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| My new office |
They gave me a laptop for work. So that I could do part of their office work. So the taichi-ing began. Like a sponge that I was trained to be in Singapore, I absorbed new responsibilities after new responsibilities. It didn't matter to me. So long as I could knock off at 1630 hrs most of the time, I would be happy.
No table, no problem. I moved into a makeshift corner by pulling one of the work bench out using a forklift. They provided me a printer so that I could make labels, print cutting lists and stuffs like that. No chair? No problem. With broken pallets, a handsaw and recycled nails, I made myself one. It was clumsy and didn't look great. It was huge and could take me even if my butt was twice as big. But I had gotten it strong and stable enough, that was all it mattered. My office was completed.
Sitting under the air con sucked. Fortunately, I could avoid most of emitted stale air in that blind spot. Still, I could get some blowing in my direction and it didn't feel alright. It was terribly cold air these few weeks. I just had to imagine what I would be experiencing next Summer, if I am still working here. If the company doesn't fold by then, I reckon I will be so I will need to address the potential problem of having my face baked everyday. For one, I would avoid being at my 'desk' as much as I could. That will be the best I can do for now. No other place in the workshop seems to be more suitable than this corner.
This would be heaven as compared to engineers who had to flip drawings under direct hot sun for a few hours a day. No one was complaining here. The big picture was the negative outlook of the economy not just in Perth but the whole of Australia. Just yesterday, I read news about Caltex retrenching 300 staff in Sydney as it planned to close down its refinery there. My company's business was to provide high quality stud bolts to the oil and gas industry thus things didn't look good now. The boss had planned to branch out to the mining and construction industry but business was slowing down across all industries as well so there was nowhere to hide.
Uncle Lai tried his best to advice us against moving to Perth, citing 'bad times' like this awaited us. He was right and wrong. His prediction of a slowdown was true but I strong disagreed that there was a bad or good time to move. Every 2-3 years the world faces some form of financial crisis, natural disaster, war or virus outbreak. Every 7 years or so, the world encounters a major financial collapse. One will never be able to time a 'right time' to move. Even if you could, so what. You will encounter the next 'bad time' just before you will even get settled down.
What gave me a bit of confidence was that if I needed to, I could pick up any job in the market and be able to get by. To me, a recession means a lack of desirable jobs. The world doesn't stop spinning just because a few bankers or accountants get laid off. People still eat as many burgers as Mac Donald's. Fruits and vegetable still needs to be harvested. Broken things still have to be repaired. Dirty streets still have to be cleaned.
yep, time to plant some chokos in your backyard...hardy plant,almost every part of this fruiting vegetable can be eaten. Can tahan cold weather,,,
ReplyDelete> I could pick up any job in the market and be able to get by.
ReplyDeleteI agree. That's the huge difference between staying in Singapore and moving to a (IMHO) "real" first-world country. In Canada, if one loses one's job due to no fault of one's making (e.g. retrenchment, company closed down), one can get Employment Insurance payout that will cushion the impact of the job loss. Thus, recession or boom times, life is still better for employees here in Canada than in Singapore.
Hope things work out for the best for you.
thats positive thinking !
ReplyDeleteit's the same everywhere la... just that in singapore a lot of the retrenchment were not reported.
ReplyDeleteeveryone everywhere is bracing for another financial fallout next year or so...
Jia You. Keep up the spirit lah. No worry you will survive if your attitude is positive and you are resourceful. Your office looks good lah. I got no office. At least you do. Lol!
ReplyDelete