Swan song - 51 weeks of work, bittersweet.
I just got back from a Safmarinated barbecue, possibly my last official outing as a Safmariner. I love this place. And my heart is always filled with a constant sense of gratitude whenever I look back. So yes, 6 months of waiting for a job has been totally worth it. I love my office - the colleagues are all awesome. ALL AWESOME. I think Safmarine will always occupy a special place in my heart, together with UNC and NUS as well. It was my 1st foray into the corporate world and oh my, what a superb experience.
Well, where do I begin?
First of all, there's Bain & Company. It's a really weird sort of nickname to give the gang at work(but it all started somehow with us nicknaming different groups of people in the office after different consulting companies. We have a colleague called Khin, who goes for lunch late with a regular group - so they were McKinsey & Company. And the Customer Service Agents (CSAs) on level 2 always consulted Boston the IT guy for help so they became -you guessed it - the Boston Consulting Group. And me and the gang became Bain & Company. Bain = Ban + I, or so the Black Ally says. The only consulting we ever do is to consult each other on wer's lunch.
What really are the chances of meeting a bunch of great crap-talkin friends who are all about the same age, all who come in at about the same time, and all who are really nice and great to be around with? Thanks y'all for all the great times on OC - the letter of the day, cargo of the year, competitions on OC - which stands for Office Communicator, it's like Office MSN - (After realizing that playing "Try to make Claire laugh out loud in front of the PC" became too easy, the game became "Try NOT to make Claire laugh" to inject some challenge), Team Volleyball (with Mel C who always catch no ball), imitating each other on OC (Jessica related topics, how was your weekend (Atan), the muffins only $1.10 nia, Malaysia boleh, xie xie da jie (Wlee), hellooo o___O (Me), clinical insults (the Black ally), *disappear* (Yanline), wer's lunch (Maz), for real?? where?? :$ (Mel)) with everybody's respective fonts and colors, Ultimate vs Intimate, our many s(so)zzy a(so)logies, OC charades, the OC soundtrack (a compilation of song titles that we come up with basing on port names, but also includes songs like "Alex hates me this I know"), and too many other private jokes/nicknames that I can't even begin to keep track of
Thanks guys - for never ever making work a bore, and for the fun, the laughter and the friendship - the trips to the market, mango sago, Ultimate, the great OC chats, our X'mas dinner cum gift exchange, dim sum outing and yes more to come! :D
And now, on mentors - Shiva & Jeanine - two mentors with very different characters but who both impacted me in different ways.
From Shiva I learnt the following - a strong customer oriented approach; making the customer happy, which includes buying something and going up to say hey to the customer if you pass by their place, who taught me how to always check out info and question things that people tell me (although I was too inexperienced to really understand anything), making sure my emails come across as being warm and professional, who taught me how to adapt Consulting-think (something which I hope to expound on as a problem solving approach in my career) Since you won't find the exact cost info you need, just break it down - how much does A, B, C (simple info that can be easily obtained) typically cost, use average figures to extrapolate the cost idea etc, telling me to apply the 80/20 rule as much as possible, to find out the customer's needs vs the customer's wants, for pushing me to my limits and allowing me in the end, I suppose, to achieve what I thought to be the impossible. And for always having an 'open door policy' - that I could pop into his office whenever, for tolerating my mistakes.
From Jeanine I learnt the following - Respect. I was very surprised at her gesture to take over my data-entry work (I had to enter a huge pile of data for a customer on a Friday evening) so I could go home, for constantly telling me to go home early and always remembering to get me a souvenir everytime she made an overseas trip, I love the way she solves problems - her constant emphasis on a win-win situation, cherry picking (something I have come to adopt as well), her love for structures and plans (which is something I do alot of as well), her constant emphasis on "why are we doing this? Is this a waste of time? What value does this add?", her genuine warmth and kindness, the way she wants me to give my opinions instead of simply asking her what to do, her open door policy as well as her tolerance towards my mistakes.
From Safmarine as a whole I've been very impressed about the singlemindedness of everybody's goal - from our Antwerp HQ to our local customer service offers - the customer. The strong customer orientation has had a big impact on me, and in my own office the way we handle mistakes is awesome. Yes, I've made quite a fair bit of mistakes but I was never scolded harshly. My colleauges just strenly pointed out the consequences, but hey we move on, and the next day, things are alright. I'm grateful for the responsibilities I given - in Safmarine I learnt too that what I do has consequences. This might sound really obvious but in alot of jobs out there, you write papers for the sake of writing papers, do things for things' own sake without real meaning or purpose. My job can be quite mundane but despite its humdrumness I see real impact, I imagine my successful transaction moving in a container from A to B and being delivered to real people in some part of the world. I see the consequences that happen when I make mistakes. And I need that. I need to know that my work has impact. I'd rather get grimy dirt on my hands if it means I'm in the real world, rather than living in an ivory tower.
