The resignation of my boss

In the past few months in SH , my manager ( a s'porean ) has given me guidance and support as well as pressure and challenges at the same time. It is tough to meet his standard but he has led by example to prove that it s possible to reach the standard he wants. Under his leadership, we were working towards the goal of improving our company products' quality with ambitions. But due to his failing health over time , he has chosen to quit and leave for hospitalisation in Spore. The announcement is made to the department on his last day of service (Friday) and we were devastated. I could not help shedding tears in the room after everyone left after his announcement. He is like a brother and a mentor to me and a great source of support for me to survive in this company which puts quality at a less important position but blames the quality team for not doing a good job when things go wrong.

It is a culture shock for me to adapt to this messy company compared to my ex company which is a mature automotive company with solid quality background. And my boss is Japanese company trained, having the same mindset as me that quality is first. But sad to said, both of us do not think that the management shares the same idea, as their focuses are about speed and quantity and not about quality and functional safety of the consumer goods which we are selling now. With his leaving, my lighthouse is gone and all is dark now. To make it worse, the Shanghainese colleagues in my department who are good at office politics but not really keen to solve the problems are now free from his control, and they are bound to start creating havoc in the department to gain power. The Shanghainese employees are usually selfish, calculative, self centered and they do not work for the benefits of the company but only for themselves. In comparison, i still like Hongkong/Sporean colleagues, who are generally effecient and smart .

I am re considering my career path as i do not see light at the end of the tunnel now, and i do not want to tarnish my professionalism to suit the environment.
Unless the new comer is able to take over the role of my ex boss and lead the team towards the right path, there is only 1 option out which is to leave the company. And i will know the decision by next year after Chinese New Year.

Darby

给爸爸的信

I am about to hand this letter to my dad when he gets back. I don't know how he will react. Will I be able to overcome his will? I hope so.

爸爸

今天肾脏中心打电话给我，说你又要减少洗肾的次数。我听了觉得很失望。

我明白你想帮我减轻我的经济负担。 可是你有想过我的精神负担吗？ 而且，这样的做法真的会帮我省钱吗？ 其实都不会。

你知道你为什么要洗肾吗？ 你的肾脏已经不能排除身体多余的水分和毒素。 如果多余的水分继续存留在体内，将会影响你的呼吸，使你觉得气喘， 身体也会出现水肿的情况。你还记得你眼睛肿到不能张开，严重气喘，最后变成要进医院洗肾的日子吗？如果身体的毒素继续存留在体内， 将会损害你体内的器官。 一旦器官受攻击，引起并发症，我又要送你进医院了。

洗肾的作用就是把多余的水分和毒素排除。让你能正常过日子， 而不需要住在医院里。你也应该知道，住院的费用不便宜， 都是千元以上。目前，你的公积金保健户口里的钱也快用完了。几个月后，我将动用我的保健户口来支付你部分的洗肾费，其余用现金还清。

洗肾的次数应该由医生来决定，不是你或我说了就算。以你目前的情况, 你需要每星期三次的洗肾。　你已经洗了一年多了，也没出现不好的并发症。　我觉得安心多了。为什么现在又要改呢？每个人需要洗肾的次数是不一样的。

你知道我每天上香求的是什么吗？就是希望父母家人身体健康。我每天回家看到我父母平安身体没大病，我就觉得欣慰了。

我知道洗肾辛苦，你也不想我花钱。可是你必须洗肾。这是不能改的事实。　同样的道理，洗肾的次数也是不能改的。

如果你真的替我着想，就不要坚持减少洗肾的次数。　听我的话好吗？　维持每星期三次的洗肾次数，　直到医生允许你减少洗肾的次数。

只要你保持目前的情况，　不需进出医院，就能帮我省很多钱了。那就够了。

不要因为想省少数的钱而变成要花更多的钱。　这是不聪明的做法。

可以答应我吗？不要让我在工作时还要替你担心。这就是我指的精神负担。　明白了吗？

Mcdull

Return my weekends to me

i have been working non stop since i came back from Mexico , most of the weekends are spent in office. I do not have my Saturday and Sunday rest. It s just getting depressing for me. I am tired. Why am i so ill fated to get caught in jobs that always needed long working hours? I just miss my bed.


