Nobody Wants To Be The Last One There

Recently, I have two friends who told me that they are too stressed at work. They need to come to office on weekend or work till late after office hours. This reminds me of how I used to be once before and also occasionally when the workload is high. Well, I do come back to office on weekend to finish up some of the job being thrown to me. I even experienced going back to home at 10.30pm! The light for the building was switched off and I have to maneuver my way down to the building entrance.

After all the suffering, I began to ask myself like most normal homosapien do. Why am I doing this to myself? Work is work but I think I deserve my right to be at home and rest after working hours. There will always be workload. And they will always say it's urgent. And there will always be limited resource. I remembered once I work at Citibank before doing some documentation work received from lawyer's firm. Initially, I thought the letter with the stamp "Important" deserved the attention of my boss. Then, I received the letter with the stamp "Urgent" which I think my boss should attend to it fast. After that, I received another letter with the stamp "Super Urgent" which I think will my boss quit his holiday, skip his lunch, stay in office, and abandon his family to attend to this case? Nope. He just treat it as another letter piled up on his "Incoming Tray". To them, it is not urgent until the lawyer or client shows up at the office. What's next? "Extremely Super Duper Urgently Important"?

We are humans not robot. We have a limitation. The more I see the working life the more I began to adapt to this ball game. Qing Ying once told me her philosophy of life. Enjoy as much as possible. Don't let any other thing hold you down. I was not into her idea. Orthodox thinking. But having this concept ringing in my ear after some times, I do find her thought is correct but to a certain extent. Why must you put yourself in so much problem and trouble or unwanted responsibility until you can't have your own life? You are sitting in the office after working hour trying to finish up everything thrown to you. Have you ever wonder what's your loved one doing at that time? This are the valuable time which no matter how much you earn from the OT can't buy with money. I sent an sms reminding my friend:

Life is short. Drain too much at the early stage might not last you long enough to complete it.

Therefore, I believed someone should take a break from work to recharge your battery. I'm not saying that you should go home once the clock struck 5.30pm. Well, you can if you really don't have anymore things to do. But if there's a need, spending some OT to finish up your work is appropriate. What I meant is don't burden yourself too much with workload until you neglect the time for yourself or loved one. You must always think of this question. Not many will pity you if you stay late to finish up your work.

Working life nowadays is not like those day when you work late the boss will really appreciate your effort. My Citibank boss used to treat the whole department staff who stay late to finish up the work with McDonalds. This simple gesture not only make one work harder but also feeling appreciated. Those were the day. People nowadays don't put love to their work anymore. Once 5.30pm, everyone will go their way. Gathering up everyone for a game of bowling or sport is so harder than the bowling balls itself. Having said so, I don't blame anyone. Everyone has their own life.

This morning, I read Qing Ying's cry for some guy positive energy. In her blog, she's in need of some positive thinking. She was saying that she enjoy mixing with positive people where they make you laugh to stomachache even during the worst condition. Positive thinking people do lighten your day. This year on my birthday, I was dealt with a blow that our machine in Hong Kong went kaput for no apparent reason on that particular day! Checking all the connections and reasoning out possible faulty, I have to come to stage where I have to raise the white flag. The Hong Kong driver saw me look depressed and down, he came up with some word s of encouragement:

Wilson: You know what?

Au Yong: What?

Wilson: You are very lucky today you know that?

Au Yong: Like this also consider lucky? I don't know how to answer to Hong Kong and KL office. They will surely bombard me with emails.

Wilson: You are very lucky today you know that?

(me giving a frown face)

Au Yong: Why?

Wilson: Today is your big day ma. Today is your birthday.

(me taking a deep breath)

Au Yong: Well, it's certainly not my lucky day then.

Wilson: Of course you are lucky. The machine purposely broke down because it don't want you to work and so that you can rest on your birthday ma.

I put back a smile for 5 minutes thinking of his words. This words of encouragement doesn't cost a single cent but it mean wonders. True to his words, the machine was back on track after 2 hours. So what is the problem with the machine? I would like to quote one sentence from a TVB drama, "Here is not a court , I don't need to give you any evidence!". Em. Just say that the machine cares about me.

Short talk: Anyway, what time I went back from office yesterday? 9.00pm! No lunch and even have to start work at 7.30am!




Location: Plover Cove Reservoir Dam, Tai Mei Tuk
How to get there: Take bus no. 75K to Tai Mei Tuk bus terminus. After getting off, walk in the direction of the Plover Cove Reservoir main dam.
Admission: Free


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