Wednesday, March 01, 2006

FRIENDS OF OLD & NEW

Dear God,
Protect me from my friends,
For I know who my enemies are
.

I remember reading this somewhere, I think someone wrote that in our college yearbook. I've come to appreciate the truth in that.

Office politics sucks, kan? Thankfully in these almost 10 years of worklife, I've always been an observer on the sidelines. No major involvement, but a sting occassionally terkena gak. I've seen some pretty horrendous acts by two-faced lizards done upon unsuspecting people. Di depan kawan, di belakang setan. And if black magic gets into the equation, lagi haru!

Since aku membesar di kalangan kengkawan (boarding school since age 12), friends have always been a major part of my life (but of course family is still numero uno). I am thankful for the handful of precious gems I've kept since school & college days - yes Kaez, you're one of 'em :-) Friends from back then take me as I am, as I do (take) them too, warts & all. We are not afraid to ask for help, and we give help, no questions asked. We are not afraid to bare our souls, as we know that we will not pass judgement on each other. The friendship is unconditional.

But once I joined the workforce, boy it was a whole different can of tuna. How do I differentiate the kaca from the permata? Who can I trust, who can I count on? Who will take advantage on me? Who will backstab me? Who will step on others just to reach to the top? Will they stop at nothing to get what they want?

Aku malas nak pikir semua tu, boleh gila dibuatnya kalau terpaksa kerja 9 jam sehari dalam environment was-was dan sangkaburuk. Baik aku jadik kodok duduk diam-diam, janji kerja jalan. Dan kodok ini akan terus memerhati sang ular, sang biawak, sang monyet dan sang kelembai bermain wayang di luar sana.

Ribbit! Ribbit!

11 comments:

maklang said...

Hei.... you are in the real world jie !!! This is what is happening now especially now where orang tak kira if they hurt their colleagues, asalkan dia can climb the ladder and get what they want. Especially those yang kaki ampu boss and the boss pulak dengar aje cakap dia. Yang peliknya Boss tu tak selidik yang mengampu dia tu lagi terok dari yang dikutuk. In my office ,where they are about 97% Malays, there are one or two yang macam tu, and Alhamdulillah the rest tak. Infact the rest macam ada union lak. We have to except the facts that that is human nature. PHD tu banyak sangat. So tak yah belajar sampai PHD, ambik master je dah Alhamdullilah.... master in Islam and InsyaAllah hidup kita akan dilindungi olehNYa... Puh... panjangnya Maklang cerita....

Jo Kontan said...

Mebbe politicking and Phd wutnots is the reason I am working here. Most of my coworker are chinese. 96%

Bukan nak salahkan Melayu ker haper. Since this is the case (>96% from other race), aku tak campor diarang sangat. This, resulting me somewhat diasingkan dari permainan ini.

I always said to my friend, if you don't acquired the skill, you might feel dikenakan. But If you have or rather acquired, these skills (politicking) you might want to play along.

Like any other skills we have to get our job done. Politicking and bodekking are also one of it.


:-)

Izhal said...

huish opis politics main black magic... that line made my bulu roma stand...

JIE said...

Maklang,

It's true about some people having PHD (ijazah tanpa tauliah) ni, and some bosses do seem like suka dengar cakap orang tertentu aje. But it can work both ways too, if the boss is cunning enough i.e dia ingat dia dapat ampu bos, sebenarnya bos pun dok perguna dia... possible kan :-)

JIE said...

Jokontan,

Wah, PHD pun bleh jadi skill ek? hehehe I think many of us are capable of politicking, but being decent people, we choose to be more civilized.

But perhaps occassionally using a little bit of (good) psychology when dealing with bosses, can make things more pleasant in the office, as long as tak sampai peringkat 'ampu' and you don't step on other people's toes la.

So, are you a player? :-)

JIE said...

Hi Izhal,

Mintak dijauhkan dari manusia jenis main black magic ni.. aminnn... but sometimes rasa macam orang kita ni dah balik ke zaman dulu kala. Pakai 'penyeri' la, pakai 'penunduk' la, bukak gerai nasi lemak tepi jalan pun ambik 'pelaris'. Camno?

Hajime mashite, and do drop by often :-)

Izhal said...

Jie,

tumpang lalu, tapi kalau u nak baca sekali lagi saya suka...

Maklang...

PhD (my uncle calls it pingat hasad dengki as a joke) tu memang tak guna especially kalau honorary doctorate. Setengah orang tak bertauliah depa main bagi je PhD sebab orang2 tu biasanya politicians/statesman. Yang dapat PhD sebab enroll program PhD pun banyak tak guna pasal lepas dapat PhD campak buku, lupakan ilmu... My opis hampir 70% PhD holders and out of that 20% pingat hasad dengki holders, so I guess I know what I'm talking about...

Sorang je politician ada PhD yang saya suka, Datuk Dr Zaharah dari Pahang, dapat PhD dari Cornell, Ithaca, NY. tapi dia pulak tak reti berpolitik so ditikam dek Kak Pidah ratu AP... La ni dia diam-diam je...

Jo Kontan said...

(un)/fortunately ?? I am not one.
:-)

Jie, Ni nampak gayer nya kena install shout box nii..

JIE said...

Izhal,

Silakan.. silakan...
What's the point about honorary doctorate ye? Orang biasa bersusah payah menuntut ilmu untuk dapatkan PhD, tapi ada gak yang beli dengan RM je. Does that mean they are pretending to be lebih pandai than they really are?

JIE said...

Rostam,

La tak tau la plak 'kodok' tu maknanya awek hehehe.

JIE said...

Jokontan,

Not a risk-taker eh? *wink*

Takyah jadik player la, sometimes the player gets played out, nampak buduh... :-)

Just be nice, kan?