Handover saga..

According to my VISA boss, Sophie, my monitoring team (AP Applications Operations team) will be under the care of another manager, SK, with effect from 1 Jun. And yet, they (meaning my HP boss and SK) are still undecided who they want me to hand over the team to!!!

After telling my HP boss, Allan, that I'll wash my hands off the monitoring team from 1 Jun regardless of who takes/dont take over, he finally told the 'idiot' who was previously the team lead who screwed everything up that he has to take it.. That's not it, it seems that he (my HP boss) will be 'promoting' one of the existing guy in the team to 'assist' that idiot!!

What to f***!! When I heard this, I told Allan right away that the management is being unfair and I'm very unhappy about it. Why? When I took over the monitoring team, they didn't do anything to lessen my workload, nor did they compensate me in anyway for the added responsibilities. I straightened up the whole team and created all the SOPs and processes in 6 months, the same amount of time that idiot 'lead' the team before being transfered. But because that idiot kept telling the whole world that he is 'BUSY' with his existing team, HP management is employing another person to 'assist' him!!! For me, they should just promote one of the existing guys as team lead, and that's it, no need to involve that idiot at all. Why give him the title of 'team lead' if he is soooo 'BUSY' with another team?? I told Allan that if this is the way HP management does things, let's wait until the renegotiation of contract, he will know what will happen. He tried to put the blame on his previous boss, saying at that time when I took over, there was no budget, but now his current boss agreed to increase manpower. I refused to answer or acknowledge what he said.

Thus in the mean time, I shall make myself invaluable to VISA and make sure my VISA boss can't do without me, and THEN let's negotiate... Or I can go to my Plan B.. But the best case scenario would be me going to Japan...

And they asked me yet again.. (aren't they tired of it??)

Or rather my VISA boss asked me again last Friday...

Seems like she has another new idea on how to manage the 2 teams now under her.. She told my HP boss that I'm more suitable as I'm more technically well-versed!!?? When I heard this from Allan (my HP boss), I was stunned. Me? technically better than Johnson?? Have I heard wrongly?? I told him that in no way can I be possibily more technically well-versed than Johnson. I don't even know 30% of the things Server Operations are doing... I told Allan that I'll clarify with Sophie (my VISA boss) that I'm no longer interested in taking over the position of the team lead and her choice of Johnson is the best decision.

Before my Application Operations team meeting, I told her in private that I no longer want to be the team lead for Server Operations, that my technical knowledge is insufficient to manage such a specialised team. She told me that she has a new concept as to how she wants to manage the team, and she thinks that I'm still the best person to lead the team... She wanted to discuss with me after the meeting, but I had users to attend to, thus she arranged for us to meet up today (Monday).

And today, she is on MC!!

My 100th blog...

So fast, reached my 100th blog posting liao...

With me being a natural grumbler, this blog will only grow bigger!!! HAHAHAHA!!

For those of you who do read my blog, it would mean a lot to me if you make some comments on them. I do read them.. :)

So look forward to my 200th blog.. hopefully, it'll be from Japan.. :)

It's Jinx!!

My VISA boss has been wanting to treat the team for dinner since Dec last year.. but every time we set a date, something will definitely cropped up.. either someone on MC or someone couldn't make it last minute...

Finally today is the day to go and eat, but last minute, the person who hasn't fallen sick for the past 3 years, fell sick today... So today's dinner date is in jeapardy..

What a good day it was... yesterday...

Yesterday was a good day indeed for me...

Went to the movie during office hours, with the knowledge and blessings of my VISA boss.. Watched X-Men III: The Last Stand. Not a bad show, quite entertaining.. Will post my review here soon...

