Monday 30 July 2007

We REALLY deserve it

I know you're probably bored with my modern slavery entries but I really have to say this... Last week, I talked about how a hero emerging from the crowd of modern slaves to bring the concerns of many to the right channel will probably have to stand on his one. And of course, it is not easy to find a hero amongst us. Furthermore, who is brave enough to be the hero? It’s an act akin to career suicide.

But lo and behold… a hero emerged amongst us… or should I say, someone was willing to be the hero. Why is someone brave enough to put his ass on the line? Well, the reason is plainly simple… he has already left this company.


One of my former slave who is now plying his slave-hood somewhere else wrote me an e-mail asking me if he should write a long e-mail to the big boss telling her about ‘the hate one’ and also to put forward our general concerns. I was absolutely thrilled of course! After a series of mail exchange, I suggested that perhaps it is also a good idea to ask the rest of the modern slaves in my department to see if they have any specific concerns which they intend to put forward. Since this brave soul is already going to do it, why not right?
Thus, he drafted an e-mail and sent it to a few of us, about 10 actually… ya’ know, those who always bitch during lunch. He asked if we have anything to add. You know what happen?

No one responded to his e-mail besides me. NOT… EVEN… A SINGLE… ONE… OF THEM!

So here we have someone who has left the company and is willing to burn his bridge with this company by writing a long (yeah, it’s damn long) e-mail to the department head. He is going to send this e-mail under his name and guess what? No one is even supportive enough to reply his mail and said “good”!

At the end of the day, I told the brave soul that it is not worth it for him to send the mail since no one even dares to put in a point or two behind the scene. I was thinking; if a briefing is called and the big boss asks whether all those points raised in the e-mail are valid, I wonder how many will actually put up their hands and say yes. The result will probably make the brave soul look very stupid.

There you have it… and this is not fabricated. It’s as zewt as it gets, it actually happened! To say that we probably deserve to be exploited is an understatement. We REALLY deserve it! All those unpaid over-time, all those un-approved leave, all those empty promises, all those bitching that we did… WE… REALLY… DESERVE… IT!

Why not then the brave soul put forward his points and mine and forgets about the rest? Well, let’s just say I already have a future plan…

P/S: A new poll is out… vote vote vote!

51 comments:

TingTitLei said...

how sad... but i guess this situation is pretty common. even in high school, when we plan to tiu a teacher by sending the headmistress a letter noone dared to speak up at all.

and no ppp!

Anonymous said...

Even Peter denied 3 times that he knows Jesus..

*nuff said*

Anonymous said...

P/S: No PPP!! I'm not really into blogs that have those PPP or sponsored stuff..It's annoying actually.

rainbow angeles said...

Yeah!!! NO PPP!!!

Those 9 ppl... really sad...

Anonymous said...

well, zewt I guess it's back to square one - ur fellow slaves are still afraid to speak up, because they fear for their job security.

let me explain! :D

- The brave one send the mail to the boss.

- The boss, calls for an URGENT meeting, which conveniently for u slaves... falls... after normal working hours :P So sit ur sorry ass while waiting for the meeting.

- Oh, to make things more interesting, the boss also calls the hated one to be present at the meeting.

- The boss asks, whether you fellow slaves have any actual concern against the hated one as stated in the mail.

- Who would speak up at that instant? I'll be honest - if I were in that situation, I WOULD NOT speak up. I guess that's how it is, for ur fellow colleagues.

You don't know what might happen after that meeting. People fear they might be judged from now on. Another one may miss an awaited promotion, because the boss didn't agree to the mail in the first place! Someone might lose his job even! These are just possibilities of course :).

But then, most of us would be thinking about these... and prefer not saying anything... and be 'thankful' that they at least have a job...

that's my L-pinion :) quite long!

Bee Ean said...

wah, so you are actually the bravest among all your coworkers! Bravo!

Anonymous said...

People will talk behind the back and do all sorts of things when they are no longer attached
To ask them to stand on their own feet when they are still attached, I doubt anyone would do it
Unless of cos, you're putting a big letter on the table tomorrow

Ehon said...

malaysianssss.. "tak apa LAH"

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry to agree but it's just so damn true.

I mean, I would rather choose to confront the "hated one" than try to make the boss understand anything.

