Friday 16 December 2011

YEAR END APPRAISALS

Its that time of the year again, where HR send everyone an appraisal form for filling in supposedly so one can be appraised for what they did during the year. However, I for one do not really believe in this form of evaluation because how objective can the head be about the abilities or the work that have been completed by his staff.

Generally speaking, as far as my own experience is concern, most if not all the time the favourites of the bosses / heads would be the ones getting the high scores, while the others would either be in the average or lower groups. Also about the part where you are suppose to agree with the evaluation of the head, how can we do that? Do we tell the boss off or try to explain. Well from personal experience, let me tell you it does not work, never has and never will.

So happy appraisals everyone.

Thursday 10 November 2011

MOVIE PREMIER - IMMORTAL

Yesterday went for another premier also won by the missus at E-curve. I must say the movie was rather boring with no much substance. Majority of the time, the movie was just about killing, with gory scenes depicting how many ways a human or god can be mangled.

Some of the things happening makes no sense at all. An example, if people who worship you are fighting to prevent you from being hunted down and killed, would you assist them? I bet you will. However, in this show, "the gods" choose not to, and in the end many of them were slaughtered.

Another thing about the cinema. Aiyo, no need to switch on the sound system to its breaking point, its hazardous to our health (I believe their sound engineer or who ever is tuning the sound must be a deaf person himself). Here is my ranking of the few main cinemas. I think the most refine sound goes to TGV and GSC (depending on which) has a balance between refinement and excitement. However, I find Cathay the worst with tharshy sound (like listening to some mini hi-fi switched on to the max). All in all, personally if it not be for the free tickets, I definitely would have given this show a miss, not to mention this cinema as I value my hearing.

Friday 4 November 2011

MOVIE PREMIER - TIN TIN

Just recently attended a movie in 3D (my first time really) with the missus. The show was not bad with good renditions of the visual as well as audio ques, especially the pin point location of all that was happening on screen. All in all a recommended show which brings back some of my childhood fantasy adventures while reading the Tin-tin comics.

However, I wasn't very happy with the popcorn that was sold by GSC. Firstly, the popcorn was rather blend with only some coated with so called caramel. Secondly, the they were cold and not piping hot as I had expected. Lastly. and worst of all they were mostly soft and no longer crunchy (masuk angin). For the exorbitant price that I had paid for them, I would rank them as a measly 0.5 out of 10. Shame on you GSC for skimping and not ensuring customers get what they had been charged for.

Monday 10 October 2011

BUDGET 2012

What is everyone's opinion on the budget? Going by what the mainstream is saying, it looks like a very good budget, however, I beg to differ.

I am sure all those civil servants and felda settlers will be very happy as they rightfully should be given that this budget gave them full focus. The following would be some of the reasons for my saying that the budget is "crap".

Now I am a middle income, or should l say lower middle income earner. I work hard and earn an honest living, diligently paying "TAXES", why, so someone else can enjoy the benefits!!!!!, while I just sit back relax and pay more TAXES.

The policies thought out by the Government is really nice, first we tax the middle class because they are not much they can do since most of them are workers, we give incentives to the rich because most of them are businessman and heck they can give us problems with their lawyers and what nots, we help the poor because if they get angry, they can cause havoc with protest or looting. Anyway, we need the rich to help us with our campaign come election and the majority poor to vote for us if we are to win (given the majority falls under the poor category of more than 60 percent of the population).


Thursday 6 October 2011

DIY

How many of you have tried your hand with DIY? I am sure many of you would like to try but think twice when you realise that things may not turn out the way you planned. I can personally vouch for this, because I have embarked on quite a few DIY and although I manage to fix the thingy it didn't turn out as good as I had planned.

Additional things that may deter many from DIY would be the mess that may happen or mistakes that may cause the supposed cheap fix-it to become even more expensive.

Anyhow, yesterday I had finally decided to buy a tap and a piece of aluminium piping from a hardware store to replace the one that had been damaged in my house. It had been damaged for quite some time now and it was a hassle to have to use the kitchen sink whenever hands needed to be washed. I had earlier on bought a tap but did not do my homework and when I tried to fix it on, found that the piping was not long enough to fit the tap. Well I guess this is cost savings for the developer using the shortest piping possible and getting taps that have extraordinarily long screw fittings. Disappointed, and almost having a leaky piping due to my not being able to get the original tap securely back on, I gave up.

