FAMILY DAY

Aha, this is a trademark in all gomen offices. Hari Keluarga! Objektif - supaya warga Bahagian dan ahli keluarga dapat berkumpul, berkenalan dan mengeratkan silaturrahim sambil berriadah dan bergembira.

This year, my dept's Hari Keluarga will be held at a holiday resort in Bentong in September, an overnighter which I hope will turn out well and without any mishaps hehehe.

Since I joined in in 1998, we have held FDs in the nature park in Bukit Cerakah, Sungai Congkak near Kajang, Desa Waterpark, and one year (the year our previous boss retired) we had it at a hotel as part of her retirement celebration dinner.

Maybe it's just me, but I feel that lately there is less camaraderie among members of our staff, and less eagerness to attend FD. Since the last FD in 2003, some senior staff had been transferred and some new blood were acquired. Population used to be 27, then 31, and now it's 41. Could this be the underlaying factor?

The best attended FD was the one in Desa Waterpark in 2003, where everyone was there except one staff who had gout attack and couldn't walk, and medem. Him I can understand, but her, she had earlier promised to come but later said 'saya sesat jalan'. Helloooo.... Desa Waterpark is right beside the highway, not in the boondocks, okay. We had even given you their official map just in case, plus you had everyone's handphone numbers in case you needed to ask for directions. How lame can you get???

This year when we presented our FD programme to medem, her first response was "OK, enjoy yourselves." I don't know what's wrong, but she simply refuses to attend our FDs! Sans malice, I personally say I can't understand her attitude at all. That's not good conduct for the management, I say. Are we lowly mortals not good enough to be granted your company? JazakaLlah. Perhaps she has other problems (family?) which makes her uncomfortable to attend our FD. What the hey anyway lah.

Anyway, this year's FD is suffering a bit of a controversy. Some of the more senior staff will not be attending. I kinda blew my top (just a little lah) one day, when I was going around confirming attendance. Chetun will only be attending it on the second day, tapi ni memang dah jangka la because of her tight daily schedule in taking care of her invalid mom. Cheda mulanya dah confirm nak pegi, then canceled because 'nak attend husband punya function'. I half-jokingly said in a loud voice, which other staff also heard "ha ni la, bila kita tak buat FD (last year tak buat) dia bising suruh buat, bila kita dah penat-penat organize, dia plak taknak pegi".

Among excuses given were :-
'Nak attend husband punya function' - even though invitation to that other function (same date) came much later.
'Nak attend husband punya FD, lagi besar' - even though hubby's FD is on different date, but probably coz hubby's in the procurement dept and so their lucky draw gifts (don't ask if/who sponsors 'em) are much more in value and numbers.
'Nak attend wife punya, depa buat kat Pangkor' - Pangkor is more glamorous than Bentong eh? lame!
'Malas nak bermalam la' - lame excuse!
'Malas la, takde geng' - lame lame excuse!
'Anak taknak ikut, malas la nak gi berdua ngan husband je' - lame lame lame!
'Dulu pernah panjat Kinabalu, takkan sekarang nak panjat bukit je' - whaa...? {Jie raises one eye-brow, wah berkias nampaknya!}
'Aku ni ada tahi lalat kat pinggang, tak boleh dengar cakap orang' - {Jie raises both eye-brows, then quietly goes to the wall and bangs her head} whaddafookyoumean haa..?

Activities lined up are :-
First day petang - sesi berkenalan & minum petang
First day malam - barbecue dinner, karaoke contest, lucky draw, fancy dress contest for kids.
Second day morning - morning exercise/aerobics session, then telematch, after which we are free to go mandi sungai at the riverside picnic area in front of the resort. FD ends after lunch.
Hope everyone have fun!

That's it, this is the last year I'll be in the Badan Kebajikan, which organizes pretty much all the events for the dept (even those that's beyond our duty, like sambutan Hari Q and Majlis Hari Raya, which are the responsibilities of the administration unit) We're an eager lot full of ideas and don't mind having extra 'duties' or even using our own personal time & pocket money to do these stuff, but no one appreciates all that, least of all medem! Next year we're gonna pass the reins to the new blood, maybe they'll have even better ideas & more energy for this kind of stuff.

Will post about the FD turnout soon!