Month: July 2009

A Poor Example of Leadership

Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

When I went through leadership training two of the basic principles we were taught is that you should never ask your subordinate to do something you weren’t willing to do yourself, and you should lead by example.

So, here’s an example of a failure of both of those sound leadership principles.

You ask your employees to work extra hours, without pay, to meet unrealistic goals.  You do this regularly, and your employees, having no choice but to comply for fear of losing their jobs, do it.  Rather than staying behind as well, to ensure that your personnel are getting the job done, and to show that you too are sacrificing for the good of the company, you leave on time every day.  As you go out the door on time every day your subordinates are still slaving away at their stations, becoming more and more filled with resentment at their mistreatment.

The result is that you create a hostile work environment, where the employees resent their jobs and resent you for asking them to stay behind when you’re not willing to do it yourself.  These are major failures in leadership, as you undermine your own authority and cause your employees to stop caring about their work.  Employees will start performing to the minimum, rather than trying to excel, because they have no desire to impress you, as they don’t like you to start with.  Eventually that dislike spreads to dislike for the job and the company as a whole, and employees start biding their time until another opportunity comes along, rather than making plans to invest in their careers with the company.

There are right ways to lead and manage people and they’ve been identified as the right ways to do things because they work.  I wonder at how some people attain managerial positions and yet these basic tenets of management and leadership seem beyond their grasp.

(Image Source)

The Abuse of Non-Resident Workers in Singapore

Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

If you’ve been keeping up with my blog recently you’ll have read that Singapore can be a pretty rough place for a foreigner.  There’s plenty of racism and discrimination from locals.  Unfortunately, this type of discrimination is also common in the work place.

In Singapore business, appearance is everything.  Companies want to present the best image they can, regardless of the internal cost and that’s usually going to be at someone’s expense, because they want a certain level of service to be rendered but at the same time they don’t want to put forward the capital or manpower required to adequately meet their goals.  Someone winds up suffering, and those someones are typically foreign workers.

You see, being in Singapore on a work permit is a rather unique situation.  People usually apply for jobs in Singapore through recruitment agencies in their home countries.  If they’re approved they receive a card that designates them as being about to legally enter Singapore without needing their passport stamped and remain for the duration of their work contract.  Now, people that do this sort of thing are either looking to improve their lives, or they have financial obligations at home, like a family to support.  Either way, they have to maintain their job.  If a person loses their job they’re only given so many days to find a new one before they have to leave Singapore, and sometimes that time-frame is only 2 weeks.  You see what I’m saying?  There’s a lot of pressure to make sure you stay in your employer’s good graces, because you’re almost guaranteed to have to leave the country if you leave your job.  Moving from one country to another can be a big deal.  It can be even more stressful when your income is cut off and you have obligations to meet.

In other words, there’s really no wriggle-room.  You work, or you get put out and you have to leave the country.

Being the pricks they are, people like to take advantage of that here.  They create unrealistic expectations in their KPIs.  They ask employees to stay longer hours, often unpaid, to do more work, even if that employee has exceeded the target set for the day.  This is done so that the company can get around hiring more people to manage the workload more effectively, but is an abuse to the worker.  In the case of maids, I’m sure there are far worse abuses that happen despite the strict rules regulating maids in Singapore.

Regardless, there’s no much of a recourse for these foreign workers.  If they decline the request to work the longer hours too many times, they’ll simply be let go and they’ll have to pack up the life they’ve made in Singapore and return to their country, often with not much to show for their efforts and no immediate prospects for work.  If they file a complaint with the company?  Same result.  File a complaint with MoM?  Well, something might happen in the future but the company would find a reason to fire that person.    Change their job?  Well, it’s not always that easy.  Most foreigners come to Singapore on a contract, so they can’t change jobs.  If they can, it could be hard to find one, and if they do, and there’s even the slightest delay in the paperwork, they could have to pack up and leave the country and then come back once the new contract is approved.

You see what I’m getting at here?  The labor laws in Singapore regarding foreigners are either not strict enough or they’re not being properly enforced to protect the interests of the foreign workers that are being hired.  These people are employees, not slightly paid slave labor.

(Image Source)

Damn Flying Pigs…

Bradley Farless4 Comments

This past Friday I was excited about going to the mall to get something nice to eat and then shop around a bit.  My wife and I also had plans to go out and enjoy ourselves over the weekend.  Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.

