No Fear! - Yeah Right

To clean up a couple of things from comments:
1. Chan, I have to fire somebody everyday for something. If I don't do it, I will die. I fire people who make me do thinks I don't want to. I fire people who show up to meetings early. I fire people for showing up to meetings late. I fire people who forget to invite me to lunch. I fire people who leave the office 5 minutes early on the day I want to have a 5 minute conversation at the end of the day. Pretty much I use the phrase, "You're fired!" on average I would say 5 times daily. Most people just look at me like, "Can't you get a new line?"

2. Katie, I do love my dogs. I think that to not love them would be against the plan of God. I believe that I have a responsibility to care for them, keep them safe and secure, feed them, and not do them any harm. I believe that they can learn and think and have personalities and are generally adorable. I am grateful that I have them; they are great companions and very loyal and take away some of the loneliness of being a gazillion miles from home. Because of those things, I consider them as "part of my family." That being said, I realize that they are NOT people and were put on this earth for our use/consumption as all things were. I realize that I don't love them in the same way that I do my mom and dad, sister and brothers, nephews and nieces. I realize that they have needs that are important, but they don't over-ride the needs of a fellow human being. I consider them my "kids" the same way I consider the earth my "mother." I definitely have a responsibility to be a good steward of both my kids and Mother Earth. :)

3. As you are most likely aware, the senses (sight, smell, touch, hearing and taste) can do great things to put somebodies mind into another state (not like the USA). For example, if I smell cinnamon I immediately am brought back to my youth and having my mom making home-made cinnamon rolls. For this reason, I can't eat cinnamon rolls that are not made my her. When I hear Depeche Mode, my immediate thought are of Temaire. You guys get the idea.

Now, before moving to Kuala Lumpur for work, I worked for a previous company that had me living in Manila, the Philippines - of and on - for the previous 2.5 years. Manila - as you may or may not be aware - is 12 hours difference (during Daylight Savings) from Eastern Time in the USA. The headquarters for my previous employer was in the Los Angeles area and therefore the separation of time was 15 hours in the summer months and 16 hours in the winter. Safe to say that night-time in Asia is day-time in America. Now, to keep some sanity, I started work between 3 and 5 in the morning when I was in Manila (because I think that seeing some day-light every day is important). That would mean that I would begin working sometime between noon and 2pm pacific. The math is not so hard here, right?

Unfortunately, the bozos that I used to work for were mathematically challenged or they were just plain inconsiderate. On an average of about 8 times per week (and weekends were not out of the question) I would get a phone call from one of the "executives" in California. It was never somebody in accounting, or HR, who hardly ever called me, because they could figure out that I was probably sleeping. It was ALWAYS the owner of the company, some VP, or CFO, CIO, etc. Now, I don't mind being awakened in the middle of the night when there is a genuine urgent need that should be addressed immediately. When somebody calls me once in a blue moon, and wakes me up, for something stupid, I generally don't mind. When I get 8 calls a week for something non-urgent, stupid and something that could wait - not only a few hours but a few days - while I'm sleeping, I get irritated. When it is my bosses, I tend to not vent my frustration about it to them. I mean come on, who calls people at 2 in the morning, KNOWING that they are sleeping? They're the idiots who told me to keep that schedule! When I was in Manila, I had a phone with a US based SIM card that would roam internationally. So, these guys would dial my US phone number and my "international phone" would ring sometimes two or three times a night. The ring tone was the "Nokia Tone." One time, toward the end of my stint with these dorks, I lost it. When the called to ask me we purchased the HP printer instead of the Cannon printer, I completely lost it! I informed them that I could understand why they would need to know that right now because if they didn't, the earth would stop spinning and we would all fall off. We ended the conversation and I tossed (launched is probably a better word) the phone toward the wall and it was rendered useless (broken to a gazillion pieces). I then had to purchase a new (2nd hand) non-Nokia phone. Ever since the HP v Cannon call, I cringe whenever I hear the Nokia Tune. If I'm walking down the street and I hear it, I seriously get chills. It's eerie to me. I would seriously fire somebody if that sound happened in my office.

So there, that's why I fear the Nokia ring-tone. It's stupid and irrational I know, but so is thinking that the plane is going down in a ball of flames, that the toy poodle will eat you to bits, that every spider is a Recluse or Hobo, that you will fall over the top of the building if you look over the edge. All phobias are stupid and irrational, but they're very very real to the person who suffers! Believe me, I suffer! I'm a victim and it's not my fault! I want government compensation. I hope BO gets in the white house, I'd probably qualify for it then!

Until next time - Ciao!

-S

p.s. i thought about embedding the Nokia ring-tone on this post, but couldn't figure out how to make it so i didn't have to hear it...no luck there without turning off my speakers and that is just too much bother. if you're not familiar with it, you can get that sound by clicking HERE.
-s