A typical day at work for a government employee

07:59: Mad rush to sign in before the time is up.

08:15: Log-on to your computer > Log-on to Facebook > Stalk friends on Facebook > Log-on to MSN Messenger > See if anyone interesting is online > Check various emails > Browse through Haveeru or any other website of interest for a while

09:15 or so: Breakfast hour!! Call up your tea buddies at other offices > Plan on where to meet > Zoom out of the door before giving a heads up to the supervisor who himself/herself may not be around OR Gather with your tea buddies at work > Head out the door regardless of whether you are leaving a whole section man less behind

11:00 or so: Breeze back into the office reeking of cigarette smoke, roshi, mashuni and what not! No explanations required OR Head off to the bank or to handle some personal matter (mostly those who operate their own businesses)

12:00: Time for lunch. Everyone scrambles to head out of the door as fast as their legs can take them

13:00: Those who are faithful to their jobs make it back on time whilst the groupies who go out for lunch are still not back

13:30: Time to get some work done. Type some official correspondence while taking breaks in between to talk on the phone, or chat with someone who just buzzed you or look up the notifications received on Facebook.

14:15 or so: Yawn!! Lunch has made everyone a bit lazy and uninterested in work. Time to do more interesting things such as watch a movie or a new episode of a series that interests you. For everyone else there’s always YouTube!

15:30 Feels so much rejuvenated! But then again there’s not much time left to do anything else is there?

15:45: Start primping to go home. Take out your cosmetics ladies and start primping away.

15:59: Rushes to sign out and win the award for being the first one out of the door!

Whew! That was a hectic day wasn’t it!

Dressed for work??

Its around 7:45 am in the morning on a Sunday. Most of the people who have to be at work by 8:00 am are rushing and zooming about on their way to work. And lo and behold, there goes the employees who belong to the Ministry of Fashion & Clothing Accessories. Believe me, I am not joking. There goes this parade of young women, barely out of their teens or in their teens, dressed for work, in a pair of low hipped figure hugging jeans, which leaves nothing to the imagination, topped off with a shirt that can barely hold their upper body inside (lord have mercy on those buttons that try so hard not to pop out).

To carry off the look, the hair would have the ‘I just tumbled off the bed after having the best sex of my life’ look together with a couple of gold or silver jewelery on the hands which would give out an eye blinding glare if it ever catches sunlight. To go with this look, from the ears there will dangle earrings the size of a 32″ LCD television. The next thing you know, when these ‘hot’ experts in fashion arrive at work, there will be oooh’s and aaah’s from those of the same group, commenting on their choice of attire to work, and a plan to go for more shopping once work is over at 4:00 pm.

Most of the youngsters today really have no clue on how to respectably dress for work. Its disheartening to see the citizens of the ‘100% Muslim’ country dressed with bare scraps of clothing as if at any moment the onlookers would find themselves seated in an arena with a ramp the size of Majeedhee Magu, and at any minute the young women would start sashaying there way across the ramp.

Even in those countries, whose up and coming trends in fashion that we try and keep up with, have a dress code for work which doesn’t include a healthy view of the receptionists cleavage. Female workers ought to respect their body more than that, rather than giving cheap shows to every one who works with them as well as those who come in contact with them at work.

It wasn’t long ago that I along with a couple of male workers at my workplace got an eye full of our colleague’s butt crack all the way down. Disturbing image I tell ya! But she really had no clue, or maybe she just enjoys the thought of men panting at her backside like dogs in heat.

What a person chooses to wear outside their workplace is of no concern to me, but as professionals who have a duty to carry out, which in no way includes wearing teeny tiny scraps of clothing that barely covers the essentials, we ought to start dressing like professionals too. Maybe those who are hooked on western fashion ought to take a long hard look at what those they follow in countries like the U.S., U.K., Australia etc. chooses as their work attire. I believe that we could really learn something from them!

Bitchin’

Bitchin’ has become a way of life for us Maldivians. We bitch about stuff from next to nothing. For instance the fact that we have to get up every morning to go to work/school or wherever one has to be, the fact that your boss is just a bitch when it comes to dealing with you or the fact that the tea/food served at some restaurant wasnt up to your liking can get one to start bitchin’. And we women have one extra god-given reason to be bitchy as much as we like and that would be PMS my friends.

Anyway, what started me on this was, I have been cooped up inside a meeting room with 8 or so colleagues from my work place for the past 2-3 weeks from morning till evening finalizing some work stuff, and I realised just how much we really bitch about stuff..

Dont get me started on our bosses (if i may say so).. they just tend to make me grind my teeth and like joey in Friends says, you just wanna rip your arm off so that you would have something to throw at em’. And then starts the political grumbling and whining and that gives me a headache literally.

Workmate 1: Why did the government have to change the working hours from 8-4? (the fact that we had been working from 7:30 to 4:30 prior to that didnt even matter)..

Workmate 2: Its all political. You know conspiracy and shit. It must be most prolly cause Anni cant make it to work if he has to report to work at 7:30.

Me (silently talking to myself): Hello!!! He doesnt even have to report to work at anytime.. Hasnt anyone ever heard of the “rules” that allow the “responsible” folk in the office to come and go as they want???

Workmate 1: This is ridiculous giving lunch break at 12. (prior to that we had been taking lunch breaks between 12 and 2 for one hour).

Workmate 2: How do we eat?? We cant all go home and come back.

Me: Hasnt anyone heard that people in other countries too work from 9-5? And their homes arent within a 10 minute walking radius? And that they still manage to finish work without grumbling? And what do you expect? With a pay hike to work even lesser hours than before. aaargh!

Workmate 3: i dont get hungry even by that time (grumbles some more and we all turn back to work)..

some 2-3 days later, after receiving the news of foreign investers signing up MOUs to open up their business and hospitals in Maldives.

Workmate1: Its ridiculous. Why is he so hell-bent on opening that many hospitals? Whose gonna go there to get medical attention? We dont have that many people here in Maldives.

Me: Goodness me.. It jst amazes me how these people think. Hello! Dont we always talk about the lack of receiving adequate medical attention and care here in the Maldives. What more do these people want? To go back to the 1920’s or something.. Darn!

So you see why i am bitchin’ about them here in my blog. It just frazzles my nerves every friggin’ time they start condemning something without even really bothering to make any sense when they open their mouths. Anyways, it has been a “fun” filled three weeks.. Am gonna miss the bitchin’ (or NOT) when our meetings would be over tomorrow. So until then.. the bitchin’ continues!

The IT Gods

Being IT professionals mean that:

1- You are required to come up with the most “creative” solutions for the most ghastly situations that arise @ work..
2- You are required to pet and console each and every employee of their squirmy complaints when dealing with technical mumbo jumbo and tell them “it happens to everyone” when it REALLY DOES NOT..
3- You require daily doses of botox injections to permanently fix a smile on your face when on the inside you are screaming your inner guts out..
4- You are always required to know the gazillion *new* technologies that come out each and every day..
5- You are required to instill the importance of maintaining data integrity and consistency in ppl who feel indignant when the IT bloke @ work stresses on why data cannot be manipulated as THEY see fit..
6- And most of all You are required to remain SANE throughout the day!!

Gotta get back to work now!! :D

Back to work

Basically It SUCKS!! BIG TIME

(Silent Scream!!!!!!!!!!!)