It was strange, really.  All day I felt fine.  Once I got to the mall though and walked inside I started to feel tired.  Then I realized my muscles all felt like they were aching.  So, I sat down and when I sat down I realized not only how tired I was, but that even my butt cheeks were aching.

We wound up not staying at the mall for very long.  I didn’t eat much either.  My appetite was disappearing.  By the time I got home, I really felt like crap.  In a short two hours I went from feeling fine to feeling like I’d been hit by a bus.

The next morning my wife took my temperature and I was running a fever at 38.4 C.  I wound up sleeping most of the day away.  In fact, I did a lot of sleeping from Friday evening through Monday afternoon.  On Saturday night my fever peaked at 39.4 and then started dropping.  By the end of Sunday it had fallen to 38.4 and then by Monday morning it was at 36.6.  It went up briefly to 38 again on Monday but it returned to normal in about an hour.

It doesn’t sound like much when I put it that way, as just a chronological list of temperatures, but those were some rough days.  Those are the types of fever temperatures that make it hard to sleep and make you think those weird thoughts while you’re laying there. If you’ve ever had a fever and your mind started to wander I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.

I never did go to the hospital.  I’ve always been a stubborn idiot like that when it comes to being sick.  I hate hospitals.  I remember one year I was sick and dizzy and was still doing physical training in the morning and going to work because I just had too much to do.  Weird right?  Well, I also didn’t want to be bothered with going to the hospital just to be told that I had a cold or flu or something and I should just rest in bed, drink fluids, and take something for the fever and then get a huge bill for being told something I already knew.  I didn’t really have any clue as to what I had.  I just thought I had a regular cold or flu.

Anyhow, by Monday afternoon the fever was completely gone and I was fuzzy headed and exhausted but fine.  I wound up sleeping most of Monday away and didn’t get out of bed until 4pm.  After all that sleeping my brain was running on overdrive and I was catching up on internet stuff so I wasn’t able to sleep until 6 am or so and then I had to get up again at 9 am to make it to an appointment.  So, I wound up sleeping most of Teusday afternoon and evening away too.  It feels like the last 4 days just sort of slipped away from me.  I don’t even remember most of the days I was sick, since I had a fever or was sleeping the whole time.

So, how did I actually find out it was H1N1?  Well, I passed it off to someone I live with.  They went to the doctor right away and the doctor confirmed what it was.  They complained of the exact same symptoms: sudden muscle ache and fatigue, followed by fever.

Well, at least I don’t have to worry as much about H1N1 anymore.  I already have some antibodies ready for it for a while.  I’m still tired though.  I guess it’ll take a while for me to regain my strength.

(Image source)

Undisciplined Children on a Singapore Bus

Bradley Farless11 Comments

On Friday afternoon I was on the bus, heading to the MRT station so I could meet my wife for dinner. I was on a single story bus in the standing area, leaning against the padded rest.

(For those of you not familiar with Singapore buses, I found the photo at left on Jom Naik Bas!, which seems to be a blog dedicated to reviewing modes of transportation, mostly in the Malaysia/Singapore area.)

So, anyway, I was standing there, leaning against that rest and chatting with my wife via SMS. There were two kids playing around in front of me (towards the rear of the bus). I wasn’t paying much attention to them, but after a brief stop, when the bus lurched back into motion, the kids stumbled. Like I said, they were goofing off, being noisy, and they weren’t holding onto anything. So, one of the kids stumbles and stomps down on my foot. I was only wearing slippers (flip-flops), and the boy had rubber shoes on, so it hurt. I wasn’t that upset about it because it was an accident, so I stood there, looking at the kid, waiting.

What was I waiting for? Can you guess? Well, apparently the boy didn’t know or care, because instead of doing what was proper, he glanced at me briefly and then went back to playing. His mother, who was sitting to my right and saw the whole thing, didn’t bother to speak up either.

Why did I have to be the boy’s parent for a few minutes on the bus that day? Why did I have to teach him a lesson his mother should have already taught him, and should have scolded him for forgetting?

I closed the cover on my iPhone and put it in my pocket and then I leaned towards the boy and said, loudly enough for his failure of a mother to hear as well, “You know, the polite thing to do when you step on someone’s foot is to apologize.“

The kid looked at me as if he were shocked. Is it so uncommon a thing to ask people to be polite to each other? No reaction from the mother. Perhaps she doesn’t care about what her child learns? I bet she would have reacted if I had simply reached out and smacked the boy in the back of the head. That probably would have made headlines here. I can see it now: “Ang moh asshole abuses boy on bus for stomping his foot and not saying sorry.”

