SMRT.....So Many Ridiculous Traits

Recently the SMRT made the headlines for the wrong reasons.....again. How many things can go wrong in a company? Apparently many by the standards set by this one.

The recent fiasco was when 102 foreign SMRT bus drivers refused to turn up for work on 26 November 2012. These foreign workers were PRC workers. They were unhappy about their salaries and living conditions. Apparently they were unhappy about the increments they were given in comparison to their fellow foreign workers from Malaysia. There were also complains about cramp living conditions provided by SMRT. Bed bugs was also another example of poor living conditions given to journalists.

At the end of the day, the strike was illegal and 5 PRC workers were charged in court. Another 29 were repatriated. This is Singapore....where you have to give 2 weeks' notice if you want to organize a strike. I guess none of these PRC workers were given this information during their orientation.

I wonder if SMRT has a hot line for employees to call if they have grievances. I wonder if they practise an open door policy. I also wonder if any of the PRC workers actually submitted a formal complain to voice their unhappiness.

Apparently the strike affected the bus service provided by SMRT. They had to call in relief drivers from other public and private bus operators as well as deploy their trainers. It is amazing how many things can go wrong for a company. First it was the train delays and now employee relations. I wonder if it will truly be third time lucky for SMRT.

It is never easy to manage employee relations. But that should not stop employers from continuing to try. Employers can never take employee relations for granted. That being said, managing employee relations involve more than just having an open door policy, having a grievance hot line. Employers must always be proactive. Talk to your employees, not just listen, for they sometimes don't speak.

Many Asians are non-confrontational. Voicing unhappiness may be deemed as being confrontational, not giving face, being disrespectful, etc. Many just choose to leave the company if they decide they cannot continue to accept the company culture which they do not approve of. They would not go up to their boss to tell them that they are unhappy and demand a change. They would choose a more subtle manner to express their displeasure or to avoid confrontation. Obviously this does not apply to some Chinese.

If you want to know what's truly going on in the minds of your employees, you need to do more than just wait for feedback. Ask questions. Make observations. Walk the floor (or in the case of SMRT the buses, trains, terminals and stations). More importantly you have to make your employee feel that they belong to the company. Granted that the company is huge and it is very difficult to organize any sort of event where all the employees can be together (who will drive the buses and operate the trains?)......I'm sure that there can be things the company can do. Corporations have to stop thinking about how every dollar spent on employees will contribute to the bottom line directly. There are many intangible benefits of spending money to improve employee relations. Of course that does not mean that every whim and fancy of every employee can be met. Balance is the key.

The funny thing is that I saw 2 more incidents being reported after the SMRT strike. 2 PRC workers alleged climbed construction cranes to protest over a wage dispute with their employer on 6 December. On 7 December, a China worker arrived at a construction work site and refused to leave until the police were called because he was unhappy about a site re-assignment. What do the reports of these incidents mean? Are PRC workers causing more trouble in Singapore? Or is the media trying to subtly lessen the impact of the SMRT strike on SMRT's reputation?

A visit to the zoo

We went to the Singapore Zoo today. I had planned to bring the boys to view the pandas Kai Kai and Jia Jia. I didn't realize that today was the first day the pandas were making their first appearance to the general public. Vincent anticipated a huge crowd and chided me for getting the boys all hyped up.

So I made sure we all got up bright and early and left home at about 7.45am. The zoo opens at 8.30am. I kept praying that we will be able to view the pandas. I would have hated to disappoint the boys. Well, it turned out to be a needless worry. There was no throng at the ticket booth when we arrived. In fact, it was like any other weekday, despite it being a school holiday.

Ticket sales was pretty well organized. There was a separate booth where you could purchase the add-on ticket to view the pandas only. This caters to visitors who were friends of the zoo and those who had bought regular tickets online. Panda tickets are only available at the zoo ticketing booth. We could choose the time slot and it was quite a breeze to get to the pandas. I seriously don't know which one was Kai Kai and which was Jia Jia but here are both of them......

 

 Guess which is Jia Jia and which is Kai Kai??







I think the boys were more excited about feeding the giraffes than viewing Jia Jia and Kai Kai.

Giraffe taking a loooooong piss....

Xavier feeding the giraffes

Ryan's turn at feeding



Keane having a go at feeding

 
 
The giraffe feeding was the highlight of the day....







Each feed calls for a S$5 contribution to the zoo and an opportunity to come up close and personal with these long tongued creatures.....



Here are some interesting photos to share......

Arowana feeding

Check out the scales on this diamond back rattlesnake

Lovely stripes on a zebra



Strange phallic shaped fruit

The best part of the visit was at the end.........need I say more?







I look forward to another trip to the zoo with the boys.

