Karoshi Cube

Beggers Can't Be Choosers

2008-11-22T05:20:00.000-08:00

Isn't it interesting that the title phrase of this entry is more than true in the world of O3. Recently some ex-O3bers met up at a mutual friend's wedding and we reminenced the old times and shared hilarious stories - hence today's blog entry.

O3 has attempted to have lean staff that take on multiple jobs. I believe that if you read the TODAY newspaper (http://www.todayonline.com/articles/288568.asp) you'd have seen how Microsoft hardly ever retrenches even in times of bad economies. Most of their staff have been there for quite a period and the incentives are good. Pantries are filled with fresh fruits and healthy snacks.

O3, however, tends towards a high turnover. This high turnover has a pro in terms of cost per job...at least in the short term. You see, if you hire someone for a year at most and they leave, there's no need to talk about a pay raise or bonus or even 13th month. Yes, most staff are paid their starting salaries and hardly a cent more. Pity the upper management are short sighted and in doing so they've stagnanted 2 major high-cost development projects for at least another 2 meaningless years. Who knows how many hundreds of thousands of dollars have been wasted just by the relentless replacement of workers.

Back to the title phrase. Many staff were fired within their first few weeks of work. Funny thing is some of these staff crawl back to ask Uberbaus to take them back. These people are the special O3-ber-wanna-bes. With such strange tenacity due to desperation, Uberbaus will hire them back knowing that he can push their limits now that he has sussed out the "true O3bers".

Why be a "true O3ber"? Hmm, one of these "true" ones told me that she knows that she can't be fired, cos she plans to do things such that Uberbaus can't live without her. Another "true" one also said something almost to that effect. So it seems like these BEGGERS actually CHOSE to join O3???

Ah, what is the world coming to????

O3's Employer's Pledge of Lies

2008-08-25T02:47:00.000-07:00

I found out something so hypocritical about O3 (ok, so its impossible to think of honestly within O3) that I couldn't stop myself from laughing when I read the recently signed Employer's Pledge.

Some background: The Employer's Pledge pertains to exhibiting FAIR EMPLOYEMENT PRACTICES within the company. (Does anyone see where this is going? Hahaha!) This pledge's scanned image won't be posted here so that we don't get sued....but it was signed by Uberbaus, wife of Uberbaus and little mini-buas. Little mini-buas is the younger brother of mini-baus, son of Uberbaus and the latest family addition to the crazy-bi-polar management of O3. Little mini-baus is supposely in charge of human resources. Wah...... It is also signed by the president of MIWU, part of some tripartite partners of the govt and stat boards.

Let us now dive into and giggle at the absurdities of what these bosses have pledged to lie about:

My favourite: Treat employees fairly and with respect. Ohhh! Does that mean throwing stuff at workers, screaming swear words in hokkien, fining indiscriminately and not paying O3-bers overtime? Wow, talk about fair...yes, let us recall how minibaus stayed at a 5star hotel in germany while the rest of us cramped up to 4 or 5 people into a backpackers lodging. Hmm...yes, very respectful and fair don't you think?
Reward employees fairly based on their ability, performance, contribution and experience. Many foreign O3-bers will tell you of their ability to cringe when screamed at and how they will defer to consistently work overtime for free just so as to not get fired. O3 fairly rewards O3-bers by letting them keep their jobs (usually where its 2 to 3 person's jobs falling upon one poor O3-ber) with an almost indeterminate pay freeze.
Abide by labour laws. Oh boy. Where do I begin? =P Like not hiring enough Singaporeans to cover the foreigner quota? Erm, like not paying OT and not allowing people to take leave or making O3-bers pay for their medical costs or firing without due cause or having no fire safety in site or sealing of fire exits or hiting a poor small female worker or being an evil dark presence in the light of day? Ok, so that last bit isn't part of our law but it should be.
A harmonious work environment....teehee! I think the O3-bers are harmonious amongst themselves (except for the snake) during lunch time and after work. So yah, ok, we'll let this one slide. =P
where employees are highly motivated and contribute to their fullest to their organisations and the economy. Who is motivated? The Bausses of course! They are so motivated that they motivate O3-bers into working via threats, scoldings, screamings, etc. Hmm. The pledge should state the type of motivation. O3 survives because of the fear induced in the O3-bers. Work continues and targets raised everytime just to contribute to O3's profit. Bah.

Ah yes, the Employer's Pledge is a cheapskate way of putting the blinders on unsuspecting potential O3-bers. Please everyone, note that this particular O3 lies and bluffs its way through an ISO audit and has obviously signed this pledge just as a front. Beware of their masked internet presence...it's one humungous lie.

O3 - "Best" in Asia for Lab Equipment Manufacturing!

2008-06-08T05:43:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Most of us have left the original O3 company that this blog is based upon. Kudos to all of us! Yeah! I think its good to ocassionally remember what was left behind in that chapter of our lives so that we will better appreciate our current situation.

I was looking through the O3's website. Never really read it properly or in depth when I was there. What I find funny is that the Uberbaus, mini-baus have declared that O3 is the LEADER IN ASIA for MANUFACTURING of LAB EQUIPMENT.

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?! *gasp!*

Ha! I think there's obviously a much much much much much, did I mention MUCH, better brand called SANYO. Duh. And uh, they are based in Asia.

O3 the leader in Asia for manufacturing would be true for the following criteria:
1. Cheap materials
2. Bad manufacturing quality control
3. Under-the-table certification "pass" status
4. Incredibly late deliveries of orders
5. Delivered items have faulty parts (ref point 2)
6. False promises declared on catalogues
7. Copycat research

Yeps, I think if they had the above criteria in mind then O3 is justifiably truthful in the declaration of being the best in Asia for Lab equipment manufacturing.

O3's abound!

2008-05-04T02:01:00.000-07:00

I wonder why there are so many O3 type companies. Just like disgusting viruses...ew... I hope there's a vaccination against such companies. Sometimes I wish I were a govt official who is allowed to go under cover to bust these O3 companies wide open. I wish.

Recently I met a very nice filipino lady who was sucked into earning peanuts for an O3 company. I didn't know it was O3 type until she started to describe the torture she was enduring:

1. Verbal abuse from the big bosses.
2. Grossly underpaid (less than 1k a month!!!)
3. Grossly overworked (doing about 7 peoples job!!!)
4. Forced to work OT until work is done, without extra pay.
5. Denied medical leave when sick. (this is bordering on inhumane!)

This is just the tip of the iceberg for the work she is doing. Come on now...we all know temp and part-timers who are earning more while working less right?

The good news is that she found another job. (woohoo!) And the funny thing is that her soon-to-be-ex boss actually asked her what about the company? How are things going to be done?

I never fail to find it humourous when such awful O3 type bosses EXPECT loyalty out of the "slaves" they have. This isn't the kidnapper's syndrome you know, where the NICE captor gains respect and loyalty from the captive. But again, the captor is NICE. NICE! O3 dudes, do you even understand the concept of fairness and niceness to all???

Moving on...

2007-10-27T05:57:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!
Its been a looooooooooooooooooooong time since the last update eh? Well, some people have moved on, gotten married, and even had babies!

Here's some rather outdated news I heard some weeks back but didn't manage to get around to putting it up.

In O3, there was a certain dame that thought she was Uberbaus' favourite. He doted on her and let her whine her way through work. He found it entertaining to observe her daily shrieks and rantings from his fishbowl office (he told me it was amusing...not kidding.) He said that she gets things done in her home country. He stressed on her usefulness to me countless times and I had to tactfully remind him when she sat on a job for weeks when it could've been done in a day or two.

Anyway, Uberbaus insisted that she is the cornerstone of this important department. I think that this particular cornerstone let drop one too many grains of sand from her foundation and it finally collapsed.

Not sure if these facts still hold true, but not too long ago, the dame was found to have corruptly done transactions in her home country (Egad!). Seriously, is that so surprising? Its one of those country's that are famous for corruption in business. Then again, so is O3 itself.

Corrupt within, corrupt without.

What shocked me was the news that this precious dame was fired! Not by Uberbaus I think, but by mini-baus. He's background is deeply rooted in the states where bribery and corruption are more than frowned upon. Uberbaus' background is rahter deep-seated in it that he does not have qualms about faking documentation and "being nice" to officials to attain his goals.

I wonder what has happened since...has the dame been reinstated yet? She's the cornerstone...has the department fallen apart? Anyone know?

Recruiting from the Lion's Den

2007-08-01T09:16:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, sorry about the drought. No entries for the entire month of July. Wow. Good thing no one threw eggs at me. Ha!

Well, no stories to write about until I recently got some news.

A certain ex-O3ber who worked there for probably about 5 years, got recruited into a foreign company. This special O3-ber was from the sales department and sold the products all over the world - the US, China... Ok, so Uberbaus didn't really like him but since he was bringing in the sales and ever ready to work hard, he did pretty well in O3.

The thing I don't really understand is why would he want to recruit engineers and sales people from O3. Is it out of goodwill? Or is it to spite the Uber and minibaus? Or is it due to the fact that he honestly thinks O3bers are fabulous (at least most of them) salesmen and engineers?

Finally, to recruit from the Lion's Den is almost suicidal, ESPECIALLY when you go ahead and tell the snake that you are doing so. While this ex-O3ber is safe from Uberbaus now, the unsuspecting hope-to-become-ex-O3bers who were called to meet him about the potential exit permit from O3...well, if the snake (who went for the meeting?!?!?!) tells Uberbaus, can you imagine the gnashing of teeth that will take place when he discovers who is sneaking behind his back to try and leave O3?

Well, I sure hope the snake decides not to tell, since his being there also incriminates himself. But a snake is a snake...so watch out. And beware of where you step.

The Fall of Minibaus

2007-06-20T08:38:00.000-07:00

The latest event to happen at O3 is that the mini-buas finally let go of his educational life. He has left university (under unknown circumstances) for the pursuit of greatness and money.

Uberbaus has blown a gasket in the meantime. In this respect I can't blame him because he had pulled strings for mini-baus to get into the ivy league school to do a double major.