Seriously, our opinions are not "opinion-worthy". Only the words of those shoe-lickers make sense to the boss.

So, the option is always to... find a better place, as my once very wise ex-colleague once told me,

"It doesn't matter where you work, bosses are the same. What's important are your colleagues".

Anonymous said...

legal way in m'sia would be a union; check participant 1st, but those dungus have no balls..

orthodox method will be flyers.. don't qoute me.. i only did it once!! and it work bigtime~

Anonymous said...

Sometimes when it comes to this sort of senario, would u consider it verbal "betrayal" when during luncheon or other time when u guys chat bout how sucky the hated person was and they all agreed on this and that and said things like would support the person who wrote the letter bla bla bla..yet when the moments come, they just back off?

And in ur case, not just one person, it's 9 person backing off!

I mean, how stoopid can that be?

This is one main reason why ppl who complains so much are mostly also verbal-unreliable. They can just back off anytime and treat like it didnt happen.

Yes, I guess it's true, most of the corporate slaves deserve what they get cos all they ever do is all talk, no action.

PS : I can say all these now cos I havent got any mortgage of my own, any family of my own to support and any other responsibilities that comes from losing my job, so basically, I've got nothing to lose.

Horny Ang Moh said...

I thought u know! We have a lot of NATO amount us! So now u should know why nobody throw the jelly fish back to the sea eventhought everyone is yelling 'Save the world'.BTW I do hope u know what I am writting about, definetly no about 'save the world'.Oh r u throwing back jelly fish back to the sea. I heard the chance for u to throw is quite near.Have a nice day!

Azlan Zed said...

my salute to the brave comrade. he's fighting for his rights. :)

Acute Critique said...

that's reality.

yeah, it sucks but what to do? so many 'chickens' around.

personally, i salute you. and i can proudly say that i'll do the same.that's why it pissed me off so much when NATOs appear. i will openly critised him/her and ask them to f*ck off. why bother giveng your opinion when you are just gonna hide behind and say nothing?

choose your friends amongst the colleagues well, for then you can see which is your TRUE friend.

Rabbit said...

People are like that one lah, damn no guts one.

Remember I talked bout that paria and bias lecturer of mine? All my friends agreed to go complain about her at first, and when I really wanted to do that and asked for a companion, most of them turned me down. Damn!

me said...

haiyah! why u no say they got 'yee hei' mahhhh...don't want to poke one of their own ppl infront of the big boss? make people lose their job and the income to feed the 20ppl household, later ppl no money to feed the crying babies, how??? *blinking innocently*

bible teach must give ppl the other face when kena slapped mah, isn't it? (sorry, i not very familiar with the bible) even sheep got loyalty one mah, eventhough one of them is black.

you get the funny feeling i'm talking crap? *kicking myself out of here*

Weig said...

Just made a fool out of your Jelly Fish story, didn't it? All those who swore allegiance to your cause, who spoke of speaking up and all that "we support you" crap. Push comes to shove, everyone dug a hole and buried their heads into the ground.

Anonymous said...

To be fair to zewt, I felt convicted after reading his prior blog and I realised I have yet to complete my personal exit checklist. This is always the one point I left out... hmmm...

One would say it is deliberately done but who wants to always look back when you can and should place your hope towards the future?

I know it might be futile and it is a career damaging move but what the heck, if no one speaks up like zewt said, we all deserve the treatment we are getting. So what if the bridge is burned, am I going to cross back and be prepared for the same pain and torture? Sigh...

Yes, zeroimpact, I know it is more worthwhile to confront at the workplace but I think to be fair, you would need to see who you are dealing with before even starting with "Er...".

Also, would you want to speak up knowing that behind all the charrades that the top management will put up to demonstrate they are doing something and in actual fact, nothing changes?

Would you want to break your own rice bowl in doing so?

So many considerations and so much back bending...

It is very hard indeed and yes, one can say, we all deserve it.

Anonymous said...

yeah, well deserved .. tok kok oni. dude, I voted on ur poll. I say if you do that pay per post thingy, I'll stop reading ur blog .. I think, that is one of the major turn offs in most of my frens blog. too much ... once in a blue moon, ok la but still .. it kinda make ur blog not so beautiful .. :)

Jorji said...