A rude awakening

I attended the ST Global and Local Economic Outlook forum last week. Three of us were invited by Standard Chartered Bank as guests. Professor Tommy Koh was a keynote speaker. I have always admired Prof Koh from a distance. My respect for him grew during his speech and subsequently during the question and answer session. Prof Koh is a self professed optimist. He comes across as a person who has seen so much in life that he no longer worries about what people think of him when he speaks his mind. Of course it helps a lot that he is a very sensible person. However, not all will agree with his optimism.

What struck me the most was the answer he gave to a question about the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration that was recently signed and the widening income gap in the region. I do not remember the question but I remember what Prof Koh said. He said that we still have a long way to go in this direction but we must be aware that a milestone was achieved considering that the signing of such a declaration was virtually impossible 5 years ago. What he said further about the widening income gap struck me very hard. He said that there are about 105,000 millionaires in Singapore (I think it was 105,000) but 30% of our school children go to school without pocket money. I never realized the number was so startling. Something that a lot of us take for granted is something 30% of our school children go without. Prof Koh told the ST journalists that they should stop publishing how many rich people there are and focus on how many poor people there are at home.

I took part in a company organized volunteer event a couple of weeks ago. Vincent, Xavier and I helped YWCA to deliver food packages to some low income families. It was a grim reminder that there are families who live on less than S$1500 per month or less than S$450 per capita. Many of us, myself included, can easily spend S$450 on a meal or in a day while it can take someone else one or two weeks to earn that kind of money. I went to a family with about 4 or 5 children. I was unable to reach the mother on her mobile earlier and it was awakening when she said simply that her prepaid card ran out of money. I think a lot of people I come into contact with never have such an issue. Her children were delighted when they spied the goodies in the bag we brought them.

I used to think that I was being very charitable when I gave my domestic helper stuff which we didn't want to send home to Philippines - old clothes, unused toys, excess appliances/utensils, shoes, etc. Now I feel ashamed that I didn't do more to help the needy in my own home. A lot of Singaporeans, at least myself, take a lot of things for granted. I know that there are poor people and always think that Singapore is an affluent country where only a small minority fall into the needy category. How far from reality was I. Having a job can mean a world of difference to 2 different people. A person like myself who has a well paying job probably take what I have for granted, thinking about the next gadget I can buy or the next meal I can enjoy. A person who has a job cleaning tables in a hawker center not only has to worry whether his take home salary is sufficient to pay the next bills, he probably wonders if his family can survive till the next pay comes in.

I had a chat with a lady who cleaned tables at the food court in Causeway Point yesterday. She asked what kind of flat we stayed in, i.e. how many rooms. I said 5-room flat. She said, "Wa, stress ah. With 3 children and 5-room. I don't want. I stay in a 3-room enough already. I have no children, 3-room easier and less stress." I was quite embarrassed because I feel no stress at all. We have fully paid up for our flat. Our children have more than enough everyday. I think the lady realized we were not stressed after she saw what we ordered for our children. I didn't realize that eating at the food court can be so expensive until this year. A plate of rice with one fish and two vegetable dishes cost us $7. Rice with two meat dishes and one vegetable dish cost $6.50. Goodness! Frankly, we have started to eat at hawker center or coffee shops more often because I finally woke up to the fact that dining is really getting more expensive. Yes, I admit I was overly sheltered previously due to my own undoing. I tried to eat at restaurants with the kids because restaurants are cleaner and less crowded, confined and hence less likely to lose the kids when they run off. Yes, I am atas. But I'm trying to take a different look at things now.

This month has been quite an awakening experience for me. I am not going to declare that I'm going to give up what I have to give back to society or something dramatically lofty. I shall just endeavour to do more than give money in the name of charity and take less things for granted.

Update

I previously put the contact details of the contractor who did the renovation for us. I thought about it and decided to remove as it might have been a breach of his privacy even though the intention was to give him some publicity. My apologies if he had any inconvenience as a result. No harm was intended on my part.

I feel so much like the lady from NTUC.......

Renovation excitement

Last week was very exciting by our standards. We had contractors replace our kitchen cabinet and tear down the cabinets in our study. The work started on Monday and stopped temporarily on Wednesday. The contractors returned on Monday to finish the work. We were very satisfied with the work although it meant no cooking for a week and living with a lot of dust.

 

I took 3 days off work to provide support at home. It was 3 days of sending the children to school, going shopping for furniture and furnishings, buying food and keeping the children out of the way of the contractors.

 

 

This is what the kitchen cabinet looked like before.....notice the broken door below the sink, the small piece of tissue used to hold the door (next to the drawers) and the yellowing top. The cabinet is 10 years old.

