Sunday, October 31, 2010

What a Waste!

We were told we could take some office furniture home. I was in the office last evening to take some drawers and shelves – not for me but for my brother and sister-in-law. A few weeks back, they mentioned they wanted to get some furniture for their bedroom so timing was perfect.

I have to admit, there were a lot of furniture that are in good condition. The shelves and cupboards in my boss’s room were built like 7 months ago. Everything is so new and I was told that it will be destroyed. We are getting Helen Miller chairs in the new office – yes, each chair is about $1K and yet in the current office, we have so many other chairs that are still usable.

I remembered when we had our first office move meeting – we wanted to save as much furniture as we can and re-use our chairs. I don’t know what happened in July, all that changed. Now, in the new office, we are getting new chairs, new furniture, new microwave, new fridge – everything is new! I have not been to the new office but I do get an office reno update very often with pictures attached.

I asked our HR VP who was with me, why we didn’t auction off our stuff – or even organize Garage Sale. Monies collected can either go to charity or to staff welfare. She said something about the quotations that she received and they were not so great.

What?! It’s better than not getting anything at all.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Goodbye The Atrium, Hello Lorong Chuan!

Yes we are moving. We are joining HBO and ESPN at Lorong Chuan.
I was part of the office move committee and this was definitely not my choice. The building reminds me of Bestway Building and the office space had a weird smell. One of my colleagues did not like it either but when she saw the tennis court, that worked for her. I wanted an office in the East - closer to hubby and we even planned to move to the East to cut traveling time in the morning!

I said 'goodbye" to our office in Atrium at the end of July. In fact, I said goodbye to many things - convenience, shopping malls, Starbucks and yes that prata cafe downstairs! I am not a fan but when you are pressed for time, you just have to go downstairs to grab food. I'll be saying hello to canteen food - and I think I may get up early to prepare lunch.

I saw an email this morning regarding the office move - the critical dates, the standard message to use in our "out of office" response and suddenly I wish I am in the office to experience the chaos. The last time we moved out of Temasek Towers, the whole office was a mess, we had a party - streamers, paints, shredded paper strewn everywhere! I wonder if the same would happen here at the Atrium.
The email also wanted HODs to be in the office by 830am - (yeah right), the MD to send a welcome note between a certain time and the first phone rings at 9am. I bet it's all because of Fengshui - we did engage a Fengshui Master to determine where a HOD sits and what to avoid. I remembered HR asking HODs for their DOB - some did not give and I am one of them. One of my colleagues who gave her DOB was told to remain single and forget about getting married! How depressing is that?!

1st Nov - a new chapter kicks in for us all. And for me that would be Nov 9 when I'm officially back in office!