Shit fuck!
Peluang macam tu bukan datang selalu!!
I wonder why the rest of yr frens tak reply the email..
Damn!!

The hate one always 'untouchable' lar..

Kat sini pun ada sorang...'si botak jahanam' kitaorang panggil.
:)

ahjohn said...

zewt oh zewt:

i dunno if some comments can be somewhat counter to the blog. well. i am a brave soul to do it this time.

i took up some management sometime back. we learn few things. 1/ what is wrong and despite it still running, must be left alone. all companies have their policies, where we do not go to a place and change it. we need to adapt to the internal culture, background, way of doing things etc. because the company works that way and it seems they are still profiting from it shows that they are not all wrong after all. short saying: if you cant beat them, join them..

2/ when i started my career in a well knowb company, a very elderly man was assigned to be my supervisor. he told me that that was his last day in the office. And boss assign him to take care of me for one day (how sweet). he said to me before 6pm, you see that man there (our boss), more than 10 years ago, he was sitting here and i was teaching him like how i taught you today. because i have no certificates, i cant go up, and he went up and became the boss here. one day, you will go up as well, but you never know who will be your boss one day. remember this... "never ever say something unpleasant to anyone cause you never know if he is your boss one day"

kexiou said...

It doesn't just happen in office. In fact, it's really the thing among us... A usual scenario would be... People would tend to complain this food that they have in this particular restaurant, and grumble throughout the meal time, but when somebody else suggests to complain to the waiter or sth, most people would just have the "tak apa" attitude. Yea... NOW THEY'RE SAYING THEY WOULDN'T MIND!

It's like... People would definitely LOVE TO see improvement but hell, they just wouldn't wanna involved themselves in the process! Most would LOVE TO complain and GRUMBLE but NOT TAKING ACTIONS! What's wrong with us... I wonder. And here I am at Perth, I see some difference in this. People here actually are more daring when it comes to these matters. Voicing out is important, and I guess I'm learning that as well.

H.C. Tan said...

ask ur fren to forget it la, since nobody appreciates it also. i did consider doing the same thing if i ever leave this current company..in fact, the email is already written. but just not sent. thinking, why should i, when all the political stuffs and the poor management does not involve me. i was just feeling dissatisfied for my colleagues. oh well, life. maybe i will send it one day

rinnah said...

I know how you feel zewt. In college, we had really shoddy treatment and the class (of 9 including me) said that they wanted to send a letter of complaint to the principal. They elected me to write the letter (since my English was the best) and we would all sign-off on the letter. I prepared the letter, but... no one wanted to sign the letter. Needless to say, the letter was never sent off and we spent the rest of our college years bitching about it until today, while we are still waiting for convocation.

But as for work... I wouldn't support the letter openly unless I am about to leave and only if I think I'll never need my current company's help/business in future. Gotta watch that rice bowl!

Bena said...

well, we had this bitchy deputy head in high school... this student wrote an anonymous letter to him and complaint about how shit the school system was ( true), after the head found out who wrote the letter, he expelled him.

Helen said...

This is sad. Just shows many are not willing to stand behind their convictions.

On the other hand, any possibility those people never check their mails?

**************Jz***************** said...

yea it's always not easy to be a hero but if you want to die with dignity in the modern slavery either way u still die....init?

Purple~MushRooM said...

Shaks... now only have time to read blogs. Meeting whole day. KNN!.

Ok.. I was also the sucker to voice up in my previous company. Not because I am hero... but because I know I am going to Shanghai.

I made a complaint to her immediate boss and also to HR. And I found out that the whole company knows this problem and no one is doing anything, including her boss!!

I thought my actions will be a deep cut, but it ended up as a small scratch to her only. All she gets is a warning letter from HR. Oh.. its her second warning letter, in fact. One more and she'll be gone.

But I must say she is a survivor. After so many ppl who resigned complained about her, she is still there to stay.

narrowband said...

Yea lor. Why am I not surprised?

If everyone's identity is withheld (email sent anonymously, with 10 anonymous signatures, LOL), maybe still got people dare leh.

narrowband said...

Haha zewt, I like your poll. Very relevant indeed, in view of the current trend.

I voted the 4th one. No offence to all PPP bloggers out there.

Cocka Doodle said...

