There must be more to life
All your life you are dreaming
And then you stop dreaming
From time to time you know
You should be going on another bender"
Stereotypes by Blur (The Great Escape Album)
Yes, they're STEROTYPES ... god damn, freggin, nail biting, obscure dirty little stereotypes. You must be wondering what I'm winging about. And you have the right to know because I hate them stereotypes. It started when I was in my last ten minutes of work today. I got a phonecall from a friend that asked me to meet up after work and I politely refused. I explained that I was in a bit of a messy situation at the office - not that I'm in trouble or anything but the workload is piling on my desk and I just can't take it anymore. So, here's a teaser of what needs to be done before the end of the week:
- Memo to Qat*r embassy
- Letter to Malaysian *mbassy in China
- Letter to education attache in China
- C*binet paper for visit
- Scholarship payments
- Preparation for pre-council meeting
- Discussion matrix
- Meeting issues
- Saudi's MoU
- Ireland's Follow Up
- Egyptian Visit follow Up
- Omani Ministerial Visit
- Committee Meeting
- and the list goes on and on ...
With all that I have listed, I need to get them all done in time for the weekend or I'll end up working extra hours unpaid. Life is so unfair sometimes because at some level, you are not allowed to claim overtime allowances for working the wee hours of the night. So, what ticked me off this afternoon was that fact that this friend of mine was telling me that I was unable to handle pressure and will never make it to the private sector. HELLO!!! Wake up and smell the poo buddy. I was from the private sector. Worked in a multicultural environment in Belgium as a Linguist. Work there is no hanky panky. You come in, log into the network, work, break for lunch, take a piss from time to time, work again and head back home. Honestly, I survived the private sector better that I am surviving the civil service. Am not trying to put the civil service down but the amount of pressure building in government offices is worse that thought. I never knew that the civil service would be that tough as compared to working with a multinational like Unilever (M) Sdn. Bhd - who used to sponsor my studies and decided not take hire me as the company was downsizing and let me off the hook.
So, is it fair for all you people out there working for the famed private sector to diss us people working for the public? Is it right and ethical to judge us as being incompetent? Would you think of the public sector as working in a laid back fashion? If all, or even one of your answer is YES to any of the questions just now, I plead you to think again. Sit down, sip a cup of coffee and think realistically. Ask people who are working in the public sector what its about. Don't just think that people who work in the private sector are frustrated over things that they have not achieved. People in the public sector frustrates twice the amount due to the large competition around.
What then would people in the private sector define stress, frustration, tired, mental block etc as? Would it be similar to how people in the public sector would view it? I urge someone to iron it out for us civil servants.
Sekian, terima kasih.
"BERKHIDMAT UNTUK NEGARA"
Saya yang menurut perintah,
(KHAIRUL SUFI)
Bahagian ****
b.p Ketua Setiausaha
Kementerian **** Malaysia
