Myanmar Cyclone Nargis Appeal

pls help
can donate $$ via many means
cheque, internet banking, ATMs and even AXS machines
more details at redcross webbie
http://www.redcross.org.sg/

Office pal-itics.. so true.. =)

taken the below article from here
i'm sure many of us can relate to it
enjoy =)

Last Monday, one of my best friends in the office resigned.

His decision didn't really surprise me. After almost 10 years with the newspaper, he was raring to try something new.

I joined the company only slightly after he did, and through the years, a firm friendship was built angsting over work assignments, gossiping about colleagues and over-ordering in Japanese restaurants islandwide.

Our relationship has evolved to the point where he nags me in public about eating my vegetables.

And I nag him right back about his inexplicable attraction to sexually-confused women, much to the amusement of public relations people who had expected to buy us a quiet, civilised lunch.

Yet his impending departure didn't really hit me until a few days later.

We were both struggling to put out our stories that night - mine was about the national broadband network and his was about corporate dental benefits.

Stressed and bored at the same time, we were engaging in our favourite activity: recreational bitching on Lotus Notes Messenger.

The great thing about talking about someone or something on instant messenging systems is that it's a stealthy activity. There is the occasional hint of a smile and sporadic furious typing, but no one really knows what you're up to.

As usual, we were childishly locked in a battle over who could say the most outrageous thing. And things quickly reached a crescendo with a horribly crude National Service-era joke.

There was a pause on the message screen as we both chuckled silently to ourselves.

Then out of nowhere, a huge wave of sadness washed over me and I was suddenly in tears.

'You know, I am really gonna miss you,' I typed. 'No one else here is even remotely so full of nonsense :('

Another pause onscreen, as I awaited his reply.

':)'

For me, office friends are such a vital part of working life that I don't think I could come to work every morning if I didn't have them.

So I really marvel at the people who judiciously separate their personal friendships from office relationships.

They come to the office, keep to themselves and concentrate 100 per cent on their jobs. And at the end of the day, they go back to after-work lives that no one has the foggiest idea about.

It's the working life experience boiled down to its cleanest, purest form - no frenzied shopping on the clock during lunch and no poking your nose into other people's affairs.

But much like that low-fat vegetarian diet that is theoretically good for you, I can't see much joy or laughter in such an existence. I would probably go mad.

The average executive comes in to work at 8am and doesn't leave till 7pm or 8pm, realistically. That means as many as 12 hours are spent in the office - or 75 per cent of his waking hours in a day, five days a week.

In those 12 hours, all sorts of stresses are loaded onto an individual. Meetings are tension-filled and embarrassment beckons if presentations go awry. With pals in the office, all this becomes that much more bearable.

Dislike that crazy boss? Take out your phone and silently complain about him via SMS to your friend sitting across the meeting table.

Chances are, things won't look quite so bad after that.

In fact, when it comes to the crunch, friends may not always be a good reason to stay in a job. But it's a big reason why, even when things go haywire and bad stuff is raining down like never before, people decide not to leave.

Research based on 5 million interviews by The Gallup Organization shows that people who have a best friend at work are seven times more likely to be engaged with that work.

The same research also shows that people with three close friends at work are 46 per cent more likely to be extremely satisfied with their jobs and 88 per cent more likely to be satisfied with their lives.

Still, bosses and workers see this issue differently. Another recent survey by California-based staffing firm Accountemps shows that although 22 per cent of employees feel that having friends in the office increases productivity, only 2 per cent of managers agree.

As both a manager and an employee, I feel office friendships are great and should be cultivated and cherished.

There are only two drawbacks.

The first has to do with the fact that friendships in the office are quite different from those forged with classmates in school, where everyone is more or less an equal.

Two friends may start out at the same level, but one could get promoted quicker and even become the other's boss.

The friendship could turn sour and a failed relationship in the office is arguably much harder to manage than one outside work, since people are expected to continue to work with each other every day. Friendships could also start up between bosses and subordinates, opening the door to jealousy and charges of favouritism.

The second thing about office friendships is that they burn so brightly while they last and die off so quickly when colleagues part ways.

You feel constantly guilty when you don't keep in touch as often as you promised you would on that last day. And even when you finally meet up with your friend, you worry about what to say. It's natural, I suppose, because so much of the friendship was based on what was going on in and around the office.

But when colleagues leave, their circumstances change and you no longer have a daily pulse on what's going on in their lives.

That eventuality is the saddest thing, I think, about a friend quitting the office to move on.

You can try as hard as you like, but you know that things will never be the same again.

:(

This article was first published in The Straits Times on May 11, 2008