I'm glad to have gone for the Strategy Meeting (SSM) in KL. It was my 1st biz trip ever, so even if it was only KL, I really, really loved the camaraderie Safmariners share. My most memorable experience was our dinner in KL - chatting over pasta, tiramisu and wine while Rachelle, Miyata-san, Annie and Emil went up to take turns singing with the band. But I loved hanging out with Simon and Reggie for dinner at Madam Kwan's as well. I loved chatting with Miyata-san, an affable Japanese ojiisan with a great interest and passion for Mandarin, with a keen interest in America and China as well. And very un-Japanese. It seems like some of the people I like best are the non-Japanese Japanese. Ahaha.
And of course times with Safmarine Singapore - lunches with Simon, driving out to check out new places to eat, the Safmarine Way training; complaining about the same customers etc, and of course Annie, who first taught me the ropes when I came. I love her philosophy towards people - and that has impacted me as well "I don't see why I shoudln't help if I can help" - she's immsensely generous, giving me advice, always helping me (even when I ask the same stupid quesitons over and over again).
Then of course there were the tough times: My 2 immensely difficult reports - I vaguely remember the experience - the frustration, the great unknown, not knowing who to turn to what to do where to go for directions, doing 2 reports that were way beyond my level ALONE, not having any help, not seeing where this would all end, doing a corporate social investment project and worrying I would be leading charities on etc etc. And a Cambodia research proposal - should we set up shop there? (Hello why are you entrusting a newbie to do these two tasks ALL ALONE WITHOUT ANY HELP?!)
I didn't manage to do the Cambodia one in the end, but I finished the Corporate Social Investment (CSI) one. We're trying to get something going before I leave Safmarine, but that one taught me consulting-think (problem solving approach and extrapolation when all the info is all woozy and murky, questioning data critically etc).
There were the other fun times - bowling night cum KTV, the many lunches/dinners (we Safmariners love to eat - espeically me, which is why they call me the Emma Maersk (the largest container ship in the world to date)), birthday celebrations, definitely very memorable.
I grew up believing that the office was a labyrinth of treachery, greed and selfishness. I also grew up believing that it was impossible to find friends in the office. But nope, Safmarine has proved all that wrong. We do have our differences at times, of course, frustrations with each other etc. But looking back, ALL my colleagues were awesome. There were bad times, but the good ones outweigh the bad like woah.
Thank you Safmariners, for the awesome learning experiences and the times we had together. Safmarine occupies a very, very special place in my heart. And most of all, thank You God, for the 6 month wait. I would never ever trade my Safmarine experience for anything in the world. Not even for McKinsey, or Bain & Company - unless it's the Bain & Company that spends hours on OC crapping around, laughing, and consulting each other on wer's lunch!
Well, where do I begin?
First of all, there's Bain & Company. It's a really weird sort of nickname to give the gang at work(but it all started somehow with us nicknaming different groups of people in the office after different consulting companies. We have a colleague called Khin, who goes for lunch late with a regular group - so they were McKinsey & Company. And the Customer Service Agents (CSAs) on level 2 always consulted Boston the IT guy for help so they became -you guessed it - the Boston Consulting Group. And me and the gang became Bain & Company. Bain = Ban + I, or so the Black Ally says. The only consulting we ever do is to consult each other on wer's lunch.
What really are the chances of meeting a bunch of great crap-talkin friends who are all about the same age, all who come in at about the same time, and all who are really nice and great to be around with? Thanks y'all for all the great times on OC - the letter of the day, cargo of the year, competitions on OC - which stands for Office Communicator, it's like Office MSN - (After realizing that playing "Try to make Claire laugh out loud in front of the PC" became too easy, the game became "Try NOT to make Claire laugh" to inject some challenge), Team Volleyball (with Mel C who always catch no ball), imitating each other on OC (Jessica related topics, how was your weekend (Atan), the muffins only $1.10 nia, Malaysia boleh, xie xie da jie (Wlee), hellooo o___O (Me), clinical insults (the Black ally), *disappear* (Yanline), wer's lunch (Maz), for real?? where?? :$ (Mel)) with everybody's respective fonts and colors, Ultimate vs Intimate, our many s(so)zzy a(so)logies, OC charades, the OC soundtrack (a compilation of song titles that we come up with basing on port names, but also includes songs like "Alex hates me this I know"), and too many other private jokes/nicknames that I can't even begin to keep track of
Thanks guys - for never ever making work a bore, and for the fun, the laughter and the friendship - the trips to the market, mango sago, Ultimate, the great OC chats, our X'mas dinner cum gift exchange, dim sum outing and yes more to come! :D
And now, on mentors - Shiva & Jeanine - two mentors with very different characters but who both impacted me in different ways.