The part with the sink was remodeled 4 years ago. The original sink was place on top of a wooden frame. Unfortunately the sink was not placed correctly, resulting in water seepage, wood rot and termites. That was a horrific incident. We had a contractor come in to replace the wooden frame with a cement one. We decided to preserve the cement base this time round to save some cost. The contractor was accommodating and did their best to save the base. They did a good job!

 

 

This is what the kitchen looked like after Day 1. Everything was cleared within 4 hours!!!

Similarly, the study room was transformed.......from this room with a lot of junk..................

 

 

................to one empty of junk.

 

Where did the stuff go? Check out the following pictures!!!

 

Mess..............................................................more mess....

 

............................................................. and even more mess.

 

 

 

 

BUT....the painful process was worth it! The bomb shelter a.k.a. the store room had a make over!

 

 

The kitchen is much easier on the eyes and a lot more functional than before. We now have a lot more storage space due to the design provided by the contractor. See the top row of the hanging cabinets. They used to flush with the bottom row and could not accommodate anything due to a strategically misplaced ceiling beam.

 

 

And the study is also more functional, thanks to Ikea. The books have a proper home, Vincent and Xavier have proper desks and we finally have a nice computer table!!!!!

 

All in all, a worthwhile week of suffering!! If anyone needs a responsible and reasonably priced contractor, please let me know.

 

 

Gym ethics or the lack of it

I have been going to the gym since April this year. The thrice weekly workouts are more regular now that my fitness and discipline has improved. I would try to run about 2km before my personal training session.

At the beginning it was more difficult to go three times a week due to work. When I was less fit, I would jump at any excuse to miss a session. As my fitness improved, I find that I have developed an addiction to the exercise. I almost feel uncomfortable if I have to skip a session.

The good thing about regular exercise is the result. I have dropped one dress size, lost a couple of kg and improved my cardiovascular strength. I actually enjoy the exercises now that I am able to do them better. And I secretly enjoy trying to meet the challenge of my trainer although I complain. Yes, I feel good that I can do 15 instead of 12 push ups. I am guilty of vanity.

The good thing about personal training is that you benefit a lot more than going to a class if your trainer is good. A trainer who understands your condition and knows how to push you can help you improve by leaps and bounds. Of course the competitive side of me also thrives on outdoing the lady next to me. I know, I am horrible in that sense. When I see someone struggling, I feel good. When I see someone doing better than myself, I push myself to put in that bit more effort to perfect the push up or row. I am still guilty of vanity.

My trainer would challenge me continuously and begin almost each new exercise by "I know you can do this". When he says that, I know I can do the exercise but it would take some effort. If he says "This is a bit complicated" or "This is harder", I know that I may not be able to do it for the full minute or number of counts he tells me the first time.

I have seen and heard of some trainers who would have their trainees do cardio exercises on the treadmill or other machines within the one hour of training. That's absolutely poor ethics because the trainee pays by the hour and such exercises do not require a trainer present. It's almost like a driving instructor asking your read your highway code book for 15 minutes before letting you go into the car for the rest of the hour of driving lesson. I'm lucky that my trainer not only doesn't do that, he makes sure I complete all the exercises he has lined up for me even if I take slightly more than an hour.

There are some things that one should not do when training in the gym but I have come across people who do:

1) Talk excessively when training. One lady I came across was chit chatting with her trainer throughout the entire hour of training. It was not only distracting but also very rude. She said, "I thought that I would be the only one here, but it's so crowded!" And there I was, 2 metres away. She started to grumble, "I pay you $80 an hour, don't idle!" to her trainer and then later, "You are like Saddam Hussein. That guy (referring to other trainers) is like Osama." Talk about irony.....

2) Not putting on deodorant before you work out, especially when you have body odour. There is the smell of sweat, and there is the smell of SWEAT.

3) Putting on too much perfume. Yes, perfume is not the same as deodorant. One day I almost chocked on the cloyingly sweet perfume of a lady training next to me. I was suffocating and had to pretend that I couldn't take it more than twice. When she left, I felt like I had walked to a meadow full of fresh dew.

4) Wiping the soles of your feet after a shower with the towels provided by the gym. Need I say more?

5) Putting your face towel on one machine while you are working out on another. Total inconsideration.

6) Not pulling the curtain to the changing stall aside after you are done. I have had to bend over to check for feet almost every time to avoid barging in on someone who is half naked. Yes, I am still respectfully shy.

7) Farting in the exercise area, especially after you have had onions for lunch.

8) Grunting extremely loudly. I cannot take it when someone grunts very loudly when they are trying very hard to push themselves with the weights. I've been guilty of squealing though, when it gets too hard, but only for a couple of times. After that I decided to politely just grimace with pain in the direction of my trainer.