The show ended ard 5pm. We all left for home from Suntec Cineplex. Instead of home, I went to Orchard Towers, to sign up for Japanese Elementary II classes. The class for Thursday (01 Jun) is full, thus I've no choice but to choose Wednesday class. And I think the teacher might be the same Ooya Sensei who taught me Elementary I. Then I went to Orchard Libr@ry and Kinokuniya. Managed to get "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom. I really enjoyed his "The five people you meet in Heaven". Wanted to buy a Japanese assessment book that I saw which was quite good, but it's a bit pricey. So I didnt.

Went home, cooked some vegetables to go with my fried rice. Then I got a call from dad.

Seems like I've gotten an interview for the Monbukagakusho Scholarship this coming 21 Jun!! :) That means I've 35% chance of getting a 'free' ticket to study in Japan for at least 1.5-2 years!!! :) Now I need to start preparing for the interview. And Kuan said that I can actually start to check out and make contacts with the Professors. So I will be spending more time doing research on my possible Masters topics/thesis and prepare for the interview. Hope to get the documents from dad by this weekend so I can make sure I have all the documents ready.

YEEESSSS!! I might just be going to Japan this coming Mar/Apr!!

And they asked me to lead... (final part)

And finally it was decided... I am not suitable as I lack the technical skills.. What the F**K!! That was what I told my VISA boss last friday when she first approached me for the position!! After spending 40 minutes convincing me that I'm more suitable regardless of my technical background, she sprang this on me.. Bloody hell!!

To quote her:

Imm says:
so better let Johnson be the lead..
Sophie says:
actually knowing more is not important but it is the planning part that I think you are definitely more experience than both of them
Imm says:
it depends on wat u need from e team lead..
Imm says:
for Servers, i've a lot lot more to learn..
Sophie says:
actually not knowing the details may not be the trouble as this is something that we can train... however if you are doing SO, do you think you can still do both sides ?
Sophie says:
meaning still doing the teamsite and web application areas ?
Imm says:
then i dont think that will be very fair to Server Ops team.. cos they need someone who can help troubleshoot and maintain/administrate the servers..
Imm says:
instead of 1 person, they r getting 0.5 effort from me..
Imm says:
so i think i concentrate on Teamsite and Web Apps la.
Imm says:
unless Jeff is going to hand-hold me all e way..
Sophie says:
actually this is something that I can discuss with Jeff... I don't think he will mind
Imm says:
i can help in cleaning and streamlining the process and SOP in Server team, but technically I can't see much contribution from me...
Sophie says:
actually in long term, the entire team structure is going to change... so I don't see much issue on this... anyway, Jeff is still around and if you really cannot do, can still check with him... he is supposed to be the lead for all

The above is part of the exchanges we had last friday. Then this morning,

Sophie says:
regarding the server ops lead, we have discussed and consider both your strengths and Johnson's strength.... you are very good in yr management skill, process and a very detailed person... as for Johnson, his advantage is his technical knowledge in this area...
Sophie says:
however due to Jeff is going to be my assistance and he will not be available to do the SO tasks, the lead also need to interprete SI changes, instructions and etc... we think that Johnson may be more suitable as it needs the technical skills... and has least impacts to the entire OSPS team...
Sophie says:
I hope u don't mind

So how else can I response?? I am pissed. It wasn't because I'm keen on the job in the first place, but what pissed me the most is that they (the management) never thought things through before action. If they would have stood by their decision to promote Johnson, and not be swayed by Daniel's suggestion of promoting me and not approached me if they are not sure, all these unhappiness will not have occured. That shows how 'good' their management skills are, and it is no wonder that the morale of the team is always so low. They like to 开空头支票 and 信口开河, without thinking how their action will affect the team.

Thus my motto of 人不为己，天诛地灭 holds true.. Therefore no more extra responsibility for this job, no matter how they beg me.

And they asked me again.. (Part II)

Well, I was hoping that my Visa boss will talk to me today on the Team Lead position, but she didnt.

