August 11th, 2010
A senior still working on the beautiful carvings (Thailand)
Many seniors who have retired from their jobs still choose to work a less paying job to pass the hours. And they give exceptional and personalized service. They worked with their heart and do the little extra things that warm the heart of a customer, often a total stranger.
With years of working experience, seniors indeed have so much more to offer to society. Some of them embody the meaning of genuine service that is becoming increasingly difficult to find in the fast paced businesses of today.
Quite often, I visit a pharmacy chain where I would often see this cheerful senior lady on duty. She is special in the sense that she is very warm and friendly towards the customers. As she knew the items sold there very well, she would often offer hints and also advice the customers on offers on similar items. For instance, let’s say a customer picked up an eye drop and proceed to pay at the counter. If another eye drop brand is on discount, she would inform the customer.
On the eve of Chinese New Year this year, I needed to purchase something urgently and so I went to that pharmacy. I was surprised to see this lady on duty at the counter. She was cheerful, greeted each customer and give took time to chat a little with them. Normally, the eve of Chinese New Year means a lot to the Chinese community as we will have our reunion dinner with our families. No one would want to work on that day.
As I paid for my purchases, I queried asked the lady why she was working on the eve? She told me that her children are now overseas and could not come back for Chinese New Year. And she had nothing better to do so she would rather pass her time working in the pharmacy. She would work till the fourth day of the Chinese New Year and go back to her hometown that day. At her usual cheerful self, she wished me a happy new year. The pharmacy chain is fortunate to have a staff like her- I have watched many staff come and go but she had stayed for a few years. And recently, the pharmacy even expanded by purchasing the store next door. Business must be blooming.
When I visited Singapore recently, I saw many seniors working well past their retirement. They would work jobs like cab drivers, cleaners, mall salesperson and food court worker. I was told that most of the time it is out of necessity because the standard of living in Singapore is so high. But often, these seniors display a lot of dedication and friendliness in performing their duties.
One wonders why can’t the young people today display the same kind of patience, calm, contentment as these seniors. My former colleagues used to complain to me that a number of younger generation whom they are hiring in the service industry often make them ‘vomit blood’ and give them lots of headaches. When these staff are corrected, they get upset and take medical leave the next day.
If many seniors who are educated and do not mind working in a job that they are obviously overqualified for, and yet dedicate themselves to their job, why can’t we? Being nice and helpful does not cost anything but makes a difference. It makes whatever job we are doing more meaningful and additional skills that we picked up along the way may well serve us well in our next job.
Further reading from the internet:
Categories: Career, Tis Thing Called Life
Tags: retirement, service, work
August 4th, 2010
Niche blogs tend to make money because the focus of the blog is on specific topics or niche. Sometimes, the blog is so specific that it covers only a targeted section- for instance, some blogs talk only about one particular car model, one type of cats, etc. From my experience in having general blog (like this one) and a blog dedicated to specific topic, I have to admit that specific or niche blogs will earn better- at least in Adsense which is my only revenue source.
This blog has been around since 2006- but as a personal blogs, it talks about almost anything under the sun- entrepreneurship, working life, crafting, creativity, blogging, family life, personality. Previously this blog also contained a number of travel articles- but I have since started specific blogs that focus on travel.
At first, I was very reluctant to create specific blogs to cover specific topics such as creativity and travel. But the blogosphere had debated largely on niche vs general blogs and many bloggers had shared their personal experiences on why niche blogs does better. In the end, I created specific blogs to deal with specific topics after considering my audience- they came to this blog because of certain articles that I wrote- they may come to read about working life and would look forward to the next post about the same kind of topic. Imagine instead in subsequent topics I started writing topics about craft business, blogging and travelling to certain places. In the end, they may stop coming.
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Categories: Blogging
Tags: adsense, blog, monetise
July 24th, 2010
The Star Metro featured an article on the life of the homeless in Kuala Lumpur on 19 July 2010. When nightfall comes, the homeless will take their place at the streets, bus stands and walkways of Kuala Lumpur. Some are existing or former drug addicts who were either chased out by their families or too ashamed of what they did to go home.