From Shiva I learnt the following - a strong customer oriented approach; making the customer happy, which includes buying something and going up to say hey to the customer if you pass by their place, who taught me how to always check out info and question things that people tell me (although I was too inexperienced to really understand anything), making sure my emails come across as being warm and professional, who taught me how to adapt Consulting-think (something which I hope to expound on as a problem solving approach in my career) Since you won't find the exact cost info you need, just break it down - how much does A, B, C (simple info that can be easily obtained) typically cost, use average figures to extrapolate the cost idea etc, telling me to apply the 80/20 rule as much as possible, to find out the customer's needs vs the customer's wants, for pushing me to my limits and allowing me in the end, I suppose, to achieve what I thought to be the impossible. And for always having an 'open door policy' - that I could pop into his office whenever, for tolerating my mistakes.
From Jeanine I learnt the following - Respect. I was very surprised at her gesture to take over my data-entry work (I had to enter a huge pile of data for a customer on a Friday evening) so I could go home, for constantly telling me to go home early and always remembering to get me a souvenir everytime she made an overseas trip, I love the way she solves problems - her constant emphasis on a win-win situation, cherry picking (something I have come to adopt as well), her love for structures and plans (which is something I do alot of as well), her constant emphasis on "why are we doing this? Is this a waste of time? What value does this add?", her genuine warmth and kindness, the way she wants me to give my opinions instead of simply asking her what to do, her open door policy as well as her tolerance towards my mistakes.
From Safmarine as a whole I've been very impressed about the singlemindedness of everybody's goal - from our Antwerp HQ to our local customer service offers - the customer. The strong customer orientation has had a big impact on me, and in my own office the way we handle mistakes is awesome. Yes, I've made quite a fair bit of mistakes but I was never scolded harshly. My colleauges just strenly pointed out the consequences, but hey we move on, and the next day, things are alright. I'm grateful for the responsibilities I given - in Safmarine I learnt too that what I do has consequences. This might sound really obvious but in alot of jobs out there, you write papers for the sake of writing papers, do things for things' own sake without real meaning or purpose. My job can be quite mundane but despite its humdrumness I see real impact, I imagine my successful transaction moving in a container from A to B and being delivered to real people in some part of the world. I see the consequences that happen when I make mistakes. And I need that. I need to know that my work has impact. I'd rather get grimy dirt on my hands if it means I'm in the real world, rather than living in an ivory tower.
I'm glad to have gone for the Strategy Meeting (SSM) in KL. It was my 1st biz trip ever, so even if it was only KL, I really, really loved the camaraderie Safmariners share. My most memorable experience was our dinner in KL - chatting over pasta, tiramisu and wine while Rachelle, Miyata-san, Annie and Emil went up to take turns singing with the band. But I loved hanging out with Simon and Reggie for dinner at Madam Kwan's as well. I loved chatting with Miyata-san, an affable Japanese ojiisan with a great interest and passion for Mandarin, with a keen interest in America and China as well. And very un-Japanese. It seems like some of the people I like best are the non-Japanese Japanese. Ahaha.
And of course times with Safmarine Singapore - lunches with Simon, driving out to check out new places to eat, the Safmarine Way training; complaining about the same customers etc, and of course Annie, who first taught me the ropes when I came. I love her philosophy towards people - and that has impacted me as well "I don't see why I shoudln't help if I can help" - she's immsensely generous, giving me advice, always helping me (even when I ask the same stupid quesitons over and over again).
Then of course there were the tough times: My 2 immensely difficult reports - I vaguely remember the experience - the frustration, the great unknown, not knowing who to turn to what to do where to go for directions, doing 2 reports that were way beyond my level ALONE, not having any help, not seeing where this would all end, doing a corporate social investment project and worrying I would be leading charities on etc etc. And a Cambodia research proposal - should we set up shop there? (Hello why are you entrusting a newbie to do these two tasks ALL ALONE WITHOUT ANY HELP?!)
I didn't manage to do the Cambodia one in the end, but I finished the Corporate Social Investment (CSI) one. We're trying to get something going before I leave Safmarine, but that one taught me consulting-think (problem solving approach and extrapolation when all the info is all woozy and murky, questioning data critically etc).
There were the other fun times - bowling night cum KTV, the many lunches/dinners (we Safmariners love to eat - espeically me, which is why they call me the Emma Maersk (the largest container ship in the world to date)), birthday celebrations, definitely very memorable.
I grew up believing that the office was a labyrinth of treachery, greed and selfishness. I also grew up believing that it was impossible to find friends in the office. But nope, Safmarine has proved all that wrong. We do have our differences at times, of course, frustrations with each other etc. But looking back, ALL my colleagues were awesome. There were bad times, but the good ones outweigh the bad like woah.
Thank you Safmariners, for the awesome learning experiences and the times we had together. Safmarine occupies a very, very special place in my heart. And most of all, thank You God, for the 6 month wait. I would never ever trade my Safmarine experience for anything in the world. Not even for McKinsey, or Bain & Company - unless it's the Bain & Company that spends hours on OC crapping around, laughing, and consulting each other on wer's lunch!