Like A Rose
Dan Lai
26
may_fifteen@mailcity.com
Engaged to the sweetest angel in the world
Loves to sing, watch movies and DVDs, swim, play balls, read self-improvement books and travel with my dear
Graduation Photos
Before I get to collect the potraits, let's have a preview:
Letter From Management
To all Employees:
Effective January 2007
Dress Code
1. It is advised that you come to work dressed according to your salary. If we see you wearing Prada shoes and carrying a Gucci bag, we assume you are doing well financially and therefore do not need a pay raise.
2. If you dress poorly, you need to learn to manage your money better, so that you may buy nicer clothes, and therefore you do not need a pay raise.
3. If you dress just right, you are right where you need to be and therefore you do not need a pay raise.
Sick Days
We will no longer accept a doctor's certificate as proof of sickness.
If you are able to go to the doctor, you are able to come to work.
Holiday Days
Each employee will receive 104 personal days a year. They are called Saturday & Sunday.
Compassionate Leave
This is no excuse for missing work. There is nothing you can do for dead friends, relatives or co-workers. Every effort should be made to have non-employees attend to the arrangements.
In rare cases where employee involvement is necessary, the funeral should be scheduled in the late afternoon. We will be glad to allow you to work through your lunch hour and subsequently leave one hour early.
Toilet Use
1. Entirely too much time is being spent in the toilet. There is now a strict three-minute time limit in the cubicles.
2. At the end of three minutes, an alarm will sound, the toilet paper roll will retract, the cubicle door will open, and your picture will be taken.
3. After your second offence, your picture will be posted on the company notice board under the "Chronic Offenders" category.
4. Anyone caught smiling in the picture will be sanctioned under the company's mental health policy.
Lunch Break
1. Skinny people get 30 minutes for lunch, as they need to eat more so that they can look healthy.
2. Normal size people get 15 minutes for lunch to get a balanced meal to maintain their average figure.
3. Chubby people get 5 minutes for lunch, because that's all the time needed to drink a Slim-Fast.
Thank you for your loyalty to our company. Remember we are an employer of choice and we are here to provide a positive employment experience.
Therefore, all questions, comments, concerns, complaints, frustrations, irritations, aggravations, insinuations, allegations, accusations, contemplations, consternation and input should be directed elsewhere.
Management
Gift
I wanted to write this entry quite some time ago but it seems that now it is more spontaneous with the works of the Holy Spirit within me. On my office desk, I placed a verse from St. Matthew in front of me, to guide me in my work. "Anyone who wants to be great will be humbled. Anyone who humbles himself will be made great"
Some people say that the ability to communicate coherently and confidently is a skill that will help you to succeed in life. Others reckon that the ability to adapt is crucial for survival. But as a 2 month old Catholic, I have come to realise the power of praying. It is a gift from the almighty, an invitation to be his companion and a skill that ones must have at all times. The truth of living in a secular world is that religions are not involved in our daily lives. We avoid discussing it and thats why we become Sunday Catholics. The book "God Is My CEO" clearly illustrates how successful people put God ahead of everything and how they involve their faith by living everyday as Christians. With our education, our status, our achievement, humans are starting to believe that we can handle everything ourselves. It is only when things go wrong then will people surrender to the gentle calling of God.
This few months have been wonderful for me after coming out of 4 years of darkness. Yet, there were so moments of despair and uncertainty. Inner peace can be easily attained when I prayed. Like a cathechist said before "Praying is not me setting aside time to talk to God, but me accepting the invitation of God's companionship." I am still working on my morning prayer but so far have not failed praying before sleeping. I pray for the people whom I care for. I pray for the world and I pray for myself. Praying is an antidote to any pain and disturbance.
The cathechist also posed concerns on the people's attitude towards the sacraments of the faith. The worst of all is the receiving of the holy communion. The truth is that now many Catholics treat the receiving of the body of Christ as a routine. In fact, as we take in the host, there should be a transformation. We should become closer to our saviour in heaven. We should become a better Catholic. The Catholic churches in Europe are facing the crisis of the loss of faith now. Many failed to understand the doctrines that are essential for the foundation of faith building. In Singapore, many people claimed that the Catholic mass failed to inspire them or it is too boring. Many had left the only religion passed down by St. Peter himself and joined other denominations. To me, every rituals, every word and every songs performed during the mass are full of meanings. The question is "HAVE WE MADE AN EFFORT TO LEARN WHAT WE SHOULD KNOW AND TO APPRECIATE WHAT WE HAVE? HAVE WE BEEN PROACTIVE IN BELIEVING OR DO WE JUST EXPECT THE CHURCH TO DO EVERYTHING FOR US?" WHILE GOD HAS HIS ARMS WIDE OPEN, HAVE WE TAKEN A STEP FORWARD TO LOVE HIM MORE?"
