Attitude Regarding Work
A few words of comment by a colleague of mine had changed my attitude regarding work.
This was how it happened.
Mr. Liew Fook Sin was a colleague of mine at Convent School in the year 1992. At the end of that year both of us were in the school timetable committee to prepare a fresh timetable for the coming school year.
At first I thought of preparing a working timetable for the morning session in the shortest possible time without regard to its ‘user friendliness’ either to the teachers or to the pupils. I presumed as long as the timetable could be ready for use when the school reopen, then my job was done. But, Fook Sin insisted that it would be better if we could spend a bit more time and effort, to come up with a better quality timetable so that all the teachers and pupils would enjoy the benefits of a pleasant and less stressful timetable for the rest of the year.
This was how it happened.
Mr. Liew Fook Sin was a colleague of mine at Convent School in the year 1992. At the end of that year both of us were in the school timetable committee to prepare a fresh timetable for the coming school year.At first I thought of preparing a working timetable for the morning session in the shortest possible time without regard to its ‘user friendliness’ either to the teachers or to the pupils. I presumed as long as the timetable could be ready for use when the school reopen, then my job was done. But, Fook Sin insisted that it would be better if we could spend a bit more time and effort, to come up with a better quality timetable so that all the teachers and pupils would enjoy the benefits of a pleasant and less stressful timetable for the rest of the year.
“A few more days of extra effort by us would bring joys to others for the rest of the year” was what Fook Sin meant which has changed my attitude with regard to work.
Since then, I would not take it lightly in my preparation of timetable. This attitude can also be applied to other forms of work and in other walks of life. Quite often our working attitudes not only affect ourselves alone; they may affect others too.
One good example which I read from a reader’s column which appeared on page 3 of Sin Chew Jit Poh(星洲日报） dated October 21, 2008. The writer had a daughter to whom I gave a fictitious name of Patty. Patty was studying at a local university at Selangor. She and a few of her course mates were renting a house near the campus. One day their house was broken in by burglars pretending to be workers mending their leaking roof. A total of three units of their computer notebooks together with other items like purses and hand phones were stolen. Patty and her housemates made a police report at a nearby police station. They were told by the police that the incident was not the first of its kind to occur in the neighborhood. Many reports had already been made before that. The police assured them that they would go to their house for further investigation. The girls waited at home for one whole day without any sign of a policeman.
Another thing that caught the eyes of Patty was the brand name and the serial number of her notebook that was stolen were wrongly recorded in her police report. She asked the policeman for explanation and rectification. She was told that it did not matter any more whether the brand name or serial number of the notebook was correctly stated in the report or not since it was already lost, implying that there was a slim chance that it would be recovered later.
Since then, I would not take it lightly in my preparation of timetable. This attitude can also be applied to other forms of work and in other walks of life. Quite often our working attitudes not only affect ourselves alone; they may affect others too.
One good example which I read from a reader’s column which appeared on page 3 of Sin Chew Jit Poh(星洲日报） dated October 21, 2008. The writer had a daughter to whom I gave a fictitious name of Patty. Patty was studying at a local university at Selangor. She and a few of her course mates were renting a house near the campus. One day their house was broken in by burglars pretending to be workers mending their leaking roof. A total of three units of their computer notebooks together with other items like purses and hand phones were stolen. Patty and her housemates made a police report at a nearby police station. They were told by the police that the incident was not the first of its kind to occur in the neighborhood. Many reports had already been made before that. The police assured them that they would go to their house for further investigation. The girls waited at home for one whole day without any sign of a policeman.
Another thing that caught the eyes of Patty was the brand name and the serial number of her notebook that was stolen were wrongly recorded in her police report. She asked the policeman for explanation and rectification. She was told that it did not matter any more whether the brand name or serial number of the notebook was correctly stated in the report or not since it was already lost, implying that there was a slim chance that it would be recovered later.
A week later, Patty came back to Penang to apply for a replacement of her lost identity card at an Identity Card Department. She was fined RM100 for losing her identity card. The officer explained to her that according to the police report she made, all the items were reported lost(hilang) and not stolen(curi).Hence she had to be fined for the negligence of losing the card. The officer further mentioned that if the items were stolen, then the police would have to come to the house to investigate as it was considered a criminal case. Now Patty understood the reason why the police failed to appear at their doorstep on the appointed day and time.
Again, this boiled down to the problem of attitude regarding work. The policeman preparing the report for Patty most probably preferred to take the easy way out for not having to open a file by stating the items were lost through negligence. However, if Patty insisted that her belongings were stolen, then a file had to be open atomically for investigation by an investigation officer with the ranking of a police inspector. It was of little wonder that Patty received the police report that all the items were ‘stated’ lost and not stolen. In this case, Patty not only paid the price of losing her valuables, she also paid the penalty for her legal document being stolen as well.
This goes to show that the attitude of a person regarding his work is of paramount importance as it might have affected others directly or indirectly.
This goes to show that the attitude of a person regarding his work is of paramount importance as it might have affected others directly or indirectly.
Mr. Nelson Mandela was the longest serving political prisoner. He was in prison for twenty seven and a half years. He sacrificed his own freedom and personal comfort as well as his family’s well being to fight against the unjust system of apartheid introduced by the White minority government of South Africa. His family, especially his wife, Winnie, suffered frequent intimidations and numerous prosecutions while he was in prison. He was even deprived the right to attend the funeral of his mother and his eldest son.
On the other hand, he would not forgo his daily hourly physical exercises as he realized that health was of vital importance for his 