Anyhow, the boy looked at me, all shocked, and said, “Oh, sorry.” Then returned to playing with his friend. I was satisfied at the time, but later I would remember that honorifics are used in this country. I don’t exactly think of myself as an “uncle“, though I’ve been referred to that way before by kids that are about 10, but a “Sorry, sir” or a “Sorry, uncle” would have sounded much more convincing to me.

The kid is probably already spoiled if he’s that indifferent to other people’s space, or to the fact that he caused injury to another person. I blame his parents, and I blame society. This is where it starts. The kid doing something wrong and the parent not correcting them, or no one correcting them. This leads to a self-centered “me me me” attitude that produces kids who think they walk on water, foreigners are trash, and anyone who does an “un-glam” job is a failure.

There will be a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth when that bubble bursts.

What Determines A Person’s Worth?

Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

I was thinking about this question because of something that happened earlier today. I woke up briefly in the morning and I thought I heard the maid crying. I’m sick, though, so I rolled over and went back to sleep. Later, I found out that there had been a problem.

She had recently bought a laptop computer. It was her first so I had to give her a few pointers, and she seemed really excited by things like Yahoo! Messenger and Facebook. This morning, she was on Facebook chatting with someone she had met. Apparently the guy was really into her. Then she told him what she does as a profession.

In her own words, “…then he ridiculed me and rejected me like a dog.”

Is it really that serious? A woman brought to tears and rejected out of hand just because of what she does for a living? She’s a maid, not a prostitute.

Let me quote something I wrote just recently:

As another example, maids in Singapore are typically foreign laborers and it’s not uncommon to hear someone say, “You look like my Filipina maid”, with a voice full of derision and disrespect. While being a maid is by no means a glorious job, these women accepted an opportunity to better themselves by earning more money in a foreign country, far from their homes. To me, that shows a desire to progress and improve and is far from being a fault. Also, I’m not really clear what makes these people think that maids are inherently ugly, except that perhaps they associate profession with looks, class, and appeal. Or perhaps the average Singaporean equates attractiveness with the amount of a persons’ paycheck? I’d also like to highlight that this common saying emphasizes many Singaporeans’ real belief that they are better than foreign laborers, just because of where they’re from.

I really can’t express enough how disgusting and ridiculous this superior mentality is. A person’s value is not based on what job position they hold, or how many years they went to school. If you get along with someone, why shut them down just because of what job they hold? Our maid is one of the sweetest, kindest people I’ve ever met. Ethnicity and education have nothing to do with that.

This is Singapore, not Nazi Germany. This country was built up by a collective of peoples from all over Asia and is today a fairly multicultural center. There are people from all over the world living in Singapore. So why is it there are still these ridiculous ideas that some people should be shunned based on where they’re from? A lot of Westerners would shun Singaporeans because they’re from Asia, and dismiss educational certificates because they’re from a second-rate country. Wouldn’t feel nice to be on the receiving end would it?

Also, just being born in an somewhat affluent country doesn’t mean you’re better than someone from a poorer country. It just doesn’t work that way. A difference in the value of a nation’s currency doesn’t indicate a difference in the value of the people. Singapore is just lucky. That’s all. The country is in a good location to make money from shipping, and the government instituted imported labor policies that allowed Singapore to become a wealthy nation. Imported labor. Ya, those same people that are being mocked and ridiculed are the people that made Singapore what it is.

I hadn’t planned on revisiting this topic, but after this fiasco with our maid, I had to speak up again.

The whole “We’re better than you because you’re not one of us” thing didn’t work for Nazi Germany. It didn’t work for Japan. It’s not going to work for Singapore either.

July 2009 Solar Eclipse in Singapore

Bradley Farless7 Comments

I’d been looking forward to this solar eclipse for weeks, ever since I first heard about it. I even took the time to write it down, and enter it as an entry with an alarm in my iPhone’s calendar. I didn’t want to miss it! Last night I went to bed, rather anxious to wake up and witness this, the longest solar eclipse for the century.

So, I wound up waking up early and, much to my dismay, I could hear the sound of rain. I hoped it would clear up but as the time for the eclipse got closer, it kept coming down harder and harder.