Maybe before we blame anyone or anything, we should reflect on what we could have done more. Sometimes, it is this kind of self-reflection that separates the successful and the ones whom always taste failure and never learn.
What is Sumitomo Chemical Asia
Looks like many people are quite blur about my company so allow me to explain once and for all:
350 years ago, Sumitomo house of family founded many companies from their first fertilizer manufacturing factory that coped with environmental problems. Companies like Sumitomo Chemical (SCC), NEC, Sumitomo Pharmaceuticals, Sumitomo Metal Mining, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Sumitomo Metal Industries, Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Sumitomo Warehouse Corporation, Sumitomo Osaka Cement were originated from Sumitomo house of family. Although now they are all operated independantly but the business prinicples from the founder are still adopted.
SCC was formed in 1925. Under its umbrella are also many subsidiaries like Sumitomo Chemical Asia (SCA), Sumitomo Chemical Singapore, The Polyolefin Company, Petrochemical Corporation of Singapore and Sumitomo Bakelite. These are the subsidiaries in Singapore only. They are alot more in other countries.
SCA was established last year. Its primary purpose is to sell and market petrochemical products manufactured by Petro-Rabigh. Petro-Rabigh project is a 50:50 joint venture between Saudi Aramco (a state-owned refining company by the Saudi government) and SCC. So SCA has the exclusive rights to market to all around the world outside Middle East. The Petro-Rabigh project will only begin full operation next year. Hence, now SCA is involved in stabilising and starting up internal system like SAP, forming business networks and also doing premarketing to collect intelligence for long term marketing strategy. SCA will also take part in marketing campaigns like trade shows in China and other places to advertise on our company and the future products. So far, under SCA, we already establish offices in Shanghai, Dongguan, Europe (Belgium) and India. Up and coming ones may be Vietnam and Latin America.
2 Weeks of Work Have Passed
So as I commence the 3rd week, I have some thoughts about the past 2 weeks at work. The colleagues are quite ok. Most of them are friendly, helpful and we work together amiably and peacefully. Jackson and I were split up into different sales team while Chen Wei is in marketing. My manager is a person with loads of experience in the field and yet he is extremely helpful in teaching me new things. However, too bad that he is very busy as he is one of the important staff during this stage of business development. I also learn quite some stuffs from the seniors who had the relevant sales experience in the polyolefin industry. Some of them were from Exxon Mobil and also other chemical companies like our affiliates The Polyolefin Company and Sumitomo Chemical Singapore.
These 2 weeks we had been involved in a heavy amount of administration like data entry of customer profiles. It was not just the entering of information but also sorting them in a way that makes marketing sense as the marketing and sales managers will use them to derive short and long term marketing and sales plan. Then, supply chain will make use of our plan to forcast their own shipment requirement. The worst time was when I worked till 8 plus in the office and then still had to bring work home and only finished it by 2 plus. Luckily can claim for dinner. The next day was shiok!
The other task we were also actively involved in is the conceptualisation of the website. We are drafting out ideas, meeting up with vendors and doing some brainstorming to create our own website. Hopefully things will run smoothly if not our heads will be on the chopping board! Ok lah, not so serious.
The more higher level planning that we are learning and observing is the SAP system that will be implemented soon. I am very excited to be involved in this as I think this is a great opportunity to learn the state of the art business system. Although alot of linguistics like incoterms (international commercial terms) and accrual are alien to us, we are slowly picking them up.
Ten Things I Love About My Job:
1) I love my office venue as it is near tp dear's.
2) I have nice colleagues.
3) I love the view from my office. I can see dear's tower.
4) I love my seat as it is near to the pantry.
5) I love my lap top as it is small and nice.
6) I love my workplace as it is full of different places for lunch
7) I love the pace of learning. It is just right.
8) I love the way the management involves us in some stuffs.
9) I love the distance from home to work.
10) I love my namecard as it got my photo on it.
Next Monday will be welcome dinner for newcomers and I heard there will be lots of drinking. Hope I can pull through that night. Haha.
Corpus Christi - The Body of Christ
This morning, I went down to St Anthony Church with Dear's family because it is The Feast of St Anthony. We took quite a while to find since we were not familiar with the area. I even called Meiying to ask for direction and I was really guilty to wake her up. Sorry my friend! There were fun fairs but we did not stay long. St Anthony is the patron saint of lost things. Therefore, I prayed to Jesus through St Anthony so that he could help those Catholics who had lost their faith.
