Over the last two days, I’ve had to take cabs three times. The first encounter was getting to the Grand Copthorne Waterfront hotel on Friday morning from my home. The cabby, who looked to be in his 40’s, apparently had not heard of the hotel! I had to direct him there. My next encounter was the next day; the cabby, who looked 60, asked me how to get to my destination - Great World City. No, he did not ask me which route I wanted to take; he asked me which exit at the CTE he should get off. The third encounter was - believe it or not - getting home from Great World City on the same day. The cabby wanted me to confirm with him that the route he had in mind was correct. Three separate incidents. Three different cabbies. All either unsure of the roads or unfamiliar with local landmarks. One after another. Is there a conspiracy here or mere coincidence? If the passenger in all three incidents were someone who’s unfamiliar with Singapore roads, what would be the outcome, I wonder?

Joe

How many of u have been employed by a friend, who becomes your boss? If there is anyone reading this who’s been in this situation for more than a year and the friendship hasn’t deteriorated, I’d like to know what your secret is. It seems like a good idea to hire someone whom u can get along with and whom u’ve shared secrets with. But the reality - for me, at least - is that friendship and direct job accountability do not mix well. Especially when one has to play the role of superior to the other. There’s already too much familiarity between the two parties to forcibly NOT be equals. Most times, the friendship suffers. Maybe this is why marriages where there is a more dominant partner inevitably fall apart. Pity. Anyway, if u are in such a relationship that is working, do tell me your secret.

Joe

I often wonder how much more new things my team at work can take on. After all, I’m an advocate of the old school of quality management - “good is not enough if there’s better”. And so I push them everyday to show a little more about what they can do. Sometimes I get good results, other times I get disappointed. I’m sure there’s a fine line between bringing out the real (sometimes raw and untapped) potential in a person, including my own daughter, and pushing him/her beyond his/her limit. In the work place, and especially in these tough times, I believe it is critical that an employee gives more reason to management to keep them in the organisation. Somewhere out there, I’m sure, are many good but unemployed people just dying to be given a chance to show they are an asset to any organisation. And I believe there are such people out there. I hope my team members believe that too.

Joe

I wrote to the press after reading MM Lee’s call to parents to speak more Mandarin to their kids at home instead of English. My take is that the Speak Mandarin Campaign in Singapore HAS actually been too successful to the point that kids today (and mind u, even young adults) speak English “the Mandarin way”. I have heard too many parents in public asking their kids “You want to eat what?” (ni yao chi shi me) or “You go where?” (ni qu na li) and this one - my favourite tease - “I scared not enough” (wo pa bu gou). By all means, learn your Mandarin but if it’s going to be at the expense of standard English, then I scared (sic) the future Singaporean professional will not be easily understood in the global business circle.

Joe

I was watching Kelly Clarkson perform her song “My Life Would Suck Without You” at the American Idol results show on TV tonight and couldn’t help noticing how familiar some of the tunes in her song are. In fact, I’d say there are at least three parts (that I could tell right away) of the song whose tunes are similar to other songs already existing. No, I’m not shouting “plagiarism” here; I’m more amazed that song writers today could continue to produce new songs time after time, year after year, even though there are only so many musical notes and combinations one could put together since music was invented. Chances are that every new song today would face the same situation - there’d be a familiar tune in there somewhere. But really, who cares so long as the public laps it all up!

Joe

I was discussing with a friend how much she could save from the bonus she got. She was considering putting $5k in a fixed deposit account. Have u seen what interest banks pay on Sing Dollar fixed deposits today? Putting $5k in a deposit in a local bank for 6 months gives u a return of something like 0.25% p.a. That’s $1.04 of interest a month! Even with an Australian Dollar (now almost at par with the Sing Dollar) deposit, which pays 3.3% p.a., u’d get $13.75 of interest a month, or 45 cents a day. I guess this is where what we learned in economics about fiscal policies, finally hit home - now is not the time to save but to spend. So, go get something nice for yourself and your loved ones.

Joe

After a morning of bad things happening…being stuck behind a car at the going out lane because his cash card had no cash, to being rear-ended (well not that bad)….I saw a sight (that’s strange sounding) that literally made me stop in the middle of the road …well more like slowing starting off after stopping behind a line of cars at the stop light.

I glanced at my right and noticed a man pushing a wheelchair. In the chair, was a young girl, and obviously severely disable…she looked like having the same kind of thing like stephen hawking…(you get the picture)…but as the man pushed her and stopped, he bent down to give her a little kiss on the cheek.

He obviously was her father. And as they waited to cross the road, he would stroke her head and hair and bend over every so often just to say something (sweet I suppose in a parental way) to her…

then I had to drive off…

It was touching to see a father love his daugther so much that her disability was just part of his daugther which he loved none the less…

ML

Having to manage a team of people at work and looking at how other teams function in the workplace, I get the most joy out of people who are team players….those who’d champion the collective goal of the team. They not only make my job as team leader easier, they are a joy to be with and their enthusiasm has a positive effect on everyone. I often wonder about those with no team spirit; u know, those who do things solely to further their own ambitions. Oh, nothing wrong with having ambitions, but when u’re in a team, it’s quite different. Compare a tennis player (forget the Davis Cup) and a soccer player. Taking this argument one step further, I wonder if non-team people actually make good spouses. I mean, when two people marry, I’d like to believe husband and wife become one. There’s got to be many common goals in this union, surely? What kind of spouse would a non-team person make, I wonder?

Joe

A tree died.
A very old tree died.
It will take a very long time for a tree to grow like this.

ML

Heard on BBC today that there is going to be a memorial to the unsung and unheard of heroes of WWII.

THere were many germans who actually did not like the Nazi’s and all the stood for. These were the same ones who would take in and hide the Jews who were being sent to their deaths, simply because it was wrong.

This the did despite knowing that they could lose their lives, or worse, sacrifice their families!

ML