There were at least twenty of us in the same training batch and there are just less than five of us now.
I moaned and groaned about how the job sucked and how I hated the long hours from the first day since I joined the branch and I am still here (and still hate the job). But I somehow manage to pass by quarter after quarter getting commission for hitting my targets.
The bank delays the commission payout by 2 months to discourage resignation. For example, if the quarter ends in June, the payout comes in August. I always tell myself, ok one more quarter and out I go and I won't perform in the two months leading to the payout. But I always find myself saying... it has past two months already, let's just stay one more quarter to try things out. And the vicious cycle repeats itself.
I also think I have been very fortunate. My branch location is good; the customer base is good and most of my colleagues are nice. That's another reason why I am still here.
But things are soon going to change. 2 of them have already left the bank (and I am pretty close to one of them), one more is going to be transferred to international banking in October and 3 more (which includes my boss) are going to the new branch at Vivo City in October. I am happy my boss is leaving; which was why I declined her offer to join her at the new branch. But I am pretty upset the other two are leaving. They have given my so much support over the one year that I really am going to miss them.
And one more is going for maternity leave soon which pretty much leaves me with no more close kakis... But I always think: I might not even be there by then so it is not a problem. But who knows such things, really?
Since I came back last Thursday, I am still in the this-time-last-week-I-was-doing-this-and-this kind of mood. And it sucks being back in office for the first full work day, although I was already at work till 5 pm last Saturday!
And so, last week this time, I was at the Galaxy Bar at Tiantan Hotel having drinks with my colleagues and playing that silly dice game on Shao Nian Te Gong Dui and having a whole lot of fun! Sigh~ Time always passes super fast when you are having fun but never when you are having a dreadful time.
I enjoyed the trip. Finally, I get a chance to visit the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace etc. China is a good place for sightseeing although it was scorching hot at this time of the year. Maybe because we were on a tour package, we ate practically the same food every day. The food didn't taste bad; we just got so sick of it. And there were so much vegetables that I suspect my little bout of diarhoea just before we left for HK was a result of detoxification, not of food poisoning. And their famous Beijing Roast Duck ain't that great either. I have eaten better ones at Imperial Treasure in Singapore. The skin is not crispy, the dough is too thick. Maybe it is just not suited to our palate. The sanitary conditions are not that fantastic. You see women squatted in toilet cubicles with butts facing outwards doing their business. It was quite a culture shock; I didn't expect something like that in Beijing. But well, I didn't place too high expectations in the first place.
This tour definitely made me understand my colleagues (both in the positive and negative way)better. People are just different when they are in a less initimidating environment. Sometimes, you just have to learn to control your emotions and annoyance a little so you would not spoil the atmosphere. And you wish others would do the same too.
We spend the last two and a half days in Hong Kong and I wished we had more days. I love Hong Kong! I can't seem to grow tired of it. I love the culture there! I find myself fitting in well very fast; I just need to brush up on my Cantonese. And having my uncle take us out for dinner and drinks to all the good eating places made me enjoy my very shortlived time there even more.
All of us had been talking about this trip for the longest time and when it finally comes, it passes quickly and ends in a flash before you know it. :(
Work life and trying to get along with colleagues is a totally different ball game from school life and making friends.
There are obvious and not-so-obvious seniority ranks in place although everyone is a "colleague" to you. And after a while, you just learn to identify these invisible ranks. And you learn how not to be blunt and avoid treading on these people's toes.
You finally manage to see some meaning in the term "office politics".
But these unspoken rules are a tough act to follow.
You never would have known that your simple act of helping someone buy lunch might be seen as offensive to another as you are seen as if you are sucking up to the person.
And just when you think you should not suck up to anyone, another person tells you that you need to go to the boss's office more often, spend more time talking to her (read: sucking up), just so that she can pass more lucrative leads to you.
Everyone wants you to pay attention to them and at the same time, seeks your attention as well
With all the niggling problems at work, thank God I have the ongoing World Cup to divert my attention as well as the bank-sponsored trip to Beijing and Hong Kong coming up!
Finally, there is something for me to look forward to at work (other than pay day).
Fixed deposit rates not competitive with other banks. FD cannot do.
One-year structured deposit no longer available. SD cannot do.
At least 6 increases in mortgage rates since the start of the year. Eve walk-in rates are higher than most banks. Bank acting all high and mighty, only wanting to attract the affluent. Now even the affluent don't want to come. Mortgage cannot do.
Terrible investment climate. Most regional market indices suffering worst slump in years, possiblity of a bear market coming up, most funds still coming down. Unit trust, premium currency investment cannot do.
Endowment plans' interest rates not attractive enough; too long term, money locked up. Insurance cannot do.
Bank M offering far higher savings account combined with ATM facility. ESavers cannot do.
In the bus on the way back from work, I overheard a conversation between 2 young girls, who were probably in secondary school.
Girl A commented that her sister was at home at this time, because she was going to start school in a week's time so she had just quit her job.
Girl B asked her friend which school her sister was moving on to and she mentioned Nanyang Polytechnic. The two girls soon shared very excitedly, their views and "beliefs" about polytechnic/tertiary education.
Views like:
- Her sister's timetable is "so good", some days she goes to school at 9, some days 12pm and some days she doesn't have school.
- The school has an airconditioned food court, and McDonalds as well!
- The school is so big!!
- Freedom to join any CCAs they prefer and the freedom to quit anytime they want.
- No homework(??!!)
- Ability to wear any clothes they want and they can dye their hair too!! -_-
The whole conversation was really amusing, although I have to admit that I have felt this way before. That sense of eagerness, anticipation and that "haolian" feeling when I know I am now part of that "distinguished" group of tertiary students studying in "fancy" campuses.
How I wished I could tell the two girls these:
Wait till you become part of the school. The school would be so big that you might get lost or risk being late for classes because your tutorial venues might be at one end of each other.
And who said there was no homework? Plenty of it!
Free days and flexible hours? Wait till you "camp" in school or come back on your free days to complete the neverending projects, assignments and readings. Then you will really really miss your 8am to 2pm classes back in secondary school.
On a similar day like this 4 years ago, I must have been feeling how my cousin is feeling now.
Yes, the A Level results are out today. And the lucky gal scored three 'A's!! And me? That C still remains a sore thumb in my otherwise-what-I-think-is-near-perfect certificate.
The memories of that day still remain so vivid. :) And that was like four years ago??!!
Big shots need to have "face". Sometimes things have become a very, very obvious failure, but they just fail to admit it, claiming that "this new innovation" was a "roaring success" and even have the cheek to thank everybody for contributing to the success.
All that nonsense talk about productivity, how a new and innovative system would reduce the paperwork dramatically, cut down the time we take to put through trades. If this was the case, why would we still resort to getting customers to fill in manual forms (how it used to work previously) and after sending the customer away, spend the next one hour trying to be part of the crowded and jammed server to put the trade through? It probably takes double the time to complete an application as compared to before. Increased productivity? Decreased productivity more likely.
And what do you think of a product whereby customers take it up only to cancel it less than 10 days later? Complete failure. But nobody would admit it. There is just too much pride and obviously moolah involved to ever back out from their "grand" schemes.
In the meantime, before the grand schemes get axed, we in the frontline have to continue to bear the administrative headaches, system delays and what-have-yous.
True blue Gemini. Prone to bouts of split personality. Loves shopping, not rich enough to enjoy retail therapy yet. Bank balance is not dwindling at the moment but time has become such a precious commodity that I wish my bank balance could dwindle a wee bit more to satisfy my shopping indulgence! sigh~