I shall try to continue with my efforts to work out. It's not only for looking good but also for the health. Yes, still guilty of vanity.

Gifted or not gifted.....is that really the question?

The Gifted Education Programme (GEP) in Singapore is designed to nurture gifted students in an environment that is different from that of a normal school. However, over the years the programme has managed to create a lot controversy. What has seemed to happen is the clamour of parents to get their children into the GEP, regardless of their child's ability. Many try to find tutors for their children, in the hope of being able to boost their child's chances of getting into the GEP. And I thought that a gifted child was a gift of nature not nurture.

There has been a lot of talk about tuition being offered nowadays. This is mostly a result of the exposé on a certain man who made several false claims related to GEP on his credentials. Initially I didn't understand why these parents trusted the man and sent their children to his home for tuition at S$500 per session. After thinking about it, I can understand their desire for their children to get into the GEP. On the surface it is normal for parents to want the best for their children so they do whatever they can to give what they think is best for the children. The key question here would be "What is best for the child?". There would be parents who would argue that children do not know what is best for them, so parents should make the decisions for the children. I will tell these parents in the face that they underestimate the power of children.

Let me relate the story of how Xavier ended up going for Chinese tuition from July 2012. Xavier has always been doing well in school both academically and socially. He gets very decent grades for all his subjects. Decent being more than 90%. Some parents might say that I am expecting too much. I always expect him to do his best and I do not expect him to be the best. Just be the best that he can be. Who would know a child better than his parents, other than the child himself? One day Xavier came out of school looking very miserable. His daddy asked him why he looked so sad and he said he received his Chinese test results that day. When asked what he scored, he said he had 14 over 20. That set off the alarms because he never did this "poorly" before.

We went through his test paper during lunch and found that he made several careless mistakes and he didn't put in effort to go through his textbook before the test. I told him that if he continues to show such grades he may not be in the same class as his friends next year because his friends get very good grades consistently. He said he wanted to be in the same class as his friends. So I offered him tuition if he doesn't improve his grade for Chinese in term 3. He refused. I thought that he didn't want to go for tuition and was very prepared to drop the subject. To my surprise, he said he wanted to go for tuition immediately. We agreed to let him attend Chinese tuition starting from the next available class at a tuition center near our home.

This is proof that children can evaluate a situation if it is clearly explained to them. They know themselves and they can tell you clearly what they want. Take music classes at Yamaha for example. Xavier loves music classes but he is too lazy to practise at home. I told him that his music classes will get more difficult as he progresses and he would need to make a conscientious effort to practise daily if he wants to progress. I offered him a chance to give up music. But he refused and has been making an effort to practise at least 3 times a week.

Keane, on the other hand, wanted very much to go for music class. After 2 terms, he started to show the same lacklustre effort in practising. So I offered him the same chance to give up music and he took it. At the end, we realized that he wanted to go for music class because it was an opportunity to go out on a weeknight and have fast food! After we started to bring him along when Xavier started a different schedule at Yamaha, he gets fast food without having to attend the class. So he decided to give up his music. We didn't force him either. Ryan has no desire to go for music class whatsoever.

There is an increasing number of children who attend tuition classes, starting at a much younger age. You may ask how I know. I didn't check statistics but I can tell by the number of tuition centers that are mushrooming all over the island. One good example is Sembawang Shopping Center. There are now about 4 tuition centers on level 3 of the mall. I cannot imagine how the centers can survive if not for the demand. Nearby, opposite Sun Plaza, at the building where the HDB town council is located, there are 3 centers on level 2. That's where Xavier goes for Chinese tuition. It seems that tuition is compulsory for many children nowadays.

I truly understand that many parents are both working so they do not have time to teach their children personally. It is acceptable that these parents send their children for tuition in subjects they are weak in. What I cannot really accept is how some parents pack tuition and enrichment classes for their children on weekdays and weekends. There are some exceptions where the children enjoy and in fact crave for these classes. However, that is the exception rather than the norm.

I think we should let the children take the lead in their lives. My parents never sent me for tuition except when I was supposed to keep my brother company when he had a private tutor come to our home. This was when we were in primary school. It was more economical to have the tutor teach both of us so my mom thought "Why not?". It was quite enjoyable for me because there was no stress. I didn't have any tuition from Primary 4 or 5, I cannot remember exactly. My parents didn't tell me which school I should to apply for after my 'O' and 'A' levels. In fact, they didn't even have much of an opinion and let me make the choice myself. I think I turned out fine academically. I don't have an honours degree but I managed to graduate from NTU!

To all parents, encourage your children to be the best they can be. Give them the support that they need. But let them take the lead and que sera sera.