Now however, I had both the tools ready and after some 8 minutes managed to replace the two items successfully without any problems. What I am trying to say here is DIY may seem hard in the beginning but after some time you may find it to be very interesting and as a bonus it feels good to use something that you have fixed yourself.

Thursday 18 August 2011

NOSY & TROUBLESOME NEIGHBOURS

How are your neighbours? Are they nice, friendly, etc? Well, here is my definition of a good neighbour. This guy should mind his own business, be considerate about the level of noise he is making, park his own car and also his visitors car in his own compound, and basically don't try to be an event organiser by always opening parties.

I have met plenty of neighbours but I dare say none are good or have the quality that I had mentioned above. Just recently I had a quarrel with one of these fools. I personally do not like people parking their cars in front of my house, be it the gate or the wall / fencing near my gate (unless of course I am living in a huge bungalow where my fencing stretches hundreds of feet. To this end I had decided to placed some rocks along my fence area (near my gate) thus preventing or making it difficult for anyone to try to park there (you may call it selfish and thats ok, because it your opinion, but to me I did not pay money to buy a house so that you can park your stupid car there. If you can't afford to buy a house large enough for your cars then I suggest you don't have so much cars, its plain and simple).

You know what this fool did. He instructed the security guard to throw my rocks away. The nerve of this idiot. I was rather pissed off and immediately asked the security what he was trying to do. I then gave him a piece of my mind by asking him, "you mean to tell me I don't pay you fees and he does?" (for you readers info, I am always the first, or one of the  first ones that the security approaches for fees because he knows I am a prompt payer unlike the idiot.

Next I scolded the idiot who replied that he was doing society a favour because my rocks were in the middle of the road (just so you know, the rocks measured less that 1.5 feet and it is placed just after the road shoulder. If you call that middle of the road, then all cars parked would by his definition be on the middle of the road because even the smallest car has a width of about 5.5 feet).

I went on to ask him to mind his own business, and that I dont like people coming there to park, and he replied that the place was not mine to usurp. He further added that I was very inconsiderate. I shouted back, "If I'm inconsiderate then you must be 100Xs more". For your information, this idiot likes to organise parties and does so quite frequently. His visitors will come and park their car on my side of the empty space between houses which was actually meant for walking from one block to another. He on the other hand had planted his side with trees, so no one can park any cars there, including himself or his visitors. Furthermore, he also likes to invite his friends to come to his house for late nights drinking sessions. Only problem is, he does it outside his house where he had placed tables and some seats ala mamak style. Can you imagine having a mamak stall just opposite your house, would you like it when you are trying to get some sleep?

You be the judge who is considerate, and who is not. Anyhow he tried to argue that it was his compound and he can do what he liked and also added that I should not use the front of his house when I am making a U turn. HEHEHE, this is what you get when you know you are losing the fight, talk rubbish lah, I mean parking and U turning is the same thing ah, now only I know leh.

Just the next day, it was his usual "hired maid come day" and guess where he parked his car near where I had placed the rocks ( true a-hole). What does this tell you, number one, I did not block people from parking (just not near my gate), number two talk so much why come and park on my side. Anyway to me if he feels he likes parties so much, and thinks he is very rich (drives a Camry & plays golf during weekends & visitors also all drive big car one leh) then buylah corner house where you have plenty of space for your visitors, don'tlah go kacau people, otherwise shut up lah.



Friday 22 July 2011

LHDN issues

This is one agency that most of you would not want to mess with, but just succumb to their demands. I however am one who will not stand and be made a fool of, not even by this strong armed agency.

Previously, some time ago these jokers sent me a notice advising me that I owe them a substantial amount of back taxes. I looked at their calculations and purported sums and was disgusted. Either they are desperate for staffs or they choose to hire staffs that are cheap (lowly qualified / not too savvy with calculations / etc).

Simple things such as what to add, and what not to add can also be wrongly done (remember the rules was set by them). I duly prepared my reply, and after searching through the net, found the right people to address my complaints to.

Just so that you all know, the actual amounts that I owe them was zero/ziltch /nada, but in fact there were outstanding amounts owed by them to me instead.

Recently, my wife had one of these forms too, asking her to pay additional taxes. The form mentioned that there were additional assessment of RM71 that she had missed. I was rather skeptical and after double checking all her calculations can only conclude that the joker who was doing the assessment had miscalculated (press wrong digits on computer/calculator, didn't bring brain to work, etc).

I mean what were these people thinking. Who in their right mind would bother with such insignificant sums. Anyway, if I were them, I would have some supervisors go through all calculations of sums below RM1,000, or at least make sure I hire people who knows how to double check their work.