I asked the advice of the current Server Ops Team Lead and soon-to-be my Assistant Manager on whether the job scope etc is worth taking it up. He told me that the other guy, Johnson is keen on the Team Lead position. Thus I told him that if Johnson is that keen to take this up, then I shall not compete with him, cos I wasn't very keen on the position in the first place. I do not want to sour the good working relationship that we have.

Then I heard from another colleague, Daniel, that one of our former colleague, Dylan (who was previously my applications team's team lead) is keen to come back! So now it seems that there might be 3 person vie-ing for the position! And so far, there is no indication at all from my Visa boss (until today), who she wants ultimately...

After thinking it through, but without any further confirmation/denial from my bosses (HP and Visa), with the added (almost doubled) workload and responsibility and without the proper remunerations whatsoever, it is my disadvantage to take this position up. I do not foresee myself having time to venture into non-IT courses or spend my time doing translation for Kuan, as I will be using all the time I have to brush up and improve my server skills.

However, if tomorrow my Visa/HP boss wants to talk to me on this, I'm all ears, but I will not budge on the core issue, which is $$$$$. They must make me feel that it is worth spending my after-office hours working/catching up on my technical skills. I used to be very competitive, fighting for every chance to prove myself to get more responsibility/work, even without increment. Used to. Now? Thanks, but no thanks. Pay me, I'll work; no pay increment, no extra work. Pure and Simple.

Jap Test..

It has been 2 months since I first started my Japanese class. 今天是验收学习成果的时候。。

本来担心的口试却蛮轻易地过关了。倒是被笔试弄得有点头大。。。希望能顺利考获60分以上，以便我继续Elementary II的课程。明天早上11点过后就可以打电话过去问成绩了。。还要忍多12小时。。如果获得49分以下，可以在一个月内上复习班然后重考；49-59分则必须在一个星期内重考。。希望我两者都不需要。。。

Asked to lead... again... but she was not very convincing...

Today, I was asked to be Team Lead for another team.. by my boss.. but it seems I wasn't their first choice...

The story goes....

This morning, I had a breakfast meeting with my Visa lady boss, Sophie. We were discussing my handover of the APAO Team (the 24/7 monitoring team). This team will be passed over to another Visa manager, SK, who once 'owned' the team before it came to my lady boss. She told me that they (she and my HP boss, Allan) have decided to 'promote' Jeff (the Server Ops Team Lead) to be Sophie's assistant, and promote another Server Ops member, Johnson, to be the next Team Lead. When I heard this, I was suprised. They had offered me the position the last time they talked to me about the assistant manager post. So I would have thought that they would at least considered me first before the others. But anyway, I wasn't very interested in that Team Lead position so I didnt comment anything on that to her.

Later in the afternoon, during our team meeting (team as in the Application Support Team, my Main team which I am the assistant Team Lead), my boss told the rest of the team abt the decisions. She asked us if we are okay with Allan (my HP boss) bringing in another HP colleague from the Desktop team to replace Jeffrey in the Server Ops team, and all immediately protested. The current Server Ops team comprises Jeff, Johnson and Hawk. Other than Jeff who is server-trained, both Johnson and Hawk was promoted from the Visa Desktop Team, so they are not properly server-trained per se. If all three of the Server Ops team is going to be NOT server-trained, then the workload will definitely flow to us, overloading the Application Support team, as there are more than 150 different servers (and increasing) to administrate and maintain all over Asia Pacific!!

After the team meeting, one of my OSPS colleague msn me asking me if I want the position of the Server Ops Team Lead, as in his opinion, I will make a better team lead than Johnson. I told him that it's Sophie and Allan's decision to make. Since they did not offer it to me, I will not go to them to ask/beg for it. Anyway, I am happy doing what I'm doing now. But I think he later msn Sophie about this and Sophie msn me. She said she 'forgot' to ask me if I'm interested in being the Team Lead for Server Ops. She thought that the previous time I rejected her assistant position, I also didn't want any 'Lead' role. I told her it's not a problem, I'm okay with her choice of selecting Johnson to take over Jeff. I can concentrate more on my current job scope.