Some came from rural areas and are too poor to afford roof under their heads. These people actually have day jobs. During the day, they go to work and at night, the sleep on the streets. They go to shelters to have their daily meals.
A section also captured my attention- that some of the homeless who are housed in welfare homes actually chose to go back to the streets. This is because even in uncertainty, there are more freedom. Sometimes, even though a homeless person has nothing, his heart is more at peace compared to a rich person housed in a big and beautiful mansion.
When I was young, I have a friend who came from a very rich family but with parents who were controlling and emotionally manipulative. One day, my friend told me that her beautiful house is nothing more than a cage. She felt trapped in that beautiful home.
About 10 years ago, I became very drawn to the ascetic practices of the monks in Thailand that went and lived in the forests, caves and cemeteries. They had nothing with them except an almsbowl, tent umbrella, an extra set of robes, some matches, candles and other essential requisites. They do not carry any money with them and do not even wear slippers. They walked for miles every day, under the hot sun or heavy rain and sleep wherever they stopped. Every day, they went for almsround where lay devotees would place food on their bowl- they would eat whatever that they were given. Sometimes, they went for days without food- especially when going through deep forests without any habitation.
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Categories: Tis Thing Called Life
Tags: choices, family, parents, unhappiness
July 21st, 2010
There are managers who tend to overlook your weakness, focus on your strengths and try their best to bring out hidden qualities that they could see in you, but you can’t see in yourself. Managers who display such qualities are not merely managers but also leaders.
On the other hand, there are those who are intend on find fault with you, downplay your performance so that you don’t get that bonus or promotion. During appraisal time, they bring up your ‘mistakes’ but only briefly highly your achievements (that is if they highlight at all).
Over the years, I have worked under various bosses- those who have given me breaks and took it upon themselves to guide me have left a deep impression in me. Till today, I still think of them with gratitude. The strange thing is that, leaders like these tend to get ahead. They grow with the resilience and is often unfazed at the face of adversity. And like the help that they extend to others, they are also given breaks. Today, they have gotten into high and recognized positions.
Whereas those who are not really doing their jobs properly and downplay others tend to encounter various obstacles and difficulties. If it is not their working life, it happens in their personal lives- at where it hurts the most.
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Categories: Career
Tags: choices, kindness, work
July 18th, 2010
If you have multiple blogs and would like to have recent posts from your other blogs being populated at your blog’s sidebar, there’s a few Wordpress plugins for it. I have installed the RSS Blogroll plugin by Greg Jackson (visit plugin site).
For instance, at this blog, you can see that there’s a sidebar content of “More Recent Posts from My Health Blog” and “More Recent Posts from Other Blogs”. Not long after a publish a new post at another blog, it will automatically be populated at my blog’s sidebar. I need not manually link and update the title on my sidebar.
Benefits of installing the RSS Blogroll
After in installing the blogroll, I have find an increased number of traffic brought in by my other blogs. For instance, the traffic for this blog had grown because my health blog was referring traffic to this blog. When visitors like the topic of some of my blog posts that they have seen via my blog’s sidebar, they will click on the topic to come to the blog.
And not having to manually login and update the new posts myself have been a great relief.
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Categories: Blogging
Tags: blog, Blogging, wordpress plugin
July 5th, 2010
When we are not tensed, or consistently keep placing high expectations in order to perform, we may surprise ourselves that the results are usually higher than our expectations. It’s very important- when you are doing any tasks (work or household chores), do it with your heart and give it your best. Relaxed and just tell yourself you will do your best- not because you want to earn praises or inflate your ego, but to do it simply for the task itself and for yourself.
Some of us may do things like ‘going the extra mile’ in order to impress our bosses and colleagues. The problem comes when no one seemed to appreciate our hard labor and may even end up taking us for granted or throwing even more work along our way. We would end up feeling frustrated, angry, stressed and taken for a ride. That explains why many people are really stressed out in their jobs.
But it is not unusual to find that two people doing the same job often reacts differently. Same job, same hours but different attitude. One is more relaxed and have high levels of energy by the end of the day. The other person may feel drained, stressed, frustrated at the end of the day and end up releasing their frustration on their family.
