Officially a fan!

Yes, I am officially an Olivia Ong fan! I've heard of her name before. She sang that Little Nonya theme but I didn't think her singing was that wonderful then. It was only when I watched 'It's a Great Great World' that I realised she has such a nice voice. Her speaking voice is sooo good that I thought I just had to hear her singing in English. AHHHH....her voice is damn good! Seriously man. I mean, there are better, more powerful singers out there but her singing is sooo comfortable on the ears. Haha. I bought 2 of her albums yesterday lo. :)

Didn't had a good start to work today. I had to clear this mess that involved one of the clients that I signed off as ok. I did the checks in English and I have to say the checks were done thoroughly. It wasn't like I just skimmed through the checks and was lax in the due diligence but bcos I wasn't aware that I had to do a name check in Chinese too. C'mon, this is a review case, not a new a/c. I didn't have access to their ID docs or whatever so I didn't know their names in Chinese characters. I didn't even know I was supposed to check their names in Chinese when I did the checks then! Anyway, turns out there was negative news. Pretty bad negative news. Alleged murderer, triads, kidnapping. Bad bad stuff with a lot of $ involved. Now it's like pretty high on my boss's radar. He even copied my big boss in the email so...this case has been escalated to higher management! AHHHH. Okay. So I did the checks again in Chinese, confirmed the negative news, and now just waiting for the RM's comments on this. Sian lo. Why has to be my case. But you know, I'm glad that at least the Compliance Officer overseas alerted us to this when she did the checks in Chinese. Better to discover it early then to have it rot into a bad bad case that blows out of legal proportions. That would be DISASTROUS.

Anyhow, I was called into my big boss's room this morning and you can imagine my dread. I was thinking: "This must be about the bad case (mentioned above)" but turns out, it was the bonus payout, which I didn't have btw. My big boss just called me in to hand me an envelope that "confirms that I will not get any bonus with respect of year 2010" Lame right. I mean, I converted really late last year to perm so this is reasonable. Fortunately it's not about the case! Interesting point to note, my big boss is one of the few people in office (of more senior positions) who can pronounce my name accurately. Yeah. After I exited from big boss's office, my boss queried if I got anything. LOL. I just told him I didn't and he was saying how he didn't get anything when he first joined too 'cos he only joined towards the end of that year, in Oct. I took the opportunity to ask him straight abt what he thinks about the case, whether it is sticky. Hahahah. I'm quite daring in this respect right. I can't believe I asked! But I did 'cos...I felt I had to. If I don't know, I have to ask! If not, I will kena.

He said that we just have to bring the file back for review and we can work from there. He often gives ambiguous answers, which I'm not that used to 'cos I like clear instructions on how I should work. He's a very big picture person. I'm learning to work with his management style tho'. The upside of this way of management is that there is some form of flexibility and we are given the liberty to do things our way...as long as the end results are met. Downside is sometimes I feel like I'm floating. How to best handle a situation? I don't know man. Can only pray for wisdom. I was pretty calm today tho'. I mean this is not a good thing and it may cause some damage on me, like my bosses having unfavourable impression on me. That would be BAD. But I'm learning to pray and trust in the Lord. I know it's true that when work close with God, there will be unmerited favour (even from men), and I don't have to always strive to prove myself. I really hope to work with a steadiness, having a peace that transcends all human understanding, regardless of situation.

I still have to follow-up and clear this mess on Monday...but everyone has been quite helpful so far. My boss didn't scold me or anything. He tried to help me clear the mess also, in a way. Hmm. I really don't know what he's thinking 'cos he isn't easy to read at all but it's too tiring always trying to guess how the other person is thinking, then work out a plan to try to turn events to my favour. Just do my thing lo. If there is one big lesson I learned from this...it is the importance of praying everyday for protection and wisdom. Really. There are so many land mines everywhere. One wrong step and you may be destroyed. Erks.

But in all things, rejoice! For my source of joy is not from earth. :)

Have a restful weekend, frds.