Dare to dream !

In my first job, 5 years ago, I was working under a supervisor from hell. She was the type of boss who would not allow you to be late for work, and would scold you if you leave on time, even though I was just a trainee – meaning I wasn’t a full time employee. She did that to the rest of the staff as well. There was once when the LRT broke down, in the end, I was late for 40 minutes but she did not believe me and complained to my university faculty’s lecturer.

To me, she was just being rigid.

I have a friend whose parents did not allow him to do many things, ranging from studying the subject of his choice, to going for a tour with his friends. They always have this sense of over-protectiveness as he’s their only son.

But to me, his parents were being rigid.

And my ex-company’s Human Resource refused to give me my referral letter (just to show that I worked there before) because their policy did not say they could give that. The policy did not say they are not allowed to either. I needed the letter for UK Work Permit purpose. In the end, I went through my ex-supervisor who was a senior manager in the company and he helped me to get the letter for me.

Well, to me, the HR department was being rigid.

Sometimes I just don’t understand what is on people’s mind. What is so good for being rigid? Is it so that they can cover their a$$? In my opinion, to be too linear is not a good thing, but to be linear once in a while (like my ex-boss and my current boss) is definitely a good way to win people’s heart. After all, you got nothing much to lose.

For the first incident, if she were to be linear and did not scold me for being late for that 1 time, my seniors would not call the Head of Department and complained to him that “she” was late for 3 hours without informing anyone.

For the second incident, if the parents were to allow my friend to have more freedom, my friend would not become so rebellious. Nowadays he hardly inform his parents about the things he’s doing anymore.

For the last incident, the HR director has nothing to lose since it’s just a normal reference letter. The labor law department told me there’s no such policy which says a company cannot come out with such a letter. I’m not sure whether such incident has happened to other people before. If it does, it certainly won’t give them a good reputation. Oh, and they should never underestimate the power of “word of mouth”.

Life is about having fun and helping other people to feel better, not feel worse. So why be so rigid and make other people feel terrible? Just be more linear from time to time. Only be rigid when it’s really necessary. I’m sure the world will become a better place if all of us think so.