Then we spent the next 40 mins trying to get each other see the other person's point. I told her I'm not server trained, so I won't value-add to the Server Ops team technically. She replied saying that it is not an issue as technical skills can always be picked up and she wants me to straighten up the Server Ops team, just like what I did to the APAO team. She wants me to do both the team lead job and my current job!! I responded that by doing so, she will not be fair to the Server Ops Team as I will not be able to concentrate fully on the team; instead of 1 person fully doing server-related stuff, I can only contribute 0.5 of my time to the Server Ops team. I told her several of my concerns: technical knowledge, seniority, current team moral and culture, resource and fairness. I told her that I need to know her expectation of the Team Lead before committing as I do not want to bite more than I can chew. Finally, she wants us to meet up on Monday to talk this through...

So that was what happened...

Now my thoughts:
When I heard that they are promoting Johnson to be the Team Lead, I was slightly annoyed. Because they (Allan and Sophie) did mention to me that they will promote me if either one of the Team Leads (Jeff and Edmund, who were keen to take up the assistant manager role) gets the job. I'm annoyed because that promise seemed to be made insincerely. 好像是在敷衍我。

Since they did not offer the position to me in the first place, I will not ask them for it. To me if they are sincere about their offer the last time, I shouldn't be the one in the 被动 state. If they really think that I'm suitable for the position, I should have been their first choice. I should have the power to decide, and not being made to look like I sought after the position after they have decided the candidate, which I didn't.

Frankly, with or without this position, I'm happy with my current workload and responsibility. Furthermore, I'm hoping my scholarship application will be successful and I can go for further studies either Q4 this year or Q1 next year. So I'm quite reluctant to take up any new responsibilities. And if the scholarship plan fall through, I've also put out feelers to get myself into a more permanent employment. But again, I am worried about turning my bosses down the 2nd time. What if all my plans did not materialise, then I will not be in the position to ask for more responsibilities or promotion in future, since I've turned down the opportunity twice.

If I were to take this position up, I can foresee that my laissez-faire approach to work will have to change and my after-office hours might not be mine anymore. I might face problem managing the 2 Server Ops guys and getting them to 服我. It'll take me a lot more effort to change the current culture and attitude of the Server Ops team. My Visa lady boss will have high expectation of me to perform, since I've delivered the goods once. My learning curve will be very steep and my workload will more or less doubled. I will need to pick up a lot of technical skills within the next 6 months, which I am reluctant to do so, as I'm trying to get out of IT, but which I am confident that I can do it, if I want to. More stress.

However, the plus sides: All these will look good on my resume. These will really make my resume stand out, as I have experience managing a team of engineers and administrating 200 servers all over AP for a well-known MNC. I'll be attending lots of (expensive) systems trainings and courses that will, again, value-add to me. If I can manage the team well, I'll have made a name for myself for being the 'Fixer', the person who can straighten/streamline any operation team.


So the decision for now is that I'll discuss it further on Monday with my Visa lady boss on her expectations and then decide if I can deliver what she wants. For now, the odds are 65-35 that I'll take up this position.

Stay tuned for part II....

This week...

Rather slow and quiet week..

Monday :
Boss on mc. Attended Japanese class after work.

Tuesday :
Translation job from Kuan. Had a good chat with Kuan and Huey Ing over Skype for almost 3 hours.

Wednesday :
Went library to return books and pay fine. Accumulated $7.80 worth of fines within the last 6 months. Translation job from Kuan. Did my Jap homework.

Thursday :
Translation job from Kuan. Revising my Jap notes. Play online game(Lineage II)..

Friday :
Might be going out to meet ex-colleagues for a drink, OR
Go home to study for my Jap exam next Mon and play game.

Saturday :
Might have to go back office for some system maintenance. Supposed to have translation group study session in the afternoon, but was cancelled as almost all of my classmates can't make it.
Plan to - Study and play game.

