Sunday, January 08, 2006
My different friends - 2:10 AM
Its been raining like nonstop for the past few days save for the occasional dry hours here and there. Sigh, this wet and gloomy weather just adds on to the impending grey cloud of 'Back to School' thats looming all over me. S.I.GHHHHHHHHHLast night was alot of fun, with my ex-HSBC colleagues coming over and playing games. We had lotsa fun playing some scary-monkey game, uno stacko, pictionary, charades, mahjong, poker and then mahjong again. Especially for pictionary and charades which tested our apparently lack of artistic flair which translated into a tremendous amount of rolling on our backs, laughing at each others' ludicrous sketches, I think we woke a few people up in the neighborhood with our noise-making.
Going back 2 years ago (OMG has it been 2 years already?), fresh out of JC and being pressured to get a temporary job just cos everyone got one, how I ended up at HSBC and re/connecting with people I would had probably lost touch is something that I am so grateful for. And how I found so many new pals in an environment that doesn't really promote friendship is even more amazing.
At HSBC where the pay is at standard rate and where temp jobs aren't really what you call challenging, I have reunited with a long lost Primary School friend - Shiyun (bai) (we call the 2 shiyuns we know hei and bai cos of their skin color. DUH wad else?)! Shiyun as I remember was ULTRA petite in Primary school and acted as Happy from the 7 Dwarfs in one of our class plays. I didn't recognize her although she remembered me almost immediately. 2 years down the road till now, we still keep in touch and meet up with I get back. Though we've never been particularly close in Pri School and we're separated by the great Pacific now, I'm happy that we sorta reunited. (she is STILL super petite till this day)
At HSBC, I have reconnected with Angie Tan, who works at the neighboring department. Angie's job demands her to do catwalks at certain times of the day, and so when I see her sashaying down the aisle, I'll go 'PSST ANGIE!' ...She'll come to my table and squat down in order not to be seen and we'll do what we do best... GOSSIP LA, WHAT ELSE?! And then I will have to make rounds to her side of the office and then...yah... SAME LA! hahhaha
At HSBC, I came to a deeper level of friendship with Shiyun (hei). We went job scouting together and ended up working at the same place together. We got fired together (at Autoloans), and started new jobs at different departments together. We lunched together and we knocked off together (until she had to do so much OT while in card ops.) Though she left the bank much earlier than me, I think it was the start of it that had such a gigantic leap and significant impact on our friendship until today.
At HSBC at the Atrium@Orchard, do not be fooled by the modern glass facade, for some people in there really dress very lok-kokly! I found a job in Town on purpose so I could dress up nicer. So, I ended up as the Temp-who-didn't-look-like-she-needed-the-money. It was also at HSBC where I went through my blue hair, purple hair, flaming red hair phase and actually dared to experiment with looks for the 1st time in my life just cos everyone else looked so uncolorful and I wanted to inject abit of life into the office. The 7-11 uncle whom I buy a Milo from every monday once asked me 'Are you a hairdresser? You look and dress like one.' ERHHH ok...maybe I should had toned down on the hair abit, but heck...
But most importantly, when I think of HSBC, I think of them first.... My new friends! Thankfully, alot of the people working there were A level grads like myself. Of cos they moved on to greener pastures (meaning temp jobs that paid $6.50/hr) quickly, but those who remained, and some of the Perm staff, we have SOMEHOW managed to gel together, miraculously. You see, in that environment where too many Errorlogs are unforgivable and where the job is so seriously mundane that you feel like an Auntie at some Motorola factory, we actually managed to ku3 zhong1 zhuo4 le4 (create joy in times of bitterness). With the other temps like Shiyun (bai), Justina, Constance... we are the proud ex-co of HSBC Temp Staff Alumni! We would squeeze time to fit in our little chats (like when our superiors went out for lunch), and hang out after work. We even volunteered to stay back until 10pm and on a particular Saturday to DECORATE our workplace cos of this competition! We rolled on the dirty carpet laughing at Constance's jokes that proved to be less-funny than Constance herself, walking to Paradiz and Cuppage with a throng of people and ordering cai fan and the lethal goreng pisang afterwards. Though one by one we slowly left the bank, we still remain tight, bonded by our common background - BEING OPPRESSED by our superiors at the bank.. HAHAHA.
Other temps and perm staff like Chloe, Doris, Ailing, Wesley, Weijie, LC, Xinrong, some of them have, too like the A level grads, left the bank in search of their own rainbow. When I recall about how we all managed to come together and actually enjoy each others company despite being so different, I just credit it to Fate. No other reason why an Officer, a Clerk, a Poly-grad and an A level grad would all fit so well together? Why would we pick each other to be in our lil own gang when there are so many others in the bank? Each of us, having spent no time growing up with each other, have come to the bank with our own distinct characteristics hailing from an astoundingly wide array of backgrounds, but have managed to click in a matter of months. We leave today, with a little bit of each other in us, to remind us of the fun we had while we are busy with our own lives.
So, even though we didn't exactly enjoy the work at the bank nor did it pay us very well, it did teach us (at least it taught me) that money is not the most important thing. For alot of us (esp Justina), we stayed on in our the jobs past the duration we thought we would be there for each other. Justina wanted to quit in march, and then extended to april, then may and only found herself leaving in June cos we asked her not to quit so soon. Though I didn't manage to earn and save much during that 7 months when I worked, every moment of it was worth it cos of these people. Today as we said our goodbyes at Parkway Parade, I already know that I will wake up one lazy Sunday afternoon in the near future, on my bed in Michigan, smiling because I had just dreamt of them, and sighing, cos I know they're not there with me. And I realise I didn't even have to wait that long to happen, cos when I woke up from my nap just now, the 'remnants' from last night that greeted me as I hazily opened my eyes made me start missing them already.
Good luck in 2006, folks! May the ones studying do well in school, the ones working get promoted (haha), the ones waiting to get hitched get hitched, the ones waiting to hoppe their soulmate hoppe their soulmate. Most importantly, don't forget to keep in touch! You know how to get me! Hope to cya guys soon =)