Work is the absence of social life Part II

::ONE::
I finally got my own desk. Now, this is what I called being appreciated. You know, a proper workplace that belongs to you for the duration of your stint over there. In fact, I actually feel so much more appreciated because my computer automatically switches off every five minutes or so. Hooray! What more can I ask for?

Okay, that is, before I figured out the idiosyncrasy of this particular computer, and then we got along just fine. =))

::TWO::
I am getting later and later for work. What's new, right? 'Early', by my definition, means half an hour late. 'Late', also by my definition, means an hour late. My work starts at 9am, and sometimes, I leave my house past 9am, and at 9.30am, you see this mad girl making a mad dash for the Bugis MRT station. You know, running like a chicken on fire. And, when I say 'running', I really mean, strolling leisurely at my own pace.

::THREE::
During my school holidays, I used to work at this company, let's call it Branch A. And then, when the next holidays rolled by, I worked at another company, let's call it Branch B. And, now I'm working at Branch C.

So, the first day I stepped into the office (only 1/2 hr late!), I saw a familiar face. Well, this person, she used to be my boss when I was working at Branch A. Apparently, she transferred over to Branch C, so now we are colleagues once again.

The freaky thing is my boss at Branch B...transferred over to Branch A!!! Freaky, it seems like our lives are all inter-connected in one way or another. We had a good laugh over this.

::FOUR::
Ironically, when I was temping at Branch A, I was never close to this boss of mine. In fact, I hardly spoke more than 10 sentences to her, and hardly saw her face even. Since she was the big boss, she was either always cooped up in the 'Manager's Room' or out meeting clients.

Now that she's working at Branch C, and seating just two tables away from me, she's the one whom I'm closest to in the whole company.

Funny how relationships of people change when situations change. I used to think that she was such a stranger to me, even though she was my boss and all, and I wouldn't even think of getting close to her. But, now, I seriously don't know what I would do if she weren't around at Branch C, because she's the one whom I talk to the most and who always offer me food to fatten me up! =)

So, who the hell says one's position on the corporate ladder has no consequence whatsoever to one's social standing in the same company?

::FIVE:
This has nothing to do with my work, but my friend thinks I'm working as a fireman, or woman, whichever you prefer.

SMS conversations re-produced, verbatim, as below.

Ms. Naive: so, where are you working at now eh?
smartyypants: I'm working at CDC currently.
Ms. Naive: wats cdc? civil defence ctr?
smartyypants: Yah, it's Civil Defence Ctr, and I help to put out fires in people's homes.
Ms. Naive: yah right! lol lor. no really, its not civil defence ctr ryt?
smartyypants: It is.
Ms. Naive: hah? are you really serious abt this?? somehow i can just imagine you giggling there . . but lyk a bit bliv also leh. but how can you help to put out fires??
smartyypants: I help out la, when the firemen is on duty, I tag along lor. See how they put out the fires, basically what I have to do is operate the sprinkler system.
smartyypants: And, not that I want to boast or what, but today, I put out a fire in a house in Paya Lebar, and saved an entire family, including a grandmother and a 6-year-old kid. I'm not supposed to tell anyone this, but the police are planning to give me a medal in recognition of my bravery and.. I'm gonna get a pay rise, yipee!
Ms. Naive: wow cool.

For your info, I totally made up that 'sprinkler system' thing. And, of course, there's no grandmother and the only 6-year-old kid is the one I dreamed up of myself during my younger days. Alas, my naive friend swallowed all these fragments of creative imagery and questionable authencity with unquestionable doubt.

Anyway, any discernible reader will be able to see for themselves that halfway through my messages, I started dishing out doses of caustic humour.

To which, my friend swallowed everything, to even my own pleasant surprise and shock. And, in case, you think that she could be playing along with me, I say: Nay. Even after this whole sms saga, she occasionally texted me on how I was getting along with my 'fire job' and whether I had to save people today. And, she wasn't even joking. Nope, not in jest, but in a dead-pan kind of way. The funny thing about all this is how serious she took it.

Well, now if she's reading this, haha, you know you're PUNK'ED!

Oh, so just you are aware, this is the very same friend that once voted me as the most naive out of a bunch of friends, including herself.

What more can I say? Revenge is finger-licking sweet.

