Perks

With JE not coming to work in the meantime, if I am the earliest to arrive at work, then I will have the shaded carpark next to the boss’s carpark.

Had an extremely busy day. If I had started work at 6.30a.m. and left 12 hours later, my work table would still look like a hurricane had just landed.

Different clients have been calling me asking me re. their respective project and therefore my desk and its vicinity is littered with files and documents everywhere. It is not a pretty sight at all.

One of the clients Mr. Cheng who works for a telecommunications company, told me he wanted to fly over from Kuala Lumpur to collect the documents personally from me as well as to invite me for a meal to thank me for all the assistance I had rendered to him so far in his job. I told him he does not have to or rather his company does not have to waste such kind of $, I will get the documents scanned and email to him.

Clients from Peninsula seem to be more daring and I am glad we are separated by the South China Sea. Most of the time they would tell me to call them if I am visiting Kuala Lumpur so that they can bring me out. I have never taken up on any of those offers. It is hard to judge a book by its cover so to speak. If I accept an invitation and if their intention is really only to thank me then everything would be fine. But if they have ulterior motive, then I would not know until I am out with them. Most of the time I am not prepared to take the risk. Call me a chicken if you have to. I am too wary of people.

Mr. Cheng used to have a colleague (an Indian fellow who died a few years back) who whenever he came over to Kota Kinabalu would invite me to have a drink with him at the pub. I was glad each time my boss would entertain him instead of me.

If I do not accept the invitation, I would appear to be snobbish. And if I do, something may happen to me. Truly I cannot win both ways.

So far working in the company for ten years, the most generous person I have ever met is a contractor, Mr. Wong. He had given me RM200 red packet for CNY as well as invited one of my colleagues and I to join their company for their annual dinner feasting on individual serving of shark fin soup, ‘yee sang’, lobster, other seafood and high cholesterol food.

Most of the time when clients and contractors invited me out for lunch, I declined the offer. Sometimes they will give me mandarin oranges or hamper for CNY, and mooncakes for Mooncake Festival. I may accept those gifts but if they only give them to me and not my boss, then I will give to the boss to let him decide what to do with those gifts.

Yesterday one of my colleagues bought me a raisin bun, a curry puff and a chicken bun for afternoon tea. I was thankful for that but if I eat all these everyday, I am sure I would not be able to fit in my clothes anymore.

I believe if we treat people well, most of the time people would treat us back kindly. But sometimes even if we take the initiative and make extra effort to do something, not all people would appreciate our effort especially the rich people. They think the whole world owe them and just because they have $ and high pitched voices, people will have to automatically kowtow to them, which to me is a lot of hogwash.

Today I asked the office boy to assist me in some tasks but he said he was busy to go to collect the boss’s pair of shoes under repair at the shop. I could not believe my ears. When I told my colleague NE about it, she asked me what kind of shoes is so important until helping Spinxie is not important at all. To maintain my sanity, I had to crack a joke before I go crazy with all the stress. So I told her ‘Cinderalla’s crystal slippers which will turn into a pumpkin if not collected by 5p.m.’