Monday, July 26, 2004
Last Place On Earth

Hurray!I'd be going for a break in Bintan this coming Thursday through to Saturday.It'd be a break from this dastardly workplace.Too bad I can't write any posts there.But I figure I did one whole week's worth of blogging on Saturday.So I should just chill from blogging and lie by a pool and get fat.Ok,back to writing about the office.Funny that no matter how many cheap oil paintings they hang on the walls,how many motivational posters they paste on the walls,how many first-grade coffee machines they put in the pantry,how many flat screen panels they put in the office,the office is the last place I want to go,even if it is the last place standing on earth.They say one should decorate the cubicle so that one feels just like home on the office.Then you'd feel cosy and feel right at home.Well,when I'm cosy and feel right at home,I go to sleep...zzzzzz...

So while I am listening to my Elva Hsiao Greatest Hits on my headphones(it's amazing,I don't recognise half the songs here),I wonder about how people could ever actually get it right in fitting out an office so that people wanted to come to work.You've seen those documentaries where they highlight some innovative firm promoting a casual work environment,right?Where people come to work in tees and jeans and they hang gliders from the ceiling.Maybe they could hang a glider on the ceiling here...just not above my cubicle.If it falls,it could kill someone,I don't want it to be me.

The fellows here,they try to do their best to make us feel better.They put a lot of oil paintings on the walls where some chunks of the paint seem to be falling off.They put numerous fake potted plants on the floor which offers a spot of greenery.I don't know about others but it doesn't really comfort me.The only spot of green in the office which does is the green overhead sign that reads "Exit".So then they gave us real plants.Cactuses we can adopt as pets.Problem:Some of our cactuses died on us.And they are supposed to be hardy plants.See,the conditions here are so inhospitable even cactuses cannot tahan.And you know how depressing it can get when pets die."Xiao Qiang,why did you wither?"...

In the end,I guess if we really love our jobs,we can stand anything,even this freezing hell we are in.They wouldn't need to do anything.It all comes from within.The love for the job.Which we don't have.A few plasma TV sets,X-Box sets full of games,DVD players and snack machines wouldn't hurt though.