My Former Workplace

We traveled again through the last weekend. This time we drove about 600 kilometers to Sita’s house in the East Coast. I had an appointment with one of the Managers in my former workplace, the one where I retired from, and took the opportunity to spend time and a few days with Sita and family.

The drive, to and fro, was very pleasant. There was hardly any traffic and we had a very leisurely drive. Little Najla was excited when we arrived at just after dusk and at about breaking of fast time. (It is Ramadan now, a month for fasting. Read my previous posting on Fasting). Najla continued to play with us until late. We could see that she was straining to keep awake and refused to go to sleep. On our second night there, Ram took her to bed, switched off the lights while Najla continued to play and finally fell asleep. But when she awoke about 2 hours later she was screaming for her mother, apparently wanting to be fed.

I went to my former workplace alone. Ram decided to stay back in Sita’s house as I had planned to make a day trip. It’s a two and a half to three hours drive further north from Sita’s house and about 30 kilometers north of Kuala Terengganu. The drive to and fro was again pleasant. Not much traffic on the road. Has Ramadan got anything to do with this? I wonder……..

My last workplace is a technical training institute. I was heading it before I retired. The person who took over from me has also recently retired and another former colleague is now heading the institute, having been transferred there from the Education Division of the parent company. It looks like he too will retire from there.

The institute is located in an area of about 200 acres and consists of several buildings housing the various technical training workshops and centers of most of the engineering discipline. There are also hostels and living quarters for trainees. Courses conducted are mostly short courses in skill and management development meant for technical staff, technicians and engineers working in the various operating units and subsidiaries of the parent company. Concentration is on the oil, gas and petrochemicals engineering disciplines, although other skill development programmes like IT, languages and others are also included. I had a very pleasant experience working here and it was a good ‘round-off’ of my career having been involved in manufacturing, operations, safety management, project development and project management in my career progression. In the course of it all I was also involved in various audits, systems and procedures development, group skills identification and core skill competency development programmes, the results of which were tied up with the courses conducted at the institute. Hence, my final posting before retiring was a cap of all that I went through in my career. It was indeed satisfying especially where I felt that I was giving back the experience I gained to the younger generation in the company.

I had a noon appointment with one of the sector heads of the institute, specifically the Head of the Executive Technical Competency Development. I left Sita’s house early in the morning and took a leisurely drive to the place. I arrived at the gate of the institute half an hour early. There was only a lone, young, security guard at the guardhouse. He obviously did not recognize me and enquired where I was going. I told him of my appointment and he asked for my name and to wait while he made a phone call to the office of my host. He later told me that my host was at a meeting. I was to wait until the meeting was over and he was very abrupt. Soon after, his phone rang and I could imagine the conversation that transpired. He had immediately then requested me to proceed and even gave directions to which building and which part of it to go to. His tone of voice and mannerism belied his earlier stance when I had just arrived!! I was not even given a temporary entry pass, a normal practice for visitors to any of the operating units and offices of the company anywhere in the country. Or, was this practice no longer applied in the institute now, I wonder? It was applied when I was there!! He was truly a young man wanting in experience in dealing with the public. I was not looking for recognition nor special treatments. He could have been more polite in the beginning even though it was his responsibility to scrutinize external visitors.

As I parked my car in the parking lot close to the building that I was directed to, another security guard who was on his rounds of the sprawling complex on a motorcycle passed by, recognized me and stopped for a quick chat. Then on, anywhere I went to, I was greeted by all levels of staff that recognized me. All came to shake my hand and had small talk. In response I enquired about their general health, their work, their family and so on. After meeting my host and discussed what we had to discuss I went around to other parts of the complex to meet other staff and also made courtesy and ‘hello’ calls to my current successor and other managers. My current successor was chairing an internal meeting with his managers when his secretary (my former staff too) told him that I was there. He took a short break of the meeting so that they could meet me. Some even came looking for me having been told by others that I was around. Most regretted that I came in Ramadan as they could not serve me anything (I could have been overfed if not for Ramadan!!). Most of the ladies enquired about Ram, asked how she was coping with her eye condition and one or two of them gave something for me to take to her, a very nice gesture on their part. It had been six years since I left the place and memories flood back. It was indeed pleasant. I had planned for an hour there but ended staying for more than three hours with them taking me around moving from one office to another!! All these pleasant and instantaneous responses were a far cry from the first interaction I had with the guard on arrival. Entry point and front office staff provides first impression of the place. If properly handled visitors will feel more comfortable and welcomed. I was lucky though, as the welcome was so overwhelming that it overshadowed and drowned the first impression………..

MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Petaling Jaya