I wonder…

I’ve been thinking. Is there any benefit at all of being nasty to people? By being nasty I mean not giving people the respect they deserve. Be it in the workplace or in general dealings with people. You know, like according proper respect to people who work for/with you to the guys who take your order at your local tomyam joint. This is how I do it. Always treat people with respect. Where the guys at work are concerned, I try my best not to offend them, to provide good quality coaching, having their interests and  feelings in mind and always respect them as human beings. I think this approach works with people who know their place and would accord you the necessary respect in return of what you provide them. Well, you do get some rotten eggs along the way, but I use this approach all the time and it has not disappointed me so far. People need to be in a conducive environment to perform and I believe it is the sworn duty of employers and bosses to provide them with that environment. During my time I’ve seen (and experienced) employers and managers who do not really care about their employees’ feelings and sensibilities. Employees are supposed to perform no matter what. We must never forget that human beings go through phases in their lives where they get discouraged and demoralised, not necessarily by events at work mind you. Things happen in their personal lives as well.

These issues may cause them to be unable to perform at the workplace. Some employers do not go the extra mile to find the causes to their staff’s non-performance. It’s really unfortunate that in the Malaysian corporate scene the prevailing approach is to blame somebody the moment something goes wrong. Rarely and I mean really really rarely the approach is to forgo everything else and focus on the problem at hand and look at ways to resolve the issue. That may come at the end of the road but the first option is always to see who’s head is gonna roll. Personally I do not believe this should be the approach. To me there’s always a lot of facets to everything we experience in life. To take the simplistic approach may result in trouble. Again, I feel that we need to delve deep into the individual and always treat everybody differently, according to the individual’s personality. No two people are the same. Generalise people at your own peril.

I wouldn’t consider treating A the same way as I would treat B. A may be OK with being spoken to in a certain way, not necessarily B. All things considered, it’s not that easy isn’t it? Well, there’s no sure fire way of doing it, neither there is a rule of thumb. However, just be nice and things should be OK. We are not angels so we may have our off days as well. Keeping your emotions in check would be a good place to start. I think we should all draw a deep breath and try to relax every time we are upset, under pressure or angry. Always find the time to sit down and ponder. Making a decision when you’re upset is never a good thing. The odds are decisions made in such a time will invariably prove to be destructive.

Enough with the serious stuff. Today the family and me went to Amcorp Mall in PJ. We spent probably 5 hours or so there. Not being a guy who relishes going to Mid Valley, KLCC and the like (due to the amount of people there or thereabouts) I just like Amcorp Mall as I can find most of the things I want there. Especially as I always go to Book Xcess. They sell books there (thank you Captain Obvious). The point is the books they sell is cheap. It’s not one of those joints that sell second hand books. Book Xcess deals with over printed books which they sell at mostly at about 60 per cent of the original price. And it’s updated too. I get a good supply of World War Two books there.

On weekends, they have this flea market where you can get almost everything from T-shirts, CDs, comic books etc. I always go to this stall where this guy sells neckties. He has a good selection with great designs and cheap too. A nice necktie for RM30 each (and with a RM10 discount if you buy two) is a bloody good deal is it not? I was planning to get a couple today. To my disappointment, the guy wasn’t around. So my new necktie’s gotta wait.

Today, we paid a guy to trim the trees in the new house. I asked him to also trim to pokok bunga which covered the fencing of the house. Had a look this evening and he did a good job, in my view. As the family and myself will be moving down to Johor soon, we may just get him to clean up the place every three months or so. I still do not know what to do with the house when we do move to Johor. Renting it out is out of the question I think. Can’t leave it empty though. Let’s see. Gotta think about it.

Stoner won the race in France today. They say Simoncelli is a crasher but I didn’t really believe it looking at his performances this year. Apparently the riders have been complaining of his on track antics lately. Today I saw it first hand (not at the track but on TV). Super Sic (as he likes to call himself) made a rempit-like move on Pedrosa who fell on lap 18 or something like that. That was careless man. Super Sic just turned into Super Suck in my book. Pedrosa who just came back from a shoulder operation ended up holding his shoulder after he fell. I hope he’s fine. Always the unsung hero of MotoGP, he was never spectacular but he did his job. I think he’s the most consistent rider never to have won the championship. Oh, and hot off the press, Pedrosa fractured his right collarbone in the crash. Good on you, Super Suck!