Firstly you must understand that most of the guys in our tennis group are working. Zs and I are in Operations/Logistics Management, Huahui is also in Operations, Lk is into some research project that involves frequent trips to a yachet club for testing (i think), and YJ is a doctor, one that gets calls 24/7. Oh wait, so do I. In fact, so do almost ALL OF US. So yes, most of us are working. Working all the time. (I apologize if I get ur jobs wrong, guys, it's an assumption on my part.)
For me, this ties into why I roared and punched the wall today.
I'm sure I can speak for all of us that when the week rolls around, we have 101 things to do, 50 of which are "urgent", 30 of which we plan to do that week, 20 of which we manage to assign or actually get started on, and 10 of which are actually in your own control, and 5 of which we actually get done, bcos we were busy chasing up the rest of the stuff that wasnt in our control.
Each and every day is punctuated by sending out torrents of emails, asking for status updates, reports and documents, of which almost all come in a day later than expected, or even worse, needed. And even then, as the song goes, sometimes even after all that damned waiting, when it finally gets to you, the REPORT IS WRONG. And the process starts over again.
It's a result of this heavily contracted working industry. Some company contracts another company to do something, for which they contract another company to do, for which they contract another company to do... blah blah blah... in the end, some meager salary worker does the work and money rolls from the bottom all the way to the top, marked up at ridiculous amounts.
Knowing how it works is disheartening, even if you've learned all about it in your uni lectures.
And the meetings, dear god, a devilish derby of numbers presentations and colored graphs, mixed in with large amounts of finger-pointing and work "push"-ing from one department to another. Seldom does a meeting accomplish anything, except what the next meeting will be about.
And here we are in the middle of it all. We who are hired to "manage" these things. Half of my Monday emails are "Kindly provide an update." emails. And almost all my Friday emails are "Kindly provide a followup report/status/update latest by Monday" emails. All sent to pple in Ireland, or different unreachable parts of Singapore.
I manage my operations, minimize warranty costs and provide site solutions and maintenance. Zs provides solutions to clients, implements them and maintenance. Huahui has to manage his operations team so as to maximize output and minimize maintenance costs and breakdowns. Lk has to implement his research and get results, GOOD PROFITABLE results from his experiments for his bosses. And YJ has to deal with his staff team, and the hoards of patients, usually unreasonable ones, fighting for priority from those who need attention more than them.
And I will bet that half of the time, the results/circumstances are beyond our control.
I rely on oversees vendors and contract staff. Zs similarly. Huahui relies on his staff team. Lk on his teammates. YJ on what kind and number of patients that come in.
Which brings me back to the roar and the wall.
It's not about tennis, or having my way.
It's just that sometimes at the end of a long week, where you've been chasing and been chased for numbers, where you've been forced to present costs, where you've been hounded by clients for new solutions, FREE solutions, where you've hardly had time to sit down without the company phone ringing it's freaking buttons off.
Sometimes at the end of the damned week, all you want is to look up and see a fucking clear blue sky.
No comments:
Post a Comment