Uberbaus' blown gasket is still spewing steam and vulgarities. Of course, the bulk of the steam and vulgarities are splattered at the staff in the office and which ever unfortunate soul is in his presence. More staff are resigning as an effect. It is not known how long the spewing can be sustained by Uberbaus. I can just picture him blaming the staff for not taking on more work and responsibilities so that mini-baus can stay in school.

The short term effect of mini-baus leaving can definitely be felt. Will there be any meaningful long term? That is the million-dollar gamble that mini-baus is taking without Uberbaus' blessings.

Reverse, Forward, Neutral Engineering

2007-06-12T08:32:00.000-07:00

In O3, we know that they demand fast products and are willing to cut corners. Thus reverse engineering is the order of the day. Labs are filled to the brim with competitor's products that management claims is for testing...

But the SOP is that once all the testing is completed, O3 engineers have the joy of tearing the competition's units apart to stare and observe and learn from their designs. To a certain extent, it makes some sense to do that. Kind of like not reinventing the wheel. On the other hand, it halts creativity and creation of new ideas. What I'd like to coin forward engineering. If the whole world kept staring at CRT tvs, do you think plasma or LCD tvs would exist?

O3 is stuck in trend of reverse engineering...in fact, it "worships" this angle of attack. Egads! I mean, if you look at the top 2 or 3 international models already...great! Why do you need to look at every single brand? I mean, the cost of procuring all these models outweighs the benefits. If you manage to put together all the best features of the units, I bet another O3 like company based in a labour and material cost advantaged country will be able to do it faster, cheaper and better.

So well, I propose that O3 attempts to look at neutral engineering. Since reverse engineering will be impossible to rip from their deathlike grasps, they should lock up at least 3 engineers in a separate room away from all external influences and ask them to come up with a new product that does xyz functions. Who knows? It might work right?

Silver spoons

2007-06-01T09:14:00.001-07:00

We currently live in a society where getting a bachelors degree is something highly sought after. However, I've come to know quite a number of highly intelligent individuals, who were all born with silver spoons, who have either done badly or simply dropped out of school because life was easy for them and money came pouring in from directions we can't even fathom.

(For those born without silver spoons and had to struggle to work, dropping out of school may have been necessary, so I'm not in anyway talking about those who have financial hardships to deal with.)

Case in point would be the miniboss. You see, engineering students who study locally are forced to do the 4-year course for honours. We were also taking an average of 8 modules every semester. We were not allowed to do double majors but that's changing since the numerous protests. Things are slow to change though.

So, miniboss gets accepted into one of the top business and engineering schools in the ivy league to do a double major even though he had no extra-curricular activities during junior college. By that time, he was immersed in the O3 environment and getting away with things in the school because Uberbaus made friends in high places and donations to the school. Now, miniboss refuses to understand the enormous gift he has by getting into this ivy league school. He gets to do a double major with only about 5 to 6 modules every semester. Is that fair? Furthermore, he hardly attends lessons and isn't doing well for the examinations. He has placed O3 as top priority in his life simply because he assumes that O3 will survive. (that is probably true as long as the 3 bosses are there.) Silver spoon. Uberbaus will do anything for miniboss to succeed.

Another case I know is the son of a certain politician. Badly behaved in school and kept back one year for failing. Last I heard, he has a high paying job at a well-loved beer company. Silver spoon. His dad is highly influencial.

Yah, I think the silver spoon increases the odds of brat behaviour and not being grateful for the opportunities given to you and that you had taken away from other more deserving individuals.

Dinner and Dance the O3 way

2007-05-23T00:53:00.000-07:00

Apparantly the annual Dinner and Dance of the O3 is coming up soon. The last one wasn't that fun either but we were pretty much forced to go cos if you didn't, the individual cost would've been deducted from one's salary.

This year, I have spared myself the agnst of attending the D&D by simply having removed myself from O3 in January this year. The more recently parted though still managed to be invited for the D&D. We suspect it is to make up the dwindling numbers.

This year they have also changed the venue of the D&D and merged the factory D&D with the HQ D&D. Sounds like a good idea save for the fact that the venue is changed from a decent hotel in the city to a place on the island's factory.

Yes, the island. Let us reflect on the ISLAND: Some would postulate the possibility that Uberbaus simply wants to kidnap all the employees whilst on this foreign land. Others would say its just to make everyone sick from the mosquito bites and the food. Uberbaus has "promised" (WOW!) that he would provide nice accomodations for the HQ staff to stay over one night. Right...

Yes, the "promise". Let us reflect on the PROMISE: Uberbaus has promised to improve the accomodations of employees in that island for many months now but hardly anything has changed. Up to5 staff are squeezed into a room that was meant for 2! Beddings are infested with bedbugs and items are stolen half the time. Yes, the promise is only for Uberbaus and his family to stay in the resort like accomodations. The promise is for himself.

The last item up for discussion would be the LUCKY DRAW PRIZES. The Uberbaus shamelessly instructs the committee to scour the ground for vouchers. Unbeknowst to the well-meaning large companies who give tens of dollar or vouchers or sponsor digital cameras, the Uberbaus keeps these nice gifts for himself and then gets a worker to purchase household items like rice cookers and toasters as prizes. The vouchers are then used at the whim and fancy of Uberbaus to furnish the office or replace spoilt items. Digital cameras are then used to "bribe" goodwill from other staff or as gifts to foreigners to display Uberbaus' generousity.

Yah, last year, the top prize was supposed to be a cash prize...but instead it was transformed into a travel voucher of smaller value from O3's travel agent. Uberbaus was even witnessed to have ask a worker whether he could pay the guy's salary with vouchers instead.

You decide the shamelessness of his actions. You decide how many D&D's you want to attend at O3.

EXTRA! EXTRA!! How come WE must pay EXTRA!

2007-05-21T19:59:00.000-07:00

I just read the news about making NETS users pay the administrative charge for using NETS! What is this? are they really so hard up for viamin M?? It's bad enough to get credit card users to pay the extra 2% for using the facilities! How come these methods of payments that is supposed bring us convenience ends up making us pay more? What kinda logic is this? So much for wanting us to go paperless, and we have to bear the cost!

I'm already pissed over the taxi companies for wanting us to pay EXTRA cos they are changing to new cabs! not to mention the fact that they also want EXTRA for the Environment Friendly cabs they have! Come on man!, get real! If you want to go enviromental, do it at ur own cost! dun get consumers, who probably dun care about the environment, to pay for it! these are the things that service providers are SUPPOSED to do to improve our comfort! How come the cost of these is being flowed to us consumers! How come no one is doing anything about this? Or can anyone do anything about it?

This is not the end! Aparrently, they are gonna review increasing the fares for both buses and MRTs! like they are not earning enough from us consumers! With the new EZLink cards, they are getting commuters to pay the correct fare, with the occasional (or is it USUAL) technical glitch of overcharging them. Now they want to raise the fares again. I really hope this is not approved! Whenever there is an increase in charges, in whatever services that is provided, they will never come down. They try to justify the increase by the Gulf War, the high petrol prices and stuff. All these is to divert our attention away from the increase we have to pay, and before we know it, BAM! It hits us like a freight train!

What will we have to pay extra for next?

How Do You Sleep At Night?

2007-05-19T07:21:00.000-07:00

How do you sleep at night? Very well? Or do you lose sleep over the bad things you've done earlier in the day? Ever wondered how the Uberbaus-es sleep? This thought came as I was mopping the floor and thinking of Horlicks. I remember watching an advert in the UK about Horlicks. The advert has a bus driver driving a bus, and as he moves off the bus stop, there was this guy running after the bus. The driver sees the guy running after the bus, but he just does not stop the bus and keeps on driving, glancing at the rear-view mirror once in a while. The camera then shifts to his bedroom and him drinking a cuppa Horlicks just before he goes to bed. The next scene was his next day at work driving the bus and him driving off as another guy runs after his bus.!

Sometimes it makes me wonder how the Uberbaus-es sleep at night. I'm pretty sure he loses sleep over how his company is losing every day even though orders are coming in. But whether he loses sleep over all the nasty things he says and does to his employees, I don't think so. I guess he consoles himself by doing 'good deeds' and thinking that these 'good deeds' can redeem his soul enough for him to go to heaven. I don't think he does these 'good deeds' out of the goodness of his heart.

I remember once he asked me the question ' You think you can go Heaven is it?' What drove him to ask me that question, I don't know. I didn't answer him but I wanted to just tell him, 'Yeah, I'll go to Heaven, but I don't know about you tho'! '

And just for the record, I sleep very well every night. how about you?

Feeding the Snakes to Fight

2007-05-14T03:25:00.000-07:00

I recently heard that the Uberbaus is conducting one of his famous management motivational moves. Try and understand this:

Uberbaus tells employee P that he likes to be the bad guy so that the workers will unite together in O3-ness and work as one. (he is being "self-sacrificial" so he says).
Uberbaus then grabs Q into the room and bad mouths about R and says he doesn't want to work with R.
Couple days later, Uberbaus grabs R into the office and complains about Q to R.
In effect, Uberbaus thinks that this will cause Q and R to compete against each other and work harder.

The truth of it is, everyone knows about Uberbaus' crazy tactics. He simply gives people no reason to have better synergy for the company, which is bleeding money to the "superior races". But that's another blog entry.

Karoshi Cube's Karoshi Moment

2007-05-09T00:23:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, thanks for following and supporting Karoshi cube.

As material is failing to come in fast enough, I would like to know whether you'd like us to continue Karoshi-ing (on a sparser amount of posts) or if anyone else would like to join in the fun and post along side the 3 authors.

I, as LJ, having left O3, am not as updated or as emotionally involved as i used to be. So naturally postings have declined in this blog. I'm also busy with other stuff. =)

So, yah, you guys want this blog to carry on? And who wants in (to write posts)?

Karoshi! Karoshi! Kah-ROHHHH-SHI!!!!

Employment Guidelines to End Discrimination....RIGHT...