Sunday :
Rest and Relax.
Plan to - Study. Jog. Play game.

Can feel the difference...

Can really feel the difference between then and now...

I used to be able to stay up late for several days/weeks and recover fast by sleeping one, or the most, two days, but now, aiy.... If I stayed up late for more than 3 nights in a row, I can really feel the effect of those late nights on the 4th day. I need to sleep and rest for at least 2 - 3 days to recover from those late nights.

And I also realised that I tend to get sick fairly easily these days... Hopefully, with my new mattress, soon my back will feel good enough for me to start jogging... I must build up my health and stamina, can't keep falling sick...

Alumni Meeting...

Met up with several of my ex-colleagues this week..

Last tuesday met up with Voone, Loreen and Patsy. Of course, Voone brought her son, Cody along too. I mixed up the place to meet and wasted more than 45min waiting outside the wrong BodyShop. Anyway, we did finally met up and went to Coffee Club at Raffles City for dinner. We chatted, joked and teased. Cody, as usual is the centre of attention. The last time I saw him, his 'Ang-Mo' features are less obvious, but now, there is no denying that he is one cute Ang-Mo/Chinese kid... He is such an adorable toddler, only 14 months and yet one can see that he will be quite a charmer when he grows up. We went to Haargen Daaz for dessert, and the waitresses there were already charmed by his smiles and activeness. We had problem leaving the shopping centre, as he went to every door that he can see and had to be carried out by his mum every time...

On Vesak Day eve, there is another makan session with my ex-colleagues from SISTIC. There are 12 of us (Voone, Patsy, Loreen, Sue, Vivien, Toh, Edward, Aaron, Juliana, Kenneth and Jocelyn). Vivien brought her eldest son, Timothy. We were supposed to meet at Marche Suntec, but the place was too crowded. So we changed to Surf n' Turf instead. Haven't see some of them for more than 1 years, but all seems fine. Cody just woke up, so he was not as active as he was on Tuesday, but still he was the centre of attention. Voone left around 9.30pm as Cody is getting grouchy due to lack of sleep, while the rest of us stayed in the restaurant and chatted til almost 11pm. Then everyone went home, except for 5 of us (Kenneth, Loreen, Sue, Norman and me). We went to look for a place for Norman to eat and for the rest of us to continue chatting. After going to a few places, we decided to go to The Coffee Cartel at Plaza Singapura. We sat down and chatted, exchanging information of our daily lifes etc. Of course, with Kenneth around, there is no lacking of the latest happenings in SISTIC. We chatted until the restaurant is closed, around 1am. Kenneth, being a gentleman he is, offered to send all of us back home. Thus, I reached home before 1.30am that night.

Second thoughts...

Well, it seems the problem of my ex-company is quite serious..

Till almost 6pm, their server/application is still down.. meaning the country's No.1 ticketing website has not been updated for the past 24 hours...

本来有点兴灾乐祸隔岸观火的心情，但是想到旧同事必须为这件本来就与他无关的管理决定也背上黑锅，我真为他不值，所以我要帮他。尤其是当他说他那懦弱怕事的老板竟然已经假借身体不适的烂理由先逃回家了！！ 我花了好几小时帮他到support 网站寻找解答，寄了6、7个可能有效的方法给他，但还是不得要领。。看看明天可否找到SF,看她是否有空帮一下。。

虽然早先有那股：“哈!你们也会有今天!!”的心情，但现在却是一种： “哗！幸好我已经离开了！！”的庆幸。

If I wasn't exposed to the running of a proper operation/system administrative tasks in VISA, I would not have the knowledge of how important a system backup is. To think that they never took any backup of any sort of that Content Management Server and neither do they have the specifications or configurations needed to rebuild the server!!

