Wilma I
My apologies to all future Wilmas for the last one that I've encountered was such a nightmare. She may not be the main reason I quit my Tuas job but she certainly was the trigger that kill the camel with the straw-broken back.
It all dates back to 1996. I started work in Tuas the very Monday after my last paper. I was in Corporate Comms and she was in Billing. Admittedly, she was one of the better looking gals in there but there was something about her that wasn't quite right. I was the new guy and well wishers have been dropping hints here and there warning me against her. I didn't pay much attention to all the whisperings nor her. We were in different business units and I was having too much fun doing my stuff and being really good at it. It wasn't often that we get to do what we love. I was creating. From corporate global website to newsletters to directories to marketing kits.
Anyway, it was obvious I was shining brightly when I was poached to head the Marketing department of another business unit. 3 months later, I added the Operations Department to my portfolio following the unfortunately passing of my predecessor. This is when I came into full contact with her professionally. That was when I finally get the opportunity to know her up close and personal (with much regret).
She is a real piece of work as I received numerous complaints against her for quarreling with the customers. It was a time when the Customer Services Manager went on maternity leave that I had to cover her department as well. So here's the awful thing. I have to take nasty phone calls from users (Customer Services) lodging formal complaints against her. After that, I have visit the customer's corporate head office (marketing - accounts management) for another dressing down. By right, she would have been fired right away but strangely each and every time she escaped unscathed.
Finally, it was all revealed to me. She was the mistress of my boss. The almighty GM whom I report directly to. The GM is somebody who I admired a lot. Armed with just a Primary 6 education, he worked his way from PSA coolie to warehouse forklift driver to GM with a nice company car to boot. My GM has always treated me like a younger brother and I am thankful for that till this very day.
Reluctantly, like many of my other colleagues before me, I too had to look the other way as a gesture of giving Tai Kor face.
I was thinking that if she put in more effort into her job (which to be honest is not bad), we would all be working together happily. Somehow her stuck-up attitude is like an extra piece of sandpaper. Unnecessary friction. Most of the time, I just put up with her while avoiding any kind of confrontation.
Fast forward to June 1999. I was tasked to head the Y2K compliance projects of the Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore offices. She was roped into my Singapore team and I had to spend even more time enduring her tantrums.
First, there was a lot of data to migrate to the next system. Second, we have a deadline to complete the project. Year 2000 wasn't going to wait for us to complete our migration. Third, I was heading 3 teams concurrently. Fourth, she was damn difficult to work with but I can't boot her out on account that she was my Tai Kor's woman.
It was sheer hell then. I was caught in the middle between my GM's kindness at the top and her insubordination at the bottom. I was so burnt out that I drafted my resignation letter and saved to my harddisk, waiting to be printed the moment my Y2K projects were completed.
Then the "incident" occurred. We have a pool of network printers but among them was a line printer that was capable of printing several hundreds of lines per minute. It was a very expensive printer and as such we only had one. Hence, the chance to use it is precious commodity as all of us had much to print.
It just so happened that fateful day where I sent a print job, by mistake to the line printer instead of a regular printer. It just so happened that fateful day that the errant print job of mine cut hers in the printing queue. She came storming into the printing room all ballistics. I apologised for my mistake and cleared the printer queue for her.
She continued on her tirade and finally crossed the line with the magic word.
BASTARD.
It all dates back to 1996. I started work in Tuas the very Monday after my last paper. I was in Corporate Comms and she was in Billing. Admittedly, she was one of the better looking gals in there but there was something about her that wasn't quite right. I was the new guy and well wishers have been dropping hints here and there warning me against her. I didn't pay much attention to all the whisperings nor her. We were in different business units and I was having too much fun doing my stuff and being really good at it. It wasn't often that we get to do what we love. I was creating. From corporate global website to newsletters to directories to marketing kits.
Anyway, it was obvious I was shining brightly when I was poached to head the Marketing department of another business unit. 3 months later, I added the Operations Department to my portfolio following the unfortunately passing of my predecessor. This is when I came into full contact with her professionally. That was when I finally get the opportunity to know her up close and personal (with much regret).
She is a real piece of work as I received numerous complaints against her for quarreling with the customers. It was a time when the Customer Services Manager went on maternity leave that I had to cover her department as well. So here's the awful thing. I have to take nasty phone calls from users (Customer Services) lodging formal complaints against her. After that, I have visit the customer's corporate head office (marketing - accounts management) for another dressing down. By right, she would have been fired right away but strangely each and every time she escaped unscathed.
Finally, it was all revealed to me. She was the mistress of my boss. The almighty GM whom I report directly to. The GM is somebody who I admired a lot. Armed with just a Primary 6 education, he worked his way from PSA coolie to warehouse forklift driver to GM with a nice company car to boot. My GM has always treated me like a younger brother and I am thankful for that till this very day.
Reluctantly, like many of my other colleagues before me, I too had to look the other way as a gesture of giving Tai Kor face.
I was thinking that if she put in more effort into her job (which to be honest is not bad), we would all be working together happily. Somehow her stuck-up attitude is like an extra piece of sandpaper. Unnecessary friction. Most of the time, I just put up with her while avoiding any kind of confrontation.
Fast forward to June 1999. I was tasked to head the Y2K compliance projects of the Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore offices. She was roped into my Singapore team and I had to spend even more time enduring her tantrums.
First, there was a lot of data to migrate to the next system. Second, we have a deadline to complete the project. Year 2000 wasn't going to wait for us to complete our migration. Third, I was heading 3 teams concurrently. Fourth, she was damn difficult to work with but I can't boot her out on account that she was my Tai Kor's woman.
It was sheer hell then. I was caught in the middle between my GM's kindness at the top and her insubordination at the bottom. I was so burnt out that I drafted my resignation letter and saved to my harddisk, waiting to be printed the moment my Y2K projects were completed.
Then the "incident" occurred. We have a pool of network printers but among them was a line printer that was capable of printing several hundreds of lines per minute. It was a very expensive printer and as such we only had one. Hence, the chance to use it is precious commodity as all of us had much to print.It just so happened that fateful day where I sent a print job, by mistake to the line printer instead of a regular printer. It just so happened that fateful day that the errant print job of mine cut hers in the printing queue. She came storming into the printing room all ballistics. I apologised for my mistake and cleared the printer queue for her.
She continued on her tirade and finally crossed the line with the magic word.
BASTARD.
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