2007-05-03T19:16:00.000-07:00

This is hilarious stuff. I practically keeled over reading the story on the front page of the local newspaper. Its entitled," New Employment Guidelines Aim to End Discrimination".

Oh sure. They are just guidelines. Watch O3 companies play the ignoramus card.

Here are some of the guidelines that are flouted by O3 all the time. In fact, the Uberbaus asked me the question and I was surprised at it.

~From the newspaper~
JOB INTERVIEWS
* Don't ask:
Questions on such personal matters as whether an applicant intends to have children.

DISMISSALS/LAYOFFS
* Don't:
Dismiss an employee before (a) He is given an opportunity to present his case; (b) Allowing an independent assessment panel to make the final decision.

~end quote~

Isn't it funny? I got asked the children question and there's plenty of stories of people being fired with humiliation on the spot. What independent panel? Oh, you mean, the 3 headed boss?

Bah. Guidelines, Shmidelines.

The wise are heeding their own advice

2007-04-29T21:56:00.002-07:00

I remember an older and wiser O3ber once told me that he understood why I was leaving. Although he was sad about it, he understood perfectly the reasons behind why I simply had enough and needed to move on with my own life and development.

He even wisely kept silent and simply smiled when I asked him what he thought about the O3 HR Philosophy of how only 'Elites" exist in the company. I bet he had his own comments but held his tongue. =)

Anyway, I'm glad that many people have left and more people are deciding to find a better job and life balance outside of O3.

Dehumanise...

2007-04-19T06:59:00.000-07:00

No, its not one of those freaky digitalising movie tricks. Its O3 taking more steps towards dehumanising its employees. (Apparantly Uberbaus and Miniboss are not on agreement here, but the bigger boss is winning so far.)

Practically every company will issue its employees a personal email address where the employee's name is coded in. This was the way with the O3. WAS.

There's a sort of new coding thing going on there and it involves giving people code names and serial numbers. Every dept has its own name but for one dept, the name given by the baus doesn't make sense. It wasn't explained to them what the acronym meant either. OTA??? For an Engineering Dept? What does it mean? Baus should have the courtesy of explaining what it means, cos it could mean something derogatory that only baus understands.

"Yo, call OTA1 here with OTA 13, Bring SBC 3 and MTA2 as well. I want to find out who is doing all this." Sounds like a potential conversation in the future at O3 eh? You have to go and find out and memorise your collegues numbers...

If there is a practical and meaningful reason for this, will some one enlighten me?

The Offer was For February

2007-04-19T00:08:00.000-07:00

When I left O3 at the end of January, I had told miniboss that I was willing to return to office for 1 day in February to debrief the new person taking over me. Thereafter, I told him I was going to be busy and unlikely to be available.

In the fashionable O3 way, miniboss nodded his head and said thanks and that he'd contact me when he found a replacement. And in the fashionable O3 way, miniboss' mind did not register the part where I was going to be busy after February.

As always, the replacements are hard to find. One came and left before I even had an opportunity to meet the poor sod. One day went by...one week...then February came and went. March came and miniboss started Sms-ing me questions.

Finally in April, they found a replacement. It turned out to one of those "prodigal sons" who left O3 and for reasons unknown to the human species, this fella returned to O3. In mid April, the fella now (after 2 .5 months!!!) then asked if I were able to return to O3 to brief him.

Sorry dude, your coupon expired long ago and my benevolent heart now belongs to my very own personal business. O3 can go the way of the dinosaurs - and they just might, at the rate the feet dragging goes...

There'll be Peace In the O3, Somtimes

2007-04-13T23:30:00.000-07:00

Occassionally life in O3 returns back to normalcy. Sanity and happiness is allowed to reign in the office sporadically. For instance, it happened again recently when boss, boss and boss were all overseas and away. Away from the office. Their physically presence was not felt. A burden lifted from the shoulders of the beasts of burden in O3. The clouds cleared. Sun shone through. Smiles were a plenty and everyone looked forward to the end of the day.

Yes, the end of the day. That's when you usually go home. And during these times of peace, the employees can leave without fearing the boss, boss or boss calling them back into the office to perform last minute duties. The employees feel a peace and calmness at the end of the day. No stresses, just peace.

Dire Certification

2007-04-09T06:28:00.000-07:00

O3 always has trouble passing certifications for the product. They claim this and that but the american standards of certification is very strict. And to worsen the problem, the cleanroom is dirty. And to worsen-worsen the problem, the test sample of bacteria ended up containing plenty of other bacteria.

Of course, the best O3 method to counter this type of certification stress is to either keep trying (which costs alot of money) or to bribe the fella (which costs less money). There are certain standards and certifers who you just know you cannot bribe...but there are also certain countries where the certifiers welcome whatever extra income they can weasle out from you. So in the fashion of O3, they proverbially and miraculously passed certification in this country (with EXCELLENT marks nonetheless) while failing every single test it required.

Certification - A piece of paper that is meaningless if in the hands of O3.

The Lone Ranger

2007-04-04T22:20:00.000-07:00

In the midst of the madness of the Uberbaus' family, there is but one normal individual who is attempting to fight off the madness that encompasses the household. This Lone Ranger is the miniboss' brother.

Lone Ranger is an intelligent young man who decided NOT to join the dark side and work in the O3 environment. During the short couple weeks he was made to work there (and help out in HR), he was probably the nicest HR helper I have seen. Meek, humble and friendly he was the freak of the household. The Lone Ranger looked incredibly out of place and uncomfortable working there and this was apparant when one day he stopped helping out at work.

I know that Uberbaus loves to control his sons' lives and especially their love lives. Extreme measures of relocation has been taken when he disapproved of certain other halves!?!?! Now, the rumour is that Uberbaus has his eye on a specific young lady who I suppose he would love to have bethroved to his son. He is even going to USA just to get the ball rolling?!?!?!

My heart goes out to Lone Ranger. He fights hard against the current of madness. May the love of his life be true and untainted by Uberbaus.

Never Point Blame at Yourselves

2007-04-01T20:17:00.000-07:00

Following up on the 10 sins of a bad manager, I would like to touch briefly on the way the Uberbaus swiftly and efficiently deflects blame from all three bosses.

More often than not, he deflects blame and embarassment from the miniboss by targeting the arrows, bullets, cannon balls, missile warheads and nuclear bombs onto the heads of the unsuspecting employees. You see, the miniboss likes to, no...., LOVES to BRAG and talk. In doing so, he tends to inadvertantly leak information about OEM projects and contracts that hurt the partners or clients. He usually conviniently forgets that he ever said such a thing.

Now, when the partner/ client complains and it gets to the ears of the Uberbaus, the Uberbaus automatically sends a homing signal and target to the nearest pantsy that he can find. The poor chap (s) are then treated to hours of scoldings, swearings, threats, etc. Poor fellas. I did once witness the mini-boss trying to tell the Uberbaus that he was the one who mentioned it, but the Uberbaus brushed it aside, twisted the argument and scolded us for not "saving" the situation???!?!??! haha....how nice is that?

O3 - Better Late Than Never

2007-03-28T02:29:00.000-07:00

One of O3's major problems is that they simply love to procrastinate in any matter that will be advantageous to them. The most obvious one is delayed payments on O3's end. The next one involved delayed paychecks to employees. And then we have delayed shipments to customers, etc.

I received a tax form that was, well, late. Not from the government, from O3. The funniest thing to me was that on the tax form that is filled by the employer, it says "fill in and send to employee NO LATER THAN 1 MARCH 2007". Erm, its almost the end of March??? Better yet, O3 always covers its butt by backdating this type of legal documents and the Uberbaus signed the form dated 1 Mar 2007.

Nice move eh?

10 sins of a Bad Manager

2007-03-22T20:00:00.000-07:00

I love this article in a recent "recruit" section of the newspaper. For those who have yet to read it, let me highlight the 10 points here and also give the details on my favourite O3 sins (especially point 10!!!)

Never sell change when you can demand it
Humiliate your staff frequently --> Develop a varied arsenal of "looks" to master the subtle put-down. A well-placed sigh and a "that was dumb" stare can work wonders in silencing your people. ... When they react, just say:"Can't you take a joke with overreacting like most women do?"
Tell them how useless they are
Get personal --> ...When they miss a deadline, question their ability to handle responsibility.
Make them feel lucky to still have a job
Never give strategic direction until you have to
When things go wrong, you know who to sacrifice
Build your own corporate torture chamber --> Know how to schedule hours to produce maximum aggravation.
Never give recognition --> It sets the stage for complacency. After all they are lucky they have a job.
Use fear as a great motivator. --> ...make a scene by threatening their job on-the-spot. If you abuse them privately, there will be no witnesses...

You will be butchered at the drinking fountains, but do not let petty gossip get in your way. You will feel lonely, but that goes with creating the illusion of power.

*Article by motivational speaker Terry L Paulson*

I think the above is an excellent match to O3...right? The bosses have no idea how many sins they are committing as bad, no, lousy and downright awful managers.

No money, no talk

2007-03-22T18:32:00.000-07:00

Respect. That is what I have for North Korea. I think we should all take a leaf out of their books, they know how to play politics. This is probably applicable to your situation, LJ. We all know this since primary school - "No money, no talk". As we can see from this article from ChannelNewsAsia, its still relevant even in the highest level of society.

All you O3-bers should understand one thing, besides gravitational forces, money also makes the world go round. When people ask you to do work for no pay say "돈 없음 대화 없음" (No money no talk in Korean).