When it was time for the actual eclipse, I looked out my window and saw only this:

And then I realized my laundry was hanging to dry…

Singapore was supposed to be along the southern edge of the solar eclipse’s path, so I was hoping to see something exciting. The animated map I’d looked at showed Singapore in shadow. It did get a bit darker during the minutes when the eclipse was supposed to affect Singapore, but it wasn’t that noticeable. It wasn’t much darker than it would normally be during a thunderstorm.

So, it wasn’t quite what I’d hoped for, but we can’t have everything right?

Pocari Sweat

Bradley Farless12 Comments

No, a Pocari isn’t an animal, or a person’s name.  It’s a drink!

I’ve seen this quite a few times and always intended to snag a photo of it, but I just never got around to it.

Would you drink something called Sweat?  When I look at this can I think of the sweat sliding down someone’s back, so … well no.  Just not for me!

What this does make me wonder though is who was in charge of naming this product?  In today’s world, multicultural awareness is something of a must, and I get the feeling that the company missed the mark when they branded this.

Any idea what the original message was supposed to be here?

Goldilocks Treats

Bradley Farless8 Comments

Goldilocks is a pretty well known bakery in the Philippines.  You can find outlets all over the place there and the things they sell are really tasty.  The first time I was in the Philippines over a year ago I noticed the place and we wound up buying some cakes to try them out.  Well, my wife already knew they were good.  She just wanted to share the joy I guess.

The cakes were very good, and I’m looking forward to the next time I’ll be able to get something from them.  There are bakeries all over Singapore but the things that are produced here aren’t quite as “Westernized” as what I’d like.  Generally they’re more bland and it’s nearly impossible to find fruit filled pastries.

The snack pictured at left is called ‘polvoron’.  I’d never heard of it before, and found the following information about it when I looked it up (source):

Polvoron is powdered milk candy, made of flour, sugar butter and powdered milk. The flour is toasted, all the ingredients are mixed and shaped into round or oval-shaped molds. It is believe that making polvoron started during the American occupation to use up the huge amount of powdered milk brought in by the Americans. Polvoron over the years has become one of the most loved sweet Filipino delicacy.

It has a sweet taste to it, but it’s mild.  It’s not something that will make your teeth feel like they’re rotting out of your head with every bite.  Also, it’s dry and has a tendency to stick to the teeth and gums, so it’s best to have a drink handy while eating this.

Microwaving Shoes

Bradley Farless10 Comments

There is a shoe store here in Singapore, in Tampines, that has a microwave sitting on the floor of the store.

I happened to be sitting there, idly looking around the store while my wife tried on shoes.  That’s when I noticed it.  I sat there, looking at it, trying to figure out why they have a microwave in a shoe store.  Then I put two and two together.  If you look at the reflection in the mirror above the microwave, you’ll see a treadmill.

The treadmill is in the store so you can test out your potential purchase.  That’s a pretty good idea I suppose, but then I really thought about it and realized that it’s kinda gross.  There can’t be just one set of shoes set aside for this purpose, since everyone wears different sizes.  This means that people ask for the size they need, try it on, and then possibly test it out on the treadmill as well.  But, what happens when the person decides they don’t want the pair of shoes they tested?

I guess that’s where this microwave comes in.  I imagine they put the shoes in the microwave and toast them to dry them out and potentially kill bacteria or fungus.  I have to wonder how effective that really is though, and I also have to wonder what sort of effect that has on the shoes.  Of course we all wash our shoes sometimes, and in the US it’s not uncommon to put them on a rack and run them through the dryer, but that wears down the shoe.  So, if a few people try on a pair of shoes and they get nuked and then you decide to buy them, you have a brand new used pair of shoes, potentially complete with fungi, bacteria, dried sweat, and already decomposing rubber.

At first glance this sounds like a great way to convince people to buy a product.  On the other hand, you wind up selling people something that’s not on par with the price they’re paying, and running shoes aren’t cheap here.

Keep in mind that this is all speculation.  I suppose it is possible that there is one test pair of every size of shoe that’s separate from the pairs they have for sale, but given the price of shoes here, and common business sense, I doubt it.

Update:

The mystery has been solved, and unfortunately it’s not quite as entertaining or provocative as I had imagined.

The microwave, or toaster oven, sitting there is used to heat up ‘heat moldable’ shoe inserts that the store sells.  These inserts are then put in the shoe and the person puts their foot in it to have it mold to their exact foot contours.  It’s done at the store as a convenience to the customer.