Back in Office on a Public Holiday

Howdy folks.

Been more than a little tied up at work these days with the taking-up of a new project at the pre-contract stage while still handling this other project which is at the post-contract stage. Sounds confusing? Well, you're probably not familiar with the industry that I'm in then.

But enough about work. Work, as we all know, is never ending. Hence it is virtually pointless to wonder/ grouse about being close to being buried under piles of paper. The discussion today is as follows:-

The Story:

Been perplexed and driven to utter speechlessness by the seemingly EQ-less thinking of one of my colleagues recently. Let's call him Guy A and the other colleague involved, Senior B. Guy A (G.A.) and Senior B (S.B.) are virtually the only 2 people involved in this not-so-simple project. Recently, S.B. was hospitalised due to an unexpected health condition that manifested suddenly.

On Day 1 of the hospitalisation, a couple of us made plans to go down to visit her. Naturally we asked G.A. since he has been working closely with her. His reply was: "Do you think that it is OK to bring work down to ask her?" For a second, I thought he was joking and left it at that since we have yet to confirm that we'll be able to visit S.B. Later in the day when we were about to leave the office for a short visit, I asked G.A. again. He repeated his question. Apparently he was serious. I told him that in this case, I'd rather he NOT visit S.B. then.

A couple of days later, S.B. told us that her doctor had to carry out 2 operations, the first, a simpler and less painful procedure, followed (a couple of days later) by the second, a more invasive and painful procedure (which apparently feels worse than childbirth). Naturally, her doctor ordered more rest for her - she hasn't been sleeping well due to the pain and had been on liquid diet due to her condition/ the operation - and gave her MC for a period of time.

Happens that during this period of time, G.A. encountered a couple of difficulties in his work, and not able to find a solution to them, decided that he needed to seek the expertise of S.B. and no one else. Apparently another senior, let's call her Super Senior C (S.S.C.), was not-that-familiar with the project and was unable to guide G.A. to come up with a solution to the problem. To this effect, he smsed and emailed S.B. initially to ask her questions about the work, then progressed to asking her to "come back to office to settle XXX and YYY". This is despite: one, S.S.C. asking G.A. to leave S.B. out of the equation already; and two, G.A. knowing that S.B. had to undergo not one but 2 operations.

The Discussion:

I was stunned speechless when I got to know about this. First, I think even a primary school student would be able to show more concern about/to someone who is unwell. Second, it doesn't take much brains to add in a short sentence to ask about the well being of the person involved, if the circumstances is really so dire as to have to disturb him/her.

That said, I would have shown more sympathy towards G.A. if he had shown more concern towards S.B., but as the above might have suggested, I couldn't sense this. Then again, maybe I'm biased.

It's alarming how desperation (perhaps coupled with an innate inability to make decisions/ unwillingness to take up responsibility) can negate what should be the fundemental ability of a human being - the ability to show basic concern for a fellow human being. Even while (inwardly) berating G.A. for his seeming "lack of balls", I find myself wondering how myself or another person would react in a similar situation. Is it a matter of gender disparity or? Well. I have no answer. What do you guys think?

Hmm. Enough discussion for now, got to concentrate on work. Photos in the next update (I hope).

josh, signin off.

Labels: discussion