Getting Your "Get Out of Jail Pass"

2007-03-21T18:24:00.000-07:00

Remember the advertisment where you see some character drinking Red Bull? What happens after they drink it? They get WINGS! Over at the O3, drinking Red Bull does not give you 'WINGS'. Red Bull is what you give the workers as 'reward' for helping you get things done. To get "WINGS" at the O3 you have to do things like sorting your resume, go 'take MC' to go for interview, ace the interview, get a job offer, sign on the dotted line, and then give the Uberbaus 'The Birdie". Sometimes, some can't take it an longer, they'll give the Uberbaus "The Birdie" first then worry about the rest of the details later.
I just found out that one of our O3-er has just given the Uberbaus 'The Birdie" and day later, got a job offer. Really glad to hear good news like this. Really made my day, at 9.00 am in the morning!
I still remember that day I got my 'WINGS'', or rather, news that I'll be getting my "WINGS". I guess I've been in the O3 for too long, went to countless interviews, and yes, taken countless MCs to go for interviews, when news of the offer hit me, I had to pinch myself numerous times to be sure that it's really happening. I guess it's when you want something so bad, when it finaly comes, you wonder if it's a dream or it has actually happened! It took a while for the news to sink in. When it finally did, I was punching the air like a mad man! When I finally signed on the dotted line, I immediately emailed the Uberbaus "The Birdie" and then followed up with a hard copy in the morning. I guess I'm one of the fortunate ones who was able to 'escape' outta the O3 a week earlier without the Uberbaus breathing down my neck for this and that, and not getting piled up with work the day I gave him "The Birdie". I had to pay my way out for the 'Get Out of Jail Early" pass though. But it's worth it even if we have to pay it outta our own pocket. I'm blessed cos my company paid for the 'Pass'.
Really hope to hear more 'Prison Break' stories from the O3 soon! Shalom!

Talent leak

2007-03-20T22:34:00.001-07:00

Singapore is suffering from a serious case of brain drain. I suspect so does India and maybe China. I don't find UK or US having the same problem.

I would like to suggest a possible reason: the grass is greener on the other side, maybe this time it is really true because people are actually staying there! I won't talk about the socio-political aspect, but just work culture.

I work in an multinational company and had the opportunity to work in the same company overseas. Let me tell you, it doesn't feel like the same company. In Singapore, I feel like I am reduced to a machine in a production line.

In Singapore, we 'make babies', 'are forced to retire', and 'get workfare'. In another country, we 'have a child', 'dream of early retirement', and 'receive welfare'. Too bad I am not "talented" enough to "leak".

The Recall

2007-03-19T19:22:00.000-07:00

It feels kind of like the Army where they can call you back at any moment's notice....but this is even after you have left.

What I am referring to is the O3 environment of course. I know of many ex-O3bers who left months ago and yet the management is still calling them and asking for their help which can be seen as getting free labour. I did my labour which I thought I was going to get paid for, but it turned out to be "free".

Is this how things are ending up? With so many key-employees having left, senior management is left to continue sticking their fingers and thumbs into the leaky dam that is O3 by continually calling the ex-staff even 3 to 4 months after they have left. Does not that show something is wrong with the way they handle HR and handing-over?

Since they treat us like the living dead when we are employed over there, should not they treat us like the dead dead when we have left? Stop recalling ur ex-zombies. Leave us alone!!!

Singaporean Bonuses

2007-03-16T08:37:00.000-07:00

This is a news article from ChannelNewsAsia. I actually saw this on the news and I wonder what the other 1 in 4 Singaporeans are thinking?

Could they be satisfied with their bonuses? Just one look at the photo and you know they are taking the polls at the wrong place, I would probably guess that O3 is not located in Shenton.
A possible conversation between the poll-taker (PT) and a O3-ber (O3B) will be:

PT: Eh, er, 'scuse me ah sir... can ask you question not?
O3B: I don't want to buy, don't want to buy. I got insurance liao.
PT: No, no, ask you about your work can?
O3B: Orr... can can. I got a lot of thing to say about my work. Wa piang, you know ah today this ger hor so suay kana jia lat jia lat from boss leh. Then hor, the rest of us whole day don't dare go toilet...
PT: Yeah... so you happy with your annual bonus not?
O3B: ... bonus? Si mi bonus? Only boss got bonus lah, today I siam ah! Ah seng ah, tio fine ten dollar ah. Now eat peanut porridge crying in the corner there... that's why ah, tell him never listen, hide the money in the underwear! Sad case. Bo qiu.
PT: So you happy is it?
O3B: Yeah man. Today never got scolded happy man!

If the polls were taken in O3, they probably get at least 1 in 2 Singaporeans happy with bonus, wasted.

Turnover

2007-03-15T19:30:00.000-07:00

The O3-bers that I new during my stint there are leaving. The die hards who have been there for more than 2 to 3 years are people who I think have a 80% chance of devoting their lives to the company.

I saw a recent statistic of a company of more than 700 employees who could boast a turnover of less than 0.6%! That's like less than 10 persons... If we want to place a turnover statistic on O3...I'd say its closer to 300%? You see, in O3, the person who replaces the person who replaces the person usually leaves or gets fired within 3 months. The estimate is that an average of 3 people change over the job posting before a so-called "stable" individual stays on for 1 year. (For certain jobs, i've seen at least 6 people come and go.)

Sadly, I sure hope that what this O3 company is doing is not considered job creation! Otherwise, the job market will look like there's 300 posts for what is actually only 100 jobs available. I also find it awful that the job opportunities section of the O3 company's website is permanently unchanging in the posts available. How's that for job security...? You've been hired, but the posting is left there...just-in-case.

Keeping the Uberbaus Away

2007-03-13T22:49:00.000-07:00

Remember how nutritionists will say that fruits are good for you? That we should have fruits after meals to help us digest food or something like that? This was my practice when I was at the O3. I will always have an apple and perhaps a slice of honeydew or watermelon. It became so routine that one ex-O3-er asked me why I do that. I will always say “An Apple a Day Keep the Uberbaus Away” just like the saying “An Apple A Day Keeps The Doctor Away”. This 'routine' seems kinda effective, at least to me! I told this dude that he should try it too. Of course this did not work for him! This seems to be subject dependent. He is always at the frontlines fighting the battles. And probably only sees the sunset on weekends for all the time he was at the O3. It's been a while since I left the O3 and seems like all the people I worked with are gone. Most importantly, these people are happier where they are now and I'm sure are stronger people after the experience.

Just like bloody mio

2007-03-12T23:16:00.000-07:00

Anybody seen the latest Singtel mio ad? The one where the boy with that ergonomically inclined table irresponsibly knocked piggy toward imminent danger? I HATE that ad. It reminds me of work.

For those blessed few, here's how it goes: A boy in excitement knocks the inclined table on which Piggy was perched precariously upon. I am sure that the fact that Piggy holds the boy's fortune in his fragile body has absoultely nothing to do with Piggy's predicament.

While Piggy is walking the green mile, Mio goes about organising a rescue. Calling upon each and every member in the team (except herself of course). The telephone flung its phone cord to try to pull Piggy to safety. The mobile cell set even tried to stop Piggy from falling by putting himself in front of Piggy to push him, risking certain death from impact. In the end, it was the laptop which caught Piggy. All these occurs under the incessant instructions of Mio, which did nothing watsoever to Piggy's aid.

The whole ad ended with everybody praising Mio for the rescue and her trying to brush it off as a teamwork. Damn! It exactly the same thing in the company, everybody in the background, losing sleep, risking their jobs to get something done. And when finally the project is a success, only the manager gets praised and the rewards. The rest of us praising him for his greatness of doing nothing. This is propagenda for a warped corporate reward system, join me in switching off your TVs when the ad is airing (I just know that it will win viewer's choice or something).

A possible Meltdown

2007-03-11T20:53:00.000-07:00

I think most staff in O3 have had a meltdown one time or another. I had one and it wasn't pleasant. My meltdown was encompassed by the high-pitched screaming of a certain curry-favouring employee and it just blew my mind. Almost literally.

Lately I heard that Uberbaus' wife was having trouble. Was is due to the fact that production at the factory is unable to keep up with the orders that the O3 sales team keeps pushing through? Or that the equipment at the factory is cheap, lousy and constantly breaksdown making things all the more worse? Or that important staff are leaving causing payments to be late and slow, frustrating everyone including the suppliers? Or that Uberbaus himself is beginning to travel alot lately leaving his wife behind to fight the problems? Or that............

Whatever it is, I am always amused that O3 is alive and kicking. The mechanics of it all is amazing, don't you think?

Sensitivity in O3

2007-03-08T21:06:00.000-08:00

In light of the plight of current O3-bers, it is important that we all remember the trauma that some of our fellow colleagues had to go through.

The bosses show little to no sympathy and understanding to many of the employees' lives and problems. They like to brush illnesses aside and look caring by offering vitamins and painkillers so that the ill employee will stay in the office and continue to work. In the event that the employee really has to take sick leave to rest, Uberbaus will likely frown upon it and may even send nasty sms-es or make snide remarks. More often than not, he will state how he and his family suffers through sickness for the company's sake. It never fails to amaze me that he forgets the company belongs to them and is run by them. 99% of the employees have ZERO stake in its success.

I think some of the people i've met in O3 are very sensitive to others because of the environment...and others, well, they (a small number of people) seem to slowly morph into the insensitive senior management way of work. I wish the latter bunch good luck in LIFE...not work. And i know the former group will be kind and affect those around them positively.

Speedy Exit

2007-03-07T00:47:00.000-08:00

Every O3-ber who wants to leave hopes the affair is an uneventful one. Otherwise, they simply hope to leave asap.

Some of the staff in the finance department, who've been working late nights and weekends, are getting tired of it all. Being highly unappreciated and working for no extra pay and working with unreasonable bosses who scream profanities, is more than any normal human being can stand. There are some special people out there who I call SUPERWORKERS! They withstand the hailstorm everyday just to help out their friends. Its quite amazing really.

But I have utmost respect for one small lady who left O3 recently. She suffered enough and being small hasn't stopped her from standing up to the bosses. Wonderful! She had been battered with painful remarks and unrelenting insults. I'm so glad she has left. She was asked to stay for a while but becuase she was not confirmed by this company, she took the opportunity to make her life better and left the day she resigned.

Brilliant stuff. I do not believe in letting other step all over us. We must be wise in whom we keep company...and the O3 environment is the worst company to be in.

