Creatures of Routine

I noticed that we are all creatures of routine. Just like Pinky & the Brain. Pinky asks Brain 'What are we doing today?' Brain says ''The same thing we do every night. Try and take over the world!' Kinda like what mini-boss like to do.
Even when we go on course, we must sit at the EXACT spot we sit the previous day, regardless of how uncomfortable we may feel when we first sat there on the 1st day. This was what i noticed today, or rather this whole week. I'm on course all week and this is exactly what I see. We have guys who came in late on the 1st day and ends up sitting on a chair with a side table cos there are no more spaces on the meeting table. The 2nd day he comes in earlier but still ends up sitting at the same spot, even though there are spaces available on the table. The same thing happens to another guy this morning. We changed the room yesterday and this guy came in only in the afternoon yesterday and sat just to my right. This morning, he comes in early and still, ends up sitting at the same spot. He does not mind taking his laptop power supply and network cable and start connecting up. I was thinking in my mind, saying 'Dude! There are other spaces available and there are already pre-installed laptop power supply and network on the table! Just move to another spot!' This was what sparked me to start writing about this.
I'm not sure what this happens. Perhaps it's just the 'human' thing that we feel as if we 'own' that spot. Or maybe cos we 'marked' our territory the day before and this is OUR TERRITORY and if anyone else sits there, they have invaded our space and we'll do everything to 'regain' our territory. Most of the time, we end up just staring at that person who sat at 'our spot' and find another place to sit. We don't sit at 'someone else's spot' cos we don't want to incur the 'wrath' and get those 'stares' from the 'owner' of the spot.

Your Life is My Life - Uberbaus

Of course those were not his exact words, but I think that more often than not he meant it that way. Many times he would scold employees for not staying back late or returning to office on weekends and say that since the bosses themselves are working hard, our own work lives should follow suit.

Just becuase the bosses have little in terms of friends and loved ones outside of O3, doesn't mean that every single employee who joins O3 must hand their lives over to them. If he wants it to be that way, I would suggest that the company be renamed a gang or mafia.

I've heard him put down people for spending time with their spouse (including myself), spending time with friends or kids, spending money having fun outside...and even telling people not to start a family for the sake of the company. Uh, excuse me, but aren't the bosses themselves a family? Ironic and hypocritical.

I always get disgusted whenever I hear him say such comments that are entirely irrelevant to his life. Yet another barrier broken in terms of double standards coming from O3.

Flooded

Hi fellow ex-O3-bers... Been missing in action for a while and totally FLOODED with work.

Hmm. What was I going to say? I forgot.

Time to go back to work.

O... yes, now I remember. I am looking for Good Coders and Good Designers! Pls apply thru the O3-ex-alumni-network if you know of anyone who are good at these things! I am desperately looking for help.

Look who's talking

I learnt recently that the Board of Directors (the bosses, who else?) apprantly are going in different directions and as always they aren't even communicating and resolving their own differing views first.

The mini-boss' style is to forge ahead. CHARGE!!!!!!!!!!!! Sell more! Earn more! Sell sell sell!!! Hire more staff! Sell more!!! Develop more products!!! Faster! More! Faster! More! (and yes, quality suffers.)

The Uberbaus on the other hand thinks the fast development will hurt the company and wants to slow down. So although he had initally supported the mini-boss' charge ahead, after about 2 years, he has decided that this is not the way to go. Why? The money goes out and where's the money coming in?

One boss wants to expand in China, the other in USA and everywhere else. In the mean time, the 3rd boss' view is focused on production. So...I foresee the mini-boss carrying on with his deal making and promising customers things he can't deliver. The Uberbaus will aggravate the situation by not hiring anymore help to meet the deadlines promised by mini-boss.

The O3 way: The bosses do not need to talk with each other. They talk through each other.

Empathetic Listening

Today, there is a marvelous article in the newspapers about empowering the employees to feel valued. The best part was this portion "Heartfelt listening is empathic listening. It is not multi-tasking during conversations; it is not typing on a blackberry in meetings; it is not sitting at your laptop finishing your last memo while associates are speaking with you."

