Politics

I hate people who stirred up trouble at workplace for nothing. These people create unnecessary rumours about others. The worst is they try to instill their own perspectives into others' mindset.

There's this new girl at my workplace. I can feel her hostility towards me. I am not being sensitive this time. You can feel the thorns behind every words she said to you. I have no idea why she doesn't like me, but speaking behind my back is horrendous.

I was supposed to hand over my previous role as an admin support to the marketing officers. Apparently, she didn't understand those things I taught her. In the end, she started making claims to everyone she works with in my division that give them the impression I didn't do a good job.

Imagine a new girl in the department already making such assumptions and making unfounded claims!

I guess she was too used to more politically entrenched work environment (She was from my neighbour upstairs that is known to be quite a political hot zone). That's the only reason I can only think why she couldn't stop herself from being political at workplace.

I just need to watch my steps at work...

Time Flies...

Time really flies when you're fully packed with work. It's been almost half a month since I took over the customer portfolio. I am still trying to get used to the life as a marketing officer. At the same time, I must bear with all the "coaxing" I get on a daily basis. These "coaxing" can be the nagging of my customers, or of my boss. I am certainly taking everything at stride at the moment. All these are part and parcel as I continue to move along the learning curve.

My boss is very strict. I always try my best to reach her expectations. Although she always seem very serious and solemn, she is a very nice and experienced manager. She's a local but she can speak and understand fluent Japanese. I am really impressed by her efficiency too. I really think I learn a lot from her when I went on customer visits with her. In order to reach her level, I must really put in a lot of hard work.

I am not exactly sure if I can achieve my 2009 dream now. But I wish I could go on my leave in Aug.

P.S. I am planning to go on a slightly long trip to visit my friends on the other side of the world. It's definitely not Latin America this time.

Brand New Beginning

The whole of this week has been hectic. I am transfered to the team officially as a marketing officer. I am supposed to take over a portfolio of customers from a colleague in my team, whose last day was on Friday. That means there is only one week for that colleague to handover. I started visiting some of the customers. As I am still pretty new to the role, I have been staying late to get myself familiarise with those customers. At the same time, I still have a lot to learn as a marketing officer. Though those things I've learnt over the last few months during the graduate trainee and the two months as an administrative officer are still pretty useful.

P.S. It seems like a brand new beginning for me...

A Brand New Beginning...

It's been a long time since I blogged...

I've been packed with work these days. I probably worked beyond the norm 6.30pm in office. That's because there's a new lady, a friend of a colleague. She is taking over my current position after making a job switch from JP (our investment neighbour). Although I am not the mentor of this new colleague (her friend is), I am supposed to hand over the work to her. I have no idea how much she get absorb within a week. Ultimately, she will be given the responsibility of the whole team (which is likely my current team). However, my marketing officers also want me to teach her the adhoc stuff occasionally. Honestly, I don't feel comfortable with that because she needs to learn how to crawl before she can walk. Many things I also have to learn on the job. I think given the time constraints, she just need to learn the most important role first.

Luckily, I will be posted to another team to learn the rope for marketing officer as there will be a reshuffling of the whole division and some turnover of staff within the division. My team will comprise of a local but fluent Japanese speaking manager, and an efficient native Japanese officer with the potential to be groom to be the next manager. In addition, I will joined the team as an officer. At the same time, they will be recruiting another new officer to replace a local officer, who is leaving at the end of the month.

P.S. With new power comes new responsibility.

Finalmente

I've PASSED my M5 exam finally!

Yesterday I checked out Food Fest at Suntec Convention Hall after my exam. There aren't many stalls around, but I was surprised that Mr. Bean was giving out free soya ice-cream. I also noticed QQ rice setting up a stall for the first time in Food Fest. I should be going to the exhibition for food and beverages with my mum and her friend. Normally I will end up carrying stuff home for my mum. Of course, I get to eat and drink. Luckily, I can start eating solid food now (I've put on braces on the upper teeth last Friday.)

I've been kept busy lately, assisting my team with the administrative support. However, starting 1st April, I should be transferred to the respective teams to learn the rope as a marketing officer, which is supposingly my final position. Perhaps certain things will be quite similar to what I'm doing now. Though I have no idea whose team I will be assigned to. I have a feeling that my current department needs more people than my assigned department. I can only accept whatever that is offered to me. I will then have to try to acquire as much knowledge as possible. That's how I can accumulate whatever transferrable skills to my future endeavours.

Going Left

I am totally shagged these days. This week is probably the hardest I've worked in my department. I have tons of work to finish everyday, including learning many things on the job. However, as a workaholic by nature, I enjoy having work to do than acting busy (attaining the highest level of looking busy when I am not). At the same time, I am really using up so much energy. I've been feeling super tired by the time I reached home.

I have to clear some s*** for my team. Apparently, the other department, which is in-charge of checking through the documents submitted bymy team, are returning these papers to me to re-do. This should not have happened if not for the double standards that have existed in my department. Re-doing them means I need to check through that all documents are submitted, and then ensuring that I've attached the necessary additions. In addition, I will have to re-circulate the additional items to get the 'hanko' before submitting to the department doing the checks. That is simply a waste of time. If the team has done it in the correct way in the first place, they would have save all the trouble.

Beside ensuring that all documents are submitted this time, I supposed to get all the necessary 'hanko' through circulation by right. However, I realised in order to save myself the trouble, occassionally I have to "go by the left way" to complete the papers. I skipped a few protocols in that sense. Of course, I can't do that for all the time. Yet, this is the only way to save not only my time, but the time of my team. Obviously, the aim is to finish up this s*** that they started off, and complete the rest of the work for the team within this month as much as I could. If I could help them attain 90% completion before my attachment ends, I could potentially gain some good reputation at work.

P.S. Life is not just about going right, but at times we need to know when to turn left too.

Thrown Into The Sea To Learn How To Swim

I am transfered to the other department within the Japanese Corporate Banking Division. I am supposed to provide administrative support to one of the marketing teams in that department. This attachment would be for at least a month. Apparently, a lady left the team not too long ago, and the company has yet to find anyone to replace her. I am the next best substitute for them now. I don't think I have learnt everything I need to know for the last one month to apply to this position.

Now I truly feel like I'm being thrown into the deep sea, and forced to learn how to swim by myself. Perhaps it's a blessing in disguise. I could potentially learn a lot more than the first one month acting busy most of the time. Whatever I learnt now could also be useful to my future career as a marketing officer.

Yet, at the same time, I felt the disbelief when my mentor knew about my transfer and that the boss has assigned me a team to handle all by myself. I knew she didn't like me as much as she likes Mr. D (who was previously interning at my department). I tried not to ask her too many questions. Instead, I will ask around different people at workplace. Of course, I will try to figure out on my own first before asking around. I guess that would be the best option for me at this current stage.

I hope everything at work will eventually work out. I can gain the trust and respect from my bosses with the added responsibilities.

P.S. With great power comes great responsibilities.