From SME to C

When I worked for World Vision I had an easy means of checking up on people I worked with. I don't remember just how I did it, but with a few clicks I'd be at a list of 'logged-on users' - this was especially helpful when determining whether someone was out of the office or simply ignoring your calls and emails.

The only snag being that password sharing was rampant which from time-to-time resulted in the users name appearing when they weren't actually present.

Checking this list was always my first course of action when hunting down the 'signer' for this, or 'owner' for that. Following that I'd make my way up the stairs, down the stairs--on the hunt before the target vacated their chair. Meandering the building was easy with only four floors.

Despite the fact that many, if not all, of my embarrasing career moments occured at World Vision--mostly due to being 17 at the point of hire making me unskilled for this, naive about that--I miss the feeling of familiarity. Over the near 5 years of working there I truly began to feel like I was a part of it. Every corner was my turf, every name familiar to me and everyone knew me.

Having gone from the non-profit world, to the for profit and private, to for-profit and public I've found the biggest change to be joining the likes of the publicly owned entities. However, ownership aside, it may be in fact the size that has made the biggest impact and not whether the company has a ticker symbol.

You get the sense here, at Company X, that regardless of whether I am here for 3 years or 13 I will never know the in's and out's of all it's moving parts like I did at World Vision, or like I could have at Russell Investment Group. This I find a bit daunting as I am all about redundancy, routine--not to say I don't like to innovate, but I pretty much don't veer outside innovating my routine--if that makes sense. I like to fix and improve what already exists, not create what doesn't when it come to my profession.

Though this may be because truly I think everything has already been done, been said and therefore can any of us really do anything better than to 'say that more clearly' or 'create this more effectively' or 'tend to that more passionately' this may be reality, it has all been done before.

There are perks to being a part of bigger group, like numerous open jobs and bigger bonuses but at the end of the day the exit of anyone other than the President might cause little more than a ripple.

I don't intend to convey that life in big companies for sure leaves more to be desired, actually at this stage in life I'll take the handful of always open doors and healthy bonus check over knowing the names of 98% of everyone on payroll--but that may not always be the case.

Becoming a Suit

There's nothing like a big city to make a man outta ya. I came here with 2 man suits and now I have 5. A friend of mine made a comment awhile back about how Hong Kong's 5 million residents results in being less noticed. I hadn't come to that realization, but once she said it I knew it was true. "That explains it." I said. What it explained was how an anti-social person who hates to be amongst sizable groups of people could in fact find solice in densely populated Hong Kong.

But then again it isn't really large parties I despise, per se. It's the mid-size. Small groups of say 6, are easy. Everyone will have someone to talk to and I'm pretty tolerant, I'll let you talk at me about how your Aunt Edith is coming to visit and how she makes the best peanut brittle - whatever, so long as the veggies and dip keep coming while you blabber-forth nothingness.

The comfort of chatting with six is not however present with a group of say 20. When you have 20, all the sudden crowds of 4 and 5 huddle around the girl with a tattoo of Marilyn Manson on her hip or the guy bragging about having drunk snake venom, at age 5. Such a scenario leaves me 1) uninterested in either of them and 2) sitting in a corner, hand raised, saying "Anyone wanna talk about socrates?

"Yea, right. Truly I am a philosophical girl and will always be so. If you ain't serious we're like not gonna be friends long--I mean you'd better atleast look like Richard Gere or Condoleeza Rice.

Hong Kong is work. Work and pubs, with a plate of duck and noodles in there somewhere. Every morning at 8:30, a parade of suits heading this way and that, making the tai-tai's (wealthy non-working wives) stand out all the more in their pink leather Louis Vuitton vests and tight white pedal pushers with gold gucci sandals. Though the only thing that brings them out of bed at that hour is a 9 o' clock liposuction appointment, seriously.

I suppose I could have one of the many tailors cook me up a pinkish suit but I haven't gotten there yet. And so my garbs, like everyone else, are always black, brown or grey. This must be why, despite toe blisters, my affinity for high heels remains as it may be my only link to femininity during the work week.

Though who's kidding who. I was a wanna-be tough girl long before Hong Kong. It was at 12 where on the school playground a childhood friend got down on one knee and asked me to be his valentine. I quickly and firmly said "No!". Though in my defense I thought he was pranking me. "Ha, I got one up on you!" I thought, but looking back I don't think it was a joke. Really sorry Darin; for old time's sake you can cut me with your scissors, fling braces rubberbands at me--and this time I won't slap you.

It was at 16 with another childhood friend--Daniel and I were waiting for some concert at a hot, dusty fairground--him behind me, poking me, pouring water over my head, this kind of thing. I turned around and pushed him so hard (somewhat unknowingly) that he flew back 2 feet and fell smack down into a garbage can which then fell over. Totally a true story which makes me chuckle now.

I'd like to say I fly in the face of convention but then again convention generally forms itself from some thread of common sense, though common sense isn't really common, so more accurately I fly in the face of today's common sense, if that makes sense.

Well, anyhoo, go have yourself a good day - unless you've already made other plans.