Boy oh boy...let's see. The Uberbaus always multi-tasks during conversations. In fact he thinks he is very productive by having multiple meetings going on in his office and dishing out orders that usually aren't very helpful. The mini-boss is guilty of incessantly typing away on his smartphone during meetings and missing the big picture at least 50% of the time. And I have also encountered moments where I sat in front of him having a conversation and he'd suddenly start replying emails on his computer. When that happens, I just shut up and wait for him to finish. (as for the other boss, I have no comments...anyone?)

Now, O3-ly speaking this is normal, but in the true and honest and NORMAL world, the article says," It (listening) is about focused, sincere, directed communication where all parties are interested in connecting and understanding one another."

Looks like O3 is stretches and miles away from succeeding. They have alot of ground to cover. Good luck to them eh?

The Evil Plan for International Dominance

Hi everyone, I just wanted to say thanks for all the wonderful support for this blog to date. I never really expected it to grow on its own but it has. So thanks!

Back to the blog.

This year, I believe the O3 bosses plan to initiate the plan for global dominance and suffering. I know for a fact that an new USA office and warehouse distribution center is opening on the east coast. Mind you, it is not cheap. (yes, our money out the window. Again.) The mini boss having taken leave from a semester of school will be heading all the expansions. Its good for him since traveling is like a hobby to him and its 'free' for him anyway.

The Uberbaus has visions of moving production and parts of R&D to China as well. Not sure if it is the right move since he first foray into China few years back flopped and lost money. So the Uberbaus and his family has been roaming the earth in search of suckers. Let us recount the
memory of Uberbaus saying that he doesn't want POWER to leave the HQ so no foreigners are allowed more responsibility. I find that quite amusing and wish I were a well-paid foreigner not allowed to do more.

Well, the miniboss has been begging ex-staff to return again. So far, the ex-staffs all find it funny that they are "welcome back to **** at any time". Surely, only a masochist like the Rat would sneak back as an O3-ber and employee.

My Boss Got Fired

When shit hits the fan, don't look up and scream a warning. Unfortunately I don't belong to the O3 workplace or this header would have a very different effect in the company. In this case, we lost a good leader. When the news came, everyone was quiet, nobody looked up. ELE (extinction level event) is here.

So what happens after an ELE? Flowers bloom, birds chirp and the deer come out of hiding to welcome the new day? Hardly. Maggots appear to feed on the dead, cockroaches appear to rule the world.

That is exactly what happened to my department. Cockroaches. Employees who have less experience in the department start making political gestures. Just yesterday, one of the recruits I trained sent me an email (of course he cc'ed all the relevant authority) with a job for me to do. There is no time to mourn the fallen, and work just got so much harder since nobody wants to do them. There is no sunrise, only the cold rocks that carries the cockroaches.

The Lure of the Free

The lure of freedom is strong and that's why many of us have broken out of or are breaking out of the O3 environment.

What I wanted to blog on today was about the lure of free things. Sure, everyone likes the idea of getting something for free, especially if its worth quite a bit. The bosses are apt at getting free labour. They even tried to get the free miles from the frequent flier programmes that employees gain from their trips. I suppose it makes sense but the problem is everyone knows the Uberbaus would transfer the miles for the miniboss to get upgraded when he flies.

Well, an ex-collegue was lured by a free practically brand new Canon Ixus camera that the boss offered to him. The idea seemed simple...boss was going to give it to him on his last day. Alas, on his last day, the boss held him back after hours and said to have a lunch together then he'd pass him the camera. It is likely that the boss would have lunch and change the agreement again by saying something like. "stay for another 2 weeks then i'll give you the camera."

Anyway, if the camera does surface then great! Chances are slim but i guess the lure of the free may have to cost us a bit of happiness....that would make it not free then right?

Ounces of Good in O3

Hi everyone! Sorry for the silence. I've been in Thailand for a while experiencing the wonderful traffic jams, humid air and dust.

Anyway, its good to read so many comments at this blog! Great stuff! It set me thinking about finding the good in people. Whilst I was in Thailand, I couldn't help but get miffed at people who shoved their way around, sellers who quote prices which was twice what you could get, food that gave you stomachaches, etc. I had to assume that some people were good right?

I think most of the O3-bers are good people. In fact, I met some who were practically angels! Of course there were the "special" ones who used irritating manners to get ahead. Those are nasty...like the rats and the bitch. And lets not forget the great big Uberbaus, as he has been named. Miniboss is getting there...I admit, I did think he had some ounces of hope and I suppose my last impression of him is that there still is. Why? Because he can admit that there are tons of things the Uberbaus is doing wrong.

