Pemurah...

"I ni muka approachable ke?"  tanya Abang Man, hairan.

Pasti ada yang telah datang kepadanya lagi dengan permintaan yang bukan-bukan. Memang begitu nasib saudaraku yang seorang ini, kerap didatangi mereka yang bermasalah, merayu simpati mahukan bantuan.

Lama sudah aku memikirkan soalan yang diajukan. Akhirnya aku telah membuat satu kesimpulan- saudaraku ini mempunyai rupa yang pemurah...

Haippp!!! Baca baik-baik! Pemurah, bukan murahan!

Ada sesuatu pada dirinya. Sesuatu yang membuatkan orang berkeperluan berani untuk menghampirinya. Seperti ada tertulis di wajahnya:

'Kemungkinan di sini, pencarian anda berakhir...

Barangkali di sini, ada ruang untuk bernafas dalam kesesakan yang dijana oleh masalah anda...'

Itulah juga yang telah menarik perhatianku kepadanya awal pertemuan kami dahulu. Mengingatkan itu, aku segan sendiri. Aku hanya memikirkan diri sendiri sedangkan dia begitu terbeban dengan semua permintaan dan harapan yang diletakkan terhadapnya tanpa diminta.

Siapakah aku untuk menambah lagi beban itu...?

My first taste of management duty...

...and boy, is it ROTTEN!

A staggering total of 6 key people has left or will be leaving our little department by June of 2009 and I suddenly find myself in the unenviable position of having to manage a unit without having to race another rat for it (a race which I had actually planned on discreetly falling out of!).

How I long for the days of being just another drone in the hive, where we only need to hear and obey. Now it is ME who has got to find ways to make people hear and obey! :P Ugh!

I even had to go so far as to look for, buy and ACTUALLY STUDY A BOOK on getting along with others! And the suggestions and advices given were SO NOT ME but, for the sake of avoiding a mini World War III, very necessary. I'm pretty straightforward by nature, a person who calls a brick a brick and to hell with anyone else who were so myopic that they fail to see it for what it is.

But in this new world I have to live in, we need to seem like we're kissing the boss' ass without actually doing so, while appearing to give in to every dissatisfied demand from the staff when we are,  in reality, maneuvering them to our (hopefully correct) point of view.

In one sense, I'm lucky enough to have a very understanding and supportive Big Boss, who knows I've done my best despite being tied up by events and circumstances.

But it's all so DAMNED TIRING! I need a long rest...