仔细想想那公司的总经理是不可能就这事件对我前老板怎麽样的，毕竟不买external backup device及不做backup最终也是她批准接受的。所以要怪罪下来的话，她也只能怪自己为了省那几千块，搞得公司个个拼命减低开支，省那些不应该省的钱。。有时候她真的让我看清以前旧皇帝般如何地听信谗言、与下层部署隔绝、只听到她想要听到的话，而那些昏君们的下场如何我也不必多说了。。所以我相信总有一天东窗一定会事发，总有一天事情会被完全搞砸无可挽救，到时这些无能之辈会得到应得的下场。。

Come!! Please beg me..

Hahahaha.. well, well...

Got a call from an ex-colleague, Shawn, who is still with my ex-company. He wanted to access the support website of an application as the server is total down. However, as his management is too stingy to subscribe for maintenance, he do not have the ID to login to access the support site. As I can't pass him the ID and password of my current company, I offered to help by asking him to send me the error codes for me to help him search the knowledge base in the support website. After spending some time searching, I found 3 relevant possible solutions and send it to him.

However, those 3 possible solutions did not resolve his problem. His server was down since last night!! He called to ask me to check my current server some files/folder permissions. I complied. Of course, while doing it I couldn't help myself but 讽刺几句 my ex-boss, telling him to 转告他 not to be so miser and spend some money in paying for the maintenance.


哈哈哈!! The feeling is good.. although I didn't talk directly to my ex-boss, but I just want to shout out: "活该！！Padan Muka!!" If it wasn't Shawn who contacted me for help but anybody else, I wouldn't even bother to entertain such request nor will I help at all....

Left eye lid throbbing..

Unbelievable!!

My left eyelid has been throbbing (on and off) for more than 24 hours!! It started yesterday around 11am and it is still throbbing now as I am writing this blog..

People said that 左吉右凶,so hopefully it will bring some good news these few days...

Waiting Game...

Just got back from Malaysia... To and back in less than 48 hours.

Took a coach to Taiping on Friday night, 9.30pm. Boy, was it eventful! First I found out that the aircon duct above my seat could not be covered, meaning I'll be 'enjoying' the coach's aircon all through the night!! Luckily, during one of the stops I managed to use the cardboard box (that contains a fruit cake) to block that aircon duct. Then the coach's engine almost died twice along the way; while in Tanjung Malim, a few of us were told to change bus! and the final 'finale' was that the driver forgot/didn't know where to let us alight, thus instead of Simpang, Taiping, he dropped us at Kamunting, Taiping. By the time dad fetched me, it's almost 8.30am!!

After a quick breakfast (of Lo-Mee) and a stopover to dad's factory to notify Uncle Chua that we'll be going to KL, we went home. A quick shower and packing/unpacking later, we were off to KL around 10am. I took home the Kamus Dewan which is going to be very useful to me for Kuan's translation jobs. We reached KL around 2pm and we decided to recce the place that I have to be on Sunday before 9am. We went around KL town and more or less were familiar with the route that we need to take the next day. Then we went to Seri Kembangan, near Mines Resort to Kuan's condo. I was feeling rather feverish, and was quite tired. We walked to Mines Resort for a quick dinner and bought some groceries and some bread. Took some chinese medicine before sleeping as I was begining to have running nose.

Woke up at 5:30am the next morning but continue to lie in bed til 6:30am. Took a hot bath and was out at 7:20am. Dad took two wrong turnings and we ended up have to pay RM$2.80 of toll. We reached the place (Confucious Ind. School) at Jalan Hang Jebat at ard 7.45am. There were about 224 candidates out of which 60 will be shortlisted for the next round. So the chances were quite high, one out of four! Everything was quite easy and straighforward for me and I'm confident that I will be among the shortlisted. Everything was done at 10am. During that time, dad and mum went to PuduRaya and got me a ticket back to Singapore. We killed time at a McDonald restaurant nearby. The coach which was supposed to arrive at 12:15pm did not appear until almost 1pm, due to the massive traffic jam around PuduRaya which is actually the norm.

