I actually finished a whole box of chocolates in record time. After being so deprived Down Under, I bought a whole packet of Kit-Kats, Cadbury Dairy Milk and a normal box of Ferrero Rocher's upon my return and finished them within five days.
Last Friday, I bought the special edition 100th anniversary of Cadbury, consisting of Cadbury Blueberry Yogurt-flavoured Chocolate and Cadbury Dairy Milk, as a Christmas gift to myself. There were a total of a hundred chocolates inside, and already they were all gone. Either I must control more or stock up more.
After being out in the corporate world for quite some time, one can see lots of extremes in the working world. There are those who are choosy over working hours, workload, salary, bonus, overtime, monetary claims. These people will never come early or stay late. Even if they are not late for work, they will come on time and leave on time.
If they are asked to do overtime, they expect to be paid or given time off. They take leave at least once every month just because it is their entitlement. And they expect big bonuses simply because they have worked everyday, and expect a pay raise after a year or so.
But in order to ask for or demand things your way, one should first consider whether it is deserving. There are those who come early and stay late and seldom take leave, not particular about overtime or salary, and really contribute the best to the company. These people can be considered as dedicated and committed to their jobs.
Then there are the other extremes. Sometimes one wonders if these people are really that dedicated to their jobs or just "showing off". These are the ones that are "married" to their jobs, so to speak. They are the ones that will always be the first one in and the last one to leave, and despite the company operating on an official five-day work week, they come in every Saturday and Sunday to work even though they are not asked or requred to. Do they really have that much work to do?
And these people may not even be those higher-ranking ones. In fact, sometimes those higher-ranking ones seem to work lesser hours than the normal staff. But if someone of a managerial position is like this, chances are he or she will not be a good person to work for, since he or she is likely to be a slave-driver, and demand as much from the staff.
No doubt overtime and weekend work is inevitable and unavoidable at times, but when one is not asked or required to go back, is it really necessary for them to appear at the office, especially since no one else will be around, and the Big Boss had declared weekends as official non-working days?
These are those people that will probably "spoil the market" so to speak for the rest, as the higher-ups will deem that if one person (or a few people) can make the effort, the rest of the staff jolly well can do the same, and may start revamping policies which may decrease staff's welfare with longer working hours.
As a result, people like these may get hated by the rest of the employees, because even if he or she has no life outside the office, others will like to be left to lead their own lives besides working their lives away. Afterall, if one has already put in ten hours everyday in the office, the least one deserves is the weekend off to relax, recharge and have fun.
Ever since I started working for companies that function on five-days working week, I have never gone back to the office during the weekends, except for a few occasions when documents needed to be rushed out urgently, or clients arrived, or specially requested by my boss. Other than that, I prefer putting in longer hours during the week just so I can have my weekends and public holidays off to do what I like.
But sometimes I wonder will that be considered a half-hearted attitude towards work? Is a good job attitude and performance synonymous only by the number of hours one clocks in? Is someone who comes on time and leaves on time considered a bad worker, despite already working the required official hours? Similarly, will someone get a bad appraisal for adhering just to official working hours, and those that are "married" to their jobs get good appraisals?
But is not the quality of the work better than the quantity of time put in? What if someone is able to produce very good work without needing to spend a lot of time on it, but there are others who work all the overtime yet still cannot manage to produce good work? Will the former then get marked down just because he does not put in overtime?
I, for one, will not like a job that will cause me to be "married" to my work, which is why I left teaching. Going out into the corporate world is so much better in comparison. On the whole, the official hours are so stated because those are the hours employees are required to work. Beyond that, it is not stated that employees have to work, thus there should not be any discrimination if one cannot stay late and leaves on the dot.
Last Friday, I bought the special edition 100th anniversary of Cadbury, consisting of Cadbury Blueberry Yogurt-flavoured Chocolate and Cadbury Dairy Milk, as a Christmas gift to myself. There were a total of a hundred chocolates inside, and already they were all gone. Either I must control more or stock up more.
After being out in the corporate world for quite some time, one can see lots of extremes in the working world. There are those who are choosy over working hours, workload, salary, bonus, overtime, monetary claims. These people will never come early or stay late. Even if they are not late for work, they will come on time and leave on time.
If they are asked to do overtime, they expect to be paid or given time off. They take leave at least once every month just because it is their entitlement. And they expect big bonuses simply because they have worked everyday, and expect a pay raise after a year or so.
But in order to ask for or demand things your way, one should first consider whether it is deserving. There are those who come early and stay late and seldom take leave, not particular about overtime or salary, and really contribute the best to the company. These people can be considered as dedicated and committed to their jobs.
Then there are the other extremes. Sometimes one wonders if these people are really that dedicated to their jobs or just "showing off". These are the ones that are "married" to their jobs, so to speak. They are the ones that will always be the first one in and the last one to leave, and despite the company operating on an official five-day work week, they come in every Saturday and Sunday to work even though they are not asked or requred to. Do they really have that much work to do?
And these people may not even be those higher-ranking ones. In fact, sometimes those higher-ranking ones seem to work lesser hours than the normal staff. But if someone of a managerial position is like this, chances are he or she will not be a good person to work for, since he or she is likely to be a slave-driver, and demand as much from the staff.
No doubt overtime and weekend work is inevitable and unavoidable at times, but when one is not asked or required to go back, is it really necessary for them to appear at the office, especially since no one else will be around, and the Big Boss had declared weekends as official non-working days?
These are those people that will probably "spoil the market" so to speak for the rest, as the higher-ups will deem that if one person (or a few people) can make the effort, the rest of the staff jolly well can do the same, and may start revamping policies which may decrease staff's welfare with longer working hours.
As a result, people like these may get hated by the rest of the employees, because even if he or she has no life outside the office, others will like to be left to lead their own lives besides working their lives away. Afterall, if one has already put in ten hours everyday in the office, the least one deserves is the weekend off to relax, recharge and have fun.
Ever since I started working for companies that function on five-days working week, I have never gone back to the office during the weekends, except for a few occasions when documents needed to be rushed out urgently, or clients arrived, or specially requested by my boss. Other than that, I prefer putting in longer hours during the week just so I can have my weekends and public holidays off to do what I like.
But sometimes I wonder will that be considered a half-hearted attitude towards work? Is a good job attitude and performance synonymous only by the number of hours one clocks in? Is someone who comes on time and leaves on time considered a bad worker, despite already working the required official hours? Similarly, will someone get a bad appraisal for adhering just to official working hours, and those that are "married" to their jobs get good appraisals?
But is not the quality of the work better than the quantity of time put in? What if someone is able to produce very good work without needing to spend a lot of time on it, but there are others who work all the overtime yet still cannot manage to produce good work? Will the former then get marked down just because he does not put in overtime?
I, for one, will not like a job that will cause me to be "married" to my work, which is why I left teaching. Going out into the corporate world is so much better in comparison. On the whole, the official hours are so stated because those are the hours employees are required to work. Beyond that, it is not stated that employees have to work, thus there should not be any discrimination if one cannot stay late and leaves on the dot.
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