Sadly though, I have only very faint hope now that the goodness with all the three bosses will ever shine through. All three seem to now have not even an iota of niceness that is genuine. And I mean GENUINE. There niceness is very calculative...its all in the dollars and cents.

Well, I took a cab back from the airport. My health is saved and a few dollars spent.

Chinese New Year

Dear readers,

I just wanted to say Happy Chinese New Year! Its the year of the PIG...better still, apprantly its the year of the GOLDEN PIG! Imagine that! I think it means great properity for everyone.

Will it be good news from the O3-bers who are still entrapped in the system? I will sniff out the clues and keep everyone posted here. In the mean time, enjoy the long weekend (i sure hope the accounts department are NOT going to be working this weekend like all their other weekends)! I for one, will be enjoying the sun, sand, and sea (!?!??!?!) in Thailand.

CHeers! and Happy Piggin' Out!

Spread the Love

Valentines Day just passed yesterday. The 14th of Feb usually spells a love-is-in-the-air type of mood. But in the O3 environment, you never feel like any festival or celebration is around the corner.

Like when Christmas and New year comes, many companies start decorating the office and usually a committee is formed to take care of the celebrations and even gift exchange. Not in O3. The only gift exchange is that of curses and fines. The tiniest of decorations can be spotted and its only at the reception table. The mood at the office stays the same. Work work work regardless of the time of day and the time of year.

Oh hang on...I am mistaken. Sometimes a celebration occurs and that is on the bosses' birthdays! I forgot. See, even that is forgettable What we do is collect money from our already oppressed office staff to buy the big boss a birthday cake and card. Great. During the group phototaking, I wisely hid behind some towering guy standing in front of me so that my face and the bosses' faces would never be in the same picture.

So anyway, now that I am out and I heard from some friends and fellow-O3-escapees on their joy of fresh air and freedom, I'm here to spread the LURVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

O3-ly Plausible

I think there is some kind of suction pool, no a Blackhole of sorts in the O3 environment. Fortunately, I managed to escape the Blackhole in time and saved myself from its effects.

You see, the kind of blackholes we have in space are the type that can suck an entire galaxy and squish it into absolute nothingness. Or thats what they say anyway. The O3 Blackhole is the type that can suck employees into it, squish away the "irrelavant" ones and condense their workload into absolute oneness. Meaning, one person can do all their work.

For example, the present O3's elec department. When things were stable last year, there were 2 persons in the electrical and 2 persons in the electronic dept. At that stage, they were already barely coping with the workload and usually the poor sods work OT rather often in order to attempt to catch up with the numerous projects at hand. However, the Blackhole was thrown at their dept. 3 of the 4 have left and the dept hired 1 extra hand so they are now at 1 in each elec dept. (And I did mention to the mini-boss that its the Elec side that is too busy and things are stuck there). The bosses have managed to convince themselves that they have saved $$$ and the workload is still manageable. Not bad eh?

The Blackhole then flew over to my dept and I did the smart thing and RAN AWAY!!!! Phew. Just in time too. Remember to keep an eye out for the Blackhole ok?

The Bitch

Guess who's The Bitch in the O3 Environment!

Yeah... I can't resist bitching about The Bitch.

Many moons ago... The Bitch goes "aiyo... have you sent me the specifications for sourcing this and that?" O ya. Right. The specifications have been sent to her like 3 times!

And every time, The Bitch will either mis-file it. (use the search function... DUH!) Or delete it accidentally. Or in the worst case scenario, complain to the O3 Biggest Boss that the R&D Team did not email her the specifications.

What a Bitch!

Sorry dudes, but no prizes for guessing who is The Bitch. LOL. If you still don't know, this is the HINT - the ONE who talks loudly in machine-gun high pitch voice to all of O3's suppliers, to squuueeeeze squueeeze and squeeze them of every single cent from their price offer. Yes, I know that's a Procurement Officer's job but you know, use some LOGIC and EMOTIONAL LEVERAGE in negotiations man... how is screaming over the phone going to help reduce the prices with a supplier??????? I just don't get it. It is not as if O3 is the only company that buys from the Supplier!!!!! Not to mention that the order quantity often ranges from MINISCULE to MICRO. (And free samples are BRUSQUELY DEMANDED). Absolutely No Tact. Zilch. None. Zero.

