will i am's delayed diary

Always one to grab opportunities, KH turned my last working day into a paktor session. He picked me up and sent me to the office. After I was done with all the formalities, he brought me out for coffee at Bean Brothers . While sipping my long black, and enjoying my chocolate roulade, I composed the customary farewell e-mail. KH took one look at it and disapproved! A bit too fake lo. Try again. Hehe. Ran a few drafts past KH, and finally sent out a semi-fake version. Done! A surreal feeling to have finally left my first job. A long 'detox' session would have been beneficial before I started my new role, but I didn't have the luxury. I was to report to work on the coming Monday!  

During my last two weeks at my old company, I tried to make sense of the exit documentation. Why so difficult right? The HR system automation sent me one variation of the forms. Payroll also emailed me. My company admin also had a long-winded email on the subject. In the end, I chose one version and had to merge all the instructions that I received, and even consult with other ex-colleagues who had run the confusing 'exit gauntlet'. Zzz.  First and foremost was assets. The systems department set an appointment with me at 11 AM on my last working day (LWD). The purpose was for me to surrender my laptop. They later changed the appointment to 3 PM ( too many resignations? ), but it didn't matter because I wasn't doing any real work. In the morning, I had one last handover session ( *roll eyes* ), then headed to the office. I arrived at 11 AM, and tried to settle some stuff with the admin department. Managed to return my insurance card ( expired years ago ) but I was given ...

By the time my work handover started, there was only one month left. It was a funny affair really. My work was handed over to a bunch of people, and even so, it had to be done carefully as not to 'stress them out' ( wise words from my COO ). In my career, nobody ever cared if I would be stressed out whenever I was on the receiving end of a handover. Another funny thing was that the person leaving had to chase for the handover. In my opinion, if you 'don't have the time', then its not my problem. My handovers continued right up to my last working day. I made sure to document all the sessions, and also left as much documents as possible on Confluence. The first colleague I told about my departure was also leaving. She tendered her resignation a month after me. She made it a point to like all the pages I authored on Confluence-- "no one would read it anyway".  An inside joke between us. Anyway, it was great to unload all that had accumulated over the years. T...

In 2021, we had no shortage of mooncakes at home. To avoid being buried in mooncakes, we had to eat at leas three mooncakes a night. My sister and BIL kept received mooncakes from their friends and suppliers. Teochew and Shanghai mooncakes were de rigueur this year. Even Apollo's mum gave out a batch of those delicious layered pastries with yam filling. One thing I didn't like about this year's mooncakes was the subpar salted duck egg yolks ( specialists would talk about colour, oil exudation, and grittiness lol ). And of course, there were specialty mooncakes like  Henry the Hamster joined this year's celebration, and he had fun frolicking in a pomelo skin. Even took a bite out of it. We lit a wood and paper lantern ( like an andon ) with a tea light, and got Little Monster to pose with Henry. The restless hamster flew out of his hand and into the lantern causing quite a scare! When we finally got Henry out, he was a bit shaken and he licked himself at several spots. L...

SK gave me big bowl of water hyacinths, and to avoid mosquito larvae from growing in the water, she  put one fighting fish into it. The water hyacinths started dying after a week. Strange because water hyacinths are actually pretty hardy weeds that choke ecosystems of lakes and rivers. Taking a closer look, I noticed small black dots and silky webs on the leaves. SK said they were spider mites. By the time all the water hyacinths die off, I'll be left with an aquarium that doubles as giant drinking dish for my neighbour's cats.  

My new employer produced the offer letter in record time, and they changed some standard clauses as a sign of their sincerity. I was happy with the package, and I signed it. A week later, I tendered my resignation after talking to the head of my department.  HOD: For everyone on the team, I have an idea on what would make them leave. For you, it would be due to task overloading, and perhaps also due to the CEO.  Thanked him for understanding my motivation to leave. In the afternoon my COO called me. COO: You want to leave? Seriously? Two months notice period not enough la. Can you delay one year? Or maybe you sign some retainer.  Don't be crazy. Not interested. Best of all, there was no counteroffer like I predicted. Less one thin g to reject. My handover dragged for one month because my COO thinks that my new employer would delay my onboarding. Wishful thinking. Anyway, he still 'insisted' that I help them out with some outstanding customer engagements that had been dr...

Here's a gist of my working experience. In 2003, I joined the company that I interned with. Not long after I joined, the company was bought over by a bigger company. For a span of 18 odd years, I had stayed on, merely changing subsidiaries along the way. With each change, came a change of management, a change of line of business, a change of domain. There was some career progression up till a certain point. But the flexible nature of the organization made it not very clear. People often wonder why I stayed so long when I never got a single proper bonus payout. Loyal? Content? Afraid of change? Too well-paid? Somehow, I made it through laaaa. The past 4 years were the most challenging. We tried to do anything and everything under the sun, under the guise of being 'dynamic'. And from what I saw, it was mostly a waste of time. In the end, I ended up in a subsidiary that had more than fifty different clients with at least fifty different installations. The mountain of problems ...