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Here's some rather outdated news I heard some weeks back but didn't manage to get around to putting it up.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

Reverse, Forward, Neutral Engineering

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

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

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.