It seems that the coach is supposed to stop at Larkin Bus Station only, but the ticket sold to us was til Woodlands. Thus we were made to change coach again at Yong Peng! There were several ladies from NUS on the bus, one of them is actually from Ipoh but had been studying in Spore since Sec 3. They were holidaying in KL.

So for this trip, I took 4 coaches!! From Spore to Taiping, Coach 9119 to 8822; then from KL to Spore, Coach 5001 to 9888. Luckily the bus company (Alisan) is still responsible enough to arrange for us to be driven all the way to Woodlands, instead of just dropping us in Larkin Bus Station...

Thus end my 48 hours of mad rush.. Hopefully there will be good news come this June...

Incompetent Idiots...

Today is bad.. one of those days where I really feel that I am surround by incompetent fools... idiots who are not supposed to hold any high positions...

Case 01
There is a video wall in the Operation Centre, and my boss wants to display one monitoring tool onto it so can 'showcase' our comprehensive monitoring.. As the browser has shown some error, I've requested the OC Supervisor to start the browser, as we do not have access to the video wall. He turned around and tell me that we need to fix the problem as they are not (that) free to keep restarting the monitoring tool. I explained to him that the browser is accessing a server in US for the monitoring service, thus there is nothing we can do to 'minimise' such errors, as there are way too many break point. He refused to accept this and keep insisting that I do something about it. I told him frankly that this will soon NOT be my problem anymore, so that's it.

Then later when he finally login and restart the browser for the monitoring tool, he kept doing it wrongly.. MY GOODNESS!! They have been logging in to the monitoring tool since end of last year!! And yet he can don't know how to do it!! No wonder, one of my ex-colleague commented that that fella is 'retarded'...

Case 02
One of my monitoring guy was on MC yesterday, and today he is supposed to be doing night shift. I had to sms him to ask him if he is well enough to come to work. He called me saying that his throat still hurts, etc, etc, etc, but say he can still work tonight. Hearing this, it is obvious that he wants the night off, so I told him to take mc tonight and I'll get someone to cover his shift.

As I have 2 'floater' analysts who are supposed to stand in whenever one of the permanent shift analysts goes on MC or on leave, so I wanted to activate them to cover tonight's shift. However, both of them says that they can't make it as they had something urgent to attend to, and with one of my analyst on leave, I do not have anyone to cover. Thus I had no choice but to ask the sick analyst to come back to work. Of course, I wrote an email to my HP boss, telling him how useless those two 'floater' analysts are. A snipplet of my email to my HP boss:

There has been several last minute changes to the rosters this week, and I was in need of the floaters to cover. However, the support is not there, not at the level that Bernard has given.

Maybe Bernard has set a high standard as a floater, but seriously, if floaters cannot cover these last minute changes, and if every time I need them to cover, I need to "PRE-BOOK" them in advance and make sure there is no 'miscommunication', then I don’t see the reason to get 2 floaters…

Seeing all these problems, seriously APAO team need a Lead to be around to monitor and manage them. Can Ron do it? I seriously doubt so.. So unless you wanna take up the job of managing APAO yourself, I ask you to consider this arrangement thoroughly, as I do not want to be 'caretaker' or to 'babysit' APAO for Ron.

So you can see that I've also gave him a piece of my mind and no more 'giving face' or give 'respect'. And to make things worst, a 'permanent HP staff' who has no authority over my monitoring team or myself started questioning me as to why the need to ask those 2 'floater' analysts to cover, why didnt I activate my other analysts to cover, etc. I was sooooo bloody pissed off. I told him off saying that I had no choice but to activate one of the 'floater' analysts so last minute as I cant find any replacement, and it seemed he went running to my HP boss, who is currently on reservist. So it seems to me that those 2 'floater' analysts are reluctant to cover duty tonight, thus trying to find 'support' from this guy.. One of them even gave the wrong information to the other Team Lead so that he would not seems to be the one at fault! So in the end, I had to be the bad guy, asking a sick subordinate to come to work a 14-hours shift, because no one is willing to cover his shift.

