morning, Jeannie!!!" A voice came from behind. So sweet, my hair really stood on an end, whilst I was trying to make out who she was. I see, the cleaning supervisor, hurriedly making her way to look for me. "Jeaaaaannnniiiieeeee, I need a favour from you....." The first thing that came to my mind was....Okay, cut the sweetness, it is so unlike you. In the end, what she needed was just a few chairs. All right, that won't hurt. She can have as many as she liked, actually. As long as she brings it back!

Lesson #2: Women are petty, whatever the age

There are just so many relationships to deal with in my workplace. The pettiness of women, especially is evident. The office attendants that I have, are really a good sight to look at, good entertainment, only if you are free, that is. They can pick on each other over the most minute of things. Sometimes, I really wish to tell them, "Please grow up!" Okay, but that isn't what a good superior will do. Dealing with Difficult People 101 doesn't have that advice. What happens next is a full half an hour of sitting down, asking each one, what happened. The outpour of their account is usually accompanied by salt and vinegar. You never know how well they can season it, until you listen to it yourself. Eventually, it ended off with my understanding, and providing them with a rather simple solution (they could just have asked what the other person meant), actually, and pacify them, most importantly. Yes, everyone wants to be understood.

Lesson #3: Choose conversational topics wisely

There was quite a hoolabaloo at lunch today. Surprisingly, quite a few colleagues from other locations came to join my boss and I at the canteen. It is truly a rare sight. Usually, they would just like to hide in their cosy little haven, and lunch in. Today, was a treat.

My other colleague and his boss came too. This colleague, was someone whom I enjoyed talking with, but his boss, no. He had the same sentiment, which made his boss, well, our "common enemy". Okay, it wasn't THAT bad. Yet, it was difficult to say anything much in the presence of higher authority. I remembered, there was once, things got so bad, we had to use the SMS function of the phone to communicate. Yes, it was bad.

The main reason why we find it hard to talk to his boss, was that he liked to put down people in his speech, especially in the area of work. Today, was a slight breakthrough. Instead of talking about work, we talked about entertainment. It helped. Probably also because, he lost touch with entertainment (hee hee). In this aspect, we had the dominating point. Hence, the revelation - the way to stop hearing his putting down people speech was to say something Greek to him. Yes, it wasn't the best solution, but at least, it was a solution. Lunch time was a lot better that way, and this colleague of mine later emailed to say that his boss was surprised we had so much to talk about. Well, is this good news, or bad? What do I need to infer from this? Yikes...