Monday 4 July 2011

GATHERING INVITATION

Just last week, my wife received an invitation from an internet company for some event at BSC (bangsar shopping centre). She was pretty excited about it and couldn't wait to attend it with very high expectations. This was mainly due to the fact that according to the organisers there will be tapas from La Bodega being served.

However, when we arrive there, we were rather disappointed. Firstly we noted that the trays for these "tapas" were mostly empty. Secondly, these weren't the normal tapas that were served by La Bodega but some cheap party food like sandwiches and drumlets (to me they look like they were those available commercially for self frying).

 If was supposed to be some golf thingy but as far as I can tell most of the people there did not know much about golf. Anyhow, we weren't interested and left when we were full with their tapas. Oh, and yes there were drinks served, one cup to be exact of some cheap orange cordial served by the bar.

Tuesday 28 June 2011

WINDFALL

What everyone is hoping and wishing for. When will it come and it what form? Will it come as some great news or a great win in some contest or lottery.

I have been constantly, during my younger days been able to get some windfall. Things like winning contest getting surprised gifts and many more. However nowadays I find especially during my adult years that this had not really happen for quite some time. In fact some of the time it is the opposite, negative windfall if you would have it, and its rather depressing.

Anyway, I am not totally without hope or positive thoughts because as many people say "it ain't over till the fat lady sings". There are also those that are fully committed to the believe that, if you can think or dream it, then it will come true.

Wednesday 22 June 2011

HR APPRAISALS FORMS / CRITERIAS

Alright, lets see, can any one out there tell me he / she does not have an opinion on his/her own performance at the work they are handling. Now imagine this opinion clashes or is in conflict with their superiors / supervisors / managers. What do you think will happen?

Lets have a show of hands those that feel that their appraisal forms are very objective and that their performances have been properly measured. How many of you think that these forms are very objective and that the set criteria are truly measurable objectively without any chance of interference from personal emotions?

KPIs, this is the commonly used measurements that purportedly allows qualitative items to be measured quantitatively. Work done would be quantified and broken into major areas that are important and measured.

A little on the flaws that arises would be, how can the person control external factors affecting his or her work. Another more major one will be, as mentioned above the emotional factor of the person doing the appraisal. Lets say we have two staff, Ms A and Mr. B. Both of them reports to the Manager who is the sole person responsible for them.

All the while the Manager likes Ms A because they have similar character as well as interests / hobbies. Both likes to have their place very tidy and does their work without using short cuts. Both also are very outgoing and loves to chat and have fun shopping or dining. However, on the other hand Mr. B is a totally different person, he is basically and introvert who likes to be alone and would thus normally keep to himself.

Normally at work Ms A will be late because she says she needs her beauty sleep and because she never cuts corner, her work is normally produced slowly and will normally exceed deadlines given. This is further aggravated by the fact that she likes to chat with her colleagues to catch on latest fashions and gossips. She is also not a very careful person and more often then not would make substantial amounts of mistakes in her work.

In contrast, Mr B is a very punctual person and have never once been late. He is also very thorough in checking that his work is without errors. Efficiency is also one his principal, he does not always follow the rules (conventional way) of completing something when he sees a better way of doing it.

Sometimes when the Manager have functions, he would invite both of them along but generally Mr B would decline as he feels it better to sit home and relax rather than to entertain people with empty talks. Ms A on the other hand would jump at every opportunity to have fun and socialize.

Now its appraisal time and these are the results as appraised by the Manager:-

Ms A - Outgoing, sociable, systematic, friendly, enthusiastic - Very good 90%
Mr B - Introverted, not sociable, haphazard, unfriendly, dull - Below Average 45%

So how, with all her faults hidden or simply ignored, she gets a big bonus and increment, while all Mr A's so called weaknesses (depending on how you judge) are highlighted resulting in no bonuses or increments.

Was the appraisal fair? Are we at the work place to socialize or complete our work? Must we please our bosses or concentrate on our work?

Thursday 16 June 2011

WORKING HOURS

Hands up, all of you who are afraid to leave the office on time for fear that the bosses will black list you as lazy or not committed to your work. I think I see most hands up, am I right?

Well that's Malaysian culture for you. Never once have any bosses ever thought that the worker goes on time because he is very efficient and finishes his work on time. It is always, "aiyo so lazy wan, not committed at all lah this fellow". Don't these jokers realise that in a lot of the cases, the worker simply stays back and does their own personal things because they are done with their work for the day. Their there to be seen so that the boss perceives them as hardworking.