Orhh... I get it now... Screaming - in The Bitch's limited vocabulary - is considered as "Emotional Leverage in Negotiations"! What a Eureka Moment for me!

God Bless all suppliers who work with O3 (and with The Bitch as the Procurement Officer).

It is true in general - what LJ said - that O3 Environment has a lot of talents (thanks to Biggest Boss rigorous daily employee recruitment exercises! I bet he has interviewed 50% of all employment seekers in this country!)...

But once in a while, you do find a nasty one like The Bitch. Ye... and frankly, I have no complaints about any of the other my fellow ex-(O3)-colleagues except for... ye, you guess it right... The Bitch. LOL.

What a Bitchy Posting I have penned... Ugh...

The Good, the Bad and the Ex

This entry was inspired by the previous one. My good ex-collegue who was in the O3 environment for exactly 1 year to the day. (I left after 1 year and 8 days i think).

There are really good people who were in O3 land. They were hardworking, bright, roadrunners who seemed to go to the ends of the earth for the company. I didn't understand it and I still don't but these wonderful people are true employees whom any company will be blessed to have as they are loyal too...and they ask for not much in return except a little respect.

There are the bad ones too. The type that abuse the good ones and everyone else. Of course, I am referring to the bosses at the O3. See, in O3, if you think that someone is not a good employee you must dig deeper. Chances are you will find that he/she was abused by the bosses in disrespectful and humiliating ways. Yes, there truely aren't many real bad people in O3 other than the bosses.

And we have the Ex. ME! I have joined the ever growing number of O3 Alumni people! Some have ganged up together to start their own business. Others sought better work elsewhere, but we all have a unique bond that is having been an O3-ber.

Success means Working with Good People!

Hey hey hey! dear everybody ... THIS is my inaugural posting on Karoshi! SO much so much so much has happened between then and now. It has been an amazing journey and I doubt I can ever find the words to describe the long 5 years journey since I stepped into the working world.

I remember the nonsense I have to bear with in my first company... working with a bunch of idiots, being betrayed by VCs (Investors) that promises the sky but does not deliver, being betrayed by colleagues who put their interests first at my expense for 3 long years.

And of course I remember my second work experience in the O3 Environment... Yeah baby... That's right - Yours Truly, The Dream Lord is LJ's ex-colleague... Hahaha... But I am a fan of this blog ever since LJ started it... yeah... and I read it more regularly than I read the local newspapers! Anyway, I was talking about my second work experience in the O3 Environment.... but well, I guess LJ has described it all! And, yes, for those of you out there who read the posts and give the incredulous "you mean all that LJ described happened? are you guys for real? does the O3 Environment really exist?"; well the answers to your questions are: Yes. Yes. Yes.

So, with such vivid descriptions from LJ, I guess I shouldn't talk about the O3 Environment. Ye... maybe I can add some positive vibes to this blog since LJ has left O3 as well (CONGRATS! LJ) and the new business I have started is doing well.

The moral of the story, my friends, is "Always Work with Good People!". Yes. I am currently blessed to be working with a talented bunch of people. Our own team, and even our customers are good people. Nothing makes the work day better than working with customers that appreciate your hard work. Nothing makes the work day better than building a rapport with customers and successfully delivering a project! And nothing makes the work day better than working with colleagues that are able to think straight and collaborate as a Team.

To all long-suffering O3 staff: I have this message for you. Move on. Success and happiness means Working with Good People! You don't have to find a company where Gandalf or Legolas or Aragorn are employed as your colleagues...
but you do at least have to make sure you are working with proper human beings in the same department in your new company. :P

This inaugural posting is dedicated to all my family, my wife (who has been my pillar of emotional support through the tough times), to all my lovely customers, to all my talented colleagues and, of course, to LJ who created this wonderful blog.

Thank you for this nice little blog-space where I can bitch about office politics (Negative Vibes) and I can praise the people that makes life worth living (Positive Vibes)! Hopefully, this will make us all balanced, normal and sane people in our everyday lives. Heh.

I will be back with more... stay tuned... Yipee!

Keeping the Employees

So far, the O3 environment has managed to chase off many a good to great employee. These people range of professional engineers to hardworking operations staff to excellent sales managers.