Hah! Reminds me of Aesop's fable...the congregation of the mice council to discuss how to alert the rest of the mice when the cat comes around to hunt them.
1 smart aleck suggested tying a bell round the cat's neck. The rest applauded and think that was a damn good idea but none has the balls to volunteer.

Welcome to the real world zewt!

Anonymous said...

This is sad! How come no one dared to reply or say anything at all! (but you, of course).

I think this is one of the reason too, why most people are still working their ass of and continues bitching in the kitchen or canteen but not doing anything about it. :(

zewt said...

tingtitlei - ok ok ... no PPP... say no to PPP.

Jemima - that is very true. i guess we are all just selfish.

Seok Thong - okies... guess no making money for me... :(

angel - the e-mail has been sent today. see what happens.

LaSh - your Lashpinion is certainly valid. haha... darn right about it being held after office hour. yeah, i guess everyone is looking after their own territory and is covering their ass... a brave soul is uncalled for... we will just continue to bitch.

Bee - or the most stupid... to some.

zewt said...

zeroimpact - which is why this brave soul... who is no longer with us is daring enought to do us a favour.

ehon - biasa ler...

Jonny - oh yeah... so damn true. it's the colleagues that make one stays in a firm. good boss is a bonus. but the again... bad bosses will make ppl leave... it kinda supersedes good colleagues.

-=SiN=- - flyers? how? do tell.

Angie - hi there and welcome. haven't seen this nice before. since you've got nothing to lose, will u be daring enough to be the brave one? not for others, but for yourself. you're right... those who complain about wanting to leave will usually end up staying in the company longest.

Hor Ny - definitely know what you're writing about. hahah... the chance is coming eh? let us all throw back the starfish then.

zewt said...

alan zed - not really, he has already left, he is doing us a favour. brave soul nonetheless.

Soulblade - i guess those ppl who blogs are daring enough... at least they are daring enough to put their thoughts into words. we are all part of this elite i guess. but not the rest.

Rabbit - hahaha... like they said, it all starts from school. so now that you're in college... it's the second stage. once you reach work... it's the ultimate.

me - eh... u really talking crap la. what 'yee hei'... wrong context leh... u really suffering from monday blues eh?

Cirnele - my sentiments exactly... and it's starfish, you're being influenced by hor ny. anyway... i guess when the call to throw starfish comes, KFC will be jumping for joy.

anon @ 11.08am - it is certainly a very brave act. i was giving it a thought and you know what? i realised tat the corporate world can be painfully small and such act, despite not being in that particular slavery kingdom, may just cause a stir in your slave-hood. having said that, it could be a good thing. if all bridges are burnt, you will be forced to be a boss, which is not a bad thing.

zewt said...

cibol - i hear you loud and clear.

jorji - hahaha... tunggu la bila ada seorang resign. lepas tu, tanya dia samada dia berani jadi jaguh di antara kamu semua. peluan emas tu.

ahjohn - hahaha... i like your last sentence. just like one of the picture i put up a few weeks ago.... careful which toe you step on, it might just be the ass you need to kiss in the future. right?

kexiou - that is exactly our malaysian mentality. we will only know how to curse this and curse that while having a teh ais at the mamak. when the time is finally here to do something... not many will have the heart enough to do it.

HC Tan - what????? you've just been there for less than a year... less than half a year and you already have such e-mail? hahaha... tells u how much u hate this modern slavery life right? the e-mail has been sent by the way.

rinnah - i actually heard of a real life story where signature was gathered and the whole bunch got shot down... good story for my next blog entry.

Bena - oh yeah... definitely. i know of a similar case... in work. i will certainly blog about it soon.

zewt said...

Helen - nope... they all did. no benefit of the doubt given.

jaezrel - oh yeah... couldnt agree more. we all die anyhow. just that who is willing to die a hero.

purple mushroom - is this company the one starts with K and end with G? i think i heard of this person you complaint.

narrowband - hahaha.... how to have signature when it's anonymous? 10 summore!

cocka doodle - hahaha... that is a stupid idea... those mice are stupid! i think we are all just not cunning enough. time to reveal my true self...!

cindy - yup... we are all stuck in this modern slavery world becos we get our ass into it and then... refuse to get out.

mh said...

sometimes, when you can't change things around you, you've got to change yourself - adapt or leave. had enough and moving on soon?