I belong to the small group that leaves the office on time simply because I manage my time well and does my assignments accordingly within the allocated time. However, I do feel for those that truthfully has to stay back because of being over loaded with work that are meant for 2-3 persons.

What to do want to earn a living have to do, otherwise no money to feed family.

TEAM PLAYER

Ok, I agree that it is very important to be a team player in any organisation to ensure that goals or objectives are met and synergies created. However, the definition of a team player or team work can have various interpretations or perceptions that generally depends on the emotions of the leader or person in charge.

Take a real life example, something that I have experienced myself. A team, consisting of 6 members, each having their own responsibilities and roles to play. One of them is a very experienced professional, while the others are either certificate, diplomas or normal degree holders with next to zero experiences. Who do you think should lead the so called team? Who do you think deserved to be treated as the senior or supervisor? Who do you think is qualified to train or teach?

Ok, now, imagine being insulted by the so called leader of this team, the manager (without any industry experience) for not doing sufficient (always completes work on time while doing 100% of what is suppose to be done with next to zero mistakes) due to his experience. To add insult to injury the others are praised for their efforts and enthusiasm in doing their work (not necessary correct or completed on schedule). On top of this, these "chicos" are rewarded with extra incentives by management while the experienced fellow gets nothing.

As mentioned above, some of these newbies do not complete their work on time or properly and during meetings the manager tells the rest to help them out. However, the fact is, during working hours these people are not concentrating on their work, they are basically chatting away (I would personally put their concentration level at maybe 50% most of the time). The experienced person on the other hand, does everything well within the allocated time with 100% concentration thus also ensuring that mistakes are seldom. if ever made.

Now that the facts are known, you tell me, firstly if you were the experienced person would you bother to assist or teach those juniors? Secondly, do you think these chatter box "chicos" are team players that warrants assistance? Lastly, would you as the experienced man be motivated to enthusiastically provide anything more than the bare minimal (responsibilities spelt out in contract) for the manager or the management?

You be the judge and decide.

SEATING LOCATIONS IN YOUR JOB

Let me tell you about the places where I have sat during my many years of working life. I have generally had the honour of being placed near toilets, facing exits and many more ridiculous and might I say places with bad "fengshui".

I just seem to end up in these places where nobody would really want, and sometimes I believe this could be what is causing major discomforts in the many jobs that I have held. I mean how can u be comfortable with you back facing a door or an entrance with people coming in and out. Hey "bosses",office administrator, or what ever the hell name you go by, do you know what is called privacy and personal space?????

Heck, I just recently was told by one of my colleagues that I am suppose to move again to the original place that I had originally moved out of (in front of the entrance, with my back facing endless traffic (humans of course).

Why move me in the first place, they must think it is great fun moving around getting a new perspective every now and then, but I definitely don't think so. I am not really happy since I was there first, why should I move to accommodate the new comers, but then again "kaki lang, pak si bo siang kan" (own people mah, die die also ok wan).

Well that's CHINAMAN for you. Anyhow, its not something new for me as I have been working for them since day one. I even got played out by one of these A-holes. Sigh, bila mau kena big lottery.

Friday 10 June 2011

TNB

 Below is the response I got for my complaints to the Ministry of energy Malaysia. Ok, its in the akta so resolved. I mean what kind of crap is this. Its ok to bill users late by 5 days so I can hike my bill to reach the maximum charge per KWh possible because it was agreed upon. This is what I would call daylight ROBBERY and its legal.

Bil elektrik lebih 30 hari. Lambat buat bacaan meter. Mengikut akta bekalan pihak TNB boleh mengebilkan pengguna seawal 26 hari sehingga 35 hari. Jawapan melalui surat akan dimajukan kepada pengguna/KeTTHA. 

Lets give an example:

Current increased tariff for house owner

Normal 30 days usage is 10kWh per day so total 300Kwh. Yahoo just within the old rate so no increases. 

Now the "ROBBER" comes and write in 35 days (eh its ok because akta say so). Total now is 350 kWh. Ah ha now sudah kena new increased tariff, YIPEE for the "ROBBER". Total increase est 7 cents multiply by the extra 50kWh which comes to about RM3.50. 

Ok, lets say it happens to 30% of the people using about the same amount (I haven't even listed the more common high users yet), assume about a low 1 million household. This would increase revenue, which is a straight profit by  RM3.5 million.