Lost Goodwill

2007-03-05T05:06:00.000-08:00

I've lost whatever goodwill the Uberbaus had with me and I have a feeling the other 2 will soon follow suit.

I recently messaged the Uberbaus a greeting following the festival season we have in this country. The reply I got was "Sorry, I do not have your number in my phone. Who are you?" (or something to that effect). When I received that reply I knew that Uberbaus probably deleted my cell number from his phone and that meant zero goodwill from him. I replied anyway that it was me and that I just wanted to send greetings. (I honestly just wanted to be respectful as this festival was a time to show respect to elders, whether you like them or no.)

I learnt from a collegue that Uberbaus condescendingly told him about my message and he said he thinks that I wanted my old job back. WHAT?!?!?!?! Sorry Uberbaus, I would NEVER work in your O3 environment ever again. (Unless you pay me like $20K per month? haha....)

Well, doesn't matter to me what Uberbaus thinks anymore. The bosses are so full of themselves and their egos are incredibly large. Not surprising just annoying.

Old Faces, New Places, New Lives!

2007-03-03T04:13:00.000-08:00

I was just at a meeting just on Friday and somehow, at the corner of my eye, I saw one of out ex-O3 colleague. It's kinda weird, but it kinda proves something. It proves that the O3 environment is not the only place that ppl can work in. No matter how much the Ubernaus would want it to be, the O3 is not the only place that will 'take in' these ppl.

It's been over 6 months since I left the O3 and since then, many things have happened. And as usual, many ppl have left, at least 10. And some of these are ppl whom I think are too 'valuable' for the Uberbaus let go' off. To me, these are really important ppl. But then again, the Uberbaus said before, I quote, “No one is irreplaceable, even me!” To think that he will even think of this is unimaginable, let alone for him to actually say it! Of course, what I think he really meant was that mini-boss (a exact replica of him, almost) will eventually take over the O3. However, come to think of it, I'm not sure how much of the O3 will be left with the kind of Vitamin M the mini-boss is spending. Most, if not all, of the ppl who left the O3 before or after me have gone to a much better place got a better pay and is truly appreciated for the work they put in. I would say that everywhere else is better than the O3. If anyone can stay at the O3 for at least 6 months, they will survive anywhere, everywhere else is heaven! But I have to say that the O3 is a fantastic 'training ground'!

Indeed, any organization no staff should be irreplaceable, if not they may end up getting 'ransomed' for more pay and benefits. But then again, if it allows all this talent to just walk out the door, it's basically digging it own grave. The amount of time and money spent on rehiring and retraining is never worth more than the knowledge and information that any staff gains from working in the organization I have to admit that the Uberbaus has the “talent” to find really good ppl to work for him. He is also able to squeeze the last bit of juice out from each individual one! The analogy I have is like extracting the juice out from sugar cane. You put it through larger roller with some grooves on it first to crack it, then u put it through narrower rollers to get the juice out, fold it into half or stack a few on top of the other and put them through again. The machine might rattle a little but it'll still squeeze them through. When all the juice is extracted, that is not the end of the cycle. The pulp then gets thrown into the furnace to cook or whatever. This is the best way to get the most out of sugar cane.

Of course, the O3-ers are the sugar cane, and the rollers are the UberBaus, the UberBitch and of coure the UberMiniBaus, in whatever order you want it. You could also take any of the above as the furnace. It's your choice. You know what I mean right?

The Secret Gathering

2007-03-02T20:46:00.000-08:00

It's interesting to note the strange bond that occurs in O3 type environments. A certain type of unity develops amongst the oppressed and those who sympathize or empathize with them.

You could sort of parallel it to POWs bonding. Of course we weren't starving but the emotional turmoil is apparantly enough in this O3 environment that our being slowly melts into one against the evil ones.

We are so much happier away from the evil ones. The physical office space is a prison camp. When the guards (sneaky rats and all) are away, POWs breathe easier. Better yet, when the Lords of O3 are away, that's when the POWs dare to smile and eat snacks out in the open instead of secretly. Happiness is away from O3. And so we gather ourselves to celebrate our strange kinship to be happy without the rats, guards and Lords.

Creatures of Routine

2007-02-28T18:13:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-28T05:33:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-27T03:31:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-27T00:06:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-25T19:21:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-23T18:28:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-22T00:23:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-21T22:14:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-20T06:04:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-15T19:14:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-14T22:19:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-13T16:36:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-12T03:17:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-11T17:39:00.000-08:00

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!

2007-02-10T00:30:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-07T17:18:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-05T18:11:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-03T00:32:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-01T22:51:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-01T00:07:00.000-08:00

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.

You Know Not What You Want

2007-01-30T00:10:00.000-08:00

Its interesting that in the O3 environment, the bosses can run the company by giving ultra vague and yet conflicting instructions.

For example, one day the mini boss asks consultants to design something different for a product. He said that other materials can be used than the usual. The designers spent 2 weeks coming up with nice designs. Today, the mini boss finally looked through the designs and said they were bad. Because we can't make them without using other materials. EH?

So, yes, no, yes, no. Square, round, oval. I suggested that he sit down with the designers so that they can find out directly from him what he is looking for. He caved. He decided to choose one of the prior designs instead of asking them to redo the whole lot for free. I bet he caved because he didn't even know exactly what he is looking for.

Imagine that. The O3 environment in all its glory, and the company survives and makes moolah for themselves.

The Rotten Apple

2007-01-28T05:28:00.000-08:00

The next biggest boss once told a story to a group of engineers about how a rotton apple will make more apples in the same basket rotten as well. (I think the boss may have been referring to the saying that a little leaven, leavens the whole lump.) The boss then asked the engineers who this rotten apple is. It is likely that he was hoping the answer would be - the bloody rat.

Although none of them answered, one of the engineers told me that he was thinking that the answer should be that the apples aren't really rotten. Its the basket that's making the apples rotten.

Brilliant answer I say, pity the basket won't see it that way.

The Pacifier

2007-01-27T05:13:00.000-08:00

No, this blog entry is not about the movie or a baby superhero like the powerpuff girls or something. This entry is about the big boss' collection of pacifiers.

Its not as if he is a collector. The big big boss just goes out and buys a few and stashes them somewhere in the drawer of his desk. He then dishes them out to employees whom he thinks are cry babies. He told me that once before and I know of at least 4 people who have gotten the pacifier from him.

What an insulting man. His MO is to scold and upset the target. The target then either fights back and gets more upset or starts tearing. Once that happens, the big big boss will mentally lable the individual a crybaby and offer the pacifier if its in stock. If its not in stock, he will get someone to buy more then offer the pacifier on another day.

Oh, usually when he gives the pacifier, he smiles. What a bully.

FIne $10 for Poor English?

2007-01-26T05:32:00.000-08:00

This is a story of a foreigner whose grasp of english is poor and due to the need and want of staying in the country, he endures the abuse that the big boss lashes out on him. From forcing him to stay in another foreign country, to fining him practically DAILY, this poor soul is like an animal stuck in a cage with the key to freedom dangling just out of his reach.

What happened was that the big big boss searched through his emails and found that he emailed external consultants and companies. Upon reading his emails, the big big boss was appalled at his english and banned him from contacting external parties. He was fined $10. (again, no warning. Fine first then explain the reason) He had only $8 in his pocket so the boss took $4 and left $4 for food.

A collegue of his then came to his defence and said that he emailed only on his instruction. The big big boss then proceeded to fine the collegue $10 as well. Since the collegue did not bring his wallet at that moment, he was told by the boss to bring the $10 later.

So...the O3 environment's rules is to take money from the masses of workers by fining them whilst unawares of your great rules, then combining this and redistributing it later as 'bonuses'. How's that for a zero-sum game?

A peaceful day - Rare but True

2007-01-25T06:24:00.000-08:00

Today was not like any other day. Today the skies were grey and the clouds were thick, but all was quiet on the praire.

Ok, enough of the satire. Even though the weather outside was gloomy, things were beautifully peaceful and calm in our office. The bloody rat went to the factory all day and the other big boss and many engineers were there as well.

How wonderful it was! Even better, the big big boss was still trying to be nice and decent to those of us who remained. Did not create much problem. He decided to pick his fights well and only bullied the truly bulliable ones.

Sad side point is that the fining aspect still has not stopped and I doubt it will stop anytime soon.

LJ's Half Day

2007-01-24T01:11:00.000-08:00

I decided to take half day off today. Wow, it feels good! In fact, I couldn't stop smiling all morning knowing that I have just a few hours to temporary freedom and just a few days to permanent ones.

Anyway, the big big boss isn't happy with me that's for sure. He does not talk to me (again) and for good reason too. But he expressed disaapointment cordering on being upset at the fact that I voiced my reasons at him the day before. DUH. He kept asking so if I gave him the honest answers and he doesn't like it, its his fault. Not that he'd remember any of that.

So today's blog is here earlier than most days cos i'm at home. *yawn* Until tomorrow....

Talking to the Wall

2007-01-23T05:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I managed to reduce my long notice period from 2 months to about 3 weeks. Here's how I did it:

First, I miffed the big big boss by answering his question on "why are you leaving?". I decided to be candid when he incessently prodded me for a specific answer while I was trying to help him save face by giving generalised answers. My candid answers were of course not accepted by him (like how he fires staff, how decisions are made and remade and remade). And so it was as if I was talking to a wall. I had no effect.

The wall had all sorts of deflections for my "accusations". Apparantly he perceives that numerous companies out there do the same bag checking thing and escorting of staff when they are leaving. (erronous reasoning since he picks and chooses whom he deems potential criminals.) Then the wall basically turned a deaf ear to the decision making point and simply answered with a dumb question "what's wrong with the way I make decisions?" In the end, he brushed it all off with the comment that everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

So I miffed him. Then I miffed him again by asking the smaller boss for permission to leave earlier instead of going straight to the big boss. Ha! In doing so, I irritated the big boss enough that he would not want to keep me longer. So when I asked him yesterday afternoon, he did not fight me.

FREEDOM..... HERE I COME!!!!

