Beggers Can't Be Choosers

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

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:

1. 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?
2. 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.
   
3. 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.
4. 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
5. 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!

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!

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...

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

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

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.