Once Upon a Time...
Here’s another story depicted from my early days on the job:
Being on the job from scratch can be tough if you are in a very competitive environment. Everything is going so fast and no one cares if you are catching up or not. It has been quite hostile and slow. Even my temporary office is being temporarily used as a venue for another workshop. After two weeks on the job, I am still expecting to get my own office with my name on it, a computer access, and my door access ID to be functional but nay. I am currently ‘floating’. My computer access is still being approved which would usually take about 2 days but it has been more than a week now; my door access card refuse to function especially in the afternoon; and I settled in someone else’s office to read! Now I have to revert to begging coworkers to let me in, either by opening up the door from the inside or scanning their IDs from the outside whenever my ID fails the scan. The sun is not shining and I do not hear any birds singing after all. But on top of that, I would like to bear in mind that, all-righty, maybe responsibility comes first and privilege comes later.
There is also a dilemma on whether I should interrupt the others or not. I need to ask a question, but is there anyone available? What happened to the Development Program? Should not I be assigned a mentor? Unless you have the guts to barge in their office, stop them from whatever they are doing and innocently inquire, then nobody is going to bother if you are stuck or moving along just fine. In this case, I think everybody expects you to pick yourself up as you go. They expect you to handle the steep learning curve. And I don’t feel like interrupting people from their tasks and/or assignments.
To be quite frank, I am also facing a difficulty in the status difference. What do I mean by that? Simple. Majority of the people around me, and I am not saying this is inferior by status, are modern people. I am old school. I live in a classic household. I wouldn’t like to hang out late after office hours or spend more time in the city than I need to. This is not a question of fun level or social but of taste and preference instead. I prefer to spend more time at home and be with those who care about me and more importantly, with whom I care about. Some people have smaller families thus staying home is boring, and so they’d like to work late or hang out with friends. To me, family supports you like no one else does. It is the first and foremost in priority regardless of how dull or exciting then can be. Nobody in the history of mankind would proclaim at the end of his or her career, “Oh man. I should’ve spent more time working/hanging out.” I guarantee you that 99.9 percent of the time, it would be, “Dang it. I should’ve spent more time with family.” I know this is easier said than done. But to make up the mind about this is the first step in the right direction. Yusof Al-Ayyubi once said, “You’re married to your family, not your company.”
Speaking of friends, I realize how blunt and dry I can be when it comes to buddies. Even though I know quite a spectrum of people but my circle of friends is miniscule. In fact, I’d like to keep it this way. It’s better to have two or three real ‘Sahabah’ than to have a hundred friends who would join you for laughs and then leave you when in misery. Hence, I would like to apologize to those who have been pushed away or the ones I haven’t kept in touch with. I may not be able to stay in touch even occasionally but if I know of you from the past, especially those who have helped, I am here if you need me. By all means, contact me and ask if you need any help or even advice. You’ll get more depending on the right timing and resources. It’s just that, I don’t actively search for friends and I think I’m a little passive when it comes to this. I believe friends especially ‘Sahabah’ come naturally as you interact with them. Like some of the personality research says about me (don’t believe every one of them) I wait for friends but I don’t look for them. And when it comes to this, I believe in quality, not quantity.
All in all, people are still people. I have my own weaknesses and so does everyone else. Everyone is faced with different sets of problems. It’s only up to us whether we want to help each other out or not. The old consensus is that, people usually make choices based on their interests and what benefits them the most. But the one choice that people seldom see is others first. If you believe in helping others as the way to help yourself you’re in the right track (again, this is easier said than done.) You should enjoy giving, not just taking [Hal Urban]. Look at what’s good in people. Good values always triumph any other.
And again, I shouldn’t be complaining but instead appreciating this opportunity. Your attitude towards hardship makes a big difference. I don’t know if I’m ready to join the workforce but somehow I have to. Wallahu a’lam.
Being on the job from scratch can be tough if you are in a very competitive environment. Everything is going so fast and no one cares if you are catching up or not. It has been quite hostile and slow. Even my temporary office is being temporarily used as a venue for another workshop. After two weeks on the job, I am still expecting to get my own office with my name on it, a computer access, and my door access ID to be functional but nay. I am currently ‘floating’. My computer access is still being approved which would usually take about 2 days but it has been more than a week now; my door access card refuse to function especially in the afternoon; and I settled in someone else’s office to read! Now I have to revert to begging coworkers to let me in, either by opening up the door from the inside or scanning their IDs from the outside whenever my ID fails the scan. The sun is not shining and I do not hear any birds singing after all. But on top of that, I would like to bear in mind that, all-righty, maybe responsibility comes first and privilege comes later.
There is also a dilemma on whether I should interrupt the others or not. I need to ask a question, but is there anyone available? What happened to the Development Program? Should not I be assigned a mentor? Unless you have the guts to barge in their office, stop them from whatever they are doing and innocently inquire, then nobody is going to bother if you are stuck or moving along just fine. In this case, I think everybody expects you to pick yourself up as you go. They expect you to handle the steep learning curve. And I don’t feel like interrupting people from their tasks and/or assignments.
To be quite frank, I am also facing a difficulty in the status difference. What do I mean by that? Simple. Majority of the people around me, and I am not saying this is inferior by status, are modern people. I am old school. I live in a classic household. I wouldn’t like to hang out late after office hours or spend more time in the city than I need to. This is not a question of fun level or social but of taste and preference instead. I prefer to spend more time at home and be with those who care about me and more importantly, with whom I care about. Some people have smaller families thus staying home is boring, and so they’d like to work late or hang out with friends. To me, family supports you like no one else does. It is the first and foremost in priority regardless of how dull or exciting then can be. Nobody in the history of mankind would proclaim at the end of his or her career, “Oh man. I should’ve spent more time working/hanging out.” I guarantee you that 99.9 percent of the time, it would be, “Dang it. I should’ve spent more time with family.” I know this is easier said than done. But to make up the mind about this is the first step in the right direction. Yusof Al-Ayyubi once said, “You’re married to your family, not your company.”
Speaking of friends, I realize how blunt and dry I can be when it comes to buddies. Even though I know quite a spectrum of people but my circle of friends is miniscule. In fact, I’d like to keep it this way. It’s better to have two or three real ‘Sahabah’ than to have a hundred friends who would join you for laughs and then leave you when in misery. Hence, I would like to apologize to those who have been pushed away or the ones I haven’t kept in touch with. I may not be able to stay in touch even occasionally but if I know of you from the past, especially those who have helped, I am here if you need me. By all means, contact me and ask if you need any help or even advice. You’ll get more depending on the right timing and resources. It’s just that, I don’t actively search for friends and I think I’m a little passive when it comes to this. I believe friends especially ‘Sahabah’ come naturally as you interact with them. Like some of the personality research says about me (don’t believe every one of them) I wait for friends but I don’t look for them. And when it comes to this, I believe in quality, not quantity.
All in all, people are still people. I have my own weaknesses and so does everyone else. Everyone is faced with different sets of problems. It’s only up to us whether we want to help each other out or not. The old consensus is that, people usually make choices based on their interests and what benefits them the most. But the one choice that people seldom see is others first. If you believe in helping others as the way to help yourself you’re in the right track (again, this is easier said than done.) You should enjoy giving, not just taking [Hal Urban]. Look at what’s good in people. Good values always triumph any other.
And again, I shouldn’t be complaining but instead appreciating this opportunity. Your attitude towards hardship makes a big difference. I don’t know if I’m ready to join the workforce but somehow I have to. Wallahu a’lam.
posted by Zidni at 10:12 PM
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