10 years...

Today I received a memo from HR. Jarang2 dapat memo from HR, except bila time naik gaji or bila time potong gaji (ie take a loan)… or if dapat promotion :)

I totally forgot about it… didn’t cross my mind at all, especially since 12 January fell on a Saturday. At the beginning of the year, I remembered… but when the day came, nada.

The memo essentially said congrats… I dah 10 tahun kerja. And in appreciation they’re giving me 4 extra cuti days and the employer’s contribution to EPF is increased from 16% to 18.5%. So now I have 30 days of cuti in a year and my EPF savings will grow faster… Yippee!

10 years… who would have thought. It didn’t feel like 10 years at all. Well, sure… there were times when I wasn’t feeling all excited about work, but I can’t say that I have ever hated working here. My career here has been good so far, Alhamdulillah. Rezeki melimpah ruah and blessed with opportunities. What more can I ask? I like doing what I do… it’s not THE greatest and not exactly what I hope I do, but it is still satisfying. I suppose that’s why I’ve stayed on for so long…

I can still roughly remember what happened on that fateful day, 12 January 1998…

I reported to HR for duty… after a week break upon returning home from Melbourne. Itupun sebab I was demam the week before. Otherwise they would have wanted me to report in immediately lepas landing (OK lar… that’s a bit exaggerating, but it felt that way!). Pagi2 melanguk je kat HR tu while they decide where to send me. They all tak tahu lagi which department I’ll be attached to. From the first day lagi HR has not left a good impression on me… but that’s besides the point.

Nearing noon one of the officers (I can’t recall who) told me to go meet Pn Essah about a vacancy in Jabatan Pengawalan Bank. At the time I had just completed my CPA programme… and I was very keen to get working experience that can be counted towards obtaining my professional qualification. I was more interested to go to a supervision department where I can practice “accounting” (am I glad that it didn’t work out, hehe…). Tapi since dah disuruh, I pergilah… to see Pn Essah and Cik Normi. Talked to them, told them about my background, my aspirations etc… and Pn Essah told me straight up. “I think you’re over qualified for the section. We don’t really need someone with professional accounting background to do these kind of work. Perhaps it would be better if you tell HR about your interests”. OK… at least she was frank and I was not at all offended. Rasa kelakar pulak… “over qualified”? A fresh grad like moi?? hehehe…

So went back to HR, told them about what had transpired and went home for lunch. Since there wasn’t much “happening” I decided to balik office lambat sikit (first day dah recalcitrant, haha). When I went back to HR… dragging myself because I hate sitting idle not doing anything… I was approached by another officer. “Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you. En Razif wants to see you.” Alamak… kantoi! So I quickly went back to Jabatan Pengawalan Bank… to tingkat 10A this time.

Went up to the person whom I think is the secretary and informed her who I am and that En Razif had requested to see me. “You’re late” she said. “He was waiting for you” with a stern face. Aiyoo…not good, not good. She told me to go into the room. Another lady was in there talking to En Razif.

I greeted them and introduced myself. The other lady looked at me with evaluating eyes. It was rather unnerving I must say. En Razif introduced me to the lady “This is Puan Shamsiah. We’re thinking of having you work with her”

“So… you declined to join our department? And you want to go to Supervision… Why?” En Razif asked. I explained to him about my desire to get relevant working experience under my belt towards getting the CPA status and that Pn Essah had said that the kind of work that her section does may not be something that I would be interested in, which is true. I told En Razif and Pn Shamsiah that I’d like to do something challenging, something that requires me to explore, evaluate. I don’t particularly like doing something mundane, routine, repetitive.

“Then you should not go to supervision. You’ll get bored. Trust me… I’ve done supervision work before. If you want what you said you want, you should be in this department. Not in the area that Pn Essah had explained to you, but in policy. Which is the area that I had wanted to put you in. I don’t know why HR sent you to see her. Supervision work is boring and mundane… cari salah orang, buat audit. Tak interesting. Betul tak?” He’s got a point there…
[oops… those of you working at the organisation, please take note that this transpired 10 years ago when En Razif was still just a department head. I’m sure since then, he has developed a more holistic view of the organisation’s roles and functions ;) ]

Policy? What the heck was that?? I must have shown a confused and unconvinced look because Pn Shamsiah then added to explain about what the function is all about. Sambil disampuk oleh En Razif, who in one way or another explained to say that if I want to be close to the *action*, this is the place to be. The exposure will give the extensive coverage which supervision wouldn’t. I raised again about my working experience requirement thing and Pn Shamsiah told me “I’m also a CPA. You can work under my direct supervision to qualify for it”. Huh? I can?? “Yes… alaa, they wouldn’t know pun whether you did actual audit work or not” she added.

