Corporate Revolution
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Friday, July 27, 2007
Thursday always the day i look out for cos after that, its the long weekend for me, and i look forward to the outings with Benjamin (and sometimes Kenneth and Hakim if they do come) after office.
I met him at Samsung to retrieve my phone which i orginally intended to agree to repairs. Initial dignostic costs abt $26 which is irrelevant or 'sunk'. Estimated FULL costs of repair as according to the counter staff on last sat, was around $68, which was why i agreed to the diagnostic cost.
Little did i expect the actual full cost to rise up to a wide margin. It became $119.54, which is like a 75% increase from $68! What is this?! A margin call payment?(something i learned from the present firm i am working in)
I disagreed to the repairs and promptly, we took a walk to Sushi Tei. Beside me were 2 Japanese 'trainees' in their 40s to 50s. I took the initiative to say hi when my eyes and the other guy's met(guess its part of my on the job training at the FIRM that equips me with the social skills to break the ice b/w strangers, and it helps if the office climate is a treacherous one to begin with)
He asked if I was a native Singaporean and i said yes and he wouldn't believe that the majority of Singaporeans are Singapore-born and bred. (he has the conception that many Singaporeans were 'Malaysian-Singaporeans')
I asked him abt his opinions of Shinzo Abe and the upcoming Upper House elections in 3 days time and the sensitive issue plaguing the pension system in Japan and he replied that Shinzo is basically, going to lose this one.
And then i talked abt my tour in Japan and how i like Kyoto in contrast to Tokyo and he fully agreed that Kyoto is a much better place to live in. He also spoke abt the opposite sex and the funny encounters he had with the local women here, which i shan't elaborate because of its brawdiness.
People were looking at me and the Japanese. I guess they must have been shocked that i was ale to strike a conversation with them. And i did this w/o uttering a single word of Japanese. you dont need to speak Japanese to talk to them. Some simple English and genuine sincerity and adequate knowlege of their country does the job unduly well. They treated me and Ben to 2 bottles of Sake. I prefered the first one because it tasted sweet but according to them, that's not REAL sake.
The second bottle was stronger and i felt flushed immediately. They offered to pay me and Ben's dinner(YES its true!) but hey man, their treat for the sake is good enough. With that, they left first.
Strangely, we didn't even introduce ourselves properly. No names, addresses and email exchanges. I would say the whole talk was a roller coaster ride-we were interested to know abt each other but somehow, these were left out!
Next week in store, i guess i shall have lunch and possibly dinner with the French ORM(Ops Risk Manager). Am really going to be interested in his views of Singapore. He's only 2 years my senior and perhaps, we shall talk abt things related to our age group.
"So say We all"
Trampoline out
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Yup, it appears that i have not been updating regulary unlike the flurry of posts which i has during the first few weeks of work. It appears that everything is becoming routine, such that i even began to think of an apt depiction of life in the derivatives business, asa part-time. If someone askes me something like, "So whats the plan for work today?". The answer shall be, "The same as yesterday". Pretty simple. Pretty boring. Definately routine.
Ken, the Dutch/French who could potentially be my first foreign friend/lunch buddy, has left for greener pastures. He's sent to Hong Kong for 3 months and that means when he's back, i won't be around for good. We chatted after work and i remembered him asking me LOTS of questions which borders on the ones being personal to the ones being hilarious and crazy, for example name me the hottest 3 BABES in the FIRM. Sadly, i really can't think of any.
He joked that once i graduate, i shall sit in the Compliance Manager's chair. No thanks dude, having worked as a part timer in that department, i realized that reading through TONS of documents, coordinating with the various unco-operative departments and answering to MAS auditors directly, isn't exactly what i call an exciting job. I rather be in investment banking.
Another bad news, my compliance manager is leaving soon. This time, he got a better paying job(and hopefully, a more friendlier environment) at another firm. Fortunately, he's leaving after i am leaving and that leaves us ample time for lunching.
I really enjoy lunch with him. He offers great insights into the finance industry, the ideal career route one should pursue, what jobs to avoid if possible and of cos, studying studying and more studying.
One of the reason i hang out with him is because he takes me to places beyond raffles place. To be honest, there are many eateries at where i work but few good ones to lunch at. Furthermore, we sometimes overshot the 1hr for lunchbreak and coming back with a manager gives me more "legitimacy" as compared to coming back alone late.
I ate for the first time with the IT staff and he's Indian. We ate Indian food( I suggested cos i like Indian food) and thats where i got to know the 'other' perspective of the other staff.
for example, who dislikes who and all that.
Best of all, he treated him the whole lunch set.
As for the Client Support Officer, she's gone through a remarkable change: apart from the new haircut, she seems more polite and gracious nowadays. I don't know why. She thanks me for the work being done(which was very uncommon initially) and even does not scold or reprimand me for the various silly mistakes i made.
The stock market is unpredictable. So is life. And to better illustrate the point, i have the NS asking me back for a briefing tmr. Frak that!