Eternal Success Story in the Making

I just have to post this… to get it out of my system before I go to bed.

Lately, two of my lady friends are consulting me about their marriage problems.  I don’t know why they choose me, I’m not even married yet 

Listening to their problems and giving advice… that’s what I’ve done. But it irritates me when they won’t follow my advice, then they just keep coming back asking advice… asking for help…

This morning, Wendy told me that she need to bail his husband out of jail, asking me for some money. I asked why was he in jail… she said it’s because he sexually assaulted a woman in a movie theater. Why was I not surprise, this is his second time! Gosh! Base on my assesment, his husband is a negative flirt a sex maniac who can not control himself. [Example... an incident a couple of months ago, even in the presence of my friend (his wife), he had the nerves to touch my friend's cousin's sensitive area in front of her! (long story)] 

I said to her, “I wont help him. It’s not right. I can’t tolerate it… he’s abusing you, his family are abusing you! Don’t be such a naive!”. Imagine, his family are angry with her because she can’t bail him out! the nerve! My friend is the BAD one and their son is the GOOD one because his in jail??????!!!

All of her problem come from his husband and his husband’s dysfunctional family… her father in law tried to rape her! Her mother in law just tolerates his husband and son’s sexual activities. She moved out of his husband’s house but never told the incident to anyone except me.

She is the cleaner of his husband’s dirty doing. A naive, a saint… I adviced her to divorce his jobless maniac husband a long time ago, since his husband refuses to seek the help of a therapist or a preacher or anyone. She suffers depression, nervous breakdown, her work is affected, her finances, her children. In order to break from his husband’s financial and social liabilities, she need to divorced him. “Take your children with you and remain single.”

I got angry with my Wendy for a while, hoping she’ll wake up from her naive ways. What good is an advice if it is not followed? 

Lesson: Don’t be in a hurry to marry someone you just knew for a short period of time! Once you see something major is wrong with him/her (ex. sex maniac, alcoholic, negative addiction) break the relationship right away if he/she is not willing to seek help…

Just right after having lunch, I usually go to my cubicle (yes cubicles) and take my power nap. But sometimes I hear people laugh in a not too distant cubicle… they are telling stories and jokes… in short they are having a great time on their break. I don’t mind the noise because I know that laughing is a form of medicine. But at 12:30 pm I prefer to take my power nap, in order for me to be more productive in the afternoon.

For more info on these techniques…. power nap and laughter

I’ve started working in my new company last August 22 and since then I haven’t really posted anything about my work. I was just overwhelmed by the culture, processes, environment, people and everything… I just don’t know where to start. But now I have decided to start posting my experiences by talking about one of the “core values” being advocated and practiced in my new found second home… and that one value is INTEGRITY.  

Integrity, inspiring trust by taking responsibility, acting ethically and encouraging honest and open debate.

Our company trusts us so in return we take responsibility and act ethically. Woooaaah! Coming from a rigid, military type of company… this seems to be something radical. Isn’t that we must earn the trust of someone first by showing that we are responsible? And not the other way around?

Imagine this:

1. No swipe card or time card to monitor your time-in and time-out of the company. Employees are entrusted to make their own time reports.
2. You can reimburse your travel expenses like taxi fare (without receipts).

Those are some examples wherein the company shows that it trusts its employees. This does not mean that you will not be noticed if you always come to work late. One thing more, the company did an extensive background check of its employees before hiring them so more or less the company hired mature minded professionals. Imagine I need to submit a municipal trial court and a regional trial court certificate that declares that I have no pending, ongoing, past cases. Even an NBI clearance is not enough. NBI is equivalent to the FBI of USA.

With that, I was impressed by the culture of my new company. I really am seeing people living the code. But I’m not saying that 100% of people in here are living the code. With a global organization like this there will always be a Judas among the Disciples. Some are tempted to abuse the company’s trust; like engaging in insider trading, divulging client information. Often these people don’t last long, as they are caught and corresponding disciplinary action are imposed (administrative/civil).

As I am writing this post, I am inside an internet café paying for the use of a computer. Although I have internet access in my workstation, I’m just following a company rule “one must not excessively use company assets like accessing the internet for personal use”. It is allowed but it must not be too much that it affects one’s work. The question is… how much is too much? Gray area…. Just to be safe, I prefer to blog in an internet café. (I miss my computer at home in the province aaaaaahhhh!).

What’s the importance of trusting your employees first? If your employees pride their knowledge and skills (we call them best people), they will surely be productive at work if they are trusted by management. I for one do not like to be “closely” monitored by my superior; I prefer a consulting type of delegation because I know I am responsible enough to finish the job with quality. Best people are people who work best when you let them finish the job with minimal supervision. Since one of the core value of this company is to attract and produce “best people” it is just psychologically logical that the company must trust these best people… in return these best people should live with integrity.

“Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.”  - Oprah Winfrey