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Categories: Career
Tags: anger, choices, meditation, mindful, stress, work
June 28th, 2010
While many working people are stuck in unhappy jobs, fresh graduates are having problems getting a job. Even landing in an interview is next to impossible. In that case, what to do while waiting for someone to call for interview after submitting countless application?
Consider jobs that are out of your scope of study
You may have a science degree, but if you are unable to find a job as a molecular biologist, chemist or physicist, have you consider jobs in sectors such as customer service or sales? Many companies are constantly looking for staff due to the high turnover rate.
Please don’t underestimate these sectors. You may begin as a front end sales or service that probably required lower qualification than a diploma or degree. But with your academic qualification, you would be able to move further up the ladder once you have developed sufficient job experience and have favorable performance review. From a front-liner, you can gradually climb the corporate ladder and assume managerial and leadership roles.
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Categories: Career
Tags: ambition, choices, courage, work
June 25th, 2010
I am a regular follower of PassiveAggressive. In a post called So…I’m guessing you don’t get many visitors in your neck of the woods, a note written by a pet lover on why having dogs and cats are better than having kids:
TO ALL PETS OWNER WHO VISIT AND LIKE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT OUR PETS:
1. They live here. You don’t.
2. If you don’t want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture. That’s why they call it ‘fur’-niture
3. I like my pets a lot better than I like most people. To me, they are adopted sons/daughters who are short, hairy, walk on all fours and don’t speak clearly.
Remember, dogs and cats are better than kids because they:
1. Eat less
2. Don’t ask for money all the time
3. Are easier to train
4. Normally come when called
5. Never ask to drive the car
6. Don’t hang out with drug-using people
7. Don’t smoke or drink
8. Don’t want to wear your clothes
9. Don’t have to buy the latest fashions
10. Don’t need a gazillion dollars for college
11. If they get pregnant, you can sell their children.
A cute doggie in Ngao, Thailand
Categories: Funnies
Tags: child, humor, pets
June 23rd, 2010
Almost everyone had the experience of being bullied or belittled. Bullies exist in school- we thought that we have escaped them but these people come back in the form of the boss, co-workers and even in our personal relationships.
But the fact is, bullies are just insecure and fearful people who try to hide behind a fierce and tough mask. Usually they come from an environment of lack- whether it is due to lack of material wealth where they had to fight their way for, and/or due to lack of love (divorcing parents, busy parents with no time for them, etc). Deep down, they crave for attention, love and acceptance like everyone else. And they try to obtain it through their own misguided ways by raising their voice, belittling others or pushing others around- physically or emotionally.
Not all bullies appear physically strong and ready for physical fights. They can come in any form and with slightly different modus operandi. They can be the manager with the huge beer belly who belittles you in meetings and coerce other managers to joint in- and the others, out of fear for their ricebowl had no choice but to get involved.
The worst thing you can do when you find yourself being bullied or being put down repeatedly is to keep quiet and bear with it. Talking and cursing about the person with your friends and family helps only to a certain extend. It does not solve your problem but at least can help you let go of some of the pressure.
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Categories: Career, Tis Thing Called Life
Tags: anger, choices, courage, life, stress, work
June 21st, 2010
Some of us like to preserve old newspaper articles. After reading, we feel that some articles may be too good for the recycle bin and so we set aside the article for ‘future reference’.
As time pass by, these ‘useful’ articles quickly work themselves up to a little nasty stack in the corner. Effectively, they become an eye-sore and when we want to look up some articles, we are confronted by a huge collection of paper that are fast turning yellow.
Newspaper clippings that I was saving for later
Stacked newspaper becomes clutter and is not a conductive item in your living space. Reason being is that they tend to attract dust, some insects, smell and well…stagnant and negative energy. I have even tried to cut them out and stick them to printed business prospectus- but after a while, they have a stale smell.
Even though you do not believe in feng shui or positive energies, just ask yourself, do you feel re-energized looking at that stack of paper each time?
Untidiness and disorganized objects create chaos- and when we look at them, somehow it makes our mind more muddled and less confused. So I would like to make a suggestion for those of you who feel you must have some kind of record to store expired newspaper articles:
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Categories: Being Organised
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