The Bloody Rat

2007-01-22T04:43:00.000-08:00

Today's entry is on the Bloody Office Rat. BOR.

The BOR in the O3 environment unabashedly stabs EVERYONE in the back so as to up his status with the big big boss. Some background: BOR was a Director at one point in the prior year but ended up being dropped due to lack of something or other. BOR is now a Manager again. Senior of course.

When BOR started work this year, he put his new plan to regain the upper hand into action. BOR one day spotted two unknowing and quite new office staff chatting online through Jabber (PSI or Neos) with references to a certain dark lord in the star wars movie. Little did BOR know that it was in reference to himself...he assumed that they were talking about the big big boss. So he took the opportunity to rat on them. One got fired a few days later in the style of the previous blog entry.

Today, BOR has managed not only to practically scrap the Jabber in the office and make life inconvenient for others (yes, we do use it for WORK!), he has requested to read more logs of more staff. Even staff who are already resigning! Hmm...makes you wonder what makes a Bloody Office Rat tick.

On a better note, I have managed to reduce my notice time by a whoppin' 62.5%! Woohoo! I get to leave the O3 environment at the end of the month. *Applause* Thank you...Thank you...

LJ's Great Escape

2007-01-21T02:51:00.000-08:00

I, LJ, will be documenting my great escape from the O3 environment. Ever since submitting my letter of resignation, the mini-boss has been hounding me to complete the planning for just about every aspect of the project save for actually selling the final product myself.

The big boss has gone out of his way to not talk to me about my resignation. He tries to assimilate information through multiple requests of information from my fellow-collegues. Of course his attempt to cover it up by telling them not to tell me is upsurd. They are my friends and hence his foe.

I am planning and hoping to leave asap. I doubt I will be able to retain my sanity and my morality and my dignity if I had to stay the entire duration. God would have to help me or intervene in this situation.

Until tomorrow....

You Are Wasting My Time

2007-01-19T23:35:00.000-08:00

If an employee resigns, most companies would like to release that person with as little bad karma and negativity as possible.

In this O3 environment, the big boss almost NEVER lets people go without either:
1) Making them cry or,
2) Threaten not to pay them by using the "I'll donate your pay to charity instead." ploy (There is no record of these so-called donations) or,
3) Humiliate them before they leave by swearing at their face and forcing the foreigners to listen to him by holding on to their work permits until he has said his fill or,
4) Cursing their family and their qualifications or,
5) Stating that they wasted his time or,
6) Screaming about how ungrateful they are.

Those are all the points I can think of for the moment. He has made men and women cry too. He has threatened to fist fight people as well.

I strongly believe the O3 environment is on the way to its demise. I, LJ, has decided to leave this horrid place. Many thanks to all my friends for your support. The blog will continue on...stay tuned.

Begin by thinking of the End

2007-01-16T05:32:00.001-08:00

The title of this post is exactly what sounds like some kind of motivational speech or management text. In the regular world, it would make sense and maybe be the title of the next bestseller. But once again, this is the O3 environment that we are talking about.

The O3 biggest boss had decided to spend money on this brain child of his. (note: he obviously does not remember the A Penny Saved is A Penny Earned story he tells us) He invested in many T-shirts emblazoned with the above catch phrase and distributed them. Presently he has distributed them only to the export department (the sole surviving department) and the workers.

Everytime someone walks by me with in that T-Shirt, I envision the end to be resigning from O3 and I bet that thought has permeated the minds of many, if not all, the staff. Its a meaningful T-shirt to have afterall.

Hey, I want one!

The Quiet Frontline

2007-01-15T00:20:00.000-08:00

Things seem to be silent at the frontline. Temporarily for sure. The mini-O3 boss has intensions to travel non-stop and of course, that means more $$$ out the O3 environment. This is not withstanding the fact that he'll use his cell phone even more often. And usually calls direct, ignoring cost saving measures like the use of IDD or a calling card. So there goes next year's bonus I figure.

This is what I call the O3's silent front. A quiet day is kind of like an impending doom. Calm before the storm; silence before the blast; the deafening sound of nothing before the explosion.

We'll have to wait and see.

Too Little Too Late

2007-01-12T20:14:00.000-08:00

TLTL. Too little too late.

It looks like the O3 environment is undergoing some kind of snake-like shedding of the skin. Seems this happens annually but its particularly thorough the last couple of months. Most years, the shedding is all year round and maybe you have a spike of 20% of shedding happen in a quarter. (in case you haven't understood what I man by shedding... its resignation / firing of staff).

Here are the statistics, the marketing department was annihilated last month, leaving one "new" guy left to run it. Poor fella joined us a few months ago. Export department was decimated as well leaving behind only the head and a couple of other staff to handle and teach all the new people. And then we have R&D. Engineers are resigning faster than the O3 bosses can replace them. Often, the replacements are scared off too. To date we have 10 staff resigning/ getting fired since December. That's almost 2 per week!

Yesterday, the O3 biggest boss probably suddenly understood that things are going to slow down drastically as morale dips once again. He did a TLTL action the whole day. It was uncanny behaviour. He smiled and tried to bring staff out for lunch (many politely turned him down) and even called staff into his room to nicely ask them whether they were resigning too. He gave staff he needed to stay strange things like free magazines. Its TLTL. Every one knows that you can't change the spots on a leopard. This leopard is so old and grumpy. You can't change his thinking and his emotions over night...or over weeks, or over months. It'd probably take another few years for true improvements to come to light...if ever.

TLTL in the O3 environment. Keep you posted on anymore strange occurances.

Awesome email

2007-01-10T21:03:00.000-08:00

I got this wonderful email in my inbox today, nobody replied to it. Stupidity is immeasurable. Check it out:

Dear Folks,

Appreciate your kind information on your new email addresses.
I have updated the list.

You should get this email otherwise please let me know .....ok ?

Thank you !

Have a nice evening !

XXX

Right... if anybody cannot read this post please send me a comment so I can fix it.

On The Fly Decision-Making

2007-01-10T02:33:00.000-08:00

Ok, the tv show 24 is very cool. Jack Bauer makes all these spur of the moment decisions. Several are unpopular, against the groove type decisions but the thing is that they are all the right decisions. By the last episode of the season, millions of lives are saved and the country is safe.

That type of decision making works for that type of job and environment. It most certainly would not work well in a project based engineering type environment. And yes, as you might have guessed, this is exactly what happens in the O3 environment.

Here's a recent example: Someone in the team located at HQ is resigning soon but as things would be here, the boss does not want to find a replacement for him. The boss thinks that the workers at the factory (located in a 3rd world foreign country that does not use english commonly) should be able to handle the task, since he saw them working for that moment in that one day. Now, the job of supervising the workers there becomes the problem of the team manager whom the boss requests that he go to the factory at least once a week to coach them.

In this scenario, the manager is thus taking over the job of technical designer and will inevitably waste a day every week there superising the workers at the factory. Chances are, only about 1 to 2 hours of meaningful work will be done there each time.

Savings? I suppose a couple thousand a month in not hiring a replacement. Expenditure, at least a thousand in salaried time spent of the manager going over plus transportation costs. I guess this makes monetary sense to the O3 bosses. Kudos to their greatness. Oh by the way, hiring a new tech designer means he can spend 20% of his time on this project and 80% of the rest of his time on other projects. Guess the 80% is worth less than a thousand bucks.

The Evil Creeping Effects of O3 in Life

2007-01-08T06:15:00.000-08:00

Today is a good day to use as an example of how the O3 environment is affecting our personal lives, personalities and our very natures.

See, this morning a good friend bought breakfast for me and I happened to do the very same for him as well. We've always worked well together and you could say we are practically siblings (no we are NOT gay). The O3 affects us greatly by bullying the friends around us. It makes our blood boil that others are getting bullied for no good reason.

Today, it finally got to us. For no good reason we started quarrelling. It wasn't a pleasant sight to see good friends quarrelling. Fortunately there was no audience but we felt awful after a few minutes and apologised and are ok once again. But I agree with my good friend...its the environment that truly seems to be tainting our innocent blood. Maybe after a long time, fangs and claws would appear.

Nasty stuff. This place should be the study of a sociology thesis/project. Or perhaps simply incorporated into a vampire/werewolf movie script.

Loyalty is the Worst Policy

2007-01-07T05:25:00.000-08:00

Most companies request for loyalty from their employees. That makes sense. High turnover rates should be the bane of companies where knowledge and information are important...and practically all engineering, technical related companies where R&D or product development are involved need to keep employees as long as possible to minimise loss of knowledge during transfer.

HR and commonsense tells you that long serving employees should be treated just as well or better than newer fresher employees right? Haha! In the O3 environment, only bad treatment is the same to everyone regardless of number of years of service.

Usually when staff resign here, you'll end up working harder and longer hours during your notice period. Most of the time, when the biggest boss is unable to find a replacement in time, he will ask you to stay longer out of the goodness of your heart. Leaving will remain uneventful, hopefully. On the other hand, should the biggest boss have a bad day (which is about 90% of the time) he will then ask you to leave immediately if you want to, and trust me under those unpleasant circumstances most just say yes. To futher exacerbate the resignee's embarrasement, he will call 2 of your fellow collegues to follow him to his cubicle to watch him pack up and ensure that he does not steal anything, then escort him out the building.

This latter scenario I have personally witnessed at least 5 times in the past year. So there you have it. It happens. And because of that, some of the long serving staff leave by going AWOL or simply destroy their work just before leaving out of spite. The O3 environment cultivates a den of wolves...either bite back or get bitten.

The Lord of the O3

2007-01-04T07:11:00.000-08:00

I think almost everyone would have experienced this phenomenon a few times in their working lives. Here at O3 its almost a weekly event. This story is a classic example.

Project team has a meeting with external clients/consultants. Mini-Big Boss (MBB) states his interest to be present at the kickoff meeting. Meeting date was set for Friday but 2 weeks before the meet, MBB says Thursday will be good for him. So team informs clients/consultants of date change. All is good.