Ok, now lets use the more common usage of 400kWh per month. Again 5 days late, so extra now would be much more considering they will then reach the next tier of charges of 40.2 sen. If not for this delay the extra would have fallen under the lowest rate of 21.8sen, thus the extra per kWh becomes 18.4sen multiplied by 5days with average usage of 13.3kWh. So the person ends up paying an extra RM12.26. Lets assume 60% of the previous 1 million household uses this amount. Well now the total extra profits becomes RM7.36million plus the remaining 40% of RM1.4million, giving a total of approx RM8.8 million per month. What about a year, that's a whopping extra of more than RM100million.

Adoi SHIOK nya.

HIRING

A daunting task if you ask me. On the one hand you want the best, on the other you have to get someone who is best suited, not only for the job, but also the situations and the cultures that are running in the company you work in.

You may come across an excellent candidate which you truly think is good, but then after some probing, find out that what they want is totally the opposite of what the company does. So, how, should you go ahead, knowing very well that they will within a short period leave because of job dissatisfaction, or just push them aside as rejects.

Not an easy decision when you have just a handful of candidates to choose from. Just today, I had interviewed one such candidate. He was somewhat what I was looking for with sufficient knowledge and experience but the single answer that ended with me in this dilemma was "I like to be appreciated for what I do".I mean, yes, he would from me at least, but not from the company and that's for sure, because, by golly, I myself am getting none.

Companies and management gurus are forever telling people to motivate their staff, but, how to do this, when the problem lies with the company.

Wednesday 8 June 2011

How does getting rewarded through sharing sounds like to you? Join #ChurpChurp today and bring more friends to the community!

How does getting rewarded through sharing sounds like to you? Join #ChurpChurp today and bring more friends to the community!

GETTING THE BEST OUT OF EMPLOYEES

This is a topic that have various views and thoughts from many gurus in management. I personally as an employee myself, will share my thoughts here. As you all know we live in a land and that follows the Asian mentality of management which generally means, "boss talk, you listen" and boss say, you do".

Then there are those that would sometimes, because it is their nature to be rebellious of they are just plain freshies who have not been "hit" before. I am not saying that all of these rebellious or rebuking remarks would definitely be met with disagreement with the bosses but generally they will.

I have personally done this before, when I was a freshie full of enthusiasm and ideas to contribute to the company. However, being in one of those majority cases that I mentioned above, I was shot down brutally, and everything went downhill from there. Nowadays, I am more inclined to agree with whatever the bosses say whether he be right or wrong.

I believe this is the type of hindrance that many Malaysian or Asians in general face when dealing with the "I'm the boss" mentality. This behavioural patterns simply cannot nurture people to perform their best. How are you suppose to let your creative and radical ideas out when you know they will be shot down or made a fool off.

Tuesday 7 June 2011

OUR WORLD, THEIR WAR

The Decepticons, a race of robots with extreme intelligence and highly evolved warring skills has invaded earth, and they are going to destroy earth if nobody does anything about it. However, all hope is not lost as we have allies too, in the form of the Autobots. Together, these two groups of robots are called the transformers from the planet Cybertron, and have been at war for centuries. They have now brought their long war to Earth.
I however, would not like to be one of these "goody two shoes" Autobots, I would definitely choose to be the leader of the Decepticons, Megatron. I would utilize my special Ultimate Movie Card and check out all the movies where the baddies win for inspiration. These innovative as well as creative ideas from the movies would serve me well in my course to destroy the Autobots. 
However, it is also important that I not miss those movies where the baddies lose. These movies on the other hand will show and teach me how the heroes defeated them. I will learn from their mistakes, and in so doing ensure that I do not make them myself. Again, all this would be made possible because the Ultimate Movie Card will allow me to watch many more movies due to its special privileges.
Ultimately, with my now vast knowledge from the various movies seen with my Ultimate Movie Card, I would device a way to destroy Optimus Prime and this will pummel all hopes of the remaining Autobots. 

The best plan would be a sneak attack, where a lure would be used to deceive these Autobots especially when they care so much for others, especially weakling humans. This opportunity would be utilize well, where at least five of us Decepticons would be focus on the destruction of Prime permanently. We would make short work of him, and crush his body to debris, which would ensure that he never be reanimated again.

A full fledge assault can then be carried out on the now leaderless Autobots, using the Decepticon’s strongest warriors and weapons crunching and devastating all that stands in our path. When the last of the Autobots fall, so too shall the humans, and it would also mean the end of the world, HAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!