Angie Tan said...

sighhh... remember the saying that "lose the battle, win the war"?

i come from an industry similar to yours, where the turnover is just so high and that they (read management) "think" that they can just pick and choose anyone off the street to do the job. i.e. replace one lost slave with another.

however, all this turnover bit will be detrimental in the long run. get new staff, work them to death, they leave, get more new staff etc... a very vicious cycle indeed.

since this barger can only understand $$$ and if he has the notion that he can pick anyone off the street to train and work them to death, beat him at his own game. give him the $$$$ amount about how much turnover is costing the co n morale.

that's my 1st point, My 2nd point is... We humans are like that. chickenshit... we all tok kok and big behind the bosses' back but when it comes to action item, the balls either shrink or drop off completely.

frankly, its hard to fight against the boss but if u can "bodek" him (i hate to bodek) and find out what makes him tick, maybe you can control him? muahahaaha...

*sigh*.. who said that corporate life was easy must be a big bullshitter.

Anonymous said...

zewt: take note i state flyers not poison pen. As for distribution pay some kid to stick it around office blocks and parking area..the area of damage depends on how bad you want it really~. really fun to see the 'action'. objective.. GO PUBLIC! Shame them!
there a cheaper way to do things though.. don't disclose here.. i'm a rebel!

Anonymous said...

at my exit interview for a certain audit firm i said to the HR chick (exact words): "I didnt know you needed robots instead of humans to do your mindless pointless repetitive work". The look on her face was priceless, i also felt like a small hero for a while telling her what it was like to work inside that company but alas I think the situation with your colleague is a reality for spineless malaysian office drones..

zewt said...

mh - the thing is... most of us also refuse to change ourselves. we swear of not working anymore overtime and yet ended up being the latest to leave.

Angie Tan - hahaha... so it's all about manipulation huh. instead of letting our bosses use us... we should manipulate our bosses in return. well... not many ppl can do that. but if you can do it... good for u.

-=Sin=- - my gosh... talk about evil and let others doing the dirty work... you've got a mind that i like... heh heh...

friendfromtaiwan - hahaha... i think you told me before. but then again, it was all futile right? though it gave you a priceless moment... it was still worthless to the rest... unfortunately.

Rashikaps said...

Oh why ..oh why are people so gutless. May be they didn't trust this person and thought they'd be quoted if not now..sometime later.. response to an e-mail constitutes proof ..:|

Purple~MushRooM said...

Zewt.. no la. Not the K firm. It's one of our telcos.

Huei said...

haih..msians r so chicken shit! talk is tin ha mou tik..ask them do then mou lang wai lik! =P

wuts wrong with ppp? go ahead..it's not wrong to make abit of money u know!

zewt said...

Rashikaps - well... they just dont want to get involved... and yet want their interest to be included.

purple mushroom - i see...

Huei - haha... look at the stats... i will lose a lot of reader if i do it.

may said...

I read your later post before this one, so... expected lah...

Anonymous said...

well... all these praises for the 'brave soul'. well, think again... why does it take so long before the speaking up?? y not when he/she was still in the slavery company? guess it's not so brave after all huh...

lets just put it this way...some ppl hav different ways of retaliating. and perhaps this is not the best way. some choose to learn from the worse and vowed never to become one when he/she is up there. it's a chain factor... hence, i personally think it was unfair to call the rest 'chicken' or coward. everyone has choices and it's not for us to judge.

and zewt.. u din speak up while stil in this slavery company as you claimed you have plans. well... it is your choice to hav it that way. and no one should judge you in having plans while keeping mum.

zewt said...

may - the absolute beauty of malaysian culture isnt it?

Doink Doink - well, i didnt say i didnt speak up. i actually had a lot of correspondances with the brave soul. that's the least i can do. and trust me... i am very vocal compared to a lot of ppl.

hikazew® said...

wah all this while i didnt read Zewt for awhile and this interesting piece comes up.

Btw, I password locked my blog as someone from work found out about my blog and got me into deep trouble. Now we have limited access to the net and my internet password is removed.

I'm also on the verge to become an ex modern slave in my office.

zewt said...

hikazew - hi! been a while! oh geee... that's bad news. what's your password then?