The night before the meeting at about 2130hrs, MBB calls the team leader to request for a change in the timing of the meeting. He wants it moved forward by half an hour. Reason unknown.

Team leader calls the clients/consultants the next morning to request the change in timing. They are polite and oblige. That day, MBB is no where in sight in the morning. At lunch time, just before the meeting, he calls team leader to say that he is at the doctors and wants to discuss and prep the team leader on what to speak to the clients/consultants about. MBB then proceeds to request for them to return the next week for a follow up meeting where he would like to sit in. Again.

Ok, so he was ill. That's a valid reason, but it's the blatant disregard of respect and even noticing other people going out of the way to accommodate oneself that bugs me. Furthermore, no apolgies for the trouble. The old fashioned way was that bosses never said sorry as its a sign of weakness. In the present day, its a sign of disrespect. And that is why I call them the Lord of the O3.

The Suckor, The Sucker and The Sucks-to-be-me

2007-01-03T21:40:00.000-08:00

When they accept applications for their Masters for Business Administration, schools should have a section which asks potential students to select if they wish to belong to any of the 3 entities: Sucker, Suckor or Sucks-to-be-me. The Sucker is the guy that allows himself to be sucked up, the Suckor does the sucking up and the Sucks-to-be-me gets the short end of the stick. I believe these 3 different roles requires very different skill sets.

The Sucker needs to be able to stare at a mirror and see nothing but himself. The Suckor needs to be able to stand the sight of himself on the mirror. The Sucks-to-be-me needs a polished metal for a mirror so he won't smash his head in the mirror when he sees himself and land himself another 7 years of bad luck.

I had the opportunity once to have an objective view of this interaction at a meeting once. I was not involved and had a pure role as a scientific observer.

It was an annual meeting, the Sucker declared that this year was a great year for the department, the Suckor pounced to action with a "That's all thanks to your great leadership!". There was a visible cringing as the Sucks-to-be-mes synchronously flinched at the act, then recovered and thundered their applause.

Unlike LJ, I kinda like my job, maybe I reached job nirvana through years of study on Scott Adam's scripture: Joy of Work.

Stupid Coworkers: Analysis Paralysis

2007-01-02T19:56:00.000-08:00

We heard it all before: a major decision to be made and nobody wants to be the one to make it. In humanity's ingenuity, we have (at least offered) a solution for every problem we have encountered. This problem invites our solution: the consultants.

I had this very interesting conversation with a lawyer once about this nifty "decision-making" software that does all the Monte Carlo simulation to tell you how much each decision is worth to you. My lawyer friend concluded that all these software does is to produce great looking graphics to justify decisions already made by management. My reply was a enthusiastic "Wow! That's great! At least they get to a decision right?"

Which brings me to the point. Sometimes we just analyse a problem to death, if we do this and then that, something MIGHT happen. But is that probability of loss worth the opportunity cost of...etc? This is the stuff meetings are made of.

A lawyer went through one of our powerpoint slides to 'sanitise' it for language before presenting to the CTO. It was hilarious, because all the slides need to be changed! There are too many possibilities to capture and in the end we have great slides which gives no definite information but a vague gesticulation of a possibility of this moderately promising project. I watched the PhD researcher droop like dried flower as the lawyer continues to destroy his hard work, its sad but very entertaining.

Rewarding the Wrong Things

2007-01-01T17:34:00.000-08:00

In Japan there are policies being considered to force employees and companies in making leave plans so that staff have to take time off. As the name of this blog suggests, Japanese are killing themselves due to being overworked.

In the O3 environment, there is a method of rewarding and punishing that essentially moves the workplace into one that encourages negative thoughts... As a recent comic strip depicted, a worker had an annual appraisal coming up and was excited at the prospect of a good to great report since he worked late many nights and took less than half his alloted leave days. During the meeting, the boss frowns at the worker and says," Your performance is miserable! You were late twice for five minutes this year!".

How's that for appreciation eh? In my company's O3 environment that is almost what happens, except (if you read my previous blogs) they punish lateness with fines on the spot and ignore any other forms of staying late nights.

Go O3!!!

The shutdown that never happened

2006-12-28T18:30:00.000-08:00

In the O3 environment, we strive to motivate the employees by whatever means necessary. This encompasses plenty of lying and concocting of tales. Truly, the ability to weave stories out of thin air and make it complicated is a skill that the biggest of bosses must develop to his full extent if there's to be any sort of motivation.

Take for example how they managed to "motivate" us by dangling the possibility of a week long holiday during this past christmas week. In order to make it more believable, the story involved the next next most senior of bosses' putting up the proposal of the week long reprieve. The biggest of bosses would then pretend to hesitate and actually consider the idea, right up until the friday before christmas. With no announcements and just rumours flying around, it is postulated that work is improved and the spirit of the staff raised. Its all free. As usual.

Merry Christmas to all, the O3 way. Work work work!
(There's minimal xmas decor in the office too, so that the workers aren't distracted. That's the spirit of O3.)

Increasing Company Assets for Free

2006-12-25T18:59:00.000-08:00

This section will outline a valuable plan on how to increase your company's assets at no cost. Note that it is not low cost, but i'm speaking for virtually NO cost! For free!

Steps to Follow:

1) Lure an unsuspecting employee/worker/slave to request for financial aid in procuring what they believe will be a personal item. (In this case, it was a laptop.)

2) Remain vague about the terms of "loan" and do not write done anything in black and white.

3) If you have the O3 environment in place, the consistent change of decisions and policies will help you greatly later. If not, start manipulating and changing your procurement policies for employees now. Change them at least 3 times a week and always with different staff to add to the level of confusion.

4) Once the item has been purchased using the "loan" from the company. Secretely deduct the amount from the employee's paycheck for the next month but keep the item in use in the company and do not allow it to leave the building.

5) When confronted about the supposed "loan", scream and shout profanities. This will reduce the employee's desire to pursue the matter. Say that such important/high-tech items must remain for company use only since the company had to pay (albeit temporarily) for the item.

6) Remain upset at the employee and threaten to fire him/her. This aids in permanently shutting them up. If he/she repeatedly questions the matter, initiate a 10% pay cut. That would definitely shut them up.

So there you go. Although this scenario in this O3 environment involved a laptop, it would in principle apply to office stationery, IT equipment, pantry food, water, and even the air they breathe. Give it a try!

Boss at Fault? Imbossible

2006-12-22T05:16:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a tragic day for the poor engineers of the O3 environment. It all started when the staff were going about their usual start of the day routines by clocking in. Upon looking for THE key that would open the mystical door to their office, it was missing! *play low and loud tragic music*

The engineers looked for the bunch of keys in the usual spot but it wasn't there. They hunted high and low then found it on the Big Boss' table and...his glass door was locked! Isn't it tragic? So, what is there to do since the Big Boss is the only one with the key to his door? One of them had to call him to come to office. And come to office he did, reaching a good 30 mins late.

How does the O3 environment react to this scenario? The Big Boss calls everyone into his glass office and blames the engineerins. He perceives the issue to be the engineers fault for not having brought up the system flaw of having no extra set of keys set somewhere else. (note: the system is the Big Boss', so go figure.) To add insult to injury he demands that all engineers stay back after work for an hour in order to atone for their sins.
This system is very effective. The O3 environment has won once again. It managed to get extra hours of free labour extracted from the engineers and the Big Boss remains guilt and error free.

Learn from O3 and make your business grow at minimal cost!

O3 way to save space and money

2006-12-18T06:21:00.000-08:00

Here in the O3 environment, senior management is attempting to expand and make the company one of the elite in its industry. As such, changes must be made and let me list some of these changes:

1) Hire more "qualified" workers. First fire or let go the experienced and more expensive employees. Either make life impossible for them or threaten to deduct their wages for the smallest infractions. Then place an ad in the newspapers about how GREAT the company's O3 environment is. Its all in the wording. Interview as many potentials and hire the cheapest ones.

2) Save money in having to expand in terms of renting another building or office space. Make more office space by shrinking everyone's cubicle. Cram as many people as possible in the smallest confines. Cubicle size should not be larger than 4 ft long table.

3) If any rooms or areas are not utilized (other than some sapce for walking) it means that you can take back all the space, force the staff into half the area they need, and use that space for money MAKING purposes like warehousing stock and shipment.

4) Throw away as much "useless" items as possible. This includes all research and filed paper materials. They take up space and space equals money. Its all in the rent per sq foot and the wage per minute.

Follow the steps above and you'll have people working like sardines in a can for the price...of well, sardines in a can.

And as usual...the above is all true in the O3 environment I work in.

The Explosion of the Year

2006-12-11T06:05:00.000-08:00

Lovely what losing your temper can do in one day. The amount of destruction from having uncontrollable emotions always has a shock and awe effect.

Take for example the happenings in today's O3 envinronment. Boss was happy one moment and mad the next. Happy times were with his family and he even gave pay increases to confirmed staff that day. Angry...now angry is baring his pearly white teeth.

Boss got mad. Boss began the rampage of shouting and screaming. Louder than normal. One person got fired. No two. Another one resigned on the spot. A fourth fawn got caught in the crossfire and dragged into the war zone. Boss fought and hit hard. He yelled more and hit more. "It hurts!" she cried. "Yes it should!" he replied. And on it went. She left the building in a hurry and saw a doctor. Perhaps even the police thereafter.

*pause. sounds fake? like a fairy tale? The above is true.*

Well, for the ones that got fired, their jobs fell on those left behind and even had to go to poor souls in other departments who had no idea what to do with it. Everyone is frustrated and disgusted. How can we raise morale? I say the solution is obvious. Replace the boss.

Signing and the Meaning Within

2006-12-04T22:50:00.000-08:00

I was taught at a young age, to make my signature one that's beautiful and tough to copy. It was something that would be used to identify me from others.

Signatures are supposed to be sacred. You sign them on your wedding certificate. You sign them on payment slips and cheques as authorisation. You sign them on your passport to identify yourself. It is unique.

