It seems, every 2 years or so, drama kicks into my life. In 2005, I got kicked out of my scholarship to UK because I simply didn’t do well for my A Levels. In 2007, there was this whole fiasco with Pretty Swallow, and as much as I love her, I have long accepted she’s gone from my life.. at least for now. And now, it’s 2009. I was thinking to myself on New Year’s day, that another drama was bound to happen, and what do you know? It did.

I quit my job (or was terminated, according to whom you ask), and am left with $12.05 in my bank account. Besides my boss not paying me, I also quit/got terminated due to some other reason, that being “attitude”.

From Sunday till Wednesday, I was in Sydney, bleeding out of my wallet. Doing what? Working. And here’s a summary of what happened:

• Saturday – all expenses paid trip to Sydney.. w00t w00t!
• Sunday – Halfway on the drive to Sydney, we were told, we’re going to share the travel expenses. I have no problems with that. Accomodation has no internet… uh oh.
• Monday – we learnt that we’d be marketing a charity. w00t! Chance to do good! Spent a whole day doing nonsense, not learning about the charity we’re selling. Not so great: all expenses paid turns out to be an incomplete sentence. The complete sentence should read: “all expensese paid. out of your pocket”.
• Tuesday – out on the field, still knowing nothing much about the charity we’re selling, thanks to the complete lack of Internet access.
• Wednesday morning – I apparently humiliated my boss and my boss’ boss. Got the sack/I quit (depending who you ask). Came home.

So what the frak happened? Basically, my boss’ boss asked us if we were psyched to work. I am, as most people know, neutral about everything. I do not get excited easily, and it must take something huge to get me excited (like me being introduced to a Cyberdyne computer based defence system that will become sentient and take over the world) And so I told them that, and that they were idiots in thinking that they can so much influence my attitude. He said I have a bad attitude (I do admit, I was rude to that man, as I had no respect for him whatsoever). So what is the right attitude?

According to them, the right attitude is the one that they deem so – which involves lots of rah-rah-ing about the office, and lots of loud noisy music that hurts the ears. I do not know about you, my readers, but I find the peptalk and trying to pump people up with loud rock music very very disturbing. I find it very very artificial. And the thing is with them is, if you don’t show you’re happy and motivated, they think you have the wrong attitude.

To me, attitude is not induced from outside. My line of work required high levels of motivation throughout the day. And if those poor fools think that the loud music and silly calls for meetings (yes, we have to chant “we want a meeting” in the morning. Stupid) can motivate a person throughout the day, I invite them to please go rethink their strategies. I refuse to participate in mass stupidity. My motivations for the day stay high because I am internally happy. And I have the results to show for that – I converted the most sales during the holiday period (a season traditionally known for being quite hard to convert sales).

Anyone who knows me well, would know that it would take something very very huge to impact my normal attitude. Even when I failed my advanced Macroeconomics (which probably impacted my academic future), I didn’t even bother going around moping or losing my mood. I just did what needed to be done. There is simply no time for bad attitudes or feeling down. I have too much to do.

I learnt this well from my immediate supervisor, a Hongkie guy. The one thing I learnt from him is to keep your head down and never stop going. He never stops. He doesn’t sound enthusiastic at all when he talks to you, but that’s just him. And yet, he’s actually the guy who can convert the most sales. That’s because he never stops. He keeps his head down and keeps moving. Now, that is great attitude.

Attitude is reflected in action. Facial expression is just one part of action. And it isn’t even vital. I have a surly face quite often, especially when I am thinking about the greater mysteries of life, like Galileo (comparing self to Galileo – 40 points on the crackpot index¹). I’m generally quite happy, even when I am slightly irked by things.

Anyways, after the whole argument about my attitude, I saw he wasn’t going to change his mind. He later accused me of questioning his actions and intents (of changing to market a charity) and his running of the company (he’s be dicking around the accounts and I know it, that’s the reason why he didn’t pay any of us). I did in fact question him. You know, I thought the basis of the Western World is based on independent thought. Afterall, I did escape an oppressive regime where asking questions gets your head cut off². He wouldn’t answer, and I kept pressing. An unstoppable force meeting an immovable object³.

But the thing, I guess, that pissed me off the most on Wednesday is when my boss said something along the lines of “you’re just contracted to me, why should I be taking care of you guys. I’m in this for myself, and not for you”. That really pushed my patience to the limit. I had just wanted to snap his neck. But instead, I left the office.

And that, boys and girls, is how I came to be jobless once again, and with a bank account that is worth $12.05. My boss did eventually pay me though, but I doubt he’s going to pay in full (bonuses and the like).

Today I did my accounting (partially..). It turns out, it costs a bloody lot to work. Just for fun, I’ll share it with you. Over the span of 1.5 months, I spent about (without including my Sydney trip):

• $875 on food (about $10 for lunch and $15 for dinner per day. Since I work very late hours, I don’t have the energy to cook)
• $245 on travel expenses ($2.60 public transport tickets to the office, and 5 dollars petrol money for going out to field per day)
• $80 on shoes ($40 per pair at K-Mart. They get worn out after 2 weeks⁴)
• $130 on miscellenous socializing costs

Consider this: $875 can pay my rent for a month, and 2 weeks worth of food. Am I better off not working in the first place? The answer is both a yes and no.

Yes, because I like the company. I learn new things from the group of new friends I make in the office everyday. Yes, because I like going out there and forcing myself to overcome my comfort zone and talking to people everyday. Yes, because I like what I do.

No, because I have yet to account in my opportunity costs. I could have spent that $80 spent on shoes to look for angel investors for Pressyo instead. Even if there is a very slight monetary gain (by about $50 bucks), if I include the opportunity costs, I’m a big fat loser. No, because I do not like the hypocrisy of the boss in the office. No, because I have set Pressyo back by a month, and I am late.

And considering that this is one of the higher paying jobs (if at all it pays), I must say, it really sucks to work at a dead end job. I’m not going to work in such jobs ever again unless short on money (hahahahahaa, the irony!!)

1. and if you do not know the meaning of ironic sarcasm, you shouldn’t be reading this blog [↩]
2. again, ironic sarcasm [↩]
3. Rolo Lampkin’s rule is to surrender [↩]
4. haha, literal shoeleather costs – economics joke [↩]

Cool? DiggDel.icio.usTechnoratiFeedsterFurl
RSS feed for comments on this post  |  TrackBack URI for this post