Such a small, seemingly insignificant event has opened up my eyes. My last day on the job is on Sunday. University open house is also on Sunday. My grandmother's birthday is also on Sunday. I decide, with much prompting from my dad, to try to weasel out of work on Sunday.
It seemed simple enough to me. A matter of weighing the costs and benefits. For working. I'm afraid to tell the bitb that I don't want to work. For not working: I will be able to get a better picture of all the courses in all the universities which will enable me to make a better decision as to what I should study in uni and hence my career path. Besides, I want to go for my grandmother's birthday dinner.
It seemed such a simple decision. Face your fear. Go ahead and demand an off. Its not like I am a permanent employee. I may be irresponsible for springing it on them, but its better than taking emergency leave on the day itself right? Besides, what I am doing is already quite good considering the way they usually treat their employees. If they can call me up at 2 in the afternoon when my shift ends at 3 and demand that I go to vivo and work till 10, I can tell them that I cannot work two days in advance.
I figured that most people will think that way. Not true, josh provided me with a totally alternative point of view. For him, he will work on Saturday even if it means he cannot go for ntu's open house. If SR calls him to cover for me on Sunday, he will come and work even if it means that he will not be able to go to any of the open houses. I found that totally ridiculous. How can something as trivial as a part time job, where the employer treats its employee so badly, be more important than deciding your future? Why is he so loyal to SR? I suggested that he simply refuse to work on Sunday. Its not like they have the right to force him to work, besides, what can they do? Forfeit his pay for that day for which he was not scheduled to work anyway? For me it is quite simple, no work, no pay. Am i willing to make this trade off? I am. End of story. The management can go and find their own replacement. Besides, I hate working there anyway.
I just simply cannot understand why he will still be willing to agree to work on Sunday. What is it that I am missing out. Because of this, am I now willing to make the trade off if my friend's future was thrown into the equation? I cannot be that selfish. Yet, I am selfish enough to put my interests ahead of the company I was working for while josh did not even consider such an option. Does that make me selfish anyway?
I think that this shows a fundamental difference between two people's personalities. I have always felt that my personality differs very much from josh, which does not mean that we do not get along or that I do not treasure him as a friend. I do, very much. But I find the differences in the way we think very interesting. I seem to be very objective, even mercenary. I do a quick weigh in my mind then decide on my action. To me, josh's reaction seems strange and illogical. But I am quite sure that is not the case. I think that to him, his decision is based on his own experience and personality and that it makes perfect sense to him. Probably my thinking will seem strange to him, maybe even very mercenary. For that I accept his reply.
Then again, maybe that is it. That I am mercenary in this aspect and he is not. That I feel unattached to the shop because I have only worked there for a month and don't like certain people there. Because of this emotional detachment I can very easily make the decision to skip work and leave its management to solve the problem, which I'm pretty sure they can. On the other hand, josh has grown more attached to the shop and its workers and thus is not willing to make this decision that is against the interest of the shop. If this was the case, we would be thinking on the same wavelength. But something tells me that this is not it.
What is it? What is it? How can our thinking be so fundamentally different? Because of that, it has forced me to seek alternatives to settle this internal dispute. I think that I will probably work on Sunday after all. After all, I still have 2 years to make my choices, two more openhouses to go, it is not too late. As for my grandmother's birthday, this brings me to another round of weighing. This time the trade off is not that big, only four hours of work. They will not call josh back just for 4 hours right? Right?
Hey, I know how skeptical and cynical I can be. For all I know, maybe josh is one up on me and has successfully manipulated me to work.
It seemed simple enough to me. A matter of weighing the costs and benefits. For working. I'm afraid to tell the bitb that I don't want to work. For not working: I will be able to get a better picture of all the courses in all the universities which will enable me to make a better decision as to what I should study in uni and hence my career path. Besides, I want to go for my grandmother's birthday dinner.
It seemed such a simple decision. Face your fear. Go ahead and demand an off. Its not like I am a permanent employee. I may be irresponsible for springing it on them, but its better than taking emergency leave on the day itself right? Besides, what I am doing is already quite good considering the way they usually treat their employees. If they can call me up at 2 in the afternoon when my shift ends at 3 and demand that I go to vivo and work till 10, I can tell them that I cannot work two days in advance.
I figured that most people will think that way. Not true, josh provided me with a totally alternative point of view. For him, he will work on Saturday even if it means he cannot go for ntu's open house. If SR calls him to cover for me on Sunday, he will come and work even if it means that he will not be able to go to any of the open houses. I found that totally ridiculous. How can something as trivial as a part time job, where the employer treats its employee so badly, be more important than deciding your future? Why is he so loyal to SR? I suggested that he simply refuse to work on Sunday. Its not like they have the right to force him to work, besides, what can they do? Forfeit his pay for that day for which he was not scheduled to work anyway? For me it is quite simple, no work, no pay. Am i willing to make this trade off? I am. End of story. The management can go and find their own replacement. Besides, I hate working there anyway.
I just simply cannot understand why he will still be willing to agree to work on Sunday. What is it that I am missing out. Because of this, am I now willing to make the trade off if my friend's future was thrown into the equation? I cannot be that selfish. Yet, I am selfish enough to put my interests ahead of the company I was working for while josh did not even consider such an option. Does that make me selfish anyway?
I think that this shows a fundamental difference between two people's personalities. I have always felt that my personality differs very much from josh, which does not mean that we do not get along or that I do not treasure him as a friend. I do, very much. But I find the differences in the way we think very interesting. I seem to be very objective, even mercenary. I do a quick weigh in my mind then decide on my action. To me, josh's reaction seems strange and illogical. But I am quite sure that is not the case. I think that to him, his decision is based on his own experience and personality and that it makes perfect sense to him. Probably my thinking will seem strange to him, maybe even very mercenary. For that I accept his reply.
Then again, maybe that is it. That I am mercenary in this aspect and he is not. That I feel unattached to the shop because I have only worked there for a month and don't like certain people there. Because of this emotional detachment I can very easily make the decision to skip work and leave its management to solve the problem, which I'm pretty sure they can. On the other hand, josh has grown more attached to the shop and its workers and thus is not willing to make this decision that is against the interest of the shop. If this was the case, we would be thinking on the same wavelength. But something tells me that this is not it.
What is it? What is it? How can our thinking be so fundamentally different? Because of that, it has forced me to seek alternatives to settle this internal dispute. I think that I will probably work on Sunday after all. After all, I still have 2 years to make my choices, two more openhouses to go, it is not too late. As for my grandmother's birthday, this brings me to another round of weighing. This time the trade off is not that big, only four hours of work. They will not call josh back just for 4 hours right? Right?
Hey, I know how skeptical and cynical I can be. For all I know, maybe josh is one up on me and has successfully manipulated me to work.
posted by lyarn at 2:13 am
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