In the O3 environment, signatures are well used in many ways. "Promise you never do this again XXX. Sign it." Sounds meaningful? Not when the circumstances in the O3 environment are peppered with "signed" and forced promises written on pieces of scrap paper that are likely to be lost and forgotten. The sacred signature loses its treasured meaning here...thus i usually just scrawl a curvy line.

Which of course leads to another topic - promises and their meaning. But that's another story for another day.

Middle Management - Quantum Management

2006-11-29T04:16:00.000-08:00

If you O3 a micro-manager, you get into the special level of Quantum-management. Take a look at this cool article on Micro Management . I particularly am bemused by the concept of WIIFM - What's In It For Me?

You see, in the O3 environment, we have 3 top level staff that own the company. In owning the company, they are either (1) a detail-loving beaver, or (2) a do-this-now tiger, or (3) a forge-ahead-asap bear. We have all three here and they a distinct entities yet being of the same family, I guess, one and the same.

Today I shall focus on the do-this-now tiger. The tiger is obsessed with solving problems here and now. No need to take half a day to think about it, solve it now, preferable within 30 seconds or less. Once there's a solution available, do not waste time to consider any other possibilities. Simply do-it-now and go and solve it. If that does not solve it, you must be lousy. The tiger will implement a different solution off the top of its head and you'll have to try again. Nevermind if others who are affected are unaware. Don't waste time. Just do it. So instructions are flying out of the tiger's office and if the tiger forgets, it must be forgiven for it has too much work to it. Quantum management in effect.

WIIFM is the cascading domino effect of the tiger's style. The poor engineer who receives his instant and likely to change instructions, starts wondering...WIIFM? Usually the answer is "a waste of time". Anyone have had such WIIFM experiences? Please share by commenting. I'd love to know that I am not the sole survivor of this environment.

Dynamic Management

2006-11-28T05:12:00.000-08:00

Dynamic Management - The O3 Way

Let me teach you about the tricks of dynamic management, the O3 way.

1) Keep changing all policies, from HR and payroll, to procurement forms and paper work required.

2) Give little to no notice of the changes. This will keep everyone on their toes and hopping about.

3) Fine those that do not follow regardless of whether they know about the change(s). Again, repeat hopping action.

4) Should employees request information or direction, look busy shuffling the mountains of paper on your table and ask "is it urgent?" or "so what's the next step?". Do not forget to change your mind a few hours to a few days later without informing the employee. *hop hop*

5) Spy on the workers through the glass office and walk around rearranging their "stuff" on the talbe regardless of whether you know what it is for. Better yet, just recycle it. You'll be doing the earth a favour, nevermind the employee's silent wails in the background.

The above will instill a sense of constant change in a business, which I'm told means:

a) better understanding of business goals,

b) faster uncertainty management of business goals,

c) flexibility in to contracts (yeah!),

d) accelerated communication amongst the staff.

*I know nothing stays the same....But if you're willing to play the game....It will be coming around again....*

Karoshi Explained

2006-11-27T02:53:00.000-08:00

Karoshi in Japanese means to die of overwork. This strange phenomena was first sighted in Japan in 1969 and has continued to plague Japan in the 1980s so much so that the ministry of labour had to take some concrete actions. While the Japanese government has wisely taken several remedies including reducing the amount of bullshit in the Japanese work environment such as tossing rice at collegues faces while they are taking a shit. The world at large is blissfully unempathetic.

Karoshi is treated, in other parts of the world, as if it were some occult science like UFOs. But I do propose that the Karoshi is coming with no more scientific analysis than than to state that the amount of work is infinite, the cases of office bullshit (OB) is increasing, and the fact that spontaneous combustion is actually real.

So in true testament to occupation science, I will (with your help) chart all occurances of OB as well as other forms of Karoshi hazards. Maybe by being in the front line reporting and experiencing Karoshi, a stray bullet might find me and someday this blogger will stop blogging.

Overtime

2006-11-24T22:13:00.000-08:00

Overtime. Let me teach you the O3 way of gaining as much OT for free from your staff.

Technique 1: Pay for no overtime = Free labour.
Technique 2: 5 mins before the end of work, call the staff into your office to discuss some minute matter. Call more staff in for the same purpose at the same time. With such a large number of people in your office, by the time you are done and they leave together, it will be a good 30 mins after work.
Technique 3: Fine staff for arriving to work late. Use a punch card to monitor these times regardless of whether they are paid by the hour.
Technique 4: For staff to avoid further fines, they must work 3 times the duration they were late for.
Technique 5: Stare at staff who leave on time disapprovingly as they walk past your office.
Technique 6: Force staff to stay back by the sheer amount of work they have to do - usually 2 person's job.

By following the above, you get:
free overtime from staff = free labour and savings for the company. (c.f. a penny saved is a penny earned)

Welcome to Karoshi Cube

2006-11-23T09:05:00.000-08:00

We want to welcome you to Karoshi Cube, a blog about the often frustrating practices of our managers, and our peers in the modern office environment. We? Yes, we are three (this will be the only entry written by all 3 of us). Let us introduce ourselves.

I am The Coconut. I am a consultant for internet technologies. I've worked in a multinational company of thousands, a local company of 10, and I currently work for myself.

I am LJ. I am an engineer. At least I think so. The O3 environment has made me doubt my qualifications though. I am a human being...perhaps.

I am Blind Dog. I am an engineer for an MNC all my life. Blind dogs don't climb trees or corporate ladders, so my name appears at the bottom of every org chart. But, hey! Who's complaining? I'm a manager, I manage my sanity.

Why another blog? We're all rather amused by how a bunch of individuals, when put together, asked to achieve a common goal by working together, with a structure of leadership created around them, function. Throw in the fact that resources (for example promotions) are limited, and there's a very strange atmosphere of cooperation and manoeuvring which is affectionately known as Office Politics. Now the leaders of this mishmash of conflicting interests have found out that these interests often hinder the achievement of the common goal, and thus have created rather odd rules, known to the mishmash as Policies, to help align these interests. The result is a weird and funny behaviour by all parties.

This blog explores these behaviours.

Call it a pschology experiment. In order for this experiment to work, we need EVERYONE's participation. Please contribute. The larger the sample population, the more accurate our discussions will be.

Which leaves only one question. What IS a Karoshi Cube? We'll leave that to our resident business and management expert Blind Dog to explain that. We expect it'll be a future blog entry. We expect it to be rather disappointing.

Yes, No, Stay, Go

2006-11-23T06:02:00.000-08:00

Here's a concept. If you don't want someone, boot them out the door. Leave a fine reminder in terms of a footprint deeply imprinted on their behinds. This will humiliate them and utterly destroy any goodwill you may have with them. BUT the good thing is, you will have saved the company many days of potentially wasted salary on this useless individual. Thereafter, should you actually find that you might need it as an after effect, you can always bring them back in, offer them a second chance to return to the O3 environment. Make it their fault for leaving in the first place and place your generosity as the reason why they are offered this precious second chance.

On the other hand....should the someone voluntarily want to leave in the first place, look displeased and reject this ridiculous idea. Make him stay longer than he want to by pricking his conscience that there's no one to take over his job duties. This is likely to cause this individual to stay back at least twice his notice period.

Viola! New HR tactics to save money and reduce the need to find new staff.

*Confession is good for the soul but bad for your career*

A penny saved is a penny earned

2006-11-22T05:07:00.000-08:00

This day was a parody of sorts. Think of it as a moment of total recall mixed in with thoughts of beautiful flowers blooming in the midst of large splattering raindrops. Its just something that's impossible to understand. You try it:

The management motto has moved in the financial direction once again - "A penny saved is a penny earned." Ok. So not very investment-sounding right? But the motto is explained to be applying only to all the lowly staff. Senior management is exempt.

Doesn't sound like a big deal? Let me further expound - staff are urged to not take the taxi when possible. Please take the cheaper forms of public transport. The ones that do not give receipts for claims- buses and trains. Next, staff are booked hostel rooms in the red light district (its even cheaper) when lodging in expensive european countries while senior management stays at a 5-star hotel. Next, staff are required to utilize international calling cards when making overseas calls. Senior management spends more than $10000 per month on the phone making international calls direct.

So here's the solution to saving what is even more important, the staff's own pennies. Why take the bus or train? Walk and please do it barefoot. Your shoe soles will wear out and it costs money to replace/ repair. Save the hostel lodging money (only if you can keep the dough in your pocket, else it defeats the purpose) by sleeping on the streets and begging. Earning in euros is good money. Sell the minutes on your international calling card to people on eBay. See? Its the little actions that will slowly put the dough where it belongs. The people.

*I saved money by eating at a hawker center today* - The Big Boss

The O3 Environment

2006-11-21T06:43:00.001-08:00

Working in the O3 (to be read as Oh-Cube) environment teaches engineers, sales staff, marketing staff, IT staff and all that stuff the anti-management rules. Hi, I am here to impart the lessons I have learnt and observed on anti-management styles while working in the O3 environment.

An introduction to the O3 environment
O3's are usually businesses run by and within the family. Kind of like the godfather clans, it is tough to break into unless one shows incredible loyalty, works hard and is able to withstand gangster like slurs and actions. In similar fashion, the only other way to gain favour from the godfather is to have some kind of relation to one of the family members.

So stay tuned to learn about how O3s work, and all the things NOT to do if you want your business to succeed without killing, destroying and suffocating your labour force.

*You can age faster than a firefly, lose your sense of decency and burden your heart and soul, all simply by working in an O3* - Karl (fired twice, rehired twice, resigned forever)

Experiment: Work

2006-11-14T00:59:00.000-08:00

How much of our lives are spent in a stasis? Doing mundane activities that somebody else would use as part of a more mundane activity. Fortunately, there is such a thing as karoshi meaning "death from overwork". It is not exactly a global killer... but its getting there.

I plan to keep a log of all my experiences and encounters and categorize them like Darwin in Galapagos. Maybe we can find the same creatures in our different environments, for those of you who have not started working this would be a useful introduction "Wk1001: Introduction To Work".

Please leave your comments, I would love to know if we have similar sightings!