Usually when the employee is leaving or has left, the bosses have nary a good thing to say about him/her. In fact, they tend to blame the former employee for everything that went wrong with the projects. They hit out at the management styles, lack of communication, etc. Sounds reasonable? Just try to remember this is the O3 environment.

Recently, the mini boss is attempting to save the company's fledging employee numbers and poor retention of staff. He has been contacting some ex-employees with have left and offered them a better post in the company. From R&D to sales, from engineer to manager, from in-charge of one aspect to in-charge of the whole project. As always fancy words were thrown in for effect during the "pleading" phase. Like how promotions are in line and the career prospect is great, etc. Then again, most just remember that even the directors are still fined, sworn at and even fired, so as far as I know, no one has accepted the offers.

We must remember the O3-ness. Long term suffering will be at hand if we permit ourselves to listen to their sweet nothings.

Moving Up, Moving Down

This post continues on from the O3 environment way of "Constant Change".

At O3, you must keep everyone on their toes and this means even the physical palce they are in must constantly have some change...and hopefully improvement.

The Research Dept used to be segregated into 3 separate areas. There was the Main Area, the Elec Area, and the Secret RnD Area. Then the boss decided to expand the Secret RnD Area (counted as an improvement). Soon after the boss decided to merge the Main and Elec Area by removing the partition between the rooms (could be counted as an improvement...except). The boss decided to shrink the Secret Area back after 2 months of expansion and move the staff into the merged room. In order to pack everyone in, the cubicle tables were thus required to be shrunk as well. (Counted as negating all possible improvements and throwing things in the rut.).

1.5 months after RnD were getting used to the new set up, the big boss now decides to move everyone into a smaller room (due to the exodus of people leaving?) which was the former meeting or training room. That by the way just had its AV system set up about 2 months ago.

And so right now, stuff is missing, stuff is everywhere but where it should be. The constant moving results in loss of items, loss of space to do actual research but its the O3 way. Sure keeps everyone on their toes does it not?

Payday Mayday

The end of the month of January recently passed and everyone still in the O3 environment anticiaptes receiving their pay soon. However, due to the unpredictability of the big boss one never knows how things will happen.

Before we used to personally collect the cheques from the accountant-cum-HR person. Then he changed to collecting the cheques directly from him. Then he changed that back to collecting it from the new accountant-cum-HR person. Then he changed it to having one of the drivers bank in our cheques for us. That was the present system.

And so, when a couple days ago some of the employees were suddenly called into his office whilst they were on the way out of office at the end of the day...they thought they were in trouble or going to get fired. Strange as it seems, he gave some people their cheques, and others were going to be banked in.

Guess change is the only constant in the O3 environment.

The Art of Handing Over

O3 rules are that everything must be done NOW.

(1) Decisions must be made NOW (of course O3 bosses have all the right to change their decisive minds when ever necessary).

(2) If the party able to help or is responsible is not physically present, call them NOW so number (1) can be followed.

(3) Learning the use of new programs, equipments and machinery must be learnt NOW and over a span of a few hours to a maximum of 3 days. Anything longer than that makes the employee's competencies questionable.

(4) Handing over of projects no matter how large can be done in 1 day or less and NOW. If there is bad handing over it will be the fault of the handee and not the hand-or.

(5) All questions must be answered NOW. Any hesitation will be deemed a signal of the staff's stupidity and ignorance.

O3 NOWNOWNOWNOWNOWNOWNOW!

LJ's Freedom

I see the light...at the end of the tunnel...it came toward me and I stepped through it.

TAH DAH! I'm free! I have rid myself of the O3 environment and its rotten aura. Some of my lovely collegues and I went out for a celebration dinner. Nice stuff I tell you.

In the honour of the O3-ness, today I found out that the big boss has cleared my already cleared table. I guess all the stuff and namecards I left behind must have gone into the recycling bin. Wonder which table I'll go sit at on Monday when I return for one last day to handover the project to the mini-boss and his sidekick.

Another friend tendered recently and her pal had to take the fall of handling her workload. Pity the reaction of ducking the big boss' rapid fire multi-arrow headed gun is never really fast enough. The only protection against such offence is to launch an offence of your own.

Good luck to the remaining O3-bers (pronounced Oh-Cube-bers). I will continue posting here as long as there are stories to tell, and there will be stories to tell as long as some of my O3-ber friends are stuck in there.