::SIX::
Whenever boss isn't looking, I leave the office earlier. By now, you should know that my definition of everything doesn't go by common standards. So, when I say earlier, I actually mean say, half an hour earlier? And, that's on days when I'm being a good girl.

::SEVEN::
I actually have reasons for No. SIX. Because I have important appointments to rush to. You know, not exactly life-threatening situations, but well, it comes close. Like, say, for example, this person is holding an autograph session at Plaza Singapura. 'Ahh!!' You all must be thinking. 'So important!!' Well, wait till you hear this. That day, I left half an hour earlier because I needed to catch Shrek 3 for the 7.30pm slot.

::EIGHT::
The place where I'm working actually houses a smorgasbord of companies, besides the one I'm working at now. Well, since this place is located in a very ulu place far away from town, the people over here can be very weird sometimes too. Not weird crazy, but as in weird different.

For example, do you have random people walking past you and smiling at you as though they've just striked lottery? Or people coming up to you and say 'Good Morning!'

Well, so after having worked here for quite some time now, I was taking the lift one day, when this guy (I swear I didn't know him!) kept smiling this polite smile at me all the time while we were were in that claustrophobic small width of space. And, it happened twice, with two different guys.

I got a bit scared, and thought that the people here were all crazy or something! I mean, normal Singaporeans aren't half as polite or friendly! Just walk down any busy street in Singapore on a normal working day (esp. Mondays) and all you see around are sulky and gloomy faces that reflect the overcast skies on a stormy night.

Since I wasn't accustomed to such friendliness, the only way I could reciprocate was by looking away and thinking to myself, 'Crazy! I also don't know you, smile at me for what!' So, I looked away when this guy kept smiling at me, but still, I stole curious glances at him to see if he was still looking. And still, Mr Pervert maintained his perennially-smiling expression directed at me!

So, anyway, that day I was taking the lift once again. And, then this girl came up to me, smiled this eye-blindingly, sunshine bright, cheery smile at me, and said, 'Good Morning!'

Okay, this is really very freaky can!! Why are all these strange, random people being so polite by default? This is not right! This cannot be happening in a country where the government has to hold a '4 Million Smiles Campaign' to promote genial-looking faces on their own people to welcome foreigners into the country.

Later, I finally discovered that all these weird people had one thing in common:

They all worked in the same company as me.

Okay....

WHAT?!! I SWEAR I DIDN'T KNOW!

Imagine my shock when I saw Mr Pervert prancing around in my office. (Gasp!!!)

::NINE::
I lost my employee pass and had to pay an imposed fine of 30 over bucks for a replacement.

The worse thing was, when I told my friend about it, her response wasn't the least bit encouraging, 'Huh? Oh, okay. Normal what, not surprising at all.'

I mean, this girl here just lost about one day's work worth of money, why can't my friend at least, you know, pretend to be shocked or something and then offer some sort of sympathy.

She could, I don't know, maybe pretend to be flabbergasted and say something like, 'What?!! How is it possible?!! You are always so careful with your things!'

Er..strangely enough. Nope. I wasn't the least bit upset over it. I was very happy to fork out that money. In case you are thinking this person over here is mad, let me tell you something. This is the very same person that lost her handphone, her entire wallet, including IC, Ez-Link card, cash etc...all in one day.

One has to count one's blessings.

::TEN::
All the girls who are temping here are so Nicole Richie/Kate Moss-skinny, so much so that they look like two of them could fit into one pair of my (XL) jeans. Finally, after suffering from low self-esteem and fed up of being the fattest, I wore my pair of skinny jeans to work. And, then, I was SO DARN proud of myself, because finally I could snuggle to fit into their size frame. That is, until one of the girls wore skinny jeans to work the very next day.

::ELEVEN::
The past few weeks haven't seen any laudable changes to my wardrobe choices. I've tried to extent the choices of my outfits. But, the furthest I've ever gotten is that instead of dark blue, I choose a lighter shade of blue. Pity then, that there is no such thing as whiter white or blacker black.

But, then, my mum was telling me how all the temps in her office all looked like they had no money to buy clothes. And, she said that one of her fellow colleague's wardrobe only had two pieces of clothings, and she alternated between the both of them. LOL.

::TWELVE::
I'm still employed. Hooray!