Darby

Winter is coming

As the dried skins fell off from my arms and legs , so are the dried leaves falling off from the trees along the streets in Shanghai. Winter is approaching and i feel like a corpse soaked in an ice block whenever i go out of my apartment. Altho the Shanghai winter is not as dry as Shenzhen , but the temp reduction is so fast that it has dropped from 20 deg C to below 10 deg C in just a few weeks, and will reach 0 deg C next month. I hope to see some snowing from my unit, for the second time (First time was in Korea ).

The wind is always strong in Shanghai, and ppl on the street are wearing their trench coats, and it makes the city looks very French to me, only if the ppl on the streets do not spit. When i was walking along East Nanjing Street, I was approached by 3 girls in a row, repeating the same dialogue as below.

The girl : Can i ask how to get to Fuzhou street ?
Me : Walk towards Raffles Place and turn left
The girl : Are you a foreigner ?
Me : None of your business.

This must be a new tactic for hookers to get business, but they just look unsightly to me. i have better things to do, go to Fuzhou street to buy books. And i ended up buying 3 books on work related topics.

Darby

Finally it is the time

After working here in SH for more than 4 months , i am pretty comfortable at work as i have a very good boss. He is a very demanding but yet reasonable person , knowledgeable and strict at the same time. He is always like a volcano , erupting his energy at work and pushing for ideas to become reality, does not mind making enemies.
I was not the apple of the eyes of the local China top management , and i think the character they want is the loud and decisive type. I am more a quiet person and make no enemies. After working for years , my volcano has been put out. I like to keep myself calm. Still my boss is able to appreciate my presence, cause i can get things that he required done, when most of the locals are unable to achieve the standard he has set. So i am sort of sheltered from the blazes of top management with my boss as the umbrella.
But my boss just told me yesterday he has tendered and will be leaving the company by end of Nov. I feel glad for him. He has gotten a better offer and is able to return to Singapore and have his family to take care of his health. I know the path ahead without him is going to be tough for me and it will only get worse. Worse economy, less sales, heavier work load, no shelter from my boss, i am going to have a hard time ahead of me.

I think it is time to rethink my option, although it is never in my thoughts that i will leave SH in a short period of time. Let's see how things go from here.

Darby

Xavier Cugat

Got to know this Mr Xavier Cugat through Mr Wong Kar Wai's films. Soul catching tunes, in mandarin we called it Gou Hun ( hook the soul ). And it is totally retro and elegant ,just perfect for WKW's movie. I have no doubt that he is one of the best Latin musicians who ever existed.
I began to understand more about the Latin ppl when i was in Mexico. Their culture is very open to any foreigner who speaks English as their language, Spanish, is very similar to English (which English borrowed many vocabs from). The Latin ppl is totally different from English ppl we know. Warm and optimistic, and lazy of course. They are beautiful ppl if not too fat, whether boys or girl. Still, most Mexicans are fat and sex is casual. I can recall the first Spanish i read is from books by a Chinese author San Mao ( Echo ) about her Spanish husband, Jose. I think she picked a Spanish husband with a very Chinese character.
I find it quite bizzare that both the Asian and Latin ppl are living on the same earth but while the Latin ppl can afford an easy lifestyle / attitude, we asians have to strive hard to survive. It's weird.
Let's just enjoy their music. Jungle drums by Xaiver Cugat.

Darby.

Back from Mexico

After 22 hrs of flight, we finally returned to SH Pudong just to find out that the weather was really bad due to heavy fog. The flight then headed to Fu zhou (next to Taiwan)to land for 2 hrs, so it added 7 hrs to our total flight hours.
I almost cracked into pieces when i reached home in Pudong, missed my bed so much.
At the night i touched down, there was another customer visit to our company, and we had to entertain him at the Bund, meal and sightseeing. I was quite blur that i forgot to bring my phone , and ended up losing contact with my colleagues and was unable to find the restaurant. Luckily they could take care of the customer themselves. I then went to Raffles city at Nanjing road for Chicken Rice, and bought Bread Talk. Headed towards home right after dinner as i was too tired.

And in the subsequent week , i did not have chance to sleep more than 5 hours. I just hope i will be able to catch some sleep this coming Friday night.

Darby