We talked on further about what my role would be, what’s the environment like, etc… “So… have we convinced you to join us?” asked En Razif. It was a good proposition… I’ll get to do something that sounds interesting and at the same time get the working experience as required by CPA. Under direct supervision of another CPA member pulak tu. “OK… I’ll give it a try” I replied. “Eh… tak boleh lah try try. Kena lah confirm whether you’re in or out. We can’t have you in one day and leave the next” En Razif was pushing for a more firm commitment. I thought for another 30 seconds or so (takkan lah nak buat cliff hanger pulak… making them wait for my reply kan?) and said “Yes. I’ll join the department”.

So that was how it started…

To this day I’m grateful that I had made the decision to join the department, for it had given me the opportunity to achieve what I have today. Had it not been for the so-called interview with En Razif and Pn Shamsiah, I would have been quite adamant about joining supervision. I doubt that if I had been elsewhere, that I would attain what I have today.

Actually… looking back, I didn’t really have a proper job interview. Well, not in the traditional sort of way lah. Because it wasn’t me who was seeking to be placed there and whilst I did cerita about myself just like any other interviewee trying to woo a potential employer would, there was also an element of them trying to persuade me to join the department. Basically, I didn’t have to sell myself so hard lah ;)

After the “interview” Pn Sham… or Kak Sham as she told me to address her took me around to introduce me to the other people who are now going to be my colleague. First person was the secretary… “This is Nora. Dia garang tau”. Yes… I got that impression I cakap dalam hati.

“So kita jadi ambik dia…” Nora sought confirmation from K Sham, to which she received a nod.

“Diorang kat sini gila-gila”, K Sham said as we walked deeper into the department, “Don’t let their looks fool you, especially this guy… Bidi this is Ruziana. What should we call you?” she looked at me and asked. “My friends call me Uji”.

“Dia ni kita panggil ustaz… paling baik dalam ramai2 ni”. Bidi dengan penuh sopan welcomed me into the department with a friendly smile. “So she’s joining us? This section?” Bidi asked K Sham. “Yes… and you jangan jahat2 buli dia” K Sham said sambil gelak. My first impression of her as someone cold and snooty began to chip away as I observed her interaction with the rest of the staff.

Next to be introduced was Kong Kuan who sat next to Bidi… he was on the phone and just angkat tangan. Followed by (not in the correct order… I tak ingat lah in detail… it was a big blur trying to remember names and faces) Cindy, Sook Yu, Yeow Boon, Alfred, Laurance, Zaed, Zeha, Kam, Rustam, Khairuddin, Jo, Keat Lin, Saw, Yin Mei, Ada, Nizam, Ropizah, Hamidah and finally Rasheed.

I have to say that when I first saw Rasheed, the first thing that crossed my mind was ahaa… finally an Indian. So when K Sham told me of his name, I had to pretend not to appear surprised. But she beat me to it and said “Sure you ingat dia India kan? Dia ni actually melayu… Colour je lain”. Rasheed like Bidi was polite.

“There’s one more… tapi she’s on maternity leave. Dia lah yang paling kecoh sekali kat sini… bising betul, especially bila dah get together dengan Cindy. Nama dia Mad. Nanti you tahu kenapa kita panggil dia mad woman” K Sham said with a laugh. In my mind I was already imagining so many things. I didn’t get to meet Mad until about 3 weeks later. Tak lah mad woman… loud yes ;)

“This is your place” she showed me. Duduk almost betul2 depan dia… in direct visual range of the boss, oh dear… what a way to start my working life. Kena be in best behaviour… or so I thought, hehe… I sat behind Bidi, in front of Cindy, my neighbour to the left is Laurance, barat laut is Kong Kuan and barat daya is Zaed.

Instead of getting straight into work, a crowd gathered… Bidi, Rasheed, Kong Kuan (this time he formally introduced himself), Sook Yu, Alfred and K Sham. It seemed like a friendly and happy crowd… laughing, making jokes. They were all warned by K Sham not to bully me and that I should tell her if it happens (little did I know then that the chief kaki kacau orang is non other than herself). I was very quickly given the 101 on the things that newbies should do… first on the list was to belanja everyone breakfast with my first gaji… and it should be something substantial. Kuih2 tak main… Or lunch is also acceptable (a tradition we continue to practice with any promotions or upgrading). Nora then joined in, followed by En Razif. “Haa… ni apa party ni? Tak kerja ke?” he said jokingly. Dia pun join berborak sekali :)

Fate had brought me to the perfect “family”. To this day, these very people are my closest friends at work. We continue to have lunch together, celebrate birthdays, share our problems, source of guidance. En Razif (now Dato’), K Sham, Rasheed, Bidi, Mad were wonderful coaches and had helped developed me, sharpen my skills, deepen my insights. Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

Of course there were ups and downs. As with any family, frictions happen… but also with families, the ties are strong. Some people, especially those who observe from the outside, say that we’re cliqueish. Maybe we are… but we’ve since welcomed others into the group… K As, Aznan, Bulat, K Che. So it’s not an exclusive group. As long as satu kepala… orait! :)

So today, as I look back, I couldn’t have asked for a better start to my career 8-)

10 glorious years down… 23 more promising years to go!