Then miraculously, at 3pm, the other Team Lead called me saying one of the 'floater' analyst will be available to cover tonight's shift!! WOW!! After I made a big 'commotion' someone who has something urgent can suddenly be available!!

My boss replied "Let me know the details so that I can speak to the 2 floaters. Thank you." Well, I am not going to reply him. It will not be my problem very soon, so why should I bother to 'discipline' those 2 'floater' analysts? I can't wait to pass this team to the original team lead and wash my hands of them.. It is giving more headache that it is worth. In fact, I was not even 'compensated' to take up this team lead role, so why should I waste my time and effort helping to solve a problem that would soon NOT be mine.. I have totally gave up on the analysts in my monitoring team except for one whom I've recommended to be promoted to be Assistant Team Lead. With proper Standard Operation Procedures estabalished, they can still make the same mistakes time and again, until I'm sick of reminding them any further.

Vomitted lots of blood today.. feeling anemic and tired... Really hope I can get 'it'.. then I can't wait to tender...

Polling Station at my Block...

Received a notice in my mailbox today. It's from the Town Council, asking residents of my block to park their vehicles elsewhere from 8pm tomorrow night til 3pm this Saturday. It seems that there will be a polling station at the void deck of my block!!

WOW!! Election action right under my feet (literally)!! Too bad I won't be around this weekend to witness this. I'll be going back to Msia this weekend, which actually is a quick stop over at KL on Sunday. Hope to get back on Sunday night, or else I will need to take urgent leave on Monday. As to why the rush back, I shall blog it in due course.... :)

This Spore election has been quite interesting. Because of the fact that my block belongs to the Ang Mo Kio GRC which is lead by PM Lee and is challenged by the Workers Party, this has made it an interesting scene to me. OF course, not to mention that there are several Opposition party supporters (Workers Party to be precise) in my office who have shown me a different side of the Sporean psyche with regards to politics.

From what I gathered from talks, newspapers and the media, there is several typical political attitudes displayed by Sporeans:

01. The Bo-chap
They dont care who is their MP(s) or what will the MP(s) do for them, they just want to get on with their lives. Election to them is like a minor nuisance, and if they have to vote on voting day, they will do so, but very reluctantly.

02. The Blur
They don't even know what constituency they belong to, not to mention who their MP(s) is/are. They don't know if they are required to vote or not on polling day. They will wait for the government to send them their polling cards.

03. The Passionate (aka Opposition Supporter)
They will attend all the Oppositions' rallies, rain or shine, and will discuss about the cons of voting for PAP. They have already made up their mind to vote for the Opposition party, regardless of what the PAP say or what the Opposition Party stands for. They are just rebels.

04. The Whites (aka PAP Supporter)
They are the exact opposite of the Opposition Supporter, they are prepared to just mark an 'X' next to the lightning on polling day without much delibration. To them, there is no government other than PAP.

05. The Kiasi (aka Closet Opposition Supporter)
They want to vote for the Opposition, but is afraid to do so. They fear for their lives and the future of their children. Although they are not very happy with some of the things the PAP government has done, they are not willing to cast a vote to make their feelings known.

06. The 'Yes to Opposition, but not in my Ward' Supporter
They want a strong Opposition in parliment, they want alternative voices, they want someone who will check on and keep the government on its toes, but they wont want it to be their constituency to be the odd one out. They want their upgrading more, they want their linked walkways more, and they definitely want their flats to be valued more....



I am very interested in knowing how many percent of votes will the PAP party garner this election... It will shape how the government will manage the country in the next 4 - 5 years... Although I'm just a PR, but whatever measures/laws/rulings the Singapore government make in the next few years will have a great impact on MY future...