Then in the evening, I went down to St Francis Xavier Church to attend the mass. The reason was that there would be a procession after the mass and I was tasked to carry the banner for the Lector ministry. Lectors are people who go up to the sanctuary during mass to read the 1st and 2nd reading. Today's theme was Corpus Christi - the Hebrew translation of the body of Christ. During the priest's sermon, he mentioned how Catholics receive communion when they are not in the state of grace. As we, Catholics, view the holy communion or the eucharist as the exact body and blood of Jesus Christ, many of us fail to experience transformation in our lives. The reason is sin. I felt really guilty when the priest said that. In fact, as we go through our lives, we have sinned many times. During these times, we did not have the consciousness to re-examine our behaviour and only act holy when we go to church. Let us be aware of how we think, feel, talk and act, so that we can be worthy to receive the body of Christ in the state of grace.
My 1st Car Accident In 4 Years
I was travelling on Jalan Nira, a small road linking out into Chartwell Drive before going down to Serangoon Garden Circles. Just as I was driving straight across a T-junction, a pickup came from the right and banged my car on my right rear portion. The impact caused my rear side mirror to be smashed. Clearly, the fault was not on me since I was going straight on the main road and he was turning out from the side. He was supposed to give way to me since there was a stop line on his lane. But I guess I still should exercise caution when I drive around there next time.
I took down his pickup licence plate number, his contact number and took some pictures on our vehicles. Forgot to check his IC and take down his particular. Luckily, they are not that necessary.
I was travelling on Jalan Nira, a small road linking out into Chartwell Drive before going down to Serangoon Garden Circles. Just as I was driving straight across a T-junction, a pickup came from the right and banged my car on my right rear portion. The impact caused my rear side mirror to be smashed. Clearly, the fault was not on me since I was going straight on the main road and he was turning out from the side. He was supposed to give way to me since there was a stop line on his lane. But I guess I still should exercise caution when I drive around there next time.
I took down his pickup licence plate number, his contact number and took some pictures on our vehicles. Forgot to check his IC and take down his particular. Luckily, they are not that necessary.
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So I went down to Honda workshop with my dad to report the accident and they will get the insurance company and lawyer to settle the negotiation with the third party. For now, other than the repairing of the car, there will investigation to ensure that my statement was accurate. I will just have to wait for another week for the car to be ready for collection and another few more months to clear the insurance claim.
I must thank God for protecting me for any possible injury. I also want to thank Dear's dad for providing me some advice on the necessary procedures to deal with this accident. I also like to thank Dear for being so understanding now that I have no car for a week.
I must thank God for protecting me for any possible injury. I also want to thank Dear's dad for providing me some advice on the necessary procedures to deal with this accident. I also like to thank Dear for being so understanding now that I have no car for a week.
It All Begins!
For the many years before today, I have experienced my 1st day of school, my 1st test, my 1st exam, my 1st day of BGR, my 1st day of holiday, my 1st failure, my 1st success and many other 1st times.
Today is my 1st day of work. Although it is not my 1st time working, it matters alot now as my career starts today. It matters because i can now search my meaning and value in life. I can use the money I earn to build a future, one that consists of Dear and me. I can grow as an adult and I can learn as a professional. Of course, I will lose some things which are only entitled to students. I have no more holidays in terms of months. I have to face a different kind of stress and pressure. I have to ensure the well-being of my parents and my family in the future. To gain something, others have to be lost. I guess this is the concept of balance.
Today went very smoothly. I was the last one to reach office but we were all on time. In the morning, we had an orientation briefing conducted by the Managing Director. He elaborated on the company mission, core values and other important information. He also gave us an overview of the company's operation, business and future plan. Then, the baton was passed on to the HR executive who briefed us on the code of conduct and ethics and other administrative matters. Went to eat lunch with our superiors. So far, they are quite ok but it still early to tell. My Key Account Manager just asked us to attend his wedding!
The afternoon was spent learning the IT stuff after the IT Support Executive set up our laptop and taught us how to book meeting rooms and check our colleagues calendar and etc. Then we took some time to read through the orientation kit and also browsed through the public folders. At 4.30pm, the company driver gave us a ride to Suntec for corporate photo taking that is required for our name cards. It was quite expensive but was paid by the company. Then we went back to office to show face and packed up before leaving at about 6.15pm. Tomorrow, there would be another briefing session with the General